HSJ Rising Stars

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• Leader: A sneak preview of the HSJ100 2023
• Comment: The emerging leaders to watch this year

Ade Adeyemi

Chair, Young Fabians’ Health Network

Mr Adeyemi is a trained pharmacist, political consultant on health, NHS Change Day core team member and chair of the Young Fabians’ Health Network. In the final post he has chaired debates in Parliament and led policy submissions to NHS consultations on the 2020 sustainability strategy. He also lobbied for changes to the way Hospital Episode Statistics are used, leading Network members in proposing changes to aid interpretation of data, ensure internal consistency within publications and reduce the risk of error resulting from manual intervention. In May, he signed a partnership between the Young Fabians’ Health Network and the African Medical and Research Foundation, the biggest medical charity in Africa.

Mr Adeyemi works as a political consultant on health for a number of organisations including Advocate, a healthcare policy and public affairs consultancy in Westminster. He has contributed to work on accident and emergency and type 2 diabetes at the Greater London Authority.

Currently studying for an MBA, Mr Adeyemi is said to be fostering great relationships within healthcare politics and pushing forward progressive agendas both professionally and outside of his day-to-day job. He is described as selflessly trying to connect the dots, people and organisations to help solve healthcare problems; his writing on the future of healthcare has been praised as thought provoking.

What the judges said “A really good leader.”

Dr Na’eem Ahmed

National clinical fellow to the medical director of NHS England

A radiology specialist registrar at St George’s, University of London, and ex-paediatrician, Dr Ahmed is also a fellow to Sir Bruce Keogh and worked on the Keogh review. He is an adviser to Team London in the Mayor of London’s office, which aims to make it easier to find out about and undertake volunteering. He is also the founder and chief executive of Selfless, a social enterprise that promotes volunteering for young people.

Dr Ahmed is a visiting quality improvement fellow at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston and a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Previous roles include adviser to the secretary of state for international development, during which he led a review of youth engagement activities at the Department for International Development.

Said to be a clinician with a heart, it has been suggested he is heading for very big - in all likelihood, global - things.

What the judges said “He’s intelligent, he’s ambitious, he’s humble, so I think he ticks boxes on many levels. I would mark him out as a top leader who would go very far.”

Rob Bethune

Surgical registrar, Severn Deanery

Mr Bethune is a surgical registrar interested in patient safety, quality improvement and leadership in healthcare and beyond. He co-founded The Network, an online social media site for frontline clinicians interested in patient safety and quality improvement. He also took a year out of his training to work as a clinical adviser to the medical director of the then South West Strategic Health Authority, Mike Durkin. During this time he was involved in a variety of quality improvement and public health projects. These included working with a practising hospital consultant to set up a programme that helped foundation doctors to run a structured quality improvement project throughout their first year. The programme was later expanded to several other hospitals in the UK.

Mr Bethune subsequently spent over a year as a clinical advisor to the Health Foundation. He is said to be sensible and pragmatic but someone who always puts quality and patient safety at the heart of things. He plans to practise as a colorectal consultant but with increasing amounts of time allocated to quality improvement.

What the judges said “He is excellent. He’s a junior doctor who ran a programme for foundation year doctors in the South West to learn about human factors. He’s completely changed the culture there.”

Jemima Burnage

Head of social work and safeguarding, Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust

A mental health clinician, in 2011 Ms Burnage was the only social worker in the UK to be awarded a place on the national clinical leadership fellowships programme offered by NHS Leadership Academy. Her project focused on improving access to healthcare through a web-based tool.

Ms Burnage has worked across various health and social care settings and has volunteered as a special constable, as child protection officer for a youth football committee and with children with learning disabilities in an equestrian setting. In her current role she provides clinical leadership across the trust’s mental health and learning disability services and represents the trust locally and regionally.

She is especially interested in championing the needs of vulnerable people, service improvement focusing on choice and control, and the role of clinical leadership in transformational change.

