Faculty of Health and Care: Conferences

Lee Rickles

Tito Castillo

Tito Castillo is Strategy and Policy Lead for the BCS Faculty of Health and Care. Originally trained as a medical physicist and software developer, he has held roles across the NHS, academia, and industry, working in both clinical research and operational health and care services. A published author and regular contributor on LinkedIn, Tito brings deep expertise in enterprise architecture, data governance, and healthcare IT transformation. He is a strong advocate for the foundational role of data management and architectural best practice in delivering safe, cost-effective, and trusted citizen-centred care.

Rowland Agidee

Rowland is a data and digital leader who combines strategic clarity, systems-level thinking, and trusted leadership to drive sustainable change in complex environments.

He specialises in healthcare, public sector, and regulated environments, with deep expertise in data strategy, AI, enterprise architecture, and ethical data leadership.

Certified as a CHIME Healthcare CIO, BCS Chartered IT Professional, and FedIP Advanced Practitioner, he brings both technical fluency and board-level credibility.

Increasingly, he enjoys shaping systemwide data strategies and advising on national-level governance and ethical frameworks to help organisations build future-facing data capabilities.

David Hancock

David is an independent consultant who has been working in healthcare IT for over 20 years.  He has worked on a wide variety of solutions including ERP,  Shared Care Records, EPRs and Interoperability Platforms.  He is Director and Chair of INTEROPen, an organisation dedicated to the adoption of open interoperability standards. He sits on the HL7 UK FHIR Board that provides governance over the development and implementation of the HL7 FHIR UK Core interoperability standard.  He is also a member of the NHS CTO’s Technology Think Tank.

Philip Scott

Professor Philip Scott is Programme Director of the MSc in Digital Transformation for the Health & Care Professions at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He was previously Reader in Health Informatics at the University of Portsmouth. Philip worked in the NHS in various IT development and management roles for fifteen years before moving into academia in 2009. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of Health Level Seven and board member of HL7 UK.

Philip is Deputy Editor of BMJ Health & Care Informatics and co-chair of the BCS working group on computable biomedical knowledge. He was co-chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for MedInfo 2021 and MedInfo 2023, the biennial IMIA global health informatics conference. Philip’s most recent publications can be viewed in the UWTSD research repository.

Philip has previously been chair of the evaluation working group of the European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI), member of the steering groups for the NHS Digital Academy and the Global Digital Exemplar evaluation programme, non-executive Board member of the Professional Record Standards Body and member of the informatics committee of the Royal College of Radiologists.

Carol Munt

Carol Munt is an extremely experienced Patient Partner & Advocate
She is a National Ambassador for the Doubleday Centre Manchester Medical School 

She is an experienced and entertaining speaker addressing audiences at NHS Expo, IHI/BMJ, Westminster Briefing, NHS Leadership Academy, NHS Confed, HC-UK, NHS Horizons Big Conversation, and many more.
She was invited to speak at the first annual HSE National Conference on Patient and Public Partnership in Dublin’s Convention Centre. 
Recently addressing the South East Connect 2025 ‘Shaping the Future’ in March at the Hilton in Reading was followed by this comment from the organisers                             
“We were lucky to have Carol Munt, Patient Partner and Advocate on the main stage in the afternoon keeping everyone in stitches throughout her talk, driving home the importance of making sure the patient is at the heart of everything we do. Such an amazing and inspiring woman”

Carol is an NHS Leadership Academy Experience of Care Partner originally involved in the creation of the Patient Faculty Co-design & Practice programme and is still a popular member regularly taking part in events in Manchester and elsewhere.
Her passion for Patient Involvement has seen her involved in a number of national projects including NHS Horizons Project A Falls Collaborative, NHSE/NHSI Beneficial Changes Network, NHSE Always Events Advisory Group, NHS Expo, HERG US-Pex Lay Panel. She is currently part of the NHSE Nutrition & Hydration Strategy group and was on the recent NHS DrEaMing project. 
Following her BMJ article about Covid visiting restrictions she was asked to address the All Party Parliamentary Committee Covid Enquiry in London.

She was involved in co-developing Dementia handbook for carers Berkshire West, designed to provide information and advice for families and people in caring roles in relation to dementia.
Her personal experience of being a carer for her Mother with dementia, and its associated challenges, enabled her to provide valuable insights and to make sure the guide included information that was relevant and practical for carers.
After the successful conclusion of this project, Carol worked on a digital version Dementia Guide for carers & Care Providers. developed in collaboration with the Health Education England Thames Valley team including healthcare professionals, and educators as well as carers and members of Reading University. 

