Centre for Health and Care Equity Board membership
We have established an Advisory Board to provide strategic direction and support to the Centre. The Board is chaired by Marie Gabriel, CBE who is Chair of North East London Integrated Care Board and the NHS Race and Health Observatory. The Advisory Board will be supported by a Delivery Group.
The Advisory Board will give strategic direction to the Centre and aims to:
- Connect and engage the Centre into home institutions and sectors
- Act as Champions for the Centre
- Provide guidance to the Centre for Equity Delivery Group on where to focus, how and why
| Name and Role | Biography |
|---|---|
| Marie Gabriel (Chair of Advisory Board) Chair, NHS North East London |
With over 20 years of NHS Board experience, Marie is currently the Chair of the NHS North East London Integrated Care System, Chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory and an Associate NED for the UK Health Security Agency. She is also a Commissioner on the IPPR Commission on Health and Prosperity. Regionally, Marie is Co-Chair of the London People Board and is a member of the Greater London Authority’s London Health Board, where she is also the London Mayor’s Champion for Tackling Structural Racism. Marie contributes to her local community as a Trustee on two charities, West Ham United Foundation and East London Business Alliance. Her previous Chair role was at East London NHS Foundation Trust, which is internationally acknowledged for its systematic approach to quality improvement and service user participation. Through this and her current role she has participated in IHI events, including delivering workshops on the Board’s role in quality improvement. Prior to this, Marie chaired commissioning organisations with budgets up to £3bn and with her first non-executive role, she became Vice Chair of an acute trust. Marie’s employment background is in local government and the not-for-profit sector, with senior executive experience in social justice, regeneration and equity. Marie’s contribution to the NHS was recognised through the award of her CBE, her contribution to her local community by the award of Freedom of the London Borough of Newham and her contribution to football by inclusion on the Premier League’s Black Power List. More recently in 2023, Marie received the award of Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences from the Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and she has been included in the Health Service Journal’s 100 list of the most influential people in health. |
| Abdirahim Hassan Founder , Coffee Afrik |
Abdirahim Hassan is the founder of Coffee Afrik CIC, a community wealth building, research lab & advocacy organization with 7 regenerative hubs across London. Abdirahim is a community organiser, accountant and NHS England Mental Health Transformation Board Member & studied Economics at the LSE. Abdirahim has over 15 years Director level experience, working for PwC, Unilever and the Dorchester, Four Seasons, RAC and 45 other luxury hotels as an Account Director. Abdirahim focuses his attention on health justice, health liberation, and reimagining public health on a daily basis, influencing funders like the Lottery foundations like Esmee Fairbairn, and 6 statutory bodies. |
| Tom Ellis Director of Strategy, Barts Health |
Tom joined Newham Hospital as its Director of Strategy in January 2022, having previously worked at Barts Health since January 2021 as the Group Head of Business Planning. As Director of Strategy, amongst other things, Tom is responsible for developing and monitoring delivery of the Hospitals Annual Plan, joint lead on patient equity, responsible for developing divisional strategies at the hospital and acting as a key liaison between the Hospital and place colleagues, London Borough of Newham, General Practice, the wider Barts Health group of hospitals and the ICB. Prior to joining Barts Health Tom worked at St. George’s in Tooting, both in a series of operational General Manager positions covering Cardiothoracic, Specialist Medicine and Renal, Haematology & Oncology before moving into the strategy team. There he variously led on the partnership work with Kingston Hospital, wrote significant elements of St. George’s Foundation Trust application and finally as their Head of Business Planning. Tom has also delivered large capital business cases for St. George’s and also Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust. |
| Aurora Todisco Resident representative |
Aurora possesses a 20-year background in finance, HR, and governance development. Over the past 8 years, she has devoted herself to working across the health and social care sector at Local Voice, the first user-led organisation to engage and support resident voice through a recognised evidence-based community insights data system in North East London, leveraging her expertise to make significant contributions. With a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Primary Care Management, Aurora brings a wealth of knowledge to her role. Driven by a passion for fostering collaboration, Aurora has participated in over 900 involvement-related activities, projects, and events. She has connected with nearly 90 national stakeholders since 2021, engaging in a variety of involvement and coproduction activities. Her work with academic, research, and NHS organisations underscores her commitment to building meaningful partnerships. At the Health Innovation Network South London, Aurora actively advises staff on designing and implementing involvement activities. With around 100 project managers and 110 active projects at the HIN, her involvement in diverse initiatives demonstrates her dedication to creating positive change. Furthermore, her impact extends beyond her current role, having previously played a key role in supporting the development of the HIN Involvement Strategy. |
