Ramsay Health Care appoints group chief medical officer

Edward Byrne has been appointed group chief medical officer of Ramsay Health Care.

Byrne will replace John Horvath, who is set to retire at the end of February.

Byrne is president and principal at King’s College London and will be relocating to Sydney from London. He is a trained neurologist and was a founding director of the Melbourne Neuromuscular Research Unit and the Centre for Neuroscience in 1993.

He served as head of the Medical School and vice provost of University College London from 2007 to 2009 and was the president and vice chancellor of Monash University for five years.

Byrne is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Royal Colleges of Physicians in London and Edinburgh, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association.

He is also a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK and an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, which he helped found.

Andy Jones, chief executive officer of Ramsay Health Care UK, said: ‘I am delighted that Professor Byrne is joining the global executive board to continue to drive the organisation’s high quality healthcare agenda. Professor Byrne’s guidance and consultation has been invaluable to the UK executive team during the current pandemic.’