In 1982 Carol was a passenger involved in a road traffic accident in France, sustaining a fractured skull, and brain haemorrhage resulting in a 10 day coma after which she was flown back to the UK by Air Ambulance  
She was subsequently diagnosed with Narcolepsy and Cataplexy as a result of the trauma. Medication keeps her long-term condition reasonably stable.
Carol has a daughter, a son and 5 adult grandsons, lives in Tunbridge Wells and lists travel, photography and learning something new every day as some of her hobbies.

Jane Johnston

Jane is Co-CEO for AphA (Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts) and an independent health & care data and analytics consultant with 30+ years in the NHS in Senior management.  She has extensive experience managing analytical and business intelligence teams, ensuring delivery of timely, accurate reporting, analysis, intelligence, insight and predictive analytics, delivering service improvement, service redesign, transformation and integration through evidence based decision making. Producing digital and data strategy, identifying use cases to support cross system intelligence, with a strong emphasis on Population Health Management, always maintaining high standards of governance and ethical consideration.
Jane is continually supporting and driving the professionalisation, career and skills development of the analytical community with AphA through strategic partnerships and collaborations with other bodies such as CDAO Network, NHSE, AnalystX, The Strategy Unit, FedIP, HEE and Digital Health.

Jeremy Wyatt

Jeremy is Visiting Professor at UCL and Emeritus Professor of Digital Healthcare at University of Southampton and former Director of Wessex Institute of Health Research, advisor on validation methods to NHSX AI Lab, member of the Medicines & Healthcare Regulatory Authority’s Devices Expert Advisory Committee and Clinical Adviser on New Technologies to Royal College of Physicians. He currently edits the Ethical Digital Health section of Frontiers in Digital Health, chairs the British Computer Society’s Health & Care AI interest group and the £5M NIHR-funded DIGIPATHS programme’s Executive Study Trial Steering Committee and co-convenes UK activity on Mobilising Computable Biomedical Knowledge (MCBK). He was previously Leadership Chair in eHealth Research in Leeds, setting up the £7M MRC Biomedical Informatics Centre in Leeds Institute of Data Analytics. His research uses empirical methods to uncover scientific principles guiding the design of clinical information and eHealth systems, studying interactive tools to change the behaviour of clinicians (eg. decision support), patients (eg. apps, telehealth) and the public (eg. SMS msgs to promote healthy lifestyle), and of digital tools to support health research. 

Jeremy trained in medicine in Oxford and London and as a hospital physician in London and Glasgow (MRCP 1983). He then discovered medical informatics and health technology assessment, with doctoral training at the National Heart & Lung Institute and an MRC-funded postdoc at Stanford University. He was the UK’s first elected Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics in 1997, was ranked third in his discipline worldwide in 2009 and has given 40 invited overseas talks in the last decade, including the Amsterdam Spinoza lecture series.

Mandy Burns

Mandy Burns, is a Fellow and the CEO of IHRIM (Institute of Health Records & Information Management).   Mandy is also a Royle Mansell award recipient – the highest award that IHRIM bestows. In addition Mandy serves as UK National Director for IFHIMA and a Director for FEDIP (Federation of Informatics Professionals) and is on the register as a Leading Practitioner.  Mandy has spoken at both National and International level on her areas of expertise.

Mandy’s current role is as Head of Patient Services (Digital) in Manchester Foundation Trust which covers Health Records, Clinical Coding, Clinical Terminology and Data Assurance/Data Quality.

Mandy has over 36 years of experience working within the National Health Service predominately within Health Informatics.  Her range of experience covers Health Records (Library and EDMS/Scanning) Clinical Coding, Data Quality/Assurance, Information Governance, Clinic Prep & Reception,  Transcription, Secretaries, Child Health, Domestics & Building Management, Booking & Scheduling, Referral Management, RTT and Outpatient Management (Including Nursing). Mandy has worked in a variety of Health Organisations including Acute Hospitals, Specialist Hospitals, Community Service and General Hospitals. 

Mandy is a qualified teacher and remains passionate about promoting Health Informatics and supporting education within this field.

Adjoa Nisiah-Jennings

Adjoa Nsiah-Jennings is the Digital Education Lead at Saint Francis Hospice - one of the largest adult Hospices in the UK. Providing palliative and end of life care services across the growing and diverse communities of North East London and West Essex. 

An award-winning nurse, specialising in technology enhanced education. Adjoa is the first nurse from a Hospice to have completed both the Shuri Network Digital Fellowship and NHS Digital Health Leadership Programme with FEDIP Advanced Practitioner status.

