Medical Technologies Advisory Committee member biographies

Professor Bruce Campbell - Chair
Professor Bruce Campbell is a Consultant Vascular Surgeon in Exeter. He joined the NICE Technology Appraisal Committee in 2001 and has subsequently chaired the Advisory Committee on Interventional Procedures since it started work in 2002. He has also chaired the production of NICE/NPSA guidance on Patient Safety. During 2000-8 Professor Campbell chaired the Therapeutic Procedures Panel of NHS HTA, prioritising topics for research funding. He has been Honorary Secretary of the Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1998-2002) and inaugural Chair of its Professional Standards Committee (2002-7). He has been on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Surgery and continues to serve as Assistant Editor of the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He has published extensively on surgical subjects, clinical services, and recently on developing NICE health technology guidance.

Dr Peter Groves MBBS, MD, FRCP - Vice Chair
Dr Groves qualified from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1984 MBBS (Hons); completed general medical training in the Newcastle Hospitals (MRCP) and then moved to Cardiff to undertake specialist cardiology training. Dr Groves performed cardiovascular research in Cardiff (BHF Fellowship; MD awarded) and Freiburg, Germany (Alexander von Humboldt Scholar). Two years as senior registrar at the Royal Brompton National Heart Hospital was followed by appointment as Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales in 1996. Dr Groves is a full-time Clinical Cardiologist with an interest in percutaneous interventional cardiac procedures and was Clinical Director of cardiac services at the University Hospital of Wales 2002-9. He served on NICE's Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee from 2006-2010. Dr Groves is currently President of the Welsh Cardiovascular Society and Council member of the British Cardiovascular Society. He has a continued interest in cardiovascular research and teaching.

Dr Dilly OC Anumba MBBS, FWACS, MD (Newcastle), LLM Medical Law (Northumbria at Newcastle), MRCOG.
Dilly Anumba is Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with the University of Sheffield and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust since. He also holds subspecialty accreditation in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. He trained in Leeds and Newcastle and took up a Consultant post in Sheffield in 2001, moving into a clinical academic position with the University in 2003. He is Clinical Lead for the Westfield Unit of Fetomaternal Medicine and for the Substance misuse and blood-borne virus in pregnancy services. His research interests include the physiology of premature birth, the potential place of medical technologies in predicting the timing and outcome of high risk and preterm pregnancies, and the impact of health inequalities and social exclusion on maternal child health outcomes. He has authored book chapters, invited reviews and primary research articles in high risk pregnancy, and prenatal screening and diagnosis. He is the RCOG training program director for Maternal and Fetal Medicine in Sheffield and Chairs the Education and Training Group of the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS). He has active undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research portfolios and is Deputy Academic Training Programme Director for the South of the Yorkshire and Humber Postgraduate Deanery.

Sue Bennett - Lay member
Sue Bennett, MPhil, took early retirement in 1994 after developing spinal problems. She is a member of the DH HCAI Service Users in Research Forum. Sue was a Trustee of the Bladder and Bowel Foundation (formerly Incontact) for 8 years and still represents the B&BF at The Urology User Groups Coalition. She is also a member of Royal Association for Disability Rights (RADAR), and Spinal Injuries Association. Sue has previously been a member of the NHS Information Authority Public Reference Group, was a member of the NICE Faecal Incontinence Guideline Development Group, and on the NICE/NPSA pilot Patient Safety Advisory Committee. She has been a lay member of NICE Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee since 2007.Her main interests include disability equality especially in relation to health issues.

