Dr Sophie Willis
Sophie is a proactive and knowledgeable leader in the field of education, who is passionate about partnership work and has significant experience in this across all aspects of Clinical Professional Education. She qualified as a diagnostic radiographer in 2001 and worked as a radiographer for a number of years at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
During this time she was also a clinical lecturer for three years. Sophie continued to practice clinically before moving into education in 2006. She has held academic positions at a number of different higher education institutions. Including, the University of Exeter for three years (2006-2009), University Campus Suffolk for three years (2009-2012) and City, University of London (2012-2021).
Sophie joined Health Education England as a Senior Quality Lead from April 2021-Dec 2022. Her role involved responsibility for various stakeholders in medical and non-medical education and oversight regarding the mechanics of workforce planning, education commissioning, quality and risk. She played a key role in developing and delivering the infrastructure to enable HEE to realise the ambitions set out in the HEE Quality Framework Strategy (2021). Sophie led a number of workstreams, working across HEE and wider system partners to ensure the implementation of HEE’s risk-based approach to managing and improving the quality of the clinical learning environment in primary and secondary care settings across the East of England for all medical, nursing, midwifery and allied health professions.
Sophie has over 18 years’ experience working in higher education contexts and has undertaken a variety of roles including senior lecturer, Strategic Practice Lead for Allied Health Professions, Programme Director for a number of undergraduate programmes as well as leading teaching and assessment across many under- and postgraduate modules.