Committee B Members

Dr Amanda Adler MD, PhD, FRCP
Chair
Consultant Physician, Addenbrooke's Hospital

Dr Amanda Adler trained in economics, medicine and epidemiology and is a consultant physician with an interest in diabetes at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Other roles include honorary clinical epidemiologist in the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Sciences, Cambridge and research associate, Diabetes Trials Unit, Oxford. Previous roles include Clinical Epidemiologist, UK Prospective Diabetes Study, advisor, UK National Screening Committee, and physician, University of Washington, Seattle. She chaired the NICE committee addressing Newer Agents for Blood Glucose Control in Type 2 Diabetes.

Professor Keith Abrams
Professor of Medical Statistics, University of Leicester

Keith Abrams is Professor of Medical Statistics, in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester, having previously held appointments at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London. He obtained a BSc in Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics from the University of Warwick, a MSc in Medical Statistics from the University of Leicester, and a PhD in Medical Statistics from the University of Liverpool. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and a Chartered Statistician. His research interests are primarily concerned with the development and application of Bayesian methods in biomedical research and healthcare evaluation, and in particular their application to clinical trials, meta-analysis & evidence synthesis, and economic evaluation & decision modelling. He has been extensively involved with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme since its inception, and is currently a member of the NIHR HTA Clinical Evaluation and Trials Committee and a NIHR Senior Investigator. He has published widely in both substantive and methodological areas, and co-authored books on Methods for Meta-Analysis in Medical Research and Bayesian Approaches to Clinical Trials and Healthcare Evaluation, in addition to co-editing one of the first texts on Methods for Evidence-based Healthcare.

Dr Ray Armstong FRCP
Consultant Rheumatologist, Southampton General Hospital

Ray Armstrong was appointed Consultant Rheumatologist to Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust in 1985 and has been Lead Clinician for the specialty since 1998. Since 2001 he has worked for the National Library for Health and is now Clinical Lead for the Musculoskeletal and Trauma & Orthopaedics Specialist Collections of NHS Evidence. He has an interest in medical informatics and eLearning and is a member of the Arthritis Research Campaign Education Strategy Committee. He is an elected Council Member of the UK Council for Health Informatics Professions. He has served on Council and the Education & Training Committee of the British Society for Rheumatology.

Dr Jeff Aronson
Reader in Clinical Pharmacology, University Department of Primary Health Care, University of Oxford

Dr Aronson is Reader in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, where he does acute medical takes and teaches the clinical students general medicine and practical drug therapy and prescribing. His research interests include all aspects of clinical pharmacology, especially adverse drug reactions and interactions and monitoring therapeutic interventions. He is President of the British Pharmacological Society, a member of the Formulary Committees of the British National Formulary and the British National Formulary for Children, Chairman of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission's Expert Advisory Group on Nomenclature, Editor-in-Chief of Meyler's Side Effects of Drugs -- The International Encyclopedia of Adverse Drug Reactions and Interactions (15th edition, 2006) and of its annual update volumes (Side Effects of DrugsAnnuals), co-editor (with Paul Glasziou and Les Irwig) of Evidence-Based Monitoring: From Principles to Practice (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), and co-author of The Oxford Textbook of Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Therapy (3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2002) and of The Oxford Handbook of Practical Drug Therapy (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Dr Peter Barry MB ChB FRCPI FRCPCH PhD
Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care, University Hospitals of Leicester and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Leicester

Peter Barry is currently working as a consultant in the combined children's intensive care unit in Leicester. He graduated from Dundee University in 1984 and has trained in Paediatrics since then, including posts in Birmingham, Nottingham, Vancouver, Leicester and Melbourne. He is Head of the Postgraduate School of Infant and Child Health in the East Midlands Deanery (South Centre), and sits on the intensive care specialist advisory committee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. His research interests are in Paediatric Intensive Care, Inhalational Drug Delivery and Altitude Medicine, particularly altitude related cough. Outside of the work setting, he plays soccer badly and skis with more determination than skill, but has an enjoyable time doing both.

Dr Michael J. Boscoe MB.BS (LOND), FRCA
Consultant Cardiothoracic Anaesthetist, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Boscoe qualified in 1974 and has been a consultant anaesthetist since 1985. His special interests include cardiothoracic transplantation, drugs in cardiovascular medicine and novel interventional devices. He also has an interest in audit and risk management in surgery.