Professor Bipin Bhakta
Professor Bipin Bhakta is Charterhouse Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine and Head of Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds. He is an NHS Consultant Physician and clinical lead for Specialist Rehabilitation Medicine Services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He serves on British Society for Rehabilitation Medicine(BSRM) Executive and Research/Clinical Standards Committees and has been involved in guidelines development through BSRM, NICE and RCP. He is a member of the NIHR Medical Devices Clinical Research Working Group and serves on the NIHR HTA EDaPT and RISC awards panel and the UK Stroke Research Network Rehabilitation CSG. He served on the HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise 2008 Health Services Research Sub-panel and was President of Society for Research in Rehabilitation (2006-8). His research, funded by NIHR/MRC/charitable bodies, involves development/evaluation of health technologies for disabled adults and children(including restorative rehabilitation medical devices), health outcome development and evaluation of service delivery for disabled people. He has experience in working with industry in medical device development. He teaches and examines medical students at the University of Leeds and supervises postgraduate research degree medical and engineering students. He is a RCP examiner and educational supervisor for junior doctors on the core medical and specialty training rotation.

Dr. Keith Blanshard
Dr. Keith Blanshard is a Consultant vascular interventional Radiologist at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. He is currently Clinical Director of Childrens Services (2009 on) in his trust. He has previously been Assistant Medical Director (Clinical Effectiveness, 2004-5), Clinical Director of Imaging (2005-6) and Medicine & ED (2006-9). He has been a member of the Board of the British Association of Medical Managers (BAMM) since 2008, and is on the Editorial Board of Clinical Leader. He was awarded Fellow in the BAMM Fit to Lead programme in 2007. He has previously served as Council member of the British Society of Interventional Radiology (2005-6, Chair, Rules and membership Committee). He has published on interventional vascular radiology and has presented, chaired and organised meetings on vascular intervention and medical management.

Dr Martyn Bracewell
Dr Martyn Bracewell is a Senior Lecturer in Neurology and Neuroscience at Bangor University. 60% of his time is spent working as a Consultant Neurologist in North Wales and at the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool. He has a joint academic appointment in the newly formed School of Medical Sciences and the School of Psychology at Bangor University. The School of Psychology is one of the top Psychology departments in Europe, with a particular strength in Neuroscience. His clinical and research interests include sensorimotor processing in health and disease, novel approaches to neurological rehabilitation, and non-invasive brain monitoring and stimulation techniques. He has a strong background in basic neurophysiology, including a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a principal investigator on several multi-centre EU-funded grants in the area of future and emerging technologies.

Dr Daniel Clark
Dr Daniel Clark: Head of Clinical Engineering, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust. The Clinical Engineering service in Nottingham is one of the largest in Europe and provides the full scope of equipment services including: device evaluation, commissioning, service and maintenance, decommissioning and disposal. This service has specialist teams in renal technical support, non-ionising radiation, anaesthetics and ventilators and general medical and also provides a comprehensive equipment library service and a medical devices training unit. Dan also leads an innovation and research unit that designs and produces novel medical devices plus a device evaluation and compliance team. He has considerable experience of evaluating new technologies and introducing them into the healthcare setting. He is a device specialist in optics, optoelectronics and optical imaging systems and holds a number of grants for device development and evaluation. He Chairs the Trust's Medical Devices Group and sits on a number of trust-wide risk committees.

Karl Claxton
Karl Claxton is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Related Studies and the Centre for Health Economics at the University of York. He was a Harkness Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and from 1999 and until 2007 he held an adjunct appointment at Harvard as an Assistant Professor of Health and Decision Sciences. His research interests encompass the economic evaluation of health care technologies. He has served as a member of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Appraisal Committee since 1999. He is also co-editor of the Journal of Health Economics. Karl Claxton was born on 1st March 1967. He received a PhD in Economics, a M.Sc. in Health Economics and a B.A. in Economics all from the University of York.

Mrs Gail Coster
Mrs Gail Coster is the Radiology Strategy, Planning Quality and Governance Manager for Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. She qualified as a diagnostic Radiographer in 1978 and worked as both a clinical radiographer and as an ultrasonographer for 22 years. Throughout her professional career she has been a member of the College of Radiographers and the British Medical Ultrasound Society. For the last 8 years she has moved into managerial roles which have involved elements of both operational management and the quality and governance agendas within health care. Whilst working in Wales she was secretary of the Medical Imaging Sub Committee to the Welsh Scientific Advisory Committee of the Welsh Assembly. In 2002 Gail was awarded a “Leaders for Change Award” and was able to identify new ways of delivering services to minority areas of the community and for the last 2 years has been heavily involved in the planning and equipping of two new hospitals shortly to be commissioned within Mid Yorkshire.