| Professor Ben Rogers Co-director of London Research and Policy Partnership, University of London / London Research and Policy Partnership |
Ben divides his time between LSE Cities, where he is Bloomberg Policy Fellow in Government Innovation and University of London, where he is Professor of Practice. Ben is also the Chair of Design South East and Acting Chair of the Yard Theatre. Prior to joining LSE, Ben founded Centre for London think tank in 2011 and led its growth to an influential authority on London policy, with an international following. He was a member of the London Finance Commission and is author of many reports on cities, citizenship, public service reform and the built environment. Ben was an Associate Director at the Institution for Public Policy Research (IPPR) for five years and has worked in local and central government, including a year spent as a team leader at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, working on planning, urban design and quality of place. Since taking up his position at University of London he has set the London Research and Policy Partnership, which brings together London policymakers and academic researchers to tackle London’s critical policy challenges. As Bloomberg Distinguished Fellow in Government Innovation, he is leading LSE Cities’ European Cities initiative, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Ben has a doctorate on Blaise Pascal from Oxford, has written and broadcast widely, and is the author of several acclaimed books including A J Ayer, A Life and Beef and Liberty. He is currently writing a book on civic republicanism and urbanism. |
| Dr Bina Ram Research Associate, Imperial College |
Dr Bina Ram is a Research Associate in School of Public Health at Imperial College London (ICL). She is a social science researcher focussing on the early and primary years of child health and development, and is the ‘Health in Schools’ Lead for the Child Health Unit, in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at ICL. Bina is currently co-leading a study funded by the NIHR which is evaluating the impact of active school environments on children and young people’s physical and mental health. She has also led research evaluating the impact of a school-based active mile intervention (The Daily Mile) on primary school children's physical activity, mental health, and educational performance. Bina has led research on examining variations in early years education and childcare policies and their impact children’s development (funded by the Maternal and Child Health Network), and has jointly led the evaluation of an early years pilot of Child Health Hubs in Northwest London (NWL), funded by NWL ICB. Previously, she worked on the National Evaluation of Sure Start, findings of which contributed to the UK Government’s ‘Ten-Year Childcare Strategy’ and ‘Every Child Matters’ policies. Her research interests include inequalities in early years child development, and mental health and education during the primary school years. |
| Dr Bill Hopkinson Chair, East London LGBT Seniors |
Rev Bill Hopkinson BSc MA MPhil MBA MEd PhD Previously, Director of Training, Diocese of Canterbury, Hon Canon Canterbury Cathedral Previously, Associate Professor, California State University, East Bay Co-Chair Borough of Newham Ageing Well Strategy Delivery Board 2023 Founder, Chair, East London LGBT Seniors 2022- Chair of Board, Freegle Ltd (Recycling) 2023- |
| Professor Graham Hart Professor and Director of UCL Centre for Sexual Health and HIV research, University College London |
Graham Hart is Professor of Sexual Health & HIV Research at University College London and Co-Director of UCL Health of the Public, a virtual School bringing academic disciplines together to solve complex health problems. From 2011- 2021 Graham was inaugural Dean of the UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences. Graham is currently: Chair of the MRC Applied Global Health Research Board; Co-Chair of the MRC/FCDO African Research Leader Scheme; Non-Executive Member of the Advisory Board of the UK Health Security Agency; Chair of the UKHSA Equality, Ethics & Communities Committee. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and has served on its Council. |
| Professor Heidi Larson Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