Professor John Cairns
Professor of Health Economics Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

John Cairns is a graduate in Economics of the Universities of Aberdeen and York. He is currently Professor of Health Economics in the department of Public Health and Policy, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a member of the Health Technology Assessment Commissioning Board, the Scottish Medicines Consortium and Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs.

Dr Mark Chakravarty, BSc (Hons) MBChB Dip. BA
Director External Relations Europe & International, P&G Health & Wellbeing

Mark holds a degree in Pharmacology and qualified in Medicine at the University of Manchester, UK, in 1995. He then held various hospital appointments in clinical medicine before taking a joint Medical Adviser post with the NHS Executive in the North West and the Post-Graduate Medical Deanery in Manchester. During this time Mark was the Chairman of the Northwest Junior Doctors Committee, executive member of the National Junior Doctors Committee of the British Medical Association (BMA), and a national negotiator for Junior Doctors. He then studied business at Manchester Business School before joining Procter & Gamble as a Medical Advisor for Cardiology, in 1999. His interest in health care systems and medical politics led him to his position as UK Head of Government Affairs & Health Policy for P&G Pharmaceuticals.

In 2003, Mark established the European External Relations function for P&G Pharmaceuticals & Personal Health. Currently, Mark leads the External Relations function for P&G's Health & Wellbeing businesses in Europe & International. Mark's interests include health communication, health outcomes, integrated care and the role of the consumer in health care. Mark is a member of the Public Relations and Economic Committee of the Association of the European Self-Medication Industry (AESGP) and a member of the Communication & Partnership Priority Action Team of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations (EFPIA). Mark is married with two children and in his free time enjoys travel, reading, wine, music and boating.

Professor Fergus Gleeson
Consultant Radiologist, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust

Fergus Gleeson has been a Consultant Radiologist in Oxford since 1992 with subspecialty interests in Thoracic Radiology and Oncology. He has been Chairman of Radiology at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, and was previously responsible for Clinical Governance. He has research interests in pleural disease and nuclear medicine.

Mrs Eleanor Grey MA Camb
Lay member

Eleanor Grey is a vice chair of the Social Care Research Ethics Committee and former member of an NHS multi-centre research ethics committee. She chaired independent reviews of NHS complaints and has contributed to several national reviews of dental services. Her background includes undertaking research or working for funding organizations in health services, social care and education.

Mr Sanjay Gupta SROT, MSc (Gerontology), Dip OT
YPD Service Case Manager, Southwark Health and Social Care, Southwark PCT

Sanjay qualified in Occupational therapy from India in 1986. He practiced Occupational therapy in Delhi, India before immigrating to England in 1989.Since then he has held various NHS hospital appointments in Occupational therapy in UK. His main areas of interest are complex stroke rehabilitation and health service delivery. In 1997 King's College, University of London, awarded him a Masters degree in Gerontology. Since last year he has moved into specialist case management and commissioning for patients requiring complex rehabilitation following brain injury. He is also an approved assessor for NHS continuing healthcare. Prior to 2007, he worked for several years as a medical directorate service manager at Basildon and Thurrock NHS hospitals foundation trust. He has actively participated in the national sentinel stroke audits carried out by the Royal College of Physicians.

Dr Neil Iosson MB BChir, MA, MRCP, MRCGP, DipIMC, Cert Comp & ICT
General Practitioner

Neil Iosson is a full-time General Practitioner working at practices in the Brighton and Chichester area. He has interests in evidence-based medicine, pre-hospital emergency care and health infomatics. He also works as a volunteer for BASICS and St John Ambulance.

Dr Rosa Legood
Lecturer, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Dr Rosa Legood is a lecturer in decision modelling at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her background is in health economics and modellng and she holds a DPhil in Public Health from the University of Oxford. Her main areas of research relate to modelling screening programmes and she has conducted a large number of studies on cervical cancer in both developed and developing countries. She is particularly interested in the link between cost-effectiveness modelling and policy making as well as methodological work on development of complex models such as model calibration.