Alex Faulkner
Dr Alex Faulkner is a sociologist of medicine and technology, and was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Biomedicine & Society (CBAS), Kings College London in 2008. He was previously in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, and in the 1990s was a practitioner of Health Technology Assessment studies in the Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, where he was a member of the Acute Sector Advisory Panel to the then Standing Group on Health Technology. He has been conducting social science research on the development of new regulatory regimes for human tissues and cells, and tissue engineering, in the EU for six years, supported by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council. In 2009 he received a substantial research grant from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Service Delivery and Organisation programme to investigate the early-stage pathways that device technologies take into the healthcare system, and the factors influencing them. He has published over 30 scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals. His recent book is: ‘Medical Technology into Healthcare and Society: a sociology of devices, innovation and governance' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) based on case studies of the adoption into the NHS of several medical technologies, including hip prostheses, the PSA test and self-monitoring of anticoagulation therapy.

Professor Tony Freemont
Professor Tony Freemont is Professor of Pathology at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant in Osteoarticular Pathology at the Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. He has worked for PMETB for 5 years as a member of the Examinations and Assessments Committees and recently as a PMETB partner. In his role as advisor in Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology to the Royal College of Pathologists he has worked with NICE on drug assessments. He has been a non-executive director of the Christie Hospital, and is Head of one of the Schools within the University of Manchester. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Pathology. His research is in the area of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for degenerative joint disease. He holds 3 patents and has written extensively on diseases of bones and joints, the development of novel pathology technologies, and other medical matters.

Professor Peter Gaines
Professor Peter Gaines is a Consultant Interventional Radiologist at the Sheffield Vascular Institute and Professor at Hallam University, Sheffield. He has published extensively on the subject of Vascular Interventional Radiology. From 2007-2009 he was President of the British Society of Interventional Radiology and since 2003 has worked with the NHS to develop Payment by Results (PbR). He has specific knowledge of medical devices having advised industry and taken novel technology through to commercial success.

Harry Golby
Harry Golby is Head of Commissioning (Acute, Diagnostics and Choice) at NHS Salford. He has worked as a commissioner in Salford since 2001 and during that period has been the lead for a number of areas including diabetes, children's services, neurosciences, individual treatment applications and, now, hospital services. Prior to joining the primary care trust he worked for the Greater Manchester East Education Consortium commissioning medical and non-medical student training on behalf of the local health economy. He has a degree in Management Science and a masters in Applied Public Health.

Matthew Hill - Lay Member
Matthew is a media and technology consultant who moved to Cornwall after spending several years working in the City. He is a founding director of Mentor's DEN CIC, a community interest company and management consultancy helping disabled and disadvantaged entrepreneurs to set up and run their own businesses. Previous to a spinal injury Matthew competed nationally in Modern Pentathlon. He has also performed internationally with various acclaimed choirs and ensembles and features on recordings regularly played on national radio. Through his work with teenagers with mental health and physical disability he continues to help ensure inclusion and best practice in the services offered for this client base. He is a Civilian Instructor with the ATC (Air Training Corps) and was appointed to the BBC Audience Council for the South West in 2010. Matthew maintains a keen interest in emerging technology and brings his own experience of using medical devices, along with those of the many disabled people he works with.

Dr Paul C. Knox
Paul Knox is a Physiology graduate from the University of Glasgow, where he also completed his PhD in Neurobiology. The main focus of his research over the last twelve years has been human vision and eye movement control, using careful measurements to reveal the underlying physiological and cognitive processes involved. Current work includes the use of concurrent fMRI and eye tracking to study oculomotor initiation (part of an international collaboration with colleagues in China), and the use of new technological approaches to detect eye disease earlier, particularly glaucoma. He also contributes to the training of Nursing and Allied Health Professions undergraduate programmes at the University of Liverpool, as well as Liverpool's NIHR-funded Master of Research in Health Sciences.

