Our Team

William Pope

Chair

profile coming soon

Richard Stubbs

Chief Executive Officer

Richard is the Chief Executive Officer of Yorkshire & Humber AHSN as well as Vice Chair of the AHSN 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 Vice-Chair of the AHSN 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.

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 AHSN Network Lead for Environmental Sustainability and Staff Development.

Before joining the AHSN, 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 AHSNs 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.

Neville Young

Director of Enterprise & Innovation

Dr Neville Young joined the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN in 2016. He has a real interest and track record in supporting the delivery of high-quality research and innovation, in particular in helping create the evidence needed to drive the adoption at scale of well evidenced health technology.

Neville has a leadership role within the network, liaising on the NIHR on their i4i program, with the NHSX AI lab, SBRI funding, the National Innovator Accelerator program (NIA), with NICE and with the several trade associations such as BIVDA and the ABHI. He also has an interest in international activity, promoting export opportunities for UK-based innovators and creating a safe landing space for international companies.

Dr Young 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 Bio-Sciences in Queensland, Australia before returning to the UK and working in research development, Healthtech innovation and the AHSN network.

He loves sport and all things sporty and in particular rugby union!

Tracey Walker

Director of Delivery

Tracey is our Interim Director of Delivery and has a diverse portfolio including our Workforce strategy and programmes, Health Inequalities, Population Health Management, Mental Health, The Patient Safety Collaborative and Digital Joined up Care.

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 the AHSN 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 secured funding across a number of areas including colleague mental health and wellbeing and NHSX’s Digital Joined Up Care Programme.

An important part of her role is creating an inclusive environment where all have a voice and feel able to share innovative thoughts and ideas leading to a richer workplace for the AHSN and our partners. Supporting individuals and organisations to be the best they can be is one of her core values.

Tracey is a passionate cook with a love for soaking up different cultures. Socialising with friends and family, relaxing and laughing are incredibly important to her. She’s also a big swimmer, avid reader and has recently started re-teaching herself the guitar.

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 the AHSN, 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 & Humber. And, of course, he loves digital health innovation and data-driven healthcare!

Amy Overend

West Yorkshire and Harrogate Innovation Hub Director

Amy leads the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Innovation & Improvement Hub which embeds the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN 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 the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, 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 AHSN 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.

Adam Smith

Programme Manager

Adam is a Programme Manager who is responsible for supporting the delivery of the AHSN’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 AHSN, 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

Programme Lead

Adele joined the AHSN in September 2021 as programme manager supporting the workforce element of the FH-Lipid programme. She led the Inclisiran project before becoming Programme Lead in January 2022 with responsibilities for Health Inequalities, Mental Health and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement.

Before joining the AHSN, 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 the YHAHSN 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 AHSN, 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!

Amanda Lilley-Kelly

Programme Manager

Amanda is a Programme Manager at the AHSN and works in the Deputy CEO’s Office to deliver projects for a range of external stakeholders.

Before joining the AHSN, 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 Programme Manager

Andrew joined Yorkshire & Humber AHSN in October 2020 to work as part of the South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Innovation Hub. Working closely across the AHSN 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 the AHSN 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

Programme 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 clinicians, academics, industry representatives and colleagues from other AHSNs and NHS organisations.

Before joining the AHSN, Atif worked for the Eastern AHSN, 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 80’s/90’s and visiting Florida.

Barbara Conneely

Programme Lead

Barbara is Programme Lead for the portfolio of 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 the AHSN 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.

Christine Johns

PA to Directors

Christine has worked with the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN 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 AHSN’s talented cake makers.

Claire Horton

Programme Manager

Claire has worked at the AHSN since June 2019 and was the Programme Coordinator for the new South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Innovation Hub. She was involved in getting the Hub established and was responsible for the first three Exemplar Innovation Projects (workforce, cardiovascular disease and urgent and emergency care).

In October 2020, Claire was promoted to Programme Manager and is currently responsible for implementing the AHSN Networks' Innovation Pipeline at the AHSN. She is also responsible for a pilot project aiming to increase the uptake of the myCOPD app in Wakefield and Bradford.