Heidi J. Larson, Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science,London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine(UK); Institute for Health Metrics &Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle(USA); and University of Antwerp and KULeuven, Belgium. Prof Larson is Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project.Her research focuses on managing risk and building public trust and coooperation in the context of pandemics and other crises. In 2021, Prof Larson founded the Global Listening Project to investigate ecosystems of trust and public experiences and trust relations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Larson previously lead vaccine strategy and communication at UNICEF and served on the WHO SAGE Working Group on vaccine hesitancy. She is author of STUCK: How Vaccine Rumors Start – and Why They Don’t Go Away. In 2021 she was awarded the 2021 Edinburgh Medal for Science. |
| Dr Michela Tinelli Assistant Professorial Research Fellow and NIHR SSCR Leadership Fellow, London School of Economics |
Dr. Michela Tinelli is an Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the Care Policy Evaluation Centre, LSE, a Leadership Fellow at the NIHR School for Social Care Research, and a Social Care Career Development Fellow with the NIHR North Thames Applied Research Collaboration (including Newham Local Authority). Her research specialises in the economic evaluation of adult social care, with a particular focus on populations with complex needs, such as individuals experiencing homelessness, addiction, and self-neglect. Also, she has expertise in choice modelling, which she uses to assess service user preferences for interventions and care models. |
| Kate Surety Resident representative |
Kate Shurety has been a resident of Plaistow Newham for 28 years, having grown up the other side of the River Lea in Poplar. Professionally she is an experienced communications and engagement specialist with more than 20 years’ leadership experience within public and charity sectors. She is a Trustee of The Tapscott Learning Trust in Newham and was previously a school governor for Curwen Primary School. She is passionate about health, equity and inclusion and in particular how communities and connection should be centred in developing new ways of tackling these issues. |
| Professor Matt Bellgard Pro Vice-Chancellor Impact and Innovation, University of East London |
Professor Matt Bellgard’s career began as a computer scientist with First Class Honours and PhD from the University of Western Australia in machine learning and artificial intelligence applied to classical music. His research journey has led to deep disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research undertakings with impactful outcomes to the broader community. |
| Professor Michelle Heys Professor of Global Child Health, University College London |
Michelle Heys is a UCL and NIHR Professor of Global Child Health and a Community Paediatrican looking after children and young people with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities in Newham, East London. Michelle researches into how health systems can improve outcomes for children and young people in low resource settings (UK, Nepal, India, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Australia). Her work focuses on priority populations: sick and small newborns; those with a diagnosis of complex neurodisability and/or with neurodiversity, those living in temporary accommodation and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people. Michelle holds 2 national UK roles to communicate and influence research strategy: member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment committee for Community and Social care and Chair of the senior research group of the British Association of Community Child Health. Through these roles she influences local, regional and national agenda setting for research in community child health and health systems. |
| Professor Oyinlola Oyebode Professor of Public Health, Centre Lead Public Health and Policy, QMUL |
Lola is a Professor of Public Health and have led the Centre for Public Health and Policy since September 2022. Lola does public health research in the UK and globally on the behavioural risk-factors for non-communicable disease (particularly diet); the health of marginalised (urban) populations; and knowledge mobilisation (that is efforts to bridge the gap between research and practice to improve population health). Lola completed higher specialty training in public health and I am a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health since 2014. Lola sits on their Academic and Research Committee since 2020. Lola holds an honorary consultant contract with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Lola lead on integrated academic training for public health registrars at QMUL. Lola sits on the advisory board for Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID) and Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration. |
| Professor Patrick Diamond Professor of Public Policy and Director, Mile End Institute, QMUL |
