Nicola Redfern
UK General Manager
Nicola Redfern is UK General Manager at bluebird bio.
Based at the company’s UK headquarters in Basingstoke, Nicola (Nicki) is responsible for leading the UK operation. In this role she is building the UK team, managing the country strategy and is a core member of the EU management team for bluebird. She is accountable for the safe and compliant delivery of our innovations to UK patients and will oversee the organisation’s growth, with some exciting milestones ahead. Nicola first joined the company in 2017 as UK Director of Access, Value and Evidence Strategy before being appointed General Manager in November 2018.
For Nicola, patients are always at the forefront of her thinking – giving an individual patient and their family a choice to embrace new treatment options is a strong motivating force. This lies at the heart of her decision to join bluebird bio, to focus on rare diseases (and in the future, cancer) and to make a difference to people’s lives when they are faced with long term rare genetic conditions.
Nicola values engaging with patient organisations, health care professionals, members of the wider NHS, HTA bodies, the media and policy stakeholders. She is keen to collaborate with these relevant stakeholders and to develop and maintain an open and transparent relationship between them and bluebird bio.
Prior to joining bluebird bio, Nicola has spent 30 years working in the UK pharmaceutical sector for multiple companies. She has held multiple positions, in sales, marketing, R&D and most recently in market access, specialising in rare diseases and cancer.
Nicola holds a degree in Psychology, where she focused on people’s attitudes to death and dying and was a member of Martin House children’s hospice multidisciplinary care team before joining industry. She remains committed to the children’s hospice concept, appreciating the benefits they deliver for families, and alongside her day job is a trustee of Naomi House and Jacks place hospices for children and young people in the Wessex region.
Nicola is enthusiastic about developing and shaping a strong bluebird team in the UK to support the growing business, and hopes all current and future employees have fun whilst with the organization, truly live the bluebird values, fly high and have their own bluebird days.