Professor Nick Linker was the National Clinical Director for Heart Disease for NHS England (2019-2024). He led on the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan for heart disease, the development of heart disease policy for Specialised Commissioning, and was Chair of the Cardiac Services Clinical Reference Group. He was Clinical lead for the Cardiac Transformation Programme and has responsibility for the national cardiac registries.

He trained in Manchester Royal Infirmary and St George’s Hospital, London and was appointed as a consultant cardiologist with an interest in cardiac electrophysiology at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 1998 and Honorary Professor at Teesside University in 2021. His clinical practice focused on arrhythmia and syncope management and cardiac implantable electronic devices.

Professor Linker was President of the British Heart Rhythm Society and Honorary Secretary of the British Cardiovascular Society. He was integral in developing UK standards for cardiac implantable electronic devices, electrophysiology and lead extraction and developed guidelines on MR scanning in patients with cardiac devices, peri-operative management of cardiac devices and end of life care pathways for cardiac device patients.