Our Team
Here are the people who make up our team
William Pope
Chair
Profile coming soon
Richard Stubbs
Chief Executive Officer
Richard is the Chief Executive Officer of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as well as Chair of the Health Innovation Network. With more than two decades of experience in the healthcare sector, Richard is an inspirational leader who offers a unique combination of local, national and international perspectives.
As a long-standing member of the NHS Assembly, the Health Foundations Adopting Innovation Advisory Group and Chair of the Health Innovation Network, Richard is helping shape the future of the NHS and steering major health innovation programmes. Richard represents the UK on the Global Scientific Committee and works closely with UKTI to export the UK’s healthcare excellence around the world.
Richard has led thinking on the link between health and economic prosperity, and on tackling health inequality. His influential report Levelling Up Yorkshire and Humber; Health as the new wealth post-COVID led to calls by the House of Lords Public Services Committee for “better targeted plans” promoting health, education and skills in more deprived areas.
Proud of his Yorkshire roots, Richard undertakes a variety of roles focused on developing the region as a great place to live and work, including serving on the Board of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority LEP, Chair of the advisory board for Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellness Research Centre, a £14m research institution established to develop innovations to improve population health. He’s also Chair of the NIHR Children and Young People MedTech Cooperative MIC Steering group, the only dedicated paediatric NIHR MIC.
A commitment to diversity and inclusion runs through everything Richard does, and for the last 2 years he has been recognised by the Health Service Journal in their Top 50 BAME power list as “one of the BAME figures exercising the most power and influence in English health policy.”
In his spare time, Richard is an avid Sheffield Wednesday FC fan and enjoys coaching an U9s football team.
See Richard's full biography for further details
Kathy Scott
Director of Operations and Deputy CEO
Kathy is responsible for ensuring our programmes meet the requirements of our commissioners. She’s also the Health Innovation Network Lead for Environmental Sustainability and Staff Development.
Before joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Kathy was Head of Innovation and Research at NHS England, responsible for the first two rounds of the Innovation and Technology Payment and the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme. During this time she secured the relicensing of the 15 local Health Innovation Networks for a further five years.
Kathy has had a really varied public services career. Starting out working in the Department for Social Security’s Benefits Office, she moved to become a Fraud Investigator and then into measuring the cost of benefit fraud and error. She later moved over to the Department of Health where she worked in a variety of roles, including the delivery of large-scale strategic projects, policy development, corporate support, commercial projects and assessing the value for money of other public bodies, including the Food Standards Agency and NICE.
Kathy loves spending time with her family, reading, running and planning her next holiday.
Graham Walsh
Medical Director
Graham has joined our executive team as our first Medical Director. This new role has a broad remit allowing Graham to offer clinical support and advice across a range of projects within the organisation. He is also engaged in encouraging partnership working between clinical teams across the region and the Health Innovation Network
Graham studied medicine at University College Medical School in London before moving back to his native Yorkshire where he has been a Consultant Knee Surgeon at Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust (CHFT) since 2009. He continues to work clinically and works with national teams to improve knee arthroplasty pathways. Clinically his team has won many healthcare awards for their pathway transformation work.
He joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber having been an Associate Medical Director at CHFT and was also the Chief Clinical Information Officer where he oversaw digital transformation and innovation. He is a strong advocate for the use of technology in healthcare seeing it as an enabler to improve patient care and outcomes and recognises the importance of the patient’s involvement with transformation.
Outside of work Graham is married to Lara and is a hands-on father to 4 children. He enjoys spending time with his family, be it in this country or on holiday in the sun or on their annual family ski trip. He also part owns a popular local bar where he can at times be seen lending a hand behind the bar.
Neville Young
Director of Enterprise & Innovation
Dr Neville Young is Director of Enterprise and Innovation at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. He has a real interest and track record in supporting the delivery of high-quality research and innovation in the United Kingdom that improves patient outcomes and drives health system efficiencies.
Neville is focussed on helping innovative businesses succeed and grow. He is a National Institute of Health Research i4i reviewer, a Board member of the NHS Innovation Accelerator and of the Olympic Legacy Park, vice Chair of the NHSE funded Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Cancer Programme and Chair of the National Pathology Imaging Collaborative and was recently invited to support as an advisor to the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub in Canada. He created the Propel@YH accelerator programme, which supports both UK-based and international businesses succeed in the UK market.
He also has an interest in supporting international activities, promoting export opportunities for UK-based innovators and creating a safe landing space for successful international companies looking to enter the UK market via the Propel@YH International Boot Camp. Neville has worked as an academic researcher, a drug trial manager, a consultant, as a director for a health tech start-up and is focused on helping to identify and support the ‘pull’ from the healthcare systems for innovative health technologies.
He completed his doctorate in Molecular Embryology from Kings College London, before working at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and then the Institute of Molecular Biosciences in Queensland, Australia before returning to the UK and developing a career focussed on supporting innovation across the breadth of the health and life sciences industry.
He loves sport and all things sporty and in particular rugby union!
Tracey Walker
Director of Delivery
Tracey is our Director of Delivery and has a diverse portfolio including Workforce strategy and programmes, Health Inequalities, Population Health Management, Mental Health, The Patient Safety Collaborative, Polypharmacy and CVD.
A successful transformational change leader with a proven track record in leading programmes and delivering change, Tracey’s career has spanned a diverse range of fast paced, complex, continually developing commercial and public businesses. She has also enjoyed successful roles in Leadership Development and Lean Transformation.
Since joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in 2019, she has led on several programmes looking at the impact of new innovation, the implementation of different workforce strategies and new ways of working. She has successfully built collaborative working partnerships across the health and social care sector and secured funding at both national and regional level across a number of areas including colleague mental health and wellbeing and the trailblazing Workforce Challenge Hub in partnership with NHSE.
She is passionate about creating an inclusive environment where all have a voice and feel able to share innovative thoughts and ideas leading to a richer workplace for Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and their partners. Supporting individuals and organisations to be the best they can be is one of her core values.
Phil Waywell
Director of Digital Partnerships
As Director of Digital Partnerships for the health and care system in Yorkshire and Humber, Phil is focused on ensuring data infrastructure and assets are used to their full potential to inform decision-making, thereby improving patient access, experience and outcomes. Phil is leading on work with regional and national stakeholders to develop a blueprint for partnerships between health and care organisations and commercial partners that deliver mutual benefit and ensure an appropriate share of any resultant value. Phil has particular expertise relating to real-world evidence, information governance and the operation of Trusted Research Environments.