As an enthusiastic advocate for digital inclusion and accessibility across health and education. Adjoa is committed to developing programmes and initiatives that enable successful digital engagement for all.

In 2023, Adjoa became a Shuri Network Steering Group member. As the networks Alumni Lead, she continues to cultivate a vibrant community of Digital Fellows as they continue to thrive and create positive change across the digital health and social care space. 

Jennifer Ntiamoah

Jennifer Ntiamoah is a Senior Healthcare Leader and Registered Midwife with over a decade of experience working in the NHS. Since joining NHS England in 2020, she has successfully led and managed a number of key programmes across both Maternity and Digital portfolios.

Jennifer is currently the Deputy Head of Regional Delivery Unit in the East of England with a focus on improving regional delivery metrics. As an Alumni for both the Shuri Network Digital Fellowship and Digital Health Leadership programme. Jennifer continues to support future cohorts by contributing to programme development and providing individual mentorship support. 

As a mother to two boisterous boys, she has a passion for supporting individuals from marginalised backgrounds to develop themselves personally and professionally. She is also currently studying for her Senior Leadership Apprenticeship EMBA.

Melissa Co

Melissa is a Lead Data Scientist at the Health Economics Unit, an NHS organisation which provides economics, population health, and analytical expertise to support the health and care sector. She specialises in using real-world data to evaluate the impact of health interventions and policies and is passionate about using data science to improve health equity. Melissa has a PhD in epidemiology and medical statistics and has worked in health data in the US and UK across a wide range of settings, including the third sector, consultancy, academia, and the NHS.

Dipak Kalra

Professor Dipak Kalra is President of The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data (www.i-hd.eu), a Professor of Health Informatics and a former London general practitioner. He plays a leading international role in Electronic Health Record R&D, including the reuse of EHRs for research. He has led the development of ISO standards on EHR interoperability, personal health records and data protection. He participates in multiple European Commission funded projects including the generation of real-world evidence in pregnancy, support for the accelerated uptake of digital health innovations, scaling up the quality, interoperability and the reuse of health data for research including inputs to the European Health Data Space, scaling up of the collection and use of health outcomes towards more value-based care, the development of an AI-powered federated learning platform in lung cancer and initiatives to improve a patient’s understanding of of their medication to improve confidence and adherence. The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data (www.i-hd.eu), which Dipak co-founded in 2016, develops and promotes strategies and solutions that can improve healthcare and accelerate research through more trustworthy learning from health data.

Dr. Surbhi Gupta 

Dr. Surbhi Gupta holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science. Following her doctoral studies, Dr. Gupta pursued post-doctoral research funded by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), where she published extensively and contributed to advancements in the field of oncology.
Passionate about accelerating innovative healthcare ideas from concept through commercialization, Dr. Gupta has a wealth of experience in market access and regulatory affairs within the healthcare technology sector. Currently serving as the Regulatory Lead at NHS-E, Dr. Gupta leads a dedicated team focused on ensuring all software as medical device products within NHS-E are developed and maintained with high standards. Her current portfolio consists of high impact products such as Pathways (underpinning national 999 and 111 services), 111 online and digital health checks.
She is also an advisor to the national AI team which is a joint DHSC/NHS-E team. This team leads on AI strategy, policy and safe adoption of Ai technologies across the NHS ecosystem.
She is a funding committee panel member for NIHR’s i4i Scheme providing her expertise in the selection and awards process.
Prior to her role at NHS-E, Dr. Gupta played pivotal roles in Medtech start-ups such as Thriva, Precision Robotics, Recco Medical, where she led the Regulatory/Clinical safety teams. Through her strategic leadership and expertise, Dr. Gupta laid the groundwork in these companies for robust quality, regulatory, and clinical frameworks, facilitating the development and deployment of their products for improving healthcare outcomes.
Recognized for her outstanding contributions, Dr. Gupta was awarded an excellence scholarship to pursue an Executive MBA program at Warwick Business School. For her dissertation, she conducted research on the transformative potential of AI in healthcare.
Throughout her career, Dr. Gupta has directed various multifunctional teams to deliver impactful healthcare projects on time and within budget. She finds managing different commercial aspects of medical product development, from Quality, Regulatory, and Clinical, to be incredibly exciting and fascinating.
With a deep-rooted passion for driving innovation and enhancing healthcare delivery through technology, Dr. Gupta continues to be a driving force in shaping the future of healthcare.