Mr Terry Lewis
Lay member

PCT Non-Executive Director for two terms. Department of Health, Care Services and Health and Care Partnerships Directorates Non-Executive Directory. Deputy Chair, Commission to Review Mental Health Services in the North West.
CSCI MH Improvement Board; NICE, Technologies Appraisal Committee, NICE Public Health Programme Development Group; NPSA, Expert Advisory Group on the prioritisation of the Agency's work programme; Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health Criminal Justice Programme, DH Offender MH Sub-Programme Board and Criminal Justice Expert Reference Group; DH Our Heath, Our Care, Our Say White Paper Task Group; NIMHE Primary Care Programme Board, Co-chair National Expert by Experience Board, Co-chair NIMHE Implementation Board to give effect to the recommendations of the Health and Social Care Advisory Service to develop user and carer involvement in the work of the Institute. Member Local Research Ethics Committee.

School Governor for 25 years. Member Management Committee of local CAB.

Professor Ruairidh Milne MB BS FFPH
NETSCC, University of Southampton

Ruairidh Milne trained in public health medicine and worked in Oxford before moving to Southampton to work for the NHS Health Technology Assessment programme. His main interest is in helping patients, clinicians and managers to make better informed decisions about the care that patients receive. He is now Director of External Relations for the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre at the University of Southampton.

Dr Rubin Minhas MB ChB
General Practitioner and Clinical Director, BMJ Evidence Centre

Rubin is a general practitioner in an urban practice in a relatively deprived ward within the Medway Towns in Kent and he is also Clinical Director at the BMJ Evidence Centre, an international centre that undertakes clinical and comparative effectiveness. He has an active interest in the primary care management of cardiovascular disease and has published over 15 peer reviewed publications and contributed to the development of national clinical guidelines for post myocardial infarction, primary and secondary prevention and Familial Hypercholesterolemia. He is Regional Patron of the South Asian Health Foundation; a charity that promotes education and research into ethnic minority health needs. Rubin was a 2008 Harkness Fellow in Healthcare Policy and Practice, with research interests in healthcare quality undertaken at the RAND Corporation and UCLA, California. He is married and has two children.

Dr P Norrie PhD, MSc, RN
Principal Lecturer, De Montfort University, Leicester

Peter Norrie has a background in biological sciences and worked in the NHS as a critical care nurse for 10 years. He is currently employed as a Principal Lecturer in Nursing and Senior Research Fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester. The main focus of his research explores ways in which nursing education can be enhanced and how technology can be used to support nursing. Peter has a passion for quantitative research which has lead him to explore and teach aspects of evidence based practice to a range of nurses and other allied health practitioners.

Professor Stephen Palmer
Professor of Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics, University of York

Stephen Palmer is Deputy Director of the Team for Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment (TEEHTA) in the Centre for Health Economics, University of York. He has worked in applied economic evaluation for over 15 years and currently heads the programme of work within TEEHTA supporting the NICE Technology Appraisal process and is a lead member of the NICE Decision Support Unit. He has a specific interest in the use of decision analytic modelling and evidence synthesis for technology assessment.

Dr Sanjeev Patel BM DM FRCP
Consultant Physician & Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology

Sanjeev Patel is a Consultant Physician and Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology at Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals Trust and St George's University of London. His clinical duties include acute intaking medicine and rheumatology services with a special interest in bone diseases. He is Chair of the Medicines Management Committee of the Trust and Chair of the Rheumatology Speciality Advisory Committee to the Royal College of Physicians. His current research interests include the role of vitamin D in chronic diseases, and studies of secondary causes of osteoporosis and fractures, such as anorexia nervosa and chronic kidney disease.

Professor John Pounsford MD FRCP
Consultant Physician North Bristol NHS Trust
Clinical Director of Medicine (2000- 2010)

Previously Consultant Senior Lecturer in Medicine, University of Bristol.

Clinical Responsibilities:
Consultant Physician in Care of the Elderly with special responsibilities in Respiratory Medicine and Burns

Additional Responsibilities:
Chair HTA External Devices and Physical Therapies Panel
Past Chair HTA Therapeutics and Procedure Panel
Advisory Committee for Topic (NICE) Selection (Sift) Committee
Past Secondary Care Representative Bristol North PCT, Professional Executive Committee
Member HTA Prioritisation and Strategy Group

Dr Casey Quinn BCom MPhil PhD
Lecturer in Health Economics, Division of Primary Care, The University of Nottingham

Casey Quinn is a quantitative health economist and econometrician working since 2008 within the School for Community Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Prior to his current appointment he was a Visiting Professor of Economics at Lehigh University in the USA (2006-2008). His research is centred on cost-effectiveness analysis alongside clinical trials and complex interventions, as well as the microeconometrics of health and health inequalities.