Prior to joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Phil was the Commercial Manager at DATA-CAN: the Health Data Research UK Hub for Cancer. During that time, Phil established a network of NHS Cancer Centres that collaborate to deliver industry-funded real-world evidence studies, the results of which improve patient access, treatment and outcomes. This was the first time UK Cancer Centres had collaborated in this way.
Robust and meaningful public and patient inclusion and engagement lies at the heart of Phil’s work and this reflects his ongoing commitment to foster diverse and inclusive ways of working and decision-making.
Phil loves spending time with his wife and children, especially walking and cycling in the fabulous countryside in our region – visits to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park are always a family favourite. He also enjoys trying new dishes and cuisines, either rustled up in their kitchen or at one of the many brilliant eateries across Yorkshire and the Humber. And, of course, he loves digital health innovation and data-driven healthcare!
Amy Lochtie
West Yorkshire Innovation Hub Director
Amy leads the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Innovation and Improvement Hub which embeds Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber into the West Yorkshire Integrated Care System. The Hub is the designed to identify and deliver the adoption and spread of innovation across the West Yorkshire system, and to cultivate innovation networks and key strategic partnerships.
Prior to her role in Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Amy has been a frontline clinical nurse in both Adult and Neonatal Intensive Care, as well as undertaking core roles within strategic healthcare transformation during the COVID pandemic. Amy is a member of both the NHS Assembly and the Northwest Clinical Senate providing leadership and experience to NHS England Executive teams shaping the Long-Term Plan. Outside of her NHS and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber roles, Amy is a Trustee and Non-Executive Director for Bliss Neonatal Charity and is well regarded for her published work on Nursing Leadership.
Amy is a lifelong Formula One fan which is the root cause of her interest in continuous innovation and improvement. Amy loves her family, watching her 2-year-old grow into an incredible small human, and long family dog walks with their rescued greyhound Mr Socks. Professionally, she loves watching and supporting others succeed and develop throughout their career.
Sarah Dew
South Yorkshire Innovation Hub Director
Sarah leads the South Yorkshire Innovation Hub. The Hub works with people from across the South Yorkshire system to develop innovative ideas in response to the many health and wellbeing challenges and opportunities in our region, and to adopt great practice and innovations from elsewhere.
Sarah has a background that spans health, wellbeing and innovation, and the public, not for profit and private sector.
At the Health Foundation, she set up the campaigning coalition Health Equals to raise awareness of and campaign for change in health inequalities and the wider determinants of health. Before this, Sarah was Head of Policy Design at Camden Council where she set up a new cross council team to design new services and support teams to co-design service improvements with residents. She also led the council’s recovery missions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sarah has worked as an Innovation Consultant for the not for profit Innovation Unit, collaborating with different parts of the health system to co-design and support innovation – including running an innovation programme to design community solutions to end of life care, working with the NHS Innovation Accelerator, and co-authoring research with the Health Foundation into how to scale and spread innovation in the NHS. She also led the international market development of an online healthcare start up.
Outside of work, you'll probably find Sarah out in the Peak District running, cycling, rowing or eating biscuits and admiring the view. She is also an avid political podcast listener, and amateur maker of things, like lino-printing.
Adam Smith
Project Manager
Adam is a Programme Manager who is responsible for supporting the delivery of Health Innovation Network's national programmes; the MedTech Funding Mandate and Rapid Uptake Products, which seek to improve lives by working with NHS providers to adopt innovations into the NHS and health service across our region. Adam is passionate about delivering an improved health service to the public, ensuring equitable access is available to all and is provided in a sustainable way.
Before joining the organisation, Adam worked for the Home Office as a Project Manager for a transformation programme within a high profiled department. Adam delivered projects to deliver wide-ranging changes to the UK’s immigration legislation and processes, including the government’s Places of Growth strategy, which seeks to address the imbalance of public sector roles throughout the UK by moving jobs out of London and into the other UK regions.
Prior to his project management roles, Adam held several posts within the Civil Service which included training provider, assurance and compliance officer and varied operational roles, bringing a diverse skillset and experience to his current role to deliver programmes within our health service.
Adele Bunch
Head of Portfolio
Adele joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in September 2021 as programme manager supporting the workforce element of the FH-Lipid programme. She led the Inclisiran project before becoming Head of Portfolio in January 2022 with responsibilities for Health Inequalities, Mental Health and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement.
Before joining the organisation, Adele was the programme lead for domestic and international supply at NHS Employers, supporting trusts in England to upscale their recruitment, particularly focussed on the ethical overseas supply of nurses to meet the 50,000 nurse mandate. Here Adele worked with arms-length bodies, regulators, training providers and unions to help ensure employers could both navigate the new immigration system and increase their workforce capacity. Adele also managed the list of agencies adhering to the Code of Practice for International Recruitment and the People Performance Management Toolkit.
Something Adele is really proud of was the instigation of a resettlement refugee project for the NHS, designed to recruit nurses from Lebanon and Jordan into the UK. The project which became partially funded is now matching qualified nurses to NHS posts with arrivals due throughout 2021/22.
From starting her healthcare career in 1999 as a qualified dental nurse, Adele moved into healthcare policy within the Department of Health and Social Care where she worked on walk-in centre, GP exemplar and regulation policy. In 2004 she joined NHS Employers where she worked on a number of programmes spanning 17 years, including professional standards, reducing agency spend and widening participation.
As a mum of three who all love camping and outdoors, Adele enjoys walking in North Yorkshire, particularly in and around Burnsall and Malham. Adele’s guilty pleasure is Netflix and she also enjoys crafting and art.
Aimee Cornthwaite
HR Coordinator
Aimee is part of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber's HR team, focusing on Learning and Development, Wellbeing, Performance Management and helping to develop the department to support the organisation as a whole.
Prior to working for the organisation, Aimee worked for a Physiotherapy company manging the HR department, building up the HR team to support the business. Aimee helped to create the processes and policies across the organisation, supporting them to be more efficient in their ways of working. Recruitment and retention was a key part of the role, helping managers support their teams to ensure they could help each employee to feel supported and valued.
