Editor
Andrew Duncombe
Following undergraduate and postgraduate training in Oxford and London, Dr Andrew Duncombe has been an NHS consultant and honorary senior clinical lecturer in haematology specialising in blood cancers in Southampton since 1994. As lead consultant in clinical haematology at University Hospital Southampton from 1995 to 2001, he led the successful bid for Southampton to be the Wessex Regional centre for blood and bone marrow transplantation (BMT). His clinical experience spans 12 different hospitals, including in Australasia. He is a keen educator and has taught physicians, GPs, allied health professionals and patients. Andrew has been an investigator in more than 40 clinical trials and has championed their value in improving patient choices and outcomes. He has co-authored national guidelines with National Cancer Research Institute subgroups and the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Group. Andrew’s continuing research interests include the epidemiology of blood cancers and clinical response prediction in severe COVID. He is excited by the diverse range of new diagnostic and therapeutic options that will transform future healthcare and passionate about expanding access to health improvements for all. Recently he has left his main clinical practice to concentrate on this academic work.
Immediate past editor
Kevin Fox
Following undergraduate medical studies in Cambridge and London, Dr Kevin Fox trained in medicine and cardiology in London and the South East of England.
Since 2004 he has been a consultant cardiologist based at Imperial College where he led the department between 2011 and 2017.
Beyond his clinical work he has served as president of the British Society of Echocardiography, vice president of the British Cardiovascular Society and holds offices within the European Society of Cardiology. His areas of interest include cardiac imaging and heart failure, certification and trainee examinations for cardiology healthcare professionals, quality assurance, and the future of healthcare services.
Associate editors
Anmol Arora
Anmol Arora is an academic foundation doctor at Cambridge University with an intercalated degree in management studies from the Cambridge Judge Business School. His research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in healthcare, including the application of generative models to create synthetic patient data. He holds honorary research affiliations with NHS England and Improvement and Moorfields Eye Hospital, London. His previous research experience includes work with Yale University School of Medicine, Yale University School of Public Health, University College London, Cambridge University Institute of Public Health as well as leading roles in national research collaboratives.
Anmol sits on the HDR UK Impact Committee and is also a public member of several NIHR panels, including the Artificial Intelligence in Health and Care Award Panel, as well as being a member of the Information Commissioner’s Office Technology Advisory Pool. He has presented his research at international conferences, universities and to industry.
Ravina Barrett
Ravina Barrett holds a master of pharmacy degree from the University of Portsmouth and has 17 years’ experience within community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and academia.
Ravina is senior lecturer in pharmacy practice and course leader for the MSc in clinical pharmacy at the University of Brighton, developing teaching, scholarship and research into the safe and effective use of medicines and leading a team of 10 MSc academics.
Ravina has extensive experience in clinical trials and ethics, leading compliant delivery of over 200 concurrent trials at Southampton; she led the UK ethical review of the remdesivir trial. She is an NHS Research Ethics Committees (REC) expert member and chair and has experience reviewing FDA and EMA regulatory documents.
Ravina holds a masters in Finance from Grenoble Ecole de Management and is currently undertaking a PhD entitled ‘Application of pharmaco-epidemiological methods to improve patient care in primary care settings’ at the University of Reading.
Suzie Bailey
Suzie Bailey is the director of Leadership and Organisational Development team at The King’s Fund. She is passionate about leadership and organisational development, creating enabling cultures and improving the quality of care.
Suzie joined the NHS in 1992 after graduating from the London School of Economics and following the NHS management training programme, she held operational roles in acute, community and mental healthcare in England. Suzie is a Health Foundation Generation Q Fellow with an MSc in Leadership for Quality Improvement from Ashridge Business School.
At Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, she led a core team to create the organisation-wide improvement programme and helped nurture an innovative partnership with the Dartmouth Institute in Massachusetts, to create the Sheffield Microsystem Coaching Academy to develop staff capability for improvement across Sheffield and beyond.
Working in a national role at the healthcare regulator NHS Improvement, she led a cross-organisational team with 13 national partner agencies to design the first national strategic framework for improvement and leadership development in England (2016). She also initiated a major programme on culture and leadership with Professor Michael West from The King’s Fund; the NHS partnership with the Virginia Mason Institute and a range of leadership, quality improvement and talent management programmes across England; including an aspiring COO programme to include quality improvement and an internship for women leaders in the NHS to gain experience in the private sector.
Kate Bascombe
Kate is a founding UK physician associate (PA), with demonstrated leadership in both clinical and academic fields. As course director for the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) PA MSc, a national examiner, external examiner, chief examiner for OSCEs and student experience lead she is passionate about high training standards to uphold patient safety and professional identity.
Kate graduated from the University of Edinburgh with BSc Hons. in physiology. During this time, she was awarded sponsorship from the Wellcome Trust and the Physiological Society to carry out research into the underlying genetics of schizophrenia, the results of which were published in the Journal of Neuroscience. She undertook her PA training at St George’s UoL, qualifying in 2011. Since then she has worked clinically across primary and secondary care in medical and surgical fields.
