Members of the Regulation Board
Biographies of the members of the Regulation Board
Janet Monkman, Registrar
Janet joined the Academy as CEO in February 2013, bringing with her a strong commitment to the values of the Academy – most importantly the benefits of bringing together the entire Healthcare Science profession to benefit patient care and advance the Healthcare Science workforce. Janet took over the role of Registrar in February 2017.
Janet has had a long career in healthcare building from her work as a clinician to move into teaching and later management. She has a wide portfolio of experience in executive, chief executive and non-executive roles in public, private and third sector.
Nicki Dill, Chair of the LSI Registration Council
From a clinical background and possessing over 30 years’ experience in the UK/International Medical Device Industry, including 27 years’ management experience in Anaesthesia, Respiratory, Critical Care, Pain Management and Orthopaedics.
Having been proud to serve on Barema Council for over 15 years, I currently serve as Chair, representing Barema on the Association of Anaesthetists Safety Committee, Chair of the Life Science Industry Registration Council and Vice Chair of ABHI Respiratory and Anaesthetics Group.
As Managing Director of Qualitech Healthcare Limited, I also work in close partnership with the NHS, including the Academic Health Science Networks, as well as with numerous professional bodies and organisations. In 2008, I was awarded the AAGBI “Langton Hewer Award to Industry”, in 2018, the Difficult Airway Society “Contribution to Airway Management Award” and have had four articles published in The Journal of Anaesthesia and Anaesthesia News, Safety Edition.
At the outset of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, I became closely involved with the
following projects – UK Ventilator Challenge, Respiratory NIV and CPAP plus Accessories Working Group (MHRA), Decontamination of Ventilators, Iron Lung Project, COVID-19 Impact on Innovation and Research. More recently, becoming acquainted with the invaluable work of Healthcare Ocean (formerly NHS Ocean)
In March of this year, I was very proud to have been awarded the Chairman’s Award 2023 from the Academy for Healthcare Science and I am dedicated to a positive future for the Academy and the Life Science Industry.
Dr Robert Farley (Professional member)
Rob Farley is currently the professional lead for Healthcare Science at NHS Education for Scotland (NES). His NES appointment followed a secondment from the NHS in 2006 to the Scottish Government’s Health Department, where he led publication of Scotland’s first Healthcare Science Action Plan. Whilst in the Scottish Government he worked with UK policy colleagues on the formulation of the HCS modernisation project; he is a member of the project’s Education and Training Scrutiny Group.
He is a registered Clinical Scientist, a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Institute for Physics and Engineering in Medicine. Prior to his government policy role and current post, Rob worked in NHS service for over 20 years both as a clinical bioengineer in rehabilitation technology, and in other Clinical Scientist roles in medical physics departments in Scotland. He also has had a teaching sabbatical in West Africa, and worked for short periods in higher education and in the oil sector.
He has experience in quality systems development, the commercialisation of NHS ideas and clinical research whilst in employment in NHS Greater Glasgow – where he obtained his PhD in conjunction with the respiratory physiology service. He has acted as visiting lecturer to AHP and Clinical Scientist training programmes in Scotland. Rob has been a Clinical Scientist Partner with the then Health Professions Council, gaining experience of the purpose and processes underpinning statutory regulation.
Rob believes that registration is an essential component in publicly demonstrating the duty of care and credibility we have with service users.
Dean Fathers DL
Dean has held numerous senior appointments across the health and life science sector.
Currently Chair of the Midlands Engine Health Board, he is also Independent Chair of Quality Safety and Risk at Voyage Care and a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman, where he chairs the Quality Committee. He is also an advisor to digital health organisations ATMPS, Blum Health, Cerina, NeedleSmart, Oxehealth, PDMS, Sekoia and Tuli Health and chairs the Midlands Medilink Digital Health Special Interest Group.
An Honorary Professor of Healthcare Leadership at the University of Nottingham’s Business School, Dean also Chairs the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Lincoln International Institute for Rural Healthcare and the Centre for Organisational Resilience at the University of Lincoln.
Formerly Chair of separate Acute, Community, Mental Health and Primary Care NHS Trusts, Dean has also held board roles with the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network, NHS Leadership Academy and NHS Providers. He is a Lay Member of the Academy of Health and Care Science’s Regulation Board and chairs the Academy’s Life Science Industry Steering Group.
Dean has held numerous Board roles with health related third sector organisations too and is currently a Trustee of charities Portland College and Care After Combat.
Lee Wickham (Lay Member)
Lee joined the Academy of Healthcare Scientists in Feb 2020, having just completed an LLM degree in Medical Law. A qualification that helped Lee to experience a rounded development through gaining insight into pan profession issues within and outside of the NHS. Lee has been in clinical practise since 2001, has teaching and course development experience at M level and is a new graduate trainer.
The internal motivation to explore and push boundaries has seen Lee through many innovative times, from delivering healthcare in Polyclinics in Cuba as part of his Graduation Portfolio, delivering governance policy and practice development at M Level, to earning a Fellowship from his Royal College as well as acting as an Expert Witness on behalf of his Statutory Regulator.
Lee holds in high regard the values that motivate our best self. Just like the value of being on an Accredited Register; a demonstrable act of individual responsibility.