Aimee loves spending time with friends and family, going for walks, shopping and reading. She also loves going to the theatre and watching musicals, The Greatest Showman is currently her favourite!
Aimee Ward
Project manager
Aimee works in the enterprise and innovation team at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as a project manager and supports the delivery of the organisation's real world evaluation projects. Before joining the AHSN, Aimee worked at a HealthTech company leading projects in patient engagement. This included working with the NHS on projects that used targeted communications to improve uptake of health services. Aimee has previously worked within the NHS as a specialist clinical coder at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
When Aimee's not working, she enjoys gin and food festivals (particularly relating to cheese), she is also a whizz at finding obscure health statistics.
Amanda Lilley-Kelly
Project Manager
Amanda is a Programme Manager at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and works in the Deputy CEO’s Office to deliver projects for a range of external stakeholders.
Before joining the company, Amanda worked for the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University of Leeds supporting delivery of research within the Complex Interventions division. Amanda has over ten years’ experience of project delivery within Academic Health Sciences.
Amanda has two small children that keep her busy, but bring her so much joy! She also has an interest for interior design – project managing the build of her own home in 2015 and redecorating it constantly.
Andrew Woodcock
SYB Innovation Hub Project Manager
Andrew joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in October 2020 to work as part of the South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Innovation Hub. Working closely across the organisation and Integrated Care System, he supports the Hub’s role to identify and collate unmet needs, connect partners from across the system and introduce innovative solutions to clinical and non-clinical challenges.
Andrew is leading on a project to aid patients experiencing respiratory disease through training front line health workers in CBT techniques. He is also supporting innovative system transformation projects in cancer pathways, and is developing a web portal to collate and share resources throughout the region.
Prior to this role, Andrew worked in a primary health authority in Melbourne, where he was responsible for guiding the research and commissioning of a range of programmes to support chronic pain, diabetes, homelessness and Aboriginal health. He also gained experience working for the UK national authority of third-sector organisations delivering public leisure and culture services. Here, he led projects to demonstrate the social value of members and to protect the public commissioning environment for charities and social enterprises.
Andrew is a keen distance runner, a regular cyclist (more laid-back than lycra-clad), a budding photographer and an enthusiastically average artist.
Angela Foster
CEO's Executive Assistant
Angela is an Executive Assistant with a demonstrated history of working at C-suite. She is well versed in handling a wide range of complex and logistically demanding tasks and projects across organisations both in the public and private sector in a career that spans more than twenty years. Angela has also skills in Marketing & PR, Finance, IT and HR.
Trying to describe what she does, Angela said that her role at tHealth Innovation Yorkshire & Humber is so varied, and every day is different but basically, it’s the equivalent of air-traffic controller for the CEO and Board, constantly co-ordinating the needs and demands of the CEO (and the Board) making time, information and decision making more effective, enabling them to focus on their leadership and business critical responsibilities.
Angela loves spending time with her family including walking and mountain biking. She also likes field hockey, Muay Thai and abstract art – mainly acrylic.
Atif Mahmood
Project Manager
Atif leads in digital innovation, benefitting primary care services by delivery of programmes supporting the introduction of innovative practices, products and services into health and care organisations. Atif engages with the other health innovation networks and NHS organisations.
Before joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Atif worked for Health Innovation East, CQC, Local Government, Npower, Apple Computers, British Airports Authority and Cancer Clinical Trials Centre.
The common theme throughout Atif’s career and the reason for his passion for technology is seeing the difference that high quality IT systems make to people’s lives and having the ability to directly contribute to improvements in this area.
Over the last 30 years he has operated both at operational and strategic level in the technology and health and social care industry. These experiences, knowledge and skills have been achieved through his various voluntary roles. His volunteer School Governor role, not only reinforces his operational experience and techniques, but also enables him to build and expand additional skills required to manage and effectively develop organisations from a technology perspective.
Atif loves helping with local food banks, beach air, the sound of crashing waves and a view of beautiful water, seeing the word ‘Halal’ on a menu, anything that reminds him of the 80s/90s and visiting Florida.
Barbara Conneely
Head of Portfolio
Barbara is Head of Portfolio for the Workforce Programmes which includes a cross section of local and national projects which impact on the NHS workforce.
Barbara has 11 years’ experience within the healthcare sector with a background in private hospitals and community healthcare. She has been at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber for two years and has worked on a variety of programmes including Workforce, CVD, Mental Health, Medicines Optimisation and Digital Innovation.
Barbara is most proud of the Atrial Fibrillation project which helped detect patients with the condition which once identified and treated can help to prevent life changing strokes. This project was shortlisted for a HSJ Partnership Award and a blog showcasing the impacts can be found here.
Barbara has a keen interest in innovation and enjoys working on programmes that can improve both patient and staff experience. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys studying, travel and socialising with friends and family.
Ben Frederick
Interim Finance Manager
Ben joined us in December 2022 from Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust (DCLT) where he was Management Accountant. Ben was the lead in finance for five subsidiary companies under the DCLT umbrella. These companies would provide financial funding for local charities, highlight diversity within the community by way of providing arts projects and making arts and culture more accessible for all through subsidies. As an expert in Excel, Ben was proud to help shape and streamline the trust's finance processes.
Outside of work, Ben enjoys going to the gym and martial arts for exercise. He is also a lover of music and has DJd alongside Idris Elba, which was a personal highlight. He loves read and enjoys hosting and cooking for family and friends.
Christine Johns
PA to Directors
Christine has worked with Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber since September 2015 and is part of the Commercial team. Working as a PA to Neville Young and Tracey Walker, within her role she uses her strong organisational skills, including the juggling of complex diary systems.
Previously, Christine spent 14 years living in the Highlands of Scotland working as a finance manager and PA for a holiday rental company before leaving for France to become a manager of a Chateau near Toulouse. After five years in France, she returned to live in Devon before moving to Yorkshire after meeting her husband playing scrabble online.
Outside office hours Christine spends as many hours as she can get in her ‘Glass Shed’ making suncatchers and commissioned items from stained glass. She also loves travelling, skiing and walking and is a one of the organisation's talented cake makers.
Christy Naylor
Management Accountant
Christy is an experienced Management Accountant who is responsible for providing regular and robust management information to assist key decision making and reporting.
