Members of the CoLab Partnership executive committee are:
| Chair Dr Hilary Cass |
| Academic Convenors Dr Helen Leonard is a Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability at Great North Children’s Hospital and manages children a range of neurodevelopmental difficulties and with epilepsy. She has set up some innovative projects with voluntary sector collaboration including a music therapy group with Sage Gateshead and post diagnostic sessions with the North East Autism Society. She has published about diverse topics including sleep deprivation in parents of children with disabilities, heart transplantation in Down’s syndrome, the Universal Personalised Care comprehensive model and Personal Health Budgets. As well as NHS roles, she spent 2 years setting up a paediatric services in Turks and Caicos Islands and 8 months working on Grand Cayman. Helen’s son, Matthew, was born in 2000 with severe, complex physical and learning disabilities, epilepsy and cerebral visual impairment. Despite her professional role, she has faced a long struggle to get services to meet his needs. She is a member of the NHS England Strategic Co-production Group. Dr Florence Li |
| Academic Leads Lorna Fraser’s background is in clinical paediatrics. She has a good track record of research in paediatric epidemiology with a focus in chronic disease in children, especially life-limiting conditions. Her other research interests include equal access to services for children and young people and spatial analyses. Bethan Page is a researcher at the University of Oxford. Her background is in Psychology and Patient Safety. Bethan is passionate about supporting families who care for children with medical complexity. In her PhD/DPhil she investigated the challenges parents caring for children with complex medical needs experience through surveys and interviews. She also analysed incident report data on children with feedings tubes and on long-term ventilation. More recently Bethan has been developing a library of videos for families new to gastrostomy care, working with families, nurses and paediatricians from the community and hospital. |
| Clinical Improvement Leads Dr Mary Salama works as a Consultant Paediatrician at Birmingham Childrens Hospital. She has an interest in human factors and quality improvement. She has been the medical lead in the multidisciplinary 'Children with medical complexities' (CMIC) team at Birmingham Childrens Hospital since its inception in 2015. She enjoys running and is learning to crochet. Dr Carmen Soto |
| Education Leads Tara Kerr-Elliott Alexandra Mancini Dr Hannah Nicholson |
| Information and Publications Leads: Dr Peta Coulson-Smith is the module lead for education and assessment of Clinical Ethics and Law at the University of Southampton. Peta is a paediatric doctor and is an active member of several Clinical Ethics Committee. She has a specific interest in paediatric ethical and legal issues and has organised conferences and spoken on this topic in a wide range of settings. Dr Nilushika Weerapperuma |
| Parent Carer Representatives Steph Nimmo Usha Panchal Gabriella Walker |