Ruth was appointed as Chair of the MHCC Board in July 2018.  Alongside her responsibilities as Chair she continues to retain her role as Clinical Lead for Homelessness for the city.

Part of MHCC since its inauguration in April 2017, Ruth led on Neighbourhood Transformation at board level. She has a career-long interest in children’s health, in particular safeguarding and is a Portfolio GP, practising clinically in Wythenshawe.

Ruth is the lead for Ethics and Law at Manchester Medical School and is also a Trustee for the Institute of Medical Ethics.

Ruth is an extremely proud Mancunian, raising her own family in South Manchester. Her hobbies include singing in two choirs and running a disco on Twitter!

Councillor Craig is a Manchester City Councillor for Burnage, the lead on LGBT Issues, a Board Member at Southway Housing Trust, a School Governor and a community activist.

An experienced trade union organiser, leading on the coordination of Activist Development work in the Northern UK, having previously lead on the Union’s private care sector, focusing on member organising and recruitment in private care sector.

Previously Councillor Craig worked in local government specialising in Equality, cohesion, youth services and regeneration before moving to the Higher Education Sector. She then joined the University of Manchester and MMU as the Off Campus Student Affairs Manager, in post from its inception, becoming a specialist in HEI Off Campus issues and community relations, followed by the Public Engagement Manager for MMU leading on communications and public engagement activities.

Having led NHS organisations in the North West for more than nine years, Ian’s role as Chief Officer and Accountable Officer involves leading the delivery of improvement plans for patient care, working closely with the Board, staff, and partners.

Having cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in his youth, Ian now prefers to spend his free time with his family, walking his dog and also enjoys running.

Manisha trained as a doctor in Manchester, qualifying in 1995, becoming a GP in 2001 and joining the Robert Darbishire practice in Rusholme in 2004.
She still practises there one day a week – “if I didn’t I would have no credibility” – and enjoys seeing her regular patients.

It was her experience there that persuaded Manisha to get involved in commissioning in 2007.  “I saw the same people, for the same things day after day. You do your best, but ultimately there is only so much you can do as a GP. The challenge we have is in how we can influence the system and the wider determinants of health.”

Manisha, who is originally from London, is married to an optician and they have a nine year old daughter called Cara.  In her spare time, Manisha enjoys spending time with friends and family, musical theatre and travelling.

Dr Murugesan Raja was appointed to the board in July 2018. He has been the Clinical Lead for Respiratory Medicine for Central Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) since 2014 and with Manchester Health and Care Commissioning (MHCC) since inauguration. He also leads clinically for Quality and Performance.

Raja is a committed GP whose keen interest is to reduce health inequalities, by tackling the wider social determinants of health. He is a GP trainer for the Greater Manchester Deprivation Focussed GP Speciality Training Programme (GPST) and works with Hope Citadel at Hawthorn Medical Centre in Levenshulme. He leads on improving the quality of Health Care and Respiratory Medicine across all domains and now oversees it in Greater Manchester.

His free time is usually spent with family and busy with activities related to the local church.

Denis has been a GP in Collyhurst for 20 years, at Whitley Road Medical Centre. He is also a referral triage clinician, looking at paediatrics. Denis was involved in local NHS management throughout the lifetime of the former Primary Care Trust and before that as a GP fundholder; he has also been a Local Medical Committee member from November 1992 until July 2005.