Prior to joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in June 2022 she had previously worked as an Accountant in both the public and private sector, here in the UK and overseas.
Outside of work Christy enjoy socialising, attending gigs and festivals, walking, cooking, baking and reading.
Claire Horton
Project Manager
Claire joined Health Innovation Yorkshire in June 2019, seconded into the South Yorkshire Integrated Care System to support the establishment of the SY Innovation Hub and to deliver the first three Exemplar Innovation Projects (Population Health Management, CBT training of frontline staff, and Workforce).
She was promoted to Project Manager in October 2020 and was responsible for establishing an innovation pipeline. More recently, she has been working closely with the South Yorkshire Cancer Alliance, to set up evaluations for three programmes of work around the themes of improved patient outcomes, service efficiency and reduced health inequalities.
Prior to joining the company, Claire worked in the public and private sector in UK universities, high-tech SMEs and the pharmaceutical industry. She also worked for several years in multi-partner, multi-national research consortia funded by the European Commission’s Health Research Programme and was responsible for several years in advising UK organisations applying for funding from this programme.
Claire has a degree in Biology and a Ph.D in Development Biology. Her experience includes project management, academic research, team management, proposal writing and communications. She has worked in a number of different fields in her working life, including asthma research, developmental biology, vaccine development, in-silico medicine and digital health.
Claire enjoys yoga and has maintained a regular practice since the ‘90s. She also enjoys aerial hoop, going to gigs, playing the piano and growing veg.
David Linden
Workstream Lead
David joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as a programme manager within the Enterprise and Innovation team, providing support to SMEs with spread and adoption of their technology.
Before joining the company, David worked for over 25 years in the field of innovation, particularly within the Orthopaedic Sports Medicine industry. Roles and responsibilities have included Head of R&D for new products, and Director of Marketing and Sales as well as business development, innovation and commercialisation functions. He is driven to innovate and bring to market game-changing commercially focused products to improve patient outcomes.
David stays active through cycling, going to the gym, and walking with his family and two dogs. He also likes to relax by drawing, DIY and reading about all things car related.
David Shapland
Head of Marketing and Communications
Dave leads the marketing and communications team at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and is responsible for making sure that our stakeholders hear about the impact of our work and the achievements of our partners in the region. Since joining the organisation Dave has helped to define and shape our culture through the redevelopment of our mission, vision, purpose, values and visual identity.
Before joining the organisation, Dave worked at NHS Digital and then at NHS England in the Digital Transformation team where he developed stakeholder engagement strategy for the NHS’s Chief Clinical Information Officer, Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer. He also led on the development of the ‘Digital Health Zone’ at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in 2018 in collaboration with its sponsors, Teva Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to joining the NHS, Dave began his career working in marketing agencies where he managed a diverse range of clients before joining BT to help them grow their new wireless broadband network back in the days when wi-fi still seemed like magic!
Dave is Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber's resident chess expert and is ranked inside the top 1,000 players in England. He is also an enthusiastic home cook and cocktail-maker and enjoys hill walking and mountain biking to work off the food and the booze.
Ellen Barnes
Project Manager
Ellen has over 12 years’ experience as a project manager in healthcare in a variety of settings, acute trusts (London and Yorkshire), NHS England, regional networks and community healthcare and enjoys delivering improvements that benefit both patients and providers. Having delivered projects across numerous healthcare services, Ellen is skilled at becoming a subject matter expert regardless of the project.
Since joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in Sept 2020, Ellen has been supporting the NHSX ‘Joined Up Care Programme: Care Homes & Virtual Wards’, with a focus on the Virtual Ward project elements to support the COVID response to remote monitoring.
Before working in healthcare, Ellen worked for 9 years in the City of London for a leading investment fund organisation, gaining the Investment Management Certificate, a regulatory and pre-requisite qualification for posts in investment management companies.
Ellen prefers to be active than go to a gym and regularly plays tennis for fitness and fun. She would like to do more sailing to day skipper level and get a new motorbike. She enjoys photography, modern digital art and crocheting.
Emma Whiteman
Portfolio Coordinator
Emma is a Portfolio Coordinator, working on Remote Monitoring, Virtual Wards and Net Zero. She provides programme support to our Project Managers and Head of Portfolio and utilises her strong organisational skills to arrange meetings with various internal and external stakeholders, previously working on the National Wound Care Strategy Programme.
Prior to joining the organisation, Emma managed a funeral-directors in Leeds where she felt very privileged to help families through a really difficult time. Emma has had a varied career with over 20 years’ experience working within travel, education, veterinary, IT, Police and banking environments. She also has experience of working in account management, sales and office management.
Emma has recently moved to a little village in North Yorkshire and with her two dogs and teenage son. She is passionate about animals and all things Spanish and enjoys cooking, eating out and socialising with her friends and family.
Francesca Quartarulli
Project Manager
Fran joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in April 2022 as a Programme Manager leading on the Digital Primary Care Innovation Hub programme, designed to understand the digital needs within Primary Care and to identify innovative solutions to areas of challenge.
Prior to joining the organisation, Fran has worked as Project Manager and Business Manager for Thrive by Design (Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) focusing on inclusive digital transformation, co-designing inclusive digital innovation and improvement in health and care.
Starting her healthcare career in 2014 working in PMO and business support roles within NHSE, Fran supported on several national projects linked to data and information from across various healthcare settings, including the National Information Board, which has set out a vision for how to use data and technology to transform outcomes for patients and citizens.
Fran has developed a significant interest in inclusive digital transformation as well as how co-design and digital can work together and be used to help improving lives and helping others, spreading knowledge, connecting people, and making systems more efficient.
Prior to moving into the health care sector, Fran has a background in sales, business development and events management in the private sector, creating and delivering on several different events.
Fran loves travelling, dancing, and learning, especially new languages and anything related to understanding the human mind. Fran has a great passion for food, from fine dining to discovering small authentic and traditional places and cuisines everywhere she goes.
Gemma Ridley
Head of Portfolio
Leading on our patient safety collaborative and mental health, Gemma ensures the programmes are delivered in conjunction with partners and stakeholders across the region. Building on the great work by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Gemma is developing our mental health strategy and raising the profile of our patient safety programmes nationally.
