Health charity Asthma + Lung UK has appointed Sarah Sleet as its next chief executive.

She joins after five years leading Crohn’s & Colitis UK and replaces Sarah Woolnough, who joined The King’s Fund as its new chief executive in December.

Sleet has also spent 13 years heading Coeliac UK and is a former director of strategy and communications for the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman.

Her other previous roles have included director of communications at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and a director of the Countryside Agency.

“I am really excited to start working with Sarah so we can build on the charity’s legacy of campaigning, outstanding care, and inspiring research,” said Asthma + Lung UK’s chair Tamara Ingram.

“She comes to Asthma + Lung UK with an impressive breadth of experience across the charity sector and health and patient groups, including government advisory, research, and healthcare professional bodies.

“Sarah’s experience of fighting for better diagnosis and raising awareness of little understood, and sometimes stigmatised conditions, will help transform the lives of people battling with breathlessness.”

Sleet added: “I look forward to playing a pivotal role in transforming the nation’s lung health. Lung disease is the third biggest killer in this country, but it isn’t taken seriously enough - and that needs to change.

“With an election looming, now is the perfect time to push for better for the millions of people living with a lung condition in this country.”

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