Dr John Rodriguez, MA MB BChir MSc MRCP FFPH
Assistant Director of Public Health, NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent

John Rodriguez is an Assistant Director of Public Health for NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent. He is also the Kent and Medway Public Health Screening Lead for most of the National Screening Programmes. John is the Faculty Adviser for the South East Coast in Public Health and until recently was the Kent and Medway Educational Supervisor in Public Health. He is a Board member of the London School of Public Health. Previous posts include Director of Public Health and Consultant in Public Health Medicine (Evidence-Based Medicine). He has also held positions within Pfizer Global Research and Development, involving advice and documentation on risk, benefits and safety spanning early and late stages of drug development, regulatory and post marketing issues.

Mr Alun Roebuck NFESC
Consultant Nurse in Critical and Acute Care, United Lincolnshire NHS Trust

Alun Roebuck joined United Lincolnshire NHS Trust in 2009 as a Consultant Nurse in Critical and Acute Care and has special interests in cardiovascular disease and evidence based nursing. Prior to his appointment, he was a Consultant Nurse in Cardiology at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust. He is a Nurse Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and ex Treasurer of the British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care. He was a member of the NICE guideline development group for Clinical Guideline 94 - Acute Coronary Syndromes and has supported the National and Welsh Audit Offices in auditing the implementation on the English and Welsh National Services Frameworks for Coronary Heart Disease. He has also acted as a clinical advisor for the North East Ambulance Service and the North of England Cardiovascular Network.

Dr Florian Alexander Ruths MD MRCPsych PgDipCBT
Consultant Psychiatrist & Cognitive Therapist at the Maudsley Hospital London

Florian Ruths is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in South London. He has got a special interest in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and leads the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program at the Maudsley. His research and teaching interest is focused on the clinical applications of CBT and MBCT for anxiety disorders and depression.

Mr Navin Sewak MPharm, MRPharmS
Primary Care Pharmacist, NHS Hammersmith and Fulham

Navin qualified with a Masters in Pharmacy from the University of Bradford in 2003. He then completed three years as a Resident Pharmacist at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where he undertook rotations in all the major medical specialities.

He is currently a Primary Care Pharmacist at NHS Hammersmith and Fulham in northwest London. His work predominantly involves consulting with general practices, other healthcare professionals, and patients to improve the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of medicine-use across primary and secondary care. He is particularly involved in pioneering pharmacy-led primary care service initiatives.

Navin is completing a 2 year part-time MSc degree in the Economic Evaluation in Healthcare at City University in London. This period study of has provided him with the opportunity to evaluate case studies demonstrating the cost effectiveness of expanding the future role of pharmacists over a wide range of primary care services.

Mr Rod Smith
Director of Finance and Estates

Rod is the Finance Director of West Kent PCT and has over 24 years of finance and commissioning experience within the NHS.

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant through the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accounting (CIPFA), as well as having an MSc in Economic & Quantitative Methods of Healthcare (City University).

Mr Cliff Snelling MBA FIPSM
Lay member

Cliff (now retired) is the former County Emergency Planning Officer for Northamptonshire County Council. Responsible for the preparation and implementation of emergency and business continuity plans he has extensive emergency response experience in dealing with natural and manmade disasters and other emergency incidents. He introduced a number of the widely adopted emergency management techniques including the need to recognise and plan for special needs of people with mental health problems. He is a trustee of the Obsessive-compulsive disorder charity, OCD Action, and was Carer Representative on the NICE OCD Guideline Development Group

Professor Ken Stein MB ChB MSc DipRACOG MRCGP FFPHM
Vice Chair
Professor of Public Health, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter

Ken Stein qualified in medicine from Bristol University and trained as a general practitioner in Australia and Hampshire before specialising in public health in Southampton, latterly acting as Deputy Director for the National Coordinating Centre for HTA. He moved to Exeter in 1999, initially as Consultant in Public Health Medicine at North and East Devon Health Authority, then Director of Public Health for Mid Devon Primary Care Trust, combined with a part-time role at the University of Exeter. Since 2003 he has been a full time academic public health physician at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, directing a multidisciplinary research group which carries out health technology assessments for the NHS R&D Programme and a range of methodological and other health services research projects. His research interests include the use of quality of life estimates in health technology assessment, synthesis of qualitative research, the use of modeling to support planning and management in the NHS and the evaluation of case finding for hepatitis C in primary care settings.