Joy Tweed (Lay Member)
Dr Joy Tweed has held governance roles in health-related fields for more than 20 years, having served as a lay member on a Primary Care Trust, as a member of the disciplinary committee at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of GB, a trustee of a local hospice, a council member at the Health and Care Professions Council (2009 to 2016), and a term as Chair of its Education and Training Committee. Joy became a director of the RCCP in 2017, bringing governance and patient/public involvement expertise and also chairing the Professional Standards and Education Committee.
Joy was a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster (2005 to 2023), where she was a Course leader for an MSc Governing, Leading and Managing Healthcare (2007 to 2020) then subsequently a module leader on the MBA and for a Master’s module on leadership in a global context. Her PhD, awarded in 2017, explored governance and the role of the non-executive director and she has been involved in further research into governance.
Joy originally trained as an ophthalmic nurse and retains a strong interest in eye health. She is currently Chair of the Local Optical Committee Support Unit.
Barry Hirst (Lay Member)
Barry is a physiologist and Professor of Cellular Physiology at Newcastle University where he has Emeritus status. His research career focused on the gastrointestinal tract, with numerous collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the area of oral drug delivery. He was Dean of Postgraduate Studies in the Faculty of Medical Sciences for ten years to 2014. During this time he established a commitment to Healthcare Scientist education, leading Newcastle University’s successful bids for Scientist Training Programmes (STP) in Medical Physics and Physiological Sciences. Barry championed Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) in Healthcare Scientist courses, leading the development of guidance for educational providers on embedding PPI in courses.
He joined AHCS in 2017 as chair of the Education, Training and Professional Standards Committee. In 2020 joined the AHCS Registration Council as a lay member. He is currently chair of the AHCS Education Training & Standards Committee, and a member of the Regulation Board
Barry is chair of a Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee and a chair for Health Education England Centre for Advanced Studies credentials. Barry has been a Trustee of the Physiological Society, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Physiology, and Trustee of the Quadrum Institute. He was on the Council of Governors for Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear (Mental) Health Trust and a member of its Nominations Committee. He is a Fellow of the Physiological Society and of the Royal Society of Biology.
Helen Hughes (Lay Member)
Helen is Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning.
Helen’s passion for improved patient safety is informed by personal family insight into the impact of unsafe care and the ineffectiveness of organisational responses to learn from error.
Helen is an experienced leader in organisational effectiveness and transformational change. She has held leadership roles in healthcare in the UK and the WHO, the National Patient Safety Agency, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Parliamentary Health Services Ombudsman and the Charity Commission.
Helen’s previous leadership roles in patient safety include, as Director of Operations of the National Patient Safety Agency, designing the first patient safety infrastructure and policy framework for the NHS in England, and Director of the National Reporting and Learning System. At the WHO, she held a range of roles, including partnership and patient safety programme management and executive lead of the global ‘Patients For Patient Safety’ programme.
Michael Guthrie (Lay Member)
Michael Guthrie is an experienced executive leader with a background in professional regulation in the healthcare sector.
As Director of Policy and Standards for the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), he was responsible for policy and standards development across 16 regulated health professions, leading work to bring further professions into statutory regulation. He also held an Executive leadership position with the Australian Dental Council (ADC), where he was responsible for the accreditation of programmes leading to registration in the dental professions.
He was recently Policy Lead in the Centre for Advancing Practice at Health Education England (HEE) and undertakes a variety of freelance consultancy assignments for clients in the regulation, health and charity sectors.
Dr Janice Paterson (Professional Member)
NIHR Clinical Research Network National Coordinating Centre
Janice holds expertise both as a former academic researcher and as a leader of change initiatives within the research delivery system.
Following undergraduate study for a BSc (Hons) Genetics degree at the University of Aberdeen, Janice entered post-graduate scientific research training with the MRC, obtaining PhD in Virology from the University of Glasgow. Janice holds over 15 years experience working as a non-clinical scientist and a research fellow with the MRC and University of Edinburgh respectively, specialising in molecular genetic modelling of metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease mechanisms.
Janice joined the NIHR Clinical Research Network in 2011, firstly leading a small NIHR Portfolio research delivery team, and subsequently contributing to leadership of large-scale organisational change within a Transition Programme for the NIHR Clinical Research Network. Janice is currently Workforce Strategy Lead at the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) National Coordinating Centre.
Janice is passionate about the impact of research and leads on initiatives to enable and support the workforce involved in delivering health and care research in the NHS and other health and care research settings, and is currently lead for the NIHR CRN-led Programme for Growth and Development of Clinical Research Practitioners (CRPs) UK-wide. Janice is committed to enhancing the visibility of this vital workforce and driving strategic improvement of systems that realise the impact of this workforce to help improve health and care for patients, doing so through collaborative working with partners and organisations based locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Caroline Kirwan (Professional Member)
Caroline Kirwan is a Registered Genetic Counsellor with over 20 years’ experience in all areas of genetics including general, prenatal and cancer genetics. She has worked at different centres across the UK and is currently the Lead Consultant Genetic Counsellor for the All Wales Medical Genomics Service based in Cardiff. Caroline is heavily involved in genetic counselling service development and improvement, both within Wales and nationally as Co-Chair of the Genetic Counsellor Registration Board (GCRB). She has worked on the GCRB for the past nine years. This has led her to work closely with the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS) over the past two years. During this time the GCRB register has come under the AHCS. Caroline is an Honorary Lecturer for Cardiff University and supports Genetic Counselling students both as a clinical and academic supervisor.