Prior to joining the AHSN, Claire worked across the public and private sector in UK universities, high-tech SMEs and the pharmaceutical industry, including in vaccine development. She also worked for several years in multi-partner consortia funded by the European Commission and Innovate UK and was responsible for advising UK organisations applying for funding from the EC's Framework Programme.

Additional skills include: the preparation of proposals for funding from UK and European sources, organising events, quality control, product development (vaccines) and the communication of research project results through articles, newsletters, website development and social media.

Clare Marsh

PMO Manager

Since joining the AHSN in December 2018, Clare has managed the PMO (Project Management Office) for Yorkshire and Humber which includes not only managing the variety of projects we run but also the information about them we hold and share with our colleagues.

Clare has introduced a project governance approach that has allowed us to understand progress on all our projects, who we are supporting and what we are delivering as part of our work. We can now see what fields of medicine are supported and what geographies we support, and we have a comprehensive data set that we can use to ‘draw’ a project story across our region.

Before joining the AHSN, Clare had over 20 Years’ experience with a high street bank in a variety of roles including: Audit, Quality Assurance, Project Management and Project Management Office. Most recently, she worked as a Workforce Manager as part of the Planning and Governance function. In this role, she led the Organisational Design for a team of 1000+ alongside the overall recruitment process; she was responsible for ensuring recruitment was within budgetary and local parameters to support the Organisational Design and managed the overall governance and reporting within the function.

Clare’s a keen genealogist, so any spare time is spent looking for ancestors and more about them.

David Linden

Programme Manager

David joined the AHSN as a programme manager within the Enterprise and Innovation team, providing support to SMEs with spread and adoption of their technology.

Before joining the AHSN, 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 & Communications

Dave leads the marketing and communications team at the AHSN 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 AHSN, 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 the AHSN’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

Programme Manager

Ellen has over 12 years’ experience as a project manager in healthcare in a variety of settings, acute trusts (London & 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 YH AHSN 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

NWCSP Administrator

Emma is a Programme Coordinator, working on Remote Monitoring, Virtual Wards and Net Zero. She provides programme support to our Programme Leads and Programme Manager 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 AHSN, 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.

Gemma Wright

Programme Lead

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 the AHSN, Gemma is developing our mental health strategy and raising the profile of our patient safety programmes nationally.

Prior to the AHSN, 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

Programme Coordinator

Graham works as a programme Coordinator for the AHSN, 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 AHSN, 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 the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, 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.

Hannah Hall

Programme Manager

Hannah currently works within the CVD team leading on the Workforce Lipid Management and FH programme and manages West Yorkshire Healthy Hearts.

Prior to joining YHAHSN Hannah spent over 15 years working in the field of public health, promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours with a specialism in physical activity. Prior to this she worked in sports development. She has managed a number of national and local programmes including Make a Move for the British Heart Foundation and National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine, and Schools on the Move on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Hannah has worked within Local Government, Higher Education and the community and charity sectors. She has significant experience translating health promotion research into practice and bringing about behaviour change.
She has extensive experience of co-production and using an Asset Based Community Development approach, working with citizens at a place based level, to develop and deliver health related services. She was responsible for the development and management of York City’s highly successful Community Health Champions Programme which subsequently led to her being involved in the development of the national NHS Community Champions initiative.

Hannah is very passionate about being physically active and spends most of her time outside of work being outdoors and active with her family, whether that is on a mountain bike in a forest, playing tennis in a local park, or swimming or kayaking in open water.

Harriet Smith

Programme Manager

As a Programme Manager, 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

Programme Lead

Helen leads Yorkshire & Humber AHSN 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 AHSN 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.

Jade Hill

Finance Manager

James Bowman

Programme Manager

James is one of the programme managers at the AHSN and sits within the LTC team and is responsible for the delivery of national and local programmes by supporting ICS’s and Primary Care Networks deliver their key goals to improve patient health and wellbeing.

Before joining the AHSN, James worked with the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) and accredited 8 trusts within the NE, Cumbria, Yorks and Humber region as being Veteran Aware. With McKesson UK, he assisted General Practice implement the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) and placed clinical pharmacists as part of the NHS Forward View. James has successfully managed a number of GP practices both in the public and private sectors.