Ms. Catherine Leonard
Ms. Catherine Leonard works for Medtronic UK - Division of Reimbursement & Health Policy. She currently serves as a voting member on NICE's Topic selection consideration panel for Cancer. She is a member of ABHI SIS Spinal Group, HTA group and PbR HRG taskforce. She has an educational background in clinical pharmacology & health economics. In her role, she builds health economic & financial impact models to support service development proposals for NHS clients to optimise patient quality outcomes and enhance provider productivity

Dr Susanne Ludgate FRCR, FRACR
Dr Susanne Ludgate qualified in medicine from Edinburgh University, subsequently specialising in Radiation Oncology and was appointed a Consultant at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh in 1979. She subsequently took up a Consultant post in Radiation Oncology at Westmead Hospital in Sydney and at the Peter McCallum Hospital in Melbourne, publishing and lecturing widely. She was appointed Medical Director of the Medical Devices Agency in 1993. She has been responsible for the setting up and management of the clinical investigation system of new medical devices under the provisions of the Medical Devices Regulations. She is a member of the European Commission's Clinical Evaluation Task Force on Clinical Investigations, Chairman of the Global Harmonisation Task Force on Clinical Evaluation, and has helped to write both the CEN and ISO Standards relating to clinical investigations of medical devices. She is a member of the NICE Advisory Committee on Interventional Procedures, a member of the NICE Medical Technology Advisory Committee, and a member of the Health Technology Assessment Diagnostic and Screening Panel. She has published extensively on the Medical Devices Regulations, the handling of clinical investigations and the reporting and handling of device related adverse events. As part of the new MHRA structure, Susanne now holds the position of Devices Clinical Director and is a member of the MHRA's Executive Board.

Jacqui Nettleton
Jacqui's early working career was in higher education and research, and teaching in further education. Moving into the health sector she worked in a large Acute Hospital managing the Clinical Effectiveness Department which delivered clinical audit across the Trust and training in Clinical Governance.

She migrated into commissioning and whole systems service redesign working across the Sussex PCTs. She has ten years experience working as a Strategic commissioner and has been accountable for commissioning a wide portfolio of services including cancer, specialist, managed and unscheduled care. In her current role she is the Programme Director for Long Term Conditions in NHS West Sussex PCT, and has recently taken up a short secondment working with medical director of an Acute Trust directing a programme of quality initiatives.

Professor Sharon Peacock
Professor Sharon Peacock returned from working overseas in October 2009 to take up a chair in Clinical Microbiology, University of Cambridge. She is also an Honorary Consultant Microbiologist (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and Health Protection Agency), and an Honorary Faculty Member at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Prior to this she worked at the Wellcome Unit in Thailand for 7 years where she was head of the bacterial diseases research programme. She has published on a broad a range of topics including Burkholderia pseudomallei and melioidosis, leptospirosis, rickettsial infections, Staphylococcus aureus infection, MRSA, molecular epidemiology, clinical treatment trials, and diagnostic test development and evaluation. She is chair of the European Melioidosis Network, serves as International Advisor (Asia Pacific) to the Royal College of Pathologists, is an assistant editor for PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, is Section Head (Infectious Diseases-Bacterial Infections), Faculty of 1000 Medicine, and participates extensively in peer review for funding bodies including the NIH/NIAID and the Wellcome Trust.

Professor Brian J. Pollard
Professor Brian Pollard is Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Manchester and Consultant Anaesthetist at Central Manchester University Hospitals. He has degrees in both pharmacy and medicine and has worked in various UK cities as well as Ann Arbor, USA. He has been Clinical Director of Anaesthesia, Theatres and Sterile Services at Central Manchester Hospitals and Chair of the Resuscitation Management Committee. He is currently serving a second term as Chair of the Medicines Management Committee.