Patrick Diamond is a Professor in Public Policy and Director of the Mile End institute at the Mile Institute. Patrick is a trustee of the Dartington Service Design Lab and the Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET). He is also on the Board of the Campaign for Social Science. He is Chair of the think-tank Policy Network, and sits on the Scientific Council of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies. Patrick held a number of senior posts in British central government between 2000 and 2010, and was formally Head of Policy Planning in 10 Downing Street. He was a Local Councillor in the London Borough of Southwark from 2010 to 2014, and he has been a trustee of the Bromley by Bow Centre, a pioneering voluntary organisation led by the local community in East London. |
| Susanne Rauprich Chair of One Newham |
Forest Gate resident Susanne Rauprich OBE is the independent Chair of One Newham, the partnership network for the local community, voluntary and faith sector. She has a long history of managing charities and facilitating their networks. Her professional background is education and youth work, her passion is community and football (she is a long suffering Arsenal season ticket holder). Most days she works as the chief executive of Citizens Advice Redbridge and Citizens Advice Havering. Susanne’s ambition is to make One Newham the go-to place for anyone who wishes to engage with community and voluntary organisations in Newham. |
| Professor Winston Morgan Director of Impact & Innovation, Medicines Research Group and Professor , University of East London |
Winsoton Morgan is a Professor of Toxicology, Equity and Inclusive Practice working as a bioscientist primarily in toxicologist, in clinical biochemistry and also as a champion of Equality Diversity and Inclusion. My other important roles are as EDI leaderl, a safeguarding officer, PGR course leader for HSB and REF Impact champion. I am also involved in research and scholarly activity into factors particularly race and ethnicity which determine societal outcomes in higher education (awarding gap), health (inequalities) and medicine and have published widely in this area primarily in the media and opinion pieces. |
| Dr Philippa Lloyd Vice-Principal, Policy and Strategic Partnerships, QMUL |
Dr Philippa Lloyd began as Vice-Principal for Policy and Strategic Partnerships in January 2019. She is also the sustainability lead for the University. Previously she was Director General of Higher and Further Education at the Department for Education. Philippa took up the post of Director General, People and Strategy in September 2012 in what was then the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. In July 2016, responsibility for higher and adult further education was moved to the Department for Education, where she became the Director General responsible for higher and further education post-16. |
We have also established a Delivery Group to enable delivery of the work of the Centre. The Delivery Group will be chaired by Anne Bowers, Community Public Health lead from the London Borough of Newham’s Public Health team. The Delivery Group will:
- Agree actions to build the Centre for Equity
- Enable delivery on the actions that are agreed
- Bring to bear resources from communities
| Name and Role | Biography |
|---|---|
| Natalie Freeman UEL Public and Community Engagement , UEL |
Natalie Freeman works with the Office for Postgraduates, Research and Engagement at the University of East a London. Her focus is on public and community engagement, connecting UEL’s academic colleagues to our communities, to generate new knowledge, respond to local and global issues and to facilitate collaborative partnerships which harness UEL’s resources, for collective responses to tackling inequalities and addressing challenges for the communities we serve. |
|
Dr Olivia Stevenson Deputy Director of UCL Policy, UCL |
Dr Olivia Stevenson is an experienced knowledge mobiliser and leader of the UCL Public Policy programme, driving strategic initiatives and fostering opportunities for academic-policy engagement. Olivia holds a PhD in Social Geography from the University of Leeds. |
| Sarah Welsher Strategic Coordinator: Health of the Public , UCL |
Sarah Welsher is a Strategic Research Coordinator at UCL, bringing together cross-disciplinary research communities focussed on improving the health of the public. She has over 20 years experience of coordinating and strengthening research funding applications, building research communities and collaborations in the global and population health field, and leveraging world-class research to improve health. She has spearheaded a number of strategic collaborative relationships with local authorities and government departments, through initiatives such as ‘Researchers in Residence’. |
| Rachel Eagan Research Assistant , LSHTM |
Rachel Eagan is a Research Assistant with the Vaccine Confidence Project and Hygiene Futures at LSHTM. Working across projects, Rachel contributes to research design and analysis, as well as publication and report writing. Rachel brings 10-years of experience to VCP, working at the intersection of health, health, housing, economic opportunity, and community connection to drive policy and systems change. Prior to joining VCP, Rachel worked as a project manager for the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington overseeing a multi-country collaborative research consortium measuring incidence of Shigella to support future vaccine trials; as a consultant for the UN assessing healthcare systems across Asia and The Pacific; as a research assistant for Washington Healthcare Access Alliance conducting primary care needs assessments for the state of Washington; and as a data analyst for HomeSight supporting community-led planning processes and equitable development initiatives to address health disparities in Southeast Seattle. Rachel also lived and worked in El Sauce, Nicaragua, collaborating with local teams to improve housing quality, increase access to healthy food, and stimulate household level economic opportunities to ultimately impact health outcomes in a rural setting. Rachel holds a MSc in Demography & Health from LSHTM. |