Ms Burnage is said to be making massive progress in raising social care awareness in the world of health. She contributed to the first clinical review on safeguarding for the BMJ.

What the judges said “As the only social worker recruited to the first NHS clinical fellows programme, she deserves recognition.”

Dr Ronny Cheung

Paediatric registrar; editor, The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young People

Dr Cheung is interested in medical education and models of child health services. He is editor of The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for Children and Young People, which was published in 2012. Developed in collaboration with the Child and Maternal Health Observatory, the document was the first in a series of themed atlases. It revealed, for the first time, variations across child health services provided in England and so allowed clinicians, commissioners and service users to identify priority areas for improving outcome, quality and productivity.

Dr Cheung is part of Running Horse Group, an NHS network committed to improving the quality of healthcare for children and giving clinicians the skills to be leaders of the future. Its objectives are to deliver at least one day of quality improvement training to all senior paediatric trainees on a regional basis by 2013 and all trainees by 2015, and for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s curriculum to include a requirement for all paediatric trainees to have performed one quality improvement project each year with measurable outcomes.

What the judges said “Part of Running Horse Group, led on the NHS atlas of variation − I think he’s going to go extremely far.”

Teresa Chinn

Agency nurse; founder, WeNurses Twitter chat

Teresa qualified as a registered nurse in the 1990s and has practised at a variety of levels and in a variety of settings. When she became an agency nurse Ms Chinn felt disconnected from the traditional nursing environment with diminishing access to peers and training and so turned to social media to connect with other nurses. She was the first to bring the concept of Twitter chats to nursing in the UK and now runs WeNurses.

The WeNurses account now has more than 12,000 followers and is used to hold weekly chats. These are then transcribed, summarised and archived on wenurses.co.uk. The project has now expanded to include WeMidwives, WeParamedics and WePharmacists, as well as other voluntary and commercial chats from within the healthcare sector.

Ms Chinn has become a social media specialist and works with healthcare organisations delivering workshops, seminars, speaking at conferences and providing social media consultancy. She is seen as shifting thinking in relation to social media in healthcare.

What the judges said “She has created the WeNurses movement in her own time and at her own expense. She really has created this social movement for nurses. She comes to all the national conferences and she can take the horses to water and make them drink. She’s very humble. There’s a quiet determination in her to get nurses to connect.”

Helene Donnelly

Ambassador for cultural change, Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust

One of HSJ’s inspirational women in 2013, Helene was formerly a staff nurse in accident and emergency at Stafford Hospital. She blew the whistle on the care failings at the hospital and refused to back down despite being intimidated. She was a key witness at the public inquiry led by Robert Francis QC. Helene believes that NHS organisations must be bold and demonstrate that they are committed to listening and responding to concerns from staff.

In her new role Helene has a clear and independent remit to raise issues quickly with the trust’s board and management. She also works alongside the Partnership’s network of professional leads.

In September 2013 Helene launched the updated Nursing and Midwifery Council guidance on raising concerns. The document highlights organisations that can provide advice and support on how to take matters forward.

Helene is described as having created a path of her own for others to follow.

What the judges said “People are going to continue to learn from her. She stuck at it − she didn’t go native and she didn’t walk. She’s absolutely been through hell and high water, and we want to recognise that. In the current climate, it would be criminal to ignore her.”

Kath Evans

Head of patient experience, NHS England

A children’s nurse, Kath worked as lead nurse for paediatric services at East and North Hertfordshire Trust and as assistant director of nursing at the Whittington Hospital Trust before taking up a secondment to the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. There she worked as part of the children’s and young people’s emergency and urgent care rapid improvement team, working with trusts across England to enhance system-wide care for children and young people.

She took up her role at NHS England earlier this year and leads on maternity, neonatal, children and young people’s experience of care. She is working to measure and use the feedback from paediatric patients and their families, and engaging young people in sharing their experiences of care.

Ms Evans is also an active member of the Association of Chief Children’s Nurses and is committed to innovation and collaboration to enhance healthcare services for children, young people and their families.

