Meet the Speakers - ASM 2024
We have great pleasure in introducing our speakers for the Annual Scientific Meeting for 2024. Please find out about them below.
Dr Fiona Donald President Royal College of Anaesthetists
Fiona Donald is the President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and a consultant anaesthetist at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. She trained in anaesthesia in Severn, Oxford and Geneva and took up her consultant post in 1997. Her main area of clinical and research interest is obstetric anaesthesia.
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Fiona has been involved in education and training for many years having been a College Tutor, Educational Supervisor, Chair and Education Lead of the Board of the Bristol School of Anaesthesia. She was an FRCA examiner from 2009 to 2021 and chair of the Final FRCA.
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Fiona was elected to Council of the RCoA in 2016 and became President in 2021. She will leave this post in September this year.
Dr Nancy Redfern
Consultant Anaesthetist
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Nancy is a consultant Anaesthetist in Newcastle upon Tyne, with interests in obstetric and neuroanaesthesia. Her long-term non-clinical interests include staff wellbeing, fatigue, mentorship, education, and workforce. As Honorary Membership Secretary and Vice President of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland Nancy established mentoring at the Association and started their work on fatigue. Prior to this she developed a system to support and manage doctors who became ill or who faced performance problems, as Associate Dean managing flexible training. Nancy co-lead mentor development at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and contributed to the North East local mentoring service, helping people manage difficulties and achieve their full potential. Nancy co-chairs the national joint fatigue, working group, where they work to improve understanding and management of work-related fatigue. Nancy also co-chairs the Workforce, Working conditions and Welfare group of the European Board, where we have done surveys on the impacts of fatigue on trainee and consultant anaesthetists throughout Europe. Because of this work she also advises the European Patient Safety Foundation who have a major European project on fatigue risk management in healthcare.
Professor Louise Younie
Queen Mary University of London
Louise Younie is a General Practitioner and Professor of Medical Education at Queen Mary University of London where she leads on faculty development, innovation and flourishing. She has extensive experience with creative enquiry methodologies in medical education for humanising medicine, professional identity formation and human flourishing. She is co-chair of the Royal College of GPs Creative Health Special Interest Group (SIG).
She holds a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and has recently been awarded a National Teaching Fellow in recognition of this work (2022).
Dr Mary Doherty
Dr Mary Doherty is a Consultant Anaesthetist in Ireland and Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University College Dublin. Diagnosed as autistic over 10 years ago, she is parent to two neurodivergent young people. Her research interests focus on autism and healthcare, including both the needs of autistic people accessing services and autistic healthcare providers. She is founder of Autistic Doctors International, and author of the Autistic SPACE framework.
Dr Emily Simpson
Dr Emily Simpson is a Consultant in Anaesthesia at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford and previously worked in Intensive Care for 13 years. She cares greatly about her speciality and has been devoted to education and training since early in her career, holding posts of Associate Director of Medical Education, College Tutor and Faculty Tutor for Intensive Care Medicine. She designed, directed, and delivered several postgraduate simulation courses at the Anglia Ruskin University which have run since 2009 and is now imbedded and funded in the School of Anaesthesia’s training programme.
Regionally, she held NHS England posts as Training Programme Director for Core & ACCS trainees, Training Programme Director for Higher Specialist Trainees and is currently the Deputy Head of School for East of England School of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine. She was the Deputy Regional Advisor and is currently serving her first term as Regional Advisor for Anaesthesia in East of England on behalf of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Nationally, Dr Simpson is in her twelfth year as Primary FRCA Examiner at the Royal College of Anaesthetists. During this tenure she held the position of Simulation Lead for examinations followed by her appointment as Chair of the Primary FRCA OSCE Exam. Here she immediately faced the huge challenge of constructing and delivering a successful virtual national OSCE exam during the pandemic. Last year she was appointed as the first female Chair of the Primary FRCA Examinations of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Dr Simpson was a foundation faculty member of the successful international postgraduate MMED anaesthetic training programme in Zambia, which has been running since 2010. The programme was a joint project of the Tropical Health Education Trust, the Department for International Development and the University of Zambia School of Medicine. Dr Simpson developed the initial assessment and examinations framework and delivered the examinations annually until the local faculty and graduates could sustain the programme. An additional opportunity arose to involve UK trainees in the programme which led to the development of the ZADP programme overseen by the Global Partnerships division of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
To underpin these educational roles, she obtained a further qualification in medical education at the University of Dundee.