Previously, Gemma was with the NHS Confederation for 12 years, leading national programmes on inclusive recruitment, retention, community engagement and staff experience. Working on commissions from the Ministry of Defence, Health Education England, NHS England and NHS Improvement plus the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Gemma rolled out an Armed Forces recruitment programme, ‘Step into Health’, to over 100 NHS organisations across England and Wales. The programme helped over 1000 members of the Armed Forces community find sustainable employment within the NHS leading to Gemma representing ‘Step into Health’ at the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The academic world did not suit Gemma’s goals therefore her career began in childcare and developed through roles within the Department of Work and Pensions plus third sector organisations.
Gemma loves cooking, baking bread and other tasty treats for her family. She is an honorary colonel with the British Army and loves engaging with our NHS reservists and taking on new journeys and challenges.
Graham Finney
Portfolio Coordinator
Graham works as a Portfolio Coordinator for Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, helping to deliver remote monitoring solutions to care homes and other medical organisations across the region. His role involves working closely with CCGs, Care Homes, Trusts and other health organisations.
Prior to joining the organisation, Graham has worked in several roles, primarily in the Public Sector. He was part of a team delivering secure network connectivity into the Health and Social Care Network for NHS Digital where he ensured connectivity ran smoothly and provided resellers with training to manage their connections.
Alongside this, he delivered public and private WIFI and VOIP telephony to surgeries, pharmacies and other medical organisations working closely with multiple CCGs across the Midlands and Shropshire. Graham also has marketing experience implementing campaigns across both the public and private sectors.
Graham is a passionate and published photographer who can be seen, armed with a camera, everywhere from music festivals to sports events to Royal Family visits. He is a huge fan of live music, stand-up comedy, walking and pizza.
Graham Prestwich
Public and Patient Engagement Lead
Following a career in the medicines industry, in 2012 Graham joined the Board of NHS Leeds North Clinical Commissioning Group as Non-Executive Lay Member for Patient and Public Involvement, until March 2018.
During that time, Graham established and then chaired the Patient Assurance Group, also chaired Primary Care Commissioning Committee and Remuneration and Nominations Committee. He is the Lay Member of the Leeds Area Prescribing Committee and through that was inspired to develop Me and My Medicines with help and contributions from local patients and citizens.
Graham is now a member of the Board of Healthwatch Leeds and, as the Lead for Patient and Public Involvement at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Graham’s work includes the National Pathology Imaging Cooperative, evaluating tests for Covid 19, working with Leeds University on public health communications, supporting self-care and clinical coaching, and Digital health credentialing tools for the COVID recovery agenda.
In his spare time, Graham enjoys cycling, dancing, gardening, and engineering.
Harriet Smith
Workstream Lead
As a workstream lead, Harriet has responsibility for the Innovation Technology Payment (ITP), Medtech Funding Mandate products and the Project Transformation Funds (PTF) within the Yorkshire and Humber region, working with stakeholders to help them overcome barriers to the implementation of new healthcare innovations and technologies.
Previous roles have included being a specialist advisor to the Care Quality Commission and spending over 20 years as a risk management consultant with a large international certification company. Harriet has worked at a national level developing quality management standards for the NHS, and with health and social care organisations on their quality improvement programmes and risk management initiatives. Projects have included working within healthcare organisations in America, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland and Iceland. More recently, she worked with smaller companies supporting their development of technology-enabled care services.
In her spare time, Harriet loves to travel and enjoys photography, architecture, and design.
Helen Hoyland
Head of Portfolio
Helen leads Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber's Office of Life Sciences portfolio and digital operational delivery.
Helen is responsible for developing and sustaining strategic partnerships with NHS leaders, academia, large industry, national and regional scientific and academic bodies and collaborative programmes, such as digital transformation and service redesign. These relationships translate into collaborative large scale innovation programmes, collaborative multi-agency funding awards for research and innovation and inform place based and regional digital and innovation strategies across three Integrated Care Systems.
In her role, Helen is also operational lead for a new innovation and portfolio pipeline being introduced nationally across the Health Innovation Network. Helen has worked for several national NHS improvement bodies and started her NHS career in Public Health. She has a special interest in patient insight and experience as a driver for change. At NHS England Helen drafted the NHS mandate section around Research and Innovation on behalf of NHS England, working very closely with Department of Health officials, with regular briefings to ministers.
Helen also co-authored and published the first NHS England Research Plan which was approved by the Department of Health and led on regular upwards reporting to the Department of Health and the Director of Policy, Partnerships and Innovation.
In her spare time, Helen enjoys reading. She has a Chinese Crested dog (hairless) who goes everywhere with her. Helen is also addicted to Formula 1 and usually attends two Grand Prix every year.
Jenny Hamer
Head of Portfolio
Prior to joining YHealth Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in November 2018, Jenny has worked in numerous NHS organisations in a career spanning over 15 years. Jenny is an experienced leader and her roles have included working on both large and small scale transformational change and service improvement projects for the Welsh Assembly Government, NHS England, and within various NHS Commissioning organisations in West Yorkshire.
As Head of Portfolio for our CVD projects, Jenny is very excited about the work we are supporting within the region to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease. She is especially proud of the nationally recognised achievements of the West Yorkshire Healthy Hearts project which she has led since it began and has won HSJ recognition alongside with our Atrial Fibrillation project.
Outside of work Jenny is passionate about spending time with her family and spending time outdoors exploring new places.
Joanne Healey
HR/Finance Coordinator
Joanne supports both the finance and HR departments at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. In her role as a HR Coordinator, she provides support to the HR Manager, dealing with recruitment and keeping our HR system (Breathe) up to date with sickness, holidays, personal data and all general admin tasks.
Supporting the finance manager includes preparing monthly payroll, payment runs, invoicing, sales, purchase orders and keeping xero up to date for quart reporting. Joanne has over 20 years’ experience of working within an HR/Payroll/finance environment and has learnt most of what she can do along the way. She previously worked for a National Museum and a Private Sector Company handling all aspects of HR admin and Payroll.
Joanne likes to Keep fit in any form but particularly loves going to the gym to work out with others. She also enjoys socialising with friends, over food and drinks.
Joanne Jennings
Portfolio Coordinator
As Portfolio Coordinator Joanne is responsible for providing a range of programme and project support, involving working closely with project teams comprising of staff from the other Health Innovation Networks, (clinical and non-clinical) and commercial sectors, associates/contractors and other stakeholders. Joanne contributes to ensuring projects are adequately planned, resourced and supported to enable the teams to deliver to high standards, on time and within a set budget.