Alongside her clinical career, Kate has represented the PA profession in leadership positions within the national body, including serving as vice president of the Shadow Board during the transition from UKAPA to the Faculty of PAs at the RCP. Kate is co-author of a chapter in a leading USA physician assistant textbook, Physician assistant: a guide to clinical practice. She has given lectures and presented posters at national conferences and judged the poster competition at the National PA Annual conference.
Laura Chenevert
Laura Chenevert is a physician assistant (PA) currently working at Columbia University Medical Center in the department of emergency medicine. She trained as a PA in the USA, graduating from Arcadia University in 2008 with an MMS in Physician Assistant Studies. Over the past 12 years, she has worked in a variety of clinical specialties and locations. Laura has worked in New York City for over half of her career and spent almost 5 years working for NHS Grampian. In addition, she was as medical volunteer in Sudan and Kenya for 1 year which prompted her to complete an MPH degree at New York University in 2014.
While working as a PA in Aberdeen, Laura was an advocate for the profession. She was a representative for primary care on the NHS Grampian physician associate board and a member of the Research and Development Committee for the Faculty of Physician Associates.
Her clinical background is primarily in emergency medicine and primary care with research interests in health system operations and quality improvement initiatives for patient care.
Julia Ellis
Julia Ellis is one of the journal's lay representatives, with responsibility for putting forward the patient and carer viewpoint
Julia has more than 18 years’ experience working in the statutory and voluntary sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of patients and carers through engagement, advocacy, shaping policy and service design. Formerly an advertising copywriter, she decided to take her career in a very different direction following her mother’s traumatic and untimely death from MRSA after fracturing her hip – an experience, she discovered, that was becoming increasingly common at the time. Determined to ‘make a difference’ using her skills as a writer and her passion for social justice, she took up a post at the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health as knowledge manager and regional PPI and governance lead, where she supported patient forums to vocalise issues of concern and bring them to the attention of NHS decision-makers.
From there, Julia moved into the voluntary sector, and was recruited by Carers Trust to manage the DH-funded Supporting Carers in Primary Care Programme in partnership with the Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Nursing, the Queens Nursing Institute, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Carers UK. Since leaving Carers Trust in 2015, Julia has continued to champion the needs of patients and carers as key partners in the design and delivery of services, both as a freelance consultant and a volunteer.
An alumnus of NHS England’s School for Change Agents, a TED talk enthusiast and a passionate, lifelong learner, she is an active member of the RCP’s Patient and Carer Network and sits on the Falls and Fragility Fractures Audit Programme’s Patient Panel.
Linford Fernandes
Linford Fernandes is a specialty trainee in neurology in Leeds. He completed his undergraduate medical training in Sheffield in 2013 followed by core medical training across a number of trusts in Yorkshire.
Linford is currently taking time out of training to study for a research MD in multiple sclerosis at the University of Leeds. As the RCP trainee representative for Yorkshire, he has worked with the regional and national college committees to represent the views of medical trainees and is particularly interested in improving access to research for doctors at all levels of training.
Kartik Kumar
Dr Kartik Kumar is a specialty trainee in respiratory medicine and general internal medicine in North West London. He completed his preclinical medical studies at Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge and his clinical medical studies at University College London. Following an academic foundation programme with a public health theme and core medical training in North Central London, he was appointed as an NIHR academic clinical fellow in respiratory medicine in North West London. During this time, he undertook an MSc in health policy at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London.
Kartik’s clinical research interests are in respiratory infections and mycobacterial disease. He was appointed to the Imperial 4i Clinician Scientist Training Scheme and is pursuing a PhD in non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London.
Kartik is a trainee representative on committees at the Royal College of Physicians and British Thoracic Society. He has a particular interest in evidence-based health policymaking, service delivery and performance evaluation.
Tom Lawton
Professor Tom Lawton MBE is a consultant in critical care at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he is head of clinical artificial intelligence, and honorary visiting professor in computer science at the University of York. He also works with routine data as clinical director of the Connected Bradford linked dataset and is head of clinical analytics at the Improvement Academy. He has interests in the use of routinely collected data, simulation modelling and safety in artificial intelligence, as well as in exercise physiology as a long-distance triathlete.
Shafi Malik
Dr Shafi Malik is a transplant nephrologist and the medical lead for transplantation at University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire. He completed his nephrology training in the UK and did a renal transplant fellowship at University of Toronto. He has an interest in clinical epidemiology and clinical research within transplantation and has completed clinical research and a clinical epidemiology training programme from Harvard Medical School. He is a clinician teacher and is involved in organising courses and question writing for the Royal College of Physicians, and serves as an examiner for the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board and Warwick Medical School. Current research interests include health outcomes-based research, promotion of living donation in ethnic minorities, cognition in transplant recipients and live donor outcomes among others. Shafi has ongoing collaboration with other researchers and has successfully received grants from commercial and charity organisations. He is an active community member of the UK Emergency Medical Team.