What the judges said “Completely inspirational, full of energy, widely connected. She’s fabulous. She’s very generous − she shares space with other leaders. She’s brilliant with users.”

Dr Amir Hannan

GP, Haughton Thornley Medical Centres, Hyde, Cheshire

Dr Hannan is known for being a champion of patient access to GP records. His practice was one of the first in the country to offer its patients access to their full GP electronic health records, and he is said to have fought to dispel myths about the burdens, risks and harms of patient record access.

In addition to being a full time GP, Dr Hannan is lead for patient and public engagement and empowerment, long term conditions and information management and technology at Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group. He is also a founding member of the Record Access Collaborative. The collaborative aims to raise awareness nationally and internationally of the benefits of patient access to records, and to bring together those who are interested in seeing wider access to records.

Dr Hannan sees innovation as “about doing or making something completely new that has never been done before, which leads to a material change in thinking, behaviour or outcomes”.

What the judges said “He’s done a tremendous job, particularly in a community that’s very deprived. I think he’s outstanding.”

Charlotte Johnston

Second year nursing student, University of Lincoln

Ms Johnston led a nationwide movement of student nurses to eliminate pressure ulcers. She was inspired to arrange a local Stop the Pressure event for students at the University of Lincoln after responding to a comment on Twitter from Ruth May, NHS England’s chief nurse for the Midlands and East, about the wider Stop the Pressure campaign. The goal was to help raise awareness of pressure ulcers and boost the skills needed to avoid and treat them.

Ms Johnston took part in the investigation by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh into high mortality rates at 14 hospital trusts in England. She was then one of 18 people selected for places at the new National Junior Leadership Academy at the University of Nottingham. The Academy is aimed at high performing pre-registration nursing students or those who feel they have leadership potential. The six month programme seeks to identify and develop the nursing profession’s future leaders from the student population.

What the judges said “She’s done amazing work. She’s got the whole of her student body behind her.”

Kristine Jones

Procurement manager, Liverpool Community Health Trust

Kristine Jones has quickly risen up the ranks of her local NHS. In 2004, she joined Liverpool Primary Care Trust as PA to the head of pharmaceutical public health. She then moved on to an administrative role, including supporting the deputy director of medicines management, before being appointed a project manager.

She took up her role as procurement manager at Liverpool Community Health Trust in September 2012, and has clearly made a real impression. She was nominated for her strong leadership skills − she is described as having vision, being creative and being full of innovative ideas. She is also said to be available to give guidance and encouragement, and seen as “an inspiration to the whole of the trust”.

Our judges praised both her rapid progression, and her dedication to working “in the trenches” on procurement − a tricky but important area.

What the judges said “She has risen up the ranks quickly, from PA to procurement manager and has done some really interesting projects. Her career is the definition of a rising star.”

Pollyanna Jones

Regulatory performance manager, King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust

Ms Jones was one of the key leaders in the development of NHS Change Day. She is said to never be afraid to speak out and involve patients in making decisions about their care. Many have described her as the best networked young leader they know.

Ms Jones started her NHS career as an accountant at Luton and Dunstable Hospital University Foundation Trust, joining the NHS graduate management trainee scheme in finance in 2010. She took up her current role in March and is seen as a dynamic manager who is likely to be an asset to the NHS management community in the future.

Heavily engaged in NHS Hack Days − weekend events that bring together doctors, nurses, developers and designers to create disruptive solutions to problems in the health space − our judges praised Ms Jones for her ability to get young leaders engaged in a wide variety of improvement activities. She is, it is argued, proof that it is not only clinical staff who have high quality patient care as their primary objective.

What the judges said “She’s passionate. I’m just amazed at how many people she knows − she’s a phenomenal networker. She’s had a massive impact.”

Dr Nikita Kanani

GP, south east London

Dr Kanani is co-chair and founder of The Network, an online community for doctors, students and allied health professionals who have an interest in improving patient care in the UK and beyond. The Network aims to share knowledge in leadership, management and quality improvement to improve patient care. Dr Kanani is also quality lead at the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, the goal of which is to benefit patients by promoting medical leadership, management and quality improvement at all stages of medical careers.

