Head of Health Improvement and Influencing, Pancreatic Cancer UK

Junior Policy Fellow, Centre for Science and Policy

Anna Bailey-Bearfield is Head of Health Improvement and Influencing at Pancreatic Cancer UK. Prior to this, she was Autism Policy Lead at the Department of Health and Social Care. She also worked as Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the National Autistic Society where she led a team that focused on transforming the lives of the 700,000 autistic people living across the UK.

Anna worked on tackling the issues autistic people face in a number of areas, including health and social care, education and employment. Her personal expertise lies in mental health, health and social care policy, having previously worked in health care charities, including the Alzheimer’s Society and MS Society. Anna was also the Chair of the Care and Support Alliance, which is an alliance of over 75 charities campaigning for social care reform, which helped to deliver increased short-term Government investment in the system.

In her last role, Anna worked to influence the development of the Government’s national autism strategy, as well as the NHS Long Term Plan’s clinical priority on autism. She also held the secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, which has over 200 members and is one of the largest APPGs, and campaigns to raise autism as a key issue in Parliament.