Before joining the organisation, Joanne was a Web Content Manager for a mail order company, Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH), she worked for this company for over 32 years managing content production for a variety of websites.
Joanne loves keeping busy with her daughters, four grandchildren and their French bulldog called Minnie. Joanne’s passion is her garden, she also enjoys walking and socialising with her family and friends.
Juvaria Hassan
Project Manager
Juvaria began working at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in March 2020 as a Programme Coordinator, but in 2021 moved on to the role of Project Manager.
Juvaria has worked on various projects including Evaluation and Reset, Focus ADHD, various Health Education England’s (HEE) workstreams around global health and the organisation’s mental health strategy, but her current portfolio involves leading on the North East Yorkshire Global Health Network commissioned by HEE, Early Intervention Eating Disorder (FREED) and Physical Health Checks for severe mental illnesses.
Juvaria is also part of the Equality and Diversity team and has sat on an NHS Innovation Accelerator panel reviewing and assessing how health inequalities have been addressed in innovations. She also delivered a presentation to the organisation and is part of the NHS Muslim Women’s Network. Prior to working at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Juvaria has spent time working in the International NGO sector, managing humanitarian projects within the Middle East and North Africa. She also has experience in the healthcare and finance sectors.
Juvaria enjoys exercising, cooking, baking, reading, sewing, learning new languages and is very interested in psychology. She is currently re-learning Arabic, French and Spanish and newly learning Turkish and Hebrew.
Katharine Morley
Head of HR and Corporate Services
Katharine has been working at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber since 2018, initially joining as a consultant to develop the HR function and Corporate Support Services and also managing the office relocation project.
As the organisation has grown rapidly, her focus has been on recruitment, engagement, performance and equality and diversity and she has developed and rolled-out a wide-ranging wellbeing programme as a core element of the HR strategy to help prevent stress and create a positive working environment.
In 2020, in response to the changes caused by the pandemic, all HR activities moved online and the recruitment, onboarding and induction of 18 new staff was carried out virtually. Despite the obvious challenges, the feedback from new team members has been overwhelmingly positive.
Prior to joining the organisation, Katharine has worked in HR in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in both operational, strategic and HR management roles and ran her own consultancy offering the full range of HR services to SME’s and school trusts. An interest in alternative methods of dispute resolution, led Katharine to become an accredited mediator by undertaking training in workplace, civil and commercial disputes.
Katharine loves spending time with her grandson and is a season ticket holder at Barnsley FC. She also likes to read, travel, cook and see live music.
Kirsty Bramley-Dove
Advanced Clinical Pharmacist Clinical Lead - Polypharmacy
Kirsty has worked in the NHS (secondary care) for ten years and has worked at different trusts across the region including as the lead for cardiology and anticoagulation at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust for the past six years. She also holds a first class Master of Pharmacy degree and a MSc in clinical hospital pharmacy.
Currently, Kirsty works one day a week at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, as the Clinical Lead for the polypharmacy programme whilst also splitting her week working at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals in her new role as Pharmacy Lead for Education and Training and running her own aesthetic clinic.
When she is not working, Kirsty loves spending time with her three-year old daughter, weightlifting (sometimes twice her own body weight) and getting stuck in to a good crime novel.
Lindsey Last
PMO Support Officer
Lindsey is part of the PMO team at the organisation and supports the development, implementation, and maintenance of a wide variety of projects and programmes, advising and guiding staff involved in the projects. Lindsey manages the day-to-day interactions with the team and updates the daily plan, providing support to track actions through to completion. She also manages the data held across 40+projects and 60+ pipeline projects and ensures content is up to date and can be relied upon to assure senior management and our commissioners on project progress.
Before joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Lindsey worked at Pinderfields Hospital as a senior childcare practitioner for just over 12 years.
Mollie Evans
Portfolio Coordinator
Mollie’s role at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber is Portfolio Coordinator for the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Innovation Hub. She is currently working on a project across West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership – the goal is for innovation and improvement to be the best in the country by providing integrated support for the ICS. The Hub enables the creation of formal and informal networks across the ICS to promote innovation and improvement needs.
Mollie previously worked in the healthcare field, in the HIV team, for a company that was partnered with the NHS for outpatients. It supplied medication to a patients’ home address. She found this role extremely interesting and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Natalie Warrington
Marketing and Communications Officer
Natalie is part of the Communications Team at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. Her work involves being the comms lead for certain projects, managing the organisation's social channels and website, in addition to developing communications campaigns to connect with external partners and colleagues through news stories, blogs and case studies (written and video).
Natalie’s highlights include: Producing the organisation's flagship annual conference brochure; being editor of the internal newsletter; leading on communications for various projects including the Propel@YH digital health accelerator and the Propel@YH Net Zero Accelerator. Natalie has communications experience across the public, private and charity sectors. Previously, she worked for Northern Gas Networks, sourcing and writing positive news stories and generating media coverage.
She’s also worked for Public Health England, helping to deliver big campaigns such as Stay Well This Winter, Change4Life and Health Harms. At the Sue Ryder charity, she worked on two major campaigns across West Yorkshire: The Women of Achievement Awards and The Starlight Hike. Both were extremely successful campaigns and achieved their fundraising targets.
In her spare time, Natalie regularly enjoys running and takes part in races. She also loves cooking and is always keen to try new foods and wines. Other passions include baking, travelling and reading.
Natalie Wong
Project Manager
Natalie is a Project Manager in the Workforce Portfolio team, supporting a variety of projects focusing on solutions for workforce challenges.
Before joining the organisation, Natalie worked at the NHS Confederation working on national Workforce Supply programmes which included a focus on staff education and training, retention, placement capacity, the Nurse 50K target, apprenticeships and workforce redesign where she led national staff networks on shared good practice and workforce challenges in the NHS. Natalie also led on attraction programmes such as Step into Health, helping support the Armed Forces into roles in the NHS and worked closely with HEE on delivering T Levels into the NHS to support the future workforce.
Prior to moving into the healthcare sector, Natalie has a diverse background in Events Management in the third sector, creating and delivering hundreds of events from small workshops and webinars to large festivals, exhibitions and conventions. Natalie has over 8 years of experience in the events and marketing sector and has successfully led teams to deliver creative campaigns, rebrands and programmes.