Dr Kanani is governing body member and integrated care lead at Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group where she provides clinical and strategic support for integrated care and diabetes services, as well as developing patient and public engagement in service transformation policy. Her other roles include executive board member of the National Association of Primary Care and clinical commissioning champion at the Royal College of General Practitioners. She is said to be passionate about improving service provision and access within the NHS, and has been described as a very dynamic young GP who is going to be a national leader of primary care.

What the judges said “She’s a great networker and she does loads of stuff − she’s good.”

Dr Pierre-Antoine Laloë

Anaesthetist, Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust

Dr Laloë is project manager of the Ignaz Handbook, a medical smartphone app designed to provide up to date, trust specific and locally authored information to medical and nursing staff within an organisation. He is said to have vision on how the use of modern technology can impact on patient care − and through his app is doing something about it. The app has potential for the transfer of information to junior doctors, who are a difficult to reach group.

Dr Laloë has provided training on how to populate the app, dealt with governance queries, and sought out and recruited champions to help him. He has impressed people with his enthusiasm and tenacity in engaging with key stakeholders in an organisation to which he is very new. He has rolled out the project to five other trusts, including two large teaching hospital trusts.

Dr Laloë clearly stands out from the crowd as a young doctor with a full-time clinical role who simultaneously drives a separate project. Medical students appreciate his enthusiasm for teaching and it is believed he will become a future leader within the NHS.

What the judges said “His app is good, and he built it and designed it with no experience himself.”

John Lee

Clinical solutions director, Serco Health

A past member of the NHS graduate manager trainee scheme, Mr Lee has built up significant experience in the public and private sectors since completing his undergraduate degree in 2005. This spans teaching hospitals, where he has reconfigured pathology care for a large trust, to his present role at Serco. As clinical solutions director he leads on the development of new products and solutions with a particular focus on hospitals.

Previous posts include head of operations at Imperial College Healthcare Trust and operational improvement manager at Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust. From 2006 to 2008 Mr Lee was a national graduate management trainee at the former NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, during which time he worked at the then Barts and the London Trust, McKinsey and Co and the Department of Health.

Mr Lee is said to be a real leader with a thirst to do more, faster.

What the judges said “He’s had rapid career progression over the last couple of years. He’s undertaken projects that have had national impact. People speak really highly of him.”

Dr Claire Lemer

Consultant in general paediatrics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust

Dr Lemer combines working as a general paediatric consultant with service transformation focused on improving the interface between primary and hospital care. She spent two and a half years at the Department of Health and World Health Organization where she worked in public health, quality improvement and developing clinical leadership programmes.

During 2004-05, Dr Lemer was a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and was based at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. During the fellowship she conducted two projects on the effects of communication in paediatric medication safety. In the first, she investigated the advice given to patients and their parents regarding prescriptions and side effects, and the impact this has on adverse events. For her second project, she examined the way safety and medical errors in paediatrics are covered by the media, and the effect it has in shaping the views of patients and providers.

Dr Lemer’s current research interests are quality improvement and clinical leadership. She has co-authored two books on medical management and has degrees from Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard and London.

What the judges said “She’s a great clinician and she’s extremely humble − quietly brilliant.”

Patricia Miller

Director of operations, Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust

Ms Miller is said to have made a huge difference to her trust. She completed the Breaking Through programme in 2006 and worked as a general manager for surgery before becoming a director. She is said to have a good relationship with clinicians and to be very clear about what she wants to achieve. Colleagues say she doesn’t compromise on quality, is innovative in her approach and works closely with partner organisations.

Dorset is an acute trust but Ms Miller wrote a community strategy and was successful in getting funding to try out a virtual hospital ward in the community. Assessments for long term care in the community were carried out to help relieve pressure in winter. She also led the trust’s recent bid to become an early adopter for seven day working.