He has served as an examiner for the Royal College of Anaesthetists and external examiner for a number of UK universities. He has been a member of the Council of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, Council of the Section of Anaesthesia of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and member of the Senate of the European Academy of Anaesthesiology. He was Honorary Secretary and President of the RSM Section of Anaesthesia.

His publications in the areas of Anaesthesia and Critical Care include 25 chapters in textbooks and seven complete textbooks. His Handbook of Clinical Anaesthesia is currently in its third edition. He has been Editor-in Chief of Current Anaesthesia and Critical Care and the European Journal of Anaesthesiology. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care. He is Chair of the Education, Research and Presentation Subcommittee of the European Society of Anaesthesiology.

Dr Allan Swift
Dr Allan Swift is a PhD scientist and currently Director of Quality & Regulatory Affairs for Gen-Probe Life Sciences Ltd.. He has worked in Clinical Diagnostics and Quality Management since 1978 both within the National Health Service and Industry. His early career encompassed both steroid and thyroid endocrinology, running the UKNEQAS for Thyroid Endocrinology (1982 - 1986). He is the only accredited Laboratory Director for Endocrinology and Genetic Testing by the New York State Department of Health outside North America. He has experience of Genetic testing with respect to Identity testing, Forensic testing and Clinical Diagnostics. He is a member of the UK NEQAS for Molecular and Genetic Testing Steering Committee. He is Chairman of the British In Vitro Diagnostic Association (BIVDA) Regulatory Affairs Working Party . He has published widely throughout his career on endocrinology, assay development, quality assurance and quality management.

Dr Allan Wailoo
Allan Wailoo is Reader in Health Economics in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). He is Director of the NICE Decision Support Unit which provides expert research and training support to the Technology Appraisals Programme at NICE. He has interests in all areas of economic evaluation and the analysis of patient level data to inform cost effectiveness models, particularly around health utilities. He has published applied research in a wide range of disease areas. He is a member of the Department of Health's Policy Research Unit in Economic Evaluation of Health and Care Interventions (EEPRU) based in Sheffield/York and provides advice to the local NHS as part of the Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber. He joined the MTAC in January 20.

Professor Stephen Westaby
Professor Stephen Westaby is an adult and paediatric cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 10,000 open heart operations. He is recognised as one of the world's most innovative cardiac surgeons with an international reputation for technical expertise, teaching & research. Pioneer of new surgical approaches for advanced heart failure. Centrally involved in the bioengineering & application of new miniaturised artificial hearts. Demonstrated that the human does not need a pulsatile circulation & that the diseased heart may recover when rested by an assist device. Recipient of numerous international awards and keynote speaker at prestigious international conferences. Prolific writer of scientific papers, surgical textbooks and chapters, & invited to perform surgery in many countries.

Janelle Yorke
Janelle is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Salford. From a clinical background in cardiothoracic nursing and a position of Nurse Consultant for Cardiopulmonary Transplantation (Sydney, Australia), Janelle moved into academic teaching and research in 2004. In 2004, she began teaching in MSc courses at the Royal Brompton and Harefield Trust and was honorary lecturer at Imperial College London. Since 2006 she has been a lecturer and researcher at University of Salford and leads the research programme for Supporting People with Long Term Conditions. She has special research interests in respiratory disease and the assessment and management of intractable breathlessness; the subject of her PhD. Janelle also completed her Masters of Research and Post Graduate Diploma (Cardiothoracic Nursing) in Australia. She is principle investigator for a number of funded projects. She was formally the Editor of the Transplant Nurses Journal and is a reviewer for a number of other journals. Recent publications include multi-dimensional assessment of breathlessness, psychological aspects of transplantation, and a number of Cochrane systematic reviews relating to psychological interventions and family therapy for people with asthma. Janelle has presented her research work internationally and has won numerous awards. She is currently Chair of the Royal College of Nursing North West Research Society.