Professor Andrew Stevens MA MBBS FFPHM
Professor of Public health, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology. University of Birmingham.

Andrew Stevens is the Professor of Public Health, University of Birmingham where he is also Head of the Division of Primary Care, Public and Occupational Health. He is a founding member of Euroscan group for Monitoring emerging Medical Technologies, he was the first director of the National Co-ordination Centre for Health Technology Assessment, and he is co-director of the NHS National Horizon Scanning Centre at Birmingham.

Professor Rod Taylor
Professor in Health Services Research, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth

Rod Taylor is Professor in Health Services Research at and Scientific Director of the Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit, Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry at Universities of Exeter & Plymouth in UK.

From 1999 to 2001, he was first Director of Appraisals at National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and is currently a member of the NICE's Technology Appraisal and Interventional Procedures Advisory Committees.

His previously held academic appointments include the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London and Universities of Birmingham and Glasgow. He published over 120 research articles in the field of health services research and health technology assessment.

He has PhD Clinical Physiology (Glasgow), MSc in Medical Statistics (London) and Postgrad. Dip. Health Economics (Aberdeen).

His research interests include clinical trial design, the use of surrogate outcomes in HTA, evaluation of medical devices and the international trends and development in HTA.

Ms Nathalie Verin
Health Economics Manager Boston Scientific UK & Ireland

Nathalie has worked in the field of health economics for the medical devices industry over the last 6 years. A graduate of an MSc in International Health Policy from the London School of Economics, she has worked both as a member of the European Health Economics team as well as the UK Public Affairs/Health Economics team of Boston Scientific. Her experience includes designing health economics models to support technology assessments of medical devices, and improve funding of minimally-invasive technologies. Her role in the UK includes the coordination of company responses to all NICE reviews and expert knowledge of Payment by Results (PbR). She has a particular interest in reimbursement and is currently the Chair of the Industry Group on PbR.

Dr Colin Watts
Consultant Neurosurgeon, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge.

Colin Watts graduated in medicine at Newcastle University in 1991 and completed his basic surgical training there in 1995. He undertook doctoral studies at Cambridge University where he developed protocols for cell implantation into the injured brain and obtained his PhD in 1999. He went on to complete his specialist neurosurgical training in Cambridge and London and obtained his certificate of completion of specialist training in 2004. Post-doctoral work involved cell implantation in patients with Huntington's disease in an MRC funded trial. This experience led to an interest in the potential of stem cells to effect repair of the damaged brain. As an MRC-funded Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon his research interests are in the biology of endogenous adult stem cells, their role in brain pathology, particularly brain tumours, and their potential to treat brain injury and disease.

Clinically his interests are in oncological and functional neurosurgery for which he is clinical lead. As a consultant neurosurgeon he has introduced the use of programmable drug delivery pumps, vagus nerve stimulators for epilepsy and deep brain stimulators for movement disorders. He has also been closely involved in the use of intra-operative chemotherapy in patients with high grade brain tumours.

Mr Thomas Wilson
Director of Contracting & Performance, NHS Tameside & Glossop

Tom worked in higher education for 10 years before joining the NHS in 2004 through the Gateway to Leadership management programme. He was recruited to Milton Keynes PCT in January 2006 and became Director in November 2007. He is responsible for ensuring that the PCT has contracts in place with all organisations the PCT purchases clinical services from whether they are NHS Trust hospitals, NHS Foundation Trusts, independent sector providers or primary care contractors such as GPs, dentists, pharmacists or optometrists. The contracts must be affordable to the PCT and also ensure that a high quality service is delivered. In addition Tom is responsible for ensuring that the PCT fulfils its obligations to provide all GP practices with appropriate IT. Tom sits on the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire Priorities Committee whose role is to advise the local NHS on how to allocate their resources to promote the health of the local community.