Ms Miller is said to be a huge asset to her organisation and people believe that her skills, relationships, drive and passion for quality will see her become a successful chief executive in the future.

What the judges said “It sounds like she’s looking beyond her organisation and looking to the future in terms of the local health economy.”

Wendy Preston

Ambulatory care lead, George Eliot Hospital Trust

In 2009 Ms Preston secured funding from the strategic health authority to develop a respiratory ambulatory care service at her trust. The aim was to improve care in the community for respiratory patients and cut the amount of time they needed to spend in hospital; by engaging with key stakeholders, it took little time to move this idea from design to reality.

Ms Preston has developed clinical training across her local healthcare economy and led on non-medical prescribing, implementing policy, education and audit to ensure safe practice. In 2010 she developed the smoking cessation service after the trust successfully won a tariff from Coventry Primary Care Trust. The service was operational within four weeks.

Ms Preston is said to be a credit to her profession, an inspirational nurse and, without doubt, a rising star.

What the judges said “Good examples of going above and beyond.”

Dr Carl Reynolds

National Institute for Health Research academic clinical fellow, Imperial College Healthcare Trust

Dr Reynolds is director and projects manager of Better Data, a non-profit organisation that builds projects to create and use data in healthcare and academia. The first project was Randomise Me, an online tool allowing anyone to design and run a randomised trial.

In addition, Dr Reynolds is the chief executive and co-founder of software development and digital health services consultancy Open Health Care UK. The organisation builds tools for doctors that focus on usability and solving the problems of people on the front line. Dr Reynolds also helps organise NHS Hack Days − events that bring together doctors, nurses, developers and designers to learn alternative models for problem solving and procurement within health technology. Earlier this year, he completed an MSc in Healthcare Informatics.

During a clinical fellowship in the NHS medical director’s clinical fellows scheme, Dr Reynolds was clinical adviser to Sir Liam Donaldson at the National Patient Safety Agency and clinical adviser to the medical education and training programme at the Department of Health.

What the judges said “He’s young, he’s dynamic and he’s doing something for which he had no funding initially. He’s a real disruptor.”

Dr Damian Roland

NIHR doctoral research fellow in paediatric emergency medicine, University of Leicester

One of HSJ’s top innovators in 2013, Dr Roland was one of the core team for

NHS Change Day, which used social media to share 189,000 pledges of action. It was the biggest day of collective action for improvement in the history of the NHS and won a global challenge for management innovation prize from Harvard Business Review and McKinsey.

Dr Roland is co-director of QuackApps, which produces bespoke mobile and website enabled products. These include the Paediatric Observation Priority Score, a checklist that demonstrates an acuity score (0-16) of acutely ill children using data that is easy to collect.

Dr Roland is operational director of the Paediatric Emergency Medicine Leicester Academic Group, a social enterprise dedicated to improving the care of ill or injured children. He also founded Running Horse Group, a network of paediatricians who are interested in learning the skills required to improve and develop services for children and young people.

What the judges said “He stands out as somebody who is ambitious and he nurtures other young leaders. Definitely a rising star for the future of the NHS. He’s someone with great impact and someone who is going to go far.”

Alex Silverstein

Past President, Young Leaders in Diabetes programme, International Diabetes Federation

Mr Silverstein developed type 1 diabetes at the age of one and is seen as a tireless campaigner for young people with diabetes. He is said to already be displaying strong leadership, as well as entrepreneurial qualities and wisdom beyond his years.

Alex has just completed a two-year project with Diabetes UK aimed to engage young adults. While doing this he was also president of the Young Leaders in Diabetes programme, for the International Diabetes Foundation. During his presidency, Alex worked with other young leaders around the world towards gaining equal access to equipment for patients with diabetes; for education of patients, health professionals and the general public and toward gaining support for patients with diabetes from, friends, family, employers and healthcare teams.  