Natalie is a foodie and spends a lot of time adding to her list of best places to eat. She also enjoy all things creative which include, baking/cooking, renovating and styling her wardrobe.
Neil Toner
Workstream Lead
Since starting to work with Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber's Enterprise and Innovation Team in September 2020, Neil has been leading on the International Programme.
In his role, Neil is responsible for establishing and developing relationships with partners who will support the programme with key expertise, funding, and business advice, locally, nationally, and internationally. Prior to this, Neil spent over ten years in numerous roles up to Director level at an innovative healthcare software company, ran his own healthcare BI business, and more recently worked in transformation projects and programmes in both the financial services and transport sectors.
Outside work, Neil loves to cook, eat, and drink, which means he also goes running a lot – last year he managed to run over 1000 miles!
Nicola Chicken
Project Manager
Nicola manages projects within the NHSX Remote Monitoring programme which includes the implementation of remote monitoring technology such as TytoCare, HealthCall and Docobo into a wide variety of health and care services, including Paediatric and Adult Acute Services, Emergency Departments and Care Homes and Assisted Living sites. This programme has been key in introducing remote monitoring technology into services across the Yorkshire and Humber region, re-designing services around patient needs rather than traditional settings. This programme also aims to provide benefit to workforce efficiency, health care staff empowerment and environmental sustainability benefits due to reduced travel.
Nicola joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in July 2021 as a Programme Coordinator and, with her colleagues’ amazing support, soon felt ready to apply for a Project Manager role, which she was successful in obtaining in March 2022. Prior to joining the organisation, Nicola worked in a Change/Project Management Support role within financial services. She decided that she wanted a change into the public sector, particularly the NHS and healthcare and has thrown herself into the journey of learning about this sector and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and the wider Health Innovation Network's incredible work.
Nicola loves music, art, reading and combining these with seeing my friends where possible! Going to gigs, art galleries and being part of a book club. She also loves hanging out with her partner and their neighbours’ cat who often comes round to chill with them.
Noshina Kiani
Workstream Lead
Noshina joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as a project manager less than a year ago and is currently working on a range of projects as Workstream Lead. From understanding some of the innovations which came about as a result of the pandemic through the ‘Evaluation and Reset’ work and more recently she has worked on the Digital Care Homes project funded by NHSX, which involved introducing digital monitoring in care homes in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw. She is currently working on various HEE workstreams around Global Health.
Previously Noshina has led the delivery of a high-profile government funded programme for CIPD, that offered employability support to parents returning to work after a period of childcare. In other roles Noshina managed the NHS Graduate Programme nationally for several years, which is where her passion for the NHS and health care developed further. Supporting future talent within the NHS and other sectors is something which inspires her and she has also been a mentor for mentees on the CharityWorks Graduate Scheme, who she continues to support.
Noshina enjoys outdoor pursuits like hiking, cycling and more recently skiing. However, her favourite pastime is spending time with her teenage son and young nephews/nieces.
Richard Wright
Portfolio Coordinator
Richard is currently a Portfolio Coordinator for the Enterprise and Innovation team. He works closely with Project Managers organising meetings, events, creating presentations and helping with the day to day management of various programmes.
Previously Richard was in the motor trade for 25 years in roles including being a mechanic, parts advisor, parts manager, workshop control and service manager. He then became a warranty technical specialist dealing with Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Bentley, and Volvo. In his role he made sure the dealers were fully diagnosing the faults and replacing the correct parts. During his time in the motor trade, Richard has built up a range of transferable skills which he is applying in this role.
Richard loves building film props and costumes, hiking, going to comic cons with his daughter. He loves anything with an engine, especially F1.
Sally Creese
PA to Directors
Sally joined the organisation in 2017 to provide administrative support with a special focus in assisting the Executive Office. In 2019, Sally became a PA and now supports the Deputy CEO / Director of Operations and the Clinical Director; supporting them to work effectively with colleagues and stakeholders.
Prior to joining Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Sally was self-employed for 10 years working with a range of marketing consultancies and before that, worked in advertising sales management for 10 years.
Sally is a keen health and fitness enthusiast. She loves cooking and dining out. Most of all she loves spending time with her family and really enjoys travelling, reading and jigsaws.
Sahar Kazmi
Portfolio Coordinator
Sahar is a Portfolio Coordinator in the Workforce Team.
Sahar has previously worked as a Project Officer at Oxford Policy Management where she provided key administrative, financial and logistical support to various different projects for bilateral and multilateral donors such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, German Agency for International Cooperation, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and KfW Germany – Credit Institution for Reconstruction.
She has experience of delivering national as well as international projects in the development sector and managed the complete project management life cycle – including financial and budget management and reporting.
Sahar has organised various workshops and events taking place in Pakistan as well as an international Study Visit to South Korea in which Health Ministers travelled to South Korea to learn about their health care system and implemented successful techniques in Pakistan.
In her spare time, Sahar loves to go travelling.
Sara Cole
Portfolio Coordinator
Sara joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in January 2019 as a Portfolio Coordinator and currently supports the Health Inequalities and Patient and Public Involvement workstreams.
Her first position was supporting the Enterprise and Innovation Team. She was the first point of call for innovators and managed the triage process (also involved arranging innovator surgeries), metrics reporting, KPI process, organised events and meetings and produced the monthly funding bulletin.
Sara has extensive experience in administration, organisation, analytical, finance and high-level project support roles.
Sara manages the metrics reporting and KPI process for the team. This involves reporting company engagement and outputs, including investment leveraged for companies, to our commissioners. Sara also produces our monthly funding bulletin for NHS teams and innovators, arranges various meetings and organises events. She has extensive experience in administration, organisation, analytical, finance and high-level project support roles.
Prior to joining the organisation, Sara worked for KPMG for 17 years. During this time, she held a number of different support roles in a range of sectors including commercial and industrial firms as well as the NHS Leadership Academy.
Sara’s hobbies include: swimming, reading (especially crime novels) and travelling. She is also a self-confessed Martin Lewis geek - especially if it involves saving money.
Sara Novara
Communications and Engagement Manager
Sara is a member of Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber's communication team and leads on the communication strategy for a variety of programmes and projects. She is also responsible for developing media relations and insight-led multi-platform communication campaigns. Sara also loves create compelling and engaging content for social media and websites.