Sharon Levy

Following the completion of his nurse training, Sharon Levy cultivated a diverse clinical career across community-based care settings, where he developed a strong foundation in person-centred practice and service innovation. His transition into clinical informatics began in 1997, marking the start of a trajectory in digital health leadership. This initial role served as a springboard to his appointment as the UK Informatics Adviser at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), a national leadership position he held until 2007. Sharon returned to the NHS as a Telehealth Nurse Specialist, contributing to the early adoption and integration of remote care technologies. His work in this domain laid the groundwork for his subsequent academic career. Sharon joined the Nursing Studies department at the University of Edinburgh, where he led and directed several postgraduate programmes, with a particular focus on digital transformation in healthcare. He later transitioned to the Usher Institute, where he currently serves as the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Lead for the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) programme.

Tara French

Dr Tara French is a Lead Consultant for the national learning exchange for the Digital Inclusion Programme in Scotland, led by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. Tara has led local and national programmes and facilitated multi-partner research collaborations contributing to the digital health and social care landscape in Scotland. She has worked in roles across Scottish Government, Social Care, the NHS and academia. Tara is passionate about genuine co-design and human rights-based approaches to delivering sustainable transformation in health and social care.

Ijeoma Azodo

Ijeoma Azodo works on the relational and technical bridging work across people, process, technology, partners, and policy to enrich care using technology. 
Leading Service Design, this cross-functional role translates governance, practice, and care processes into digital solutions with benefit for health, social care, business operations, work, and people. Embedding human-rights principles, professional standards, and evidence-based policy is key to good practice using accessible technology, establishing foundations for a quality experience, care, promoting health and protecting safety at all levels. 

Adam Ansell

Adam is the Digital Innovation Programme Manager based at a mental health trust in North West England. He is an experienced digital healthcare leader with a background in project & solution delivery, product development and roadmap/backlog management within specialist hospitals within the NHS, he is an active a member of FEDIPs Future Digital Leaders Council & was a recipient of the Future Digital Leaders Bursary (cohort 1, 2022).
From initial studies in Biomedical Science, Adam moved into digital healthcare, progressing through numerous roles within the NHS focussing primarily on EPR development & clinical data capture. Using his experience in navigating the digital healthcare space he hopes to be bring a voice for those early in career and create the opportunities for future leaders in Digital Health & Care.

Dean Mawson

Dean Mawson has supported the Clinical Risk Management movement in the NHS working in collaboration with NHS Digital and prominent Clinical leaders within the digital health sector for over 18 years. Dean has contributed his clinical experience and knowledge base to NHS Clinical Safety & Risk Management Systems and worked at the highest level to ensure core clinical safety principles are embedded in the practice of all organisational team members. These will be the foundational principles in which health informatics will be led throughout the next ten years or more. Dean is now the Clinical Director of his own company providing ethical advisory services to the health industry. DPM Digital Health Consultancy Ltd was formed in 2018.

For 11 years of this Dean worked for a leading digital health manufacturer as a Clinical Safety Officer/Clinical Specialist accredited through NHS Digital. His NHS clinical experience spans roles as a Staff Nurse in Trauma and Orthopaedics, Charge Nurse, Ward Manager, Admissions Coordinator, and Care Pathway Facilitator. Dean has an in-depth understanding first-hand of the clinical pressures and risk management requirements of working in the NHS. The focus of his work on the digital health manufacturer side has been making sure all systems are risk- averse and comply with the national safety standards DCB0129/DCB0160. He is passionate about patient safety and an expert in his domain.
Dean is currently a Fellow of the British Computer Society (Institute of Chartered IT Professionals) and is a member of the Clinical Safety Special Interest Group Leadership Committee. He has recently undertaken a post graduate course in Artificial Intelligence Concepts: Practical Applications at the University of Oxford to further his competencies and compound his existing AI knowledge and skill sets in relation to Risk Management.

John Williams

Clinical Informatician, originally from a General Practice background, primarily interested in harnessing the potential of GP data to support clinical audit and research and also the interoperability of clinical information systems. Previous roles have included being: Clinical Adviser to PRIMIS, National Clinical Safety Lead to the GP2GP record transfer project, member of ERG assuring cross mapping for migration of GP systems to SNOMED CT, Clinical Research Fellow in Nuffield Department of Primary Care, University of Oxford.  Currently member of the ERG assuring the developing  SNOMED CT Pathology laboratory medicine (PaLM) refset.

Long time member of BCS Primary Health Care Specialists Group, and RCGP Health Informatics Group. Past Chair of Joint GP IT Committee. Past Chair of Faculty of Clinical Informatics Council.

Sarah Culkin

Dr Sarah Culkin is Deputy Director of Data Science at NHS England, where she heads up a team of Data Scientists involved in a range of work including large predictive models, natural language processing and reproductible analytical pipelines (RAP).  See https://nhsengland.github.io/datascience/