Alex has now been rewarded the position of past president so he can continue to support the growth and development of this innovative programme. Over the next two years Mr Silverstein will dedicate himself to making positive changes within the NHS and healthcare services.

What the judges said “He’s done a lot and is somebody who’s clearly showing progression. He’s living with diabetes and in that respect he’s a great role model for other young people with diabetes who are often non-compliant. Comes from that expert patient background and he’s got an international reputation.”

Reshma Thampy

Trainee ophthalmologist, Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust

Ms Thampy is said to have shown exceptional leadership qualities covering very diverse areas. These have included improving the interface between consultant trainers and trainees experiencing difficulty in training; the understanding and working relations between the two groups have become better as a result.

Ms Thampy led a trust-wide review of venous thromboembolism assessment. Her survey of attitudes to VTE assessment revealed the root cause of poor uptake and resulted in a review of policy and implementation across the trust.

She is the first ophthalmologist to achieve a place on the medical leadership programme, and has received a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence scholarship to examine barriers to implementation of NICE guidance in the glaucoma pathway.

Ms Thampy raised national awareness of dog bite injuries in children as a flag for initiating child protection measures. She has mentored junior colleagues and is said to have a natural flair for supportive leadership, communication and identifying an issue with the ability to deliver a solution. It is believed she is highly likely to become an influential leader in the future.

What the judges said “She’s broken new ground.”

Dr Jeremy Tong

Specialist trainee in paediatric intensive care medicine, Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust

A self-proclaimed geek and healthcare radical, Dr Tong is a member of the NHS Change Day team. He is also committed to promoting sepsis awareness and best practice in children.

People say there is “something about Jeremy”, that he’s pushing himself forward and doing a lot outside his normal job. It is also said that he has strong leadership skills and is a very good collaborator.

Dr Tong is active in quality improvement programmes in paediatrics and works with Global Sepsis Alliance chief executive Dr Ron Daniels on Sepsis Six, a set of interventions that can be delivered by any junior health professional as part of a team. If implemented in the first hour they can double a patient’s chances of survival.

What the judges said “He strikes me as being a very strong leader. I’ve always been incredibly impressed by him. I think it’s fantastic to see these young clinicians pushing their way through and going the extra mile. He has a natural authority.”

Youth advisory panel, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

An unconventional nomination in that it relates to several people rather than one, but our judges were keen to recognise the contributions of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s Youth Advisory Panel. Said to be made up of inspirational young people, it is through the panel that young patients, advocates and aspiring medics work with the RCPCH and across the wider healthcare sphere to promote best practice in paediatric care now and in the future. They present at conferences, advise on policy, blog, advocate and put the voice of children and young people at the top of the agenda.

The panel’s achievements include helping with the HeadSmart campaign, which helped raise awareness of the symptoms of brain tumours in young people; creating D-Stress, a product to support young people concerned about their wellbeing; and helping to develop a patient reported experience measure for urgent and emergency care.

Panel members have also been active in several events, such as Ethics and Genetics − How Far is Too Far? at the Royal Society of Medicine, the high level policy conference My Right to the Highest Standard of Health, and the RCPCH UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 20th anniversary celebration event.

What the judges said “Bringing together patients as well as aspiring medics.”

Dr Sebastian Yuen

Consultant paediatrician, George Eliot Hospital Trust

Dr Yuen is a consultant paediatrician who has a passion for improving quality, patient safety, human factors and interprofessional education. As a fellow

at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in 2008-09, he conducted a project to develop and implement a Paediatric Early Warning Score at the Royal Free Hospital in London. The tool improves the recognition of, and response for, children whose condition is deteriorating; it reduced paediatric crash calls from approximately one a month to zero for 263 days. The PEWS is now being spread to other hospitals.

Dr Yuen is the founder of Health 2.0 Birmingham, an organisation that connects clinical leaders, NHS managers, entrepreneurs, developers and patients to help improve care and patient self-management. He is also an adviser for 2014’s NHS Change Day.

What the judges said “He’s very well networked. He seems genuinely interested in people and in progress.”