With more than 16 years-experience in communication and marketing in a variety of sectors including charities, public and private sector organisations, Sara has a particular interest in healthcare. In her previous roles, she led on developing communication campaigns for fundraising, retail and healthcare projects always meeting agreed targets. Sara also acts as a ghost writer. She has extensive experience of working with journalists and in the past secured coverage both in national and regional media outlets as well as trade magazines.
Sara loves to be outdoors, walking across the gorgeous Yorkshire Moors, cycling, skiing or swimming (lake, sea, river provided there is enough water and is not too cold!).
Sean Clarkson
Head of Strategic Operations
As Head of Strategic Operations, Sean works closely with our CEO and is responsible for our above-brand strategic projects and partnerships, driving long-term organisational growth, and working with partners to develop the region’s innovation ecosystem. He also leads our ‘YHealth for Growth’ campaign, aiming to tackle stubborn inequalities across the North of England.
Prior to this, Sean was jointly responsible for delivering our Office for Life Sciences Commission, working with SMEs to support product development, evidence generation and market access. Before joining the company, Sean managed a multi-partner regional medical technologies innovation programme, Translate. He has a varied background in academia, science communication and public engagement and has worked in the field of technology and innovation within the elite sports and healthcare sectors. He also has experience planning and delivering complex commercially-driven projects and programmes at the interface between industry, academia and the public sector.
He is a Visiting Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University and continues to publish joint papers and contribute to ongoing research. Sean has a particular interest in developing innovation ecosystems which support joint-working and contribute to economic growth. He enjoys bringing people together with common interests, facilitating discussions and forming partnerships. Sean also has a strong interest in business development and pursuing funding, having led and supported many successful bids.
Away from his desk, Sean is a competitive yacht sailor, regularly competing in championships across the world. He is also a qualified sailing race official and instructor and enjoys contributing to the sport and inspiring others.
Sophie Bates
Workstream lead
Sophie is a workstream lead in Health Innovation Yorkshire& Humber's Enterprise and Innovation Team delivering aspects of the organisation's commission from the Office of Life Sciences.
Since joining the company in 2015, Sophie has worked with hundreds of companies to support their business development and understanding of NHS needs. She has supported numerous successful funding applications, developed the organisation's Health Innovation Exchange Portal, managed the Innovation Champions programme and supported the delivery of NHS England’s ITT / ITP programmes across the region.
Previously, Sophie had roles in recruitment, inward investment and business development in Sheffield City Council and in the contract management of a major infrastructure project.
Outside of work, Sophie is a keen baker, enjoys hiking in the Peaks, travelling and reading.
Steph Potts
Head of Portfolio
Steph has a varied professional background ranging from banking to charities to healthcare, all within project and programme management. She has experience in both the public and private sector and has over 15 years of experience working in or alongside healthcare.
Before joining the company in September 2018, Steph worked for 7 years in the NHS in the primary care digital space with specific expertise in clinical data, clinical systems and project management.
During her time at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, Steph has worked on many national and local projects, as well as spending time in the Enterprise and Innovation Team. She currently leads on a varied portfolio that covers (among other things) the MTFM, RUPs, Respiratory, Polypharmacy and Net Zero.
Steph’s projects have been shortlisted for numerous HSJ awards.
Steph is a pantomime writer and has written eight to date. She can normally be found taxiing her children to dance or cricket.
Tim East
Propel, Accelerators & International Lead
Tim leads on the Propel@YH Digital Accelerator programmes and is responsible for the content, delivery and development of the programmes. This includes the recent development of the new Propel International Boot Camp, which has been delivered to five US Health Tech Innovators.
Tim also plays key role in the Enterprise & Innovation team at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber with the remit of supporting Health Tech innovators with their journey into the NHS.
Previously, Tim worked in the Digital Healthcare sector, with experience of implementing primary care clinical systems across the Yorkshire, North East & Scotland region. Tim also has experience in Product Development, Growth & Strategy, which has included leading on the development of the UK’s first GP Online booking and medication request app, as well as growing the number of active users of the product to over two million patients.
Outside of work, Tim loves the outdoors and activities such as camping, walking, mountain biking and paddle boarding. He enjoy travelling and has a passion for the Yorkshire coastline. At weekends he also volunteers for a local junior rugby club, helping with their fundraising and events.
Vanessa Amoako
Project Manager
Vanessa has joined Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as a Portfolio Coordinator and is now a project manager supporting our Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) prevention projects.
Vanessa has over 5 years’ experience in customer service and before joining the organisation she worked for one of the leading healthcare software companies which specialised in providing innovative technology for primary healthcare/GP Practices across the UK to improve integrated care systems and the quality of patient care. She worked closely with various stakeholders to ensure GP practice migrations were completed successfully and within timescales.
Victoria Vaines
Project Manager
Vicky started working at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber in 2015 as a Project Coordinator and now works as a Project Manager. One of the things she likes about working at the organisation is the range of work that she can get involved in; she’s worked on projects in various themes and settings including Mental Health, Genomics, Gastroenterology and Enterprise and Innovation.
The programme Vicky is most proud of is the delivery of a Faecal Calprotectin primary care pathway to support GPs with gastroenterology referrals. She led this work locally but also supported an Health Innovation Network collaborative to spread to over 70 CCGs across England, saving money for the NHS as well as providing a better experience and care for patients. This programme has also been shortlisted for two HSJ awards and a NICE Shared Learning award, which she is extremely proud of.
In a previous role, Vicky worked in R&D Consumer Insights at a global FMCG company, coordinating testing and understand the views of people during development of new products.
Vicky is a Scout Leader and loves scouting activities such as camping and fire making. She is also a qualified archery instructor.
Yara Duaik
Project Manager
Yara works at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber as Portfolio Coordinator. She tells her children that she is a superhero that is helping lots of people to get better during these challenging times in healthcare. It feels like a gift to be part of it and a big responsibility.
Before joining the company, Yara worked for Johnson & Johnson Brazil for ten years, where she contributed to different departments such as Finance, Planning, Analytics and Projects.
Something that Yara is proud about is to have developed the ability to move forward. Yara has excellent crisis management skills and can empower people to develop creative solutions without forgetting what motivates them individually.