Jenny Hamer

Programme Lead

profile coming soon

Joanne Healey

HR/Finance Coordinator

Joanne supports both the finance and HR departments at the AHSN. 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

Programme Coordinator

As Programme Coordinator Joanne is responsible for providing a range of programme and project support, involving working closely with project teams comprising of staff from the AHNS, (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 AHSN, 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

Programme Manager

Juvaria began working at Yorkshire & Humber AHSN in March 2020 as a Programme Coordinator, but in 2021 moved on to the role of Programme Manager.

Juvaria has worked on various projects since her time at the AHSN 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 the AHSN, 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.

Karen Cowen

Programme Manager

Karen is a Programme Manager at YHAHSN and is solution focused and keen to support clients to ensure the adoption and implementation of new technologies.

With 25 years of experience working for the pharmaceutical industry, Karen enjoys mapping out and understanding patient pathways and working in partnership with NHS colleagues and Industry on projects which will streamline services and improve patient outcomes.

Karen likes having kitchen discos with her family, going to musicals and singing loudly in the car (where no one can hear), walking her dogs, skiing, embroidery and reading.

Katharine Morley

HR Manager

Katharine has been working at Yorkshire & Humber AHSN for three years 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 AHSN, 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.

Laura Hirstwood

Programme Coordinator

Laura joined the AHSN in November 2020 and after spending her initial five months working with the Humber, Coast and Vale Integrated Care System supporting their Digital Team she is now working with the AHSN’s Project Management Office.

In previous roles, Laura has worked in both the private and public sector in roles from sales support to medical personnel, but most recently for Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust as part of their Postgraduate Medical Education Department coordinating their Foundation Training Programme for Junior Doctors.

Outside work Laura loves to spend time walking in the local countryside with her family, spending time with her horse and trying to tackle her overgrown garden.

Lindsey Last

PMO Support Officer

Lindsey is part of the PMO team at the AHSN 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 the AHSN, Lindsey worked at Pinderfields Hospital as a senior childcare practitioner for just over 12 years.

Luke Patel

Programme Manager

Luke works with the Enterprise and Innovation team and is responsible for managing the ‘NIPP Unscheduled Care’ project in partnership with the Yorkshire and Humber ARC and NHS England and NHS Improvement.

Before joining the AHSN, Luke has worked exclusively in healthcare since graduating from Durham University in 2013. He worked at NHS Digital, Northeast Commissioning Support Unit (NCSU) and Real-world Health. Projects Luke was involved in during this time included: Summary Care Record, Electronic Prescription Service, COVID 19 PPE and Vaccination programmes and the capacity tracker. Prior to this, Luke played cricket for The Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Durham MCCU, making his First-Class debut against Nottinghamshire CCC in April of 2010.

Having played first class cricket with Yorkshire & Durham, Luke still plays with Pudsey St Lawrence in the Bradford league and the Civil Service Sports representative team. He is also a big Liverpool, Wakefield, and New England Patriots fan.

Maria Glover

Programme Manager

Maria joined the AHSN in 2021 working on the NHSX Regional Scaling Programme across virtual wards and care homes. Building on the great work by the AHSN so far, Maria leads on several remote monitoring projects, both virtual wards and care homes, ensuring they and the wider programme are successfully delivered in conjunction with partners and stakeholders across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Before joining the AHSN, Maria led on a number of transformational projects for a well-known charity, and before that worked with Sheffield City Council for 10 years as programme manager working on workforce development and service improvement within children’s social care. She has also worked as an Analyst and Database Manager in the private sector. Her experience in project and programme management is wide and varied including office relocation and redesign, foster carer recruitment and retention, opening of a children’s residential home, widescale evaluation engaging with the general public, and coordinating workforce redesign.

In Maria's free time she likes to read, listen to music and go to the cinema. She also writes rock music reviews and likes to spend time in the open air, in the countryside or local park. With her family, she loves to visit places like Doncaster Wildlife Park to see the animals.

Mollie Evans

Programme Coordinator

Mollie’s role at the AHSN is programme 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 & Communications Officer

Natalie is part of the Communications Team at the AHSN. Her work involves managing the AHSN’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 at the AHSN include: Producing the AHSN’s flagship annual conference brochure; being editor of the internal newsletter; leading on communications for various projects including Me + My Medicines 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, ecology, theatre, reading and writing.