| Dr Sarah Jasim Mixed methods researcher , LRaPP and NIHR North East London |
Sarah is a Policy Fellow for the London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP), embedded within the City Intelligence Unit at the Greater London Authority. Sarah is also a Senior Research, Research Partnership Team member and Knowledge Mobilisation Lead with NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North Thames, based at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at LSE. She is a senior mixed methods researcher with previous experience in complex evaluations in mental health, social care and health services. She is particularly interested in structural inequalities and resident / community engagement in accessible and inclusive ways. Sarah has research skills in statistical methods, qualitative research, mixed methods, realist evaluation, participatory action research, co-design / co-production and knowledge brokerage. |
| Audrey Tan Head of Public Engagement , QMUL |
Audrey has recently joined Queen Mary University London's Centre for Public Engagement (CPE) as the Head of Public Engagement. She leads the CPE to embed public engagement across the university and deliver signficant and impactful public engagement. Previously, Audrey was the Policy Partnerships Manager at Queen Mary's Mile End Institute where she was responsible for developing the university's capacity and reputation for public policy engagement. A research methodologist by training, Audrey previously worked for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Cochrane, and the World Health Organisation (WHO), conducting systematic reviews of clinical evidence to inform policy decision-making. Before joining QMUL, Audrey worked at University College London for the Public Policy and Public Engagement teams respectively, supporting academics to translate their research into real world impact. |
| Joy-Caron Canter Network Coordinator , One Newham |
Joy is currently the Network Coordinator at One Newham, a partnership network for the voluntary, community and faith sector. Joy has worked in the Voluntary Sector for over 20 years and volunteered for a previous 14 years. My previous roles managing grass roots Community Centres including The Royal Docks Learning & Activity Centre (RDLAC) provided me with a great deal of experience of working in the community, running & promoting events and managing several teams across youth and adult services. Joy was a volunteer youth leader and subsequently the paid Project Manager with JLGB, a national youth organisation. This led to a range of skills and activities including various outdoor pursuits as well as youth leadership training and qualifications from an early age. |
| Niccola Hutchinson-Pascal UCL: Co-Production Collective Lead |
Niccola leads the UCL Co-production and Public Engagement team and is part of Co-Production Collective (a co-produced community supporting co-production of research, service and policy development). Niccola has co-produced research about ‘What is the value of co-production?’ and has extensive experience in co-production supporting greater involvement in research of groups not often listened to. |
| Denise Allen Well-being and Volunteering Manager , Aston Mansfield |
Is an integrative coach and positive psychology practitioner. She uses evidence-based interventions to facilitate change. She is the Wellbeing and Volunteer Development Manager at Aston-Mansfield where she designs and delivers innovative community well-being programmes to combat racial inequalities. |
|
Oluwasegun Oyenigba Resident Representative |
Born and raised in East London, Oluwasegun is an advocate in the London borough of Newham supporting training, education, housing. He is a personal trainer and boxing coach from one of Newham’s longest running Kickboxing clubs (Mantis Kickboxing) and was one of the boroughs active Covid-19 Health Champion residents. He previously managed award winning singer songwriter Shahin Badar and wrote his own music column in a regional newspaper advising budding artistes on how to navigate their way in the music business. He passés on his various experience’s through to the local community through outlets such as the Mantis Kickboxing club, the Housing Advisor, and previously through initiatives such as the Vaccine Peer Support Program, educational Star Learner Quiz and Newham London/NHS 5 Ways To A Healthier Life information booklet produced in partnership with the NHS in Newham and a group of residents. He sits on the governing body at St James Church of England Junior school and as a Trustess on Bennu, an Arts Therapy Organisation. |
