Professor Mike Thomas took up the role of Chair of the Trust Board at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in December 2025. As well as this, he also continues to serve as the Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Lancashire and South Cumbria Provider Collaborative Board.
Mike has worked in academia and the health sector for nearly 40-years in a variety of senior academic roles, including Vice-Chancellor, also holding various professional chairs across four universities. Prior to entering academia, he served in the Royal Navy, working for five years in HM Submarines before employment in the engineering sector and then qualifying as a mental health nurse and later a psychological therapist. He remains research active and a practising clinical psychotherapist. For many years he carried out clinical research to enhance mental health support for individuals who experience severe and enduring eating disorders whilst, simultaneously, over the last fifteen years he has been working with research colleagues across the UK investigating issues that impact on compassionate leadership in both the public and private sectors. He has written three books and numerous articles and chapters on these two subjects and has further work in the pipeline.
Mike is committed to the voluntary, charity and public sector and has been continuously involved in charitable work for his whole working life. He is currently serving as Chair of Making Space, a national mental health charity and he co-founded the College for Military Veterans and the Emergency Services. More recently, Mike has been providing an advisory service to public and commercial sector organisations supporting staff engagement projects, cultural change programmes and strategies for enhancing good governance.