Natalie Wong

Programme Manager

Natalie is a Programme Manager in the Workforce Portfolio team, supporting a variety of projects focusing on solutions for workforce challenges.

Before joining the AHSN, 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

Programme Manager

Since starting to work with the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’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 working at the YH AHSN, 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

Programme 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 Yorkshire & Humber AHSN in July 2021 as a Programme Coordinator and, with her colleagues’ amazing support, soon felt ready to apply for a Programme Manager role, which she was successful in obtaining in March 2022. Prior to joining AHSN 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 Yorkshire & Humber AHSN and the wider AHSN 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

Programme Manager

Noshina joined the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN as a Programme Manager less than a year ago and is currently working on a range of projects. 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.

Pete Waddingham

Programme Manager

Pete has over twenty years private and public sector experience with strong commissioning, project management and procurement expertise. He holds qualifications in business, procurement/supply chain management and has experience of leading on multimillion-pound procurements complying with UK/EU legislation.

With over 2 year’s experience working at the AHSN – Pete has worked on projects covering cardiovascular disease, Artificial Intelligence, environmental sustainability and digital systems. In previous roles, Pete has led on commissioning various services across the NHS from MSK through to Urgent Care and led on a number of key national programme areas including the Better Care Fund and Right Care. In addition to this, he has also worked in the conservation sector with operational responsibility for Spurn National Nature Reserve and thousands of visitors a year, as well as extensive capital projects including lighthouse restoration and visitor centre planning.

Pete has been successful in a number of national awards including the Health Service Journal Cardiovascular Initiative of the Year award and first place in NHS England’s World Class Commissioning.

Outside of work Pete takes a strong interest in his local community; he runs his own martial arts club, coaches youth football and is Parish Councillor.

Richard Wright

Programme Coordinator

Richard is currently a Programme Coordinator for the Enterprise and Innovation team. He works closely with Programme 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.

Roxanne Beaumont

Programme Coordinator

Roxanne currently provides support to the Deputy CEO office as a Programme Coordinator and is currently working on her development to hopefully progress to a Programme Manager role in the future. Previously Roxanne has worked in various project roles for the retail industry including as an Assistant Project Manager for clothing retailer Next’s Loss Prevention Team and as Project Support for Asda’s Innovation Team.

Roxanne loves spending time with her family, and her partner and daughter are her favourite people in the world. They are all movie buffs and foodies and they enjoy a cinema and restaurant trip or a film and homecooked tea.

Ruth Pitman-Jones

Programme Manager

Ruth has come to the health and care sector from a background in education and the creative industries. She sees a common thread in her work environment which is that of working with people with energy and creativity who have a passion to positively enhance the experience of the ‘customer’.

She has excellent communication, negotiating and influencing skills with a range of stakeholders, and is passionate about quality improvement, recently becoming a member of the Q Network. Since joining the team at the AHSN Ruth has been involved in a range of projects across primary and secondary care, and managed the national Atrial Fibrillation and ESCAPE-pain projects. Ruth has worked in the areas of education, the public sector, the subsidized and commercial sector and the voluntary and community sector.

Ruth sings and performs and loves opera. She does strength training and enjoys gardening and being outdoors, especially by the sea.

Sally Creese

PA to Directors

Sally joined the organisation in 2017 to provide administrative support to the AHSN 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 Director of Corporate Services; supporting them to work effectively with colleagues and stakeholders.

Prior to joining the AHSN, 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 fine dining. Most of all she loves spending time with her family and really enjoys travelling, reading and jigsaws.

Sara Cole

Programme Coordinator

Sara is a Programme Coordinator in our Enterprise and Innovation Team and joined the AHSN in January 2019. She is the first point of call for innovators getting in touch and manages our triage process so that they can be connected with the right member of the team. She keeps track of the hundreds of SMEs we meet each year, ensuring that we can best connect them with relevant parts of our system.

She 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 AHSN, 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 the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’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 year-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 AHSN, 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.

Shirley-Anne Paul

Programme Manager

Shirley joined Yorkshire & Humber AHSN as a Programme Manager in June 2021. She is based within the Workforce team and is currently managing the Globalisation of Star project funded by Health Education England.

Prior to joining the AHSN, Shirley worked as a Senior Project Manager for a national education charity