Linda Milnes
Dr Linda Milnes is an associate professor in children and young people’s nursing at the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds. Linda was an adult and children's nurse for 15 years before commencing her academic career at the University of Manchester. She has an MPhil and PhD in Nursing, the latter funded by an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship.
Linda’s main teaching and research areas of expertise are children/young people with long-term conditions and their families, patient and parent/carer experiences of living with long-term conditions, self-care support and self-management interventions in healthcare across conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, ADHD and young people’s participation in consultations. Linda has published in peer reviewed journals and supervises PhD students including an NIHR clinical doctoral fellow and an Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research funded studentship.
Tom Oates
Dr Tom Oates is a consultant physician in nephrology and general internal medicine at the Royal London Hospital, and the specialty lead for nephrology at the North Thames Genomics Laboratory Hub. He was previously a Chain-Florey fellow of the Medical Research Council at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, and an NIHR clinical lecturer at University College London.
He has broad interests in clinical nephrology and internal medicine, and specific interests in both prediction modelling and ensuring relevant genomic testing becomes a mainstream medical practice.
Rose Penfold
Rose Penfold is an academic clinical fellow in geriatric medicine, working at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation trust. After completing her medical degree at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and foundation medical training in London, she undertook a Master of Public Health at Harvard University, focusing on health policy. She aspires to apply her developing research interests in frailty, falls and physical activity to inform the ways in which we provide and deliver healthcare for older people in the UK.
During her time as a national medical director’s clinical fellow at NHS England & Improvement in 2019, she co-founded Women Speakers in Healthcare, a grassroots, trainee-led organisation committed to addressing gender-based disparities across health and social care. She is a passionate advocate for trainee representation within national organisations and sits on trainee committees for the Royal College of Physicians and the British Geriatrics Society.
Imran Rafi
Dr Imran Rafi, who is an experienced GP principal, is a nationally elected RCGP Council member and a member of the RCGP Committee of Medical Ethics. From 2009-2018 he was chair/joint medical director of the RCGP Clinical Innovation and Research Centre, overseeing research, education, quality improvement projects and clinical priority projects, working with passionate clinical champions based in general practice. For 6 years he was honorary secretary of the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board and is a joint chair for a judging panel for the RCGP Research Paper of the Year.
Imran is a reader in primary care and genomics at St George’s, University of London and has a long-held interest in genomics relevant to general practice. Current representative roles include RCGP clinical champion in genomics and RCGP GENOMIC champion within the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Genomics Professional Partnerships Group.
He has a PhD in medical oncology from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an MSc in public health medicine from the University of London and an MSt in genomics from the University of Cambridge. Before entering medicine, he completed a BSc degree in computer sciences and in an alternative life might now be living in Silicon Valley!
Stuart Rosen
Professor Stuart Rosen is a consultant cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and London Northwest Hospitals, with expertise in heart failure, syncope and difficult hypertension, and professor of practice (cardiology) at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London. He received his medical undergraduate education at Pembroke College, Cambridge and at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School. He trained at Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary’s Hospitals and he also spent several years in cardiovascular research, funded by the Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation. He is a fellow of the RCP, the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the Heart Failure Association of the ESC and the International Cardio-Oncology Society. He is currently president of the British Cardio-Oncology Society and on the Executive Committee of the Association of Physicians.
Besides his teaching and research interests, Stuart had a pivotal role in setting up the UK’s first cardio-oncology unit, at the Royal Brompton Hospital, to provide bespoke care for patients at risk of cardiotoxicity or who have developed cardiac problems as a consequence of their anti-cancer treatment. The unit was awarded gold status in 2021 by the International Cardio-Oncology Society.
Sarah Spain
Sarah Spain is one of the journal's lay representatives, with responsibility for putting forward the patient and carer viewpoint.
After an early career in multinational advertising agencies, Sarah now works as a sociologist at Oxford Brookes University and has spent the last two decades as a lay voice on a number of clinical and patient committees, inclduing joining the PCN of the RCP in 2013. She has a particular interest in in health inequalities, the doctor-patient relationship and the experience of long term health conditions.
She divides her time between Gloucestershire and the Isle of Harris.
Chris Subbe
Dr Chris Subbe is a consultant physician working in acute medicine and as an improvement science fellow for the Health Foundation. He also lectures at Bangor University.
Chris trained in the UK and Germany and has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières in Angola. His group published the first peer reviewed paper on early warning scores and his current research focuses on practical ways to improve safety for patients at risk of catastrophic deterioration on general wards with ‘Patient Powered Safety’ (www.facebook.com/PatientPoweredSafety/).
Chris loves living on Anglesey in the North of Wales.
Editorial staff
Director of communications, policy and research Claire Burroughs
Head of corporate communications and publishing Natalie Wilder
Managing editor Hannah Cole
For editorial queries, please contact fhj@rcplondon.ac.uk
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