Dr Sekina Bakare
Dr Bakare, an Advanced Trainee in Intensive Care Medicine, and Anaesthesia in Northwest London, is committed to advancing healthcare equity. Graduating with Honours from the University of Bristol, she started her career in the West Country before moving to London for specialist training. As the incoming chair of the Trainee Advisory Group of the Intensive Care Society, she actively contributes to the society's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group and serves as the EDI lead on the Editorial Board for GPCISv3. Driven by a profound passion for advancing Equity in Healthcare and Medical Education, her clinical interests include Major General Surgery and Transfer Medicine.
Dr Amarjeet Patil Consultant Anaesthetist Manchester University Hospitals
Dr Patil is a highly experienced and accomplished consultant anaesthetist based in Manchester, UK, with an impressive professional journey spanning over 18 years. His expertise in anaesthesia and intensive care has been honed through 12 years of comprehensive training, encompassing 7 years in India and 5 in the United Kingdom. In addition, he has also served as an assistant professor and specialist anaesthetist for 4 years overseas.
Dr Patil’s primary focus lies in regional anaesthesia and Total Intravenous Anaesthesia (TIVA), areas where he has demonstrated exceptional skill and commitment. He holds a prominent position as a committee member for the national Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia (SIVA), showcasing his dedication to advancing the standards and practices within the field on a national level.
Within the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK, Dr. Amarjeet Patil serves as the Locally Employed Doctor’s (LEDs) lead at one of the MFT sites. Additionally, he holds the esteemed role of CESR Programme Director for the trust. His responsibilities in this capacity include overseeing the CESR programme, highlighting his commitment to the professional development and accreditation of his colleagues. Dr. Patil actively participates in LED and CESR workshops, contributing to the continuous improvement of education and training programs.
Notably, Dr. Patil is the Deputy Chair of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) portfolio committee and also acting as an assessor for equivalence applications. These roles underscore his dedication to maintaining the highest standards within the anaesthesiology profession.
In the realm of research, Dr. Amarjeet Patil has made significant contributions through involvement in national projects, often taking the lead as Principal Investigator (PI). His commitment to advancing medical knowledge and improving patient outcomes is evident in his multifaceted role as a clinician, educator, and researcher.
Dr Johnny Groome MBBS BSc FRCA
The Royal London Hospital
Dr Groome is a Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia at The Royal London Hospital
Subspecialising in paediatric anaesthesia Jonny is concerned about the future of the patients he serves, and the impact healthcare and other industries are having on our planet. 7 years ago, he set up The Greener Anaesthesia & Sustainability Project (GASP), a national multidisciplinary group working to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare in the UK and beyond. Over time GASP has grown to a be group of over eighty dedicated volunteers from all over the world working out of four domains; education, improvement, advocacy, and consulting.
In 2021 GASP were voted the Environmental Sustainability and Climate Action Team of the Year at the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards. The GASP website acts as a great starting point for people to learn about the health impacts of the climate crisis and what we can do to mitigate them. Jonny is the Associate Medical Lead for Sustainability at Nuffield Health, the UKs largest healthcare charity. He has extensive experience working alongside healthcare organisations, suppliers, professional bodies, and the building industry helping them towards a future of net zero emissions. To learn more about GASP and sustainable healthcare go to https://www.ghasp.org.uk/
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What others say: “GASP provides an example of how young doctors can take the lead in promoting sustainable healthcare. This volunteer group has ambition and catalysed carbon reducing action across a wide spectrum of health services, which left us amazed.” – BMJ Awards Judging Panel 2021.
ProfessorTham Nimal Raj
BSc(Hon) MBChB MSc DMI DMU DMP MRCGP FRSH CIDC AcCert MFFP MCMIMRCME Phd(Hon)
Professor Tham Nimal Raj is a highly experienced, senior NHS General Practitioner and managing partner at East Tilbury Medical. He is the Managing Director of the Harley Street Medical Consultants (national & international) as well as the Director of Community Medical Diagnostics Ultrasound Services. He is Provost of New Vision University. He has held various positions on the NHS’s Clinical Commissioning Groups board since its inception in 2011, including Interim Accountable Officer and Chief Clinical Officer.
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He is the Managing Director of the Essex Medical Society and is a former council member of the British Medical Association (BMA). In addition, he is provost and professor emeritus for St Martinus University Medical School.
Prof Nimal-Raj has had several short textbooks published, including a teaching book on anatomy and one about interesting cases in ultrasound. He has been a guest speaker at international conferences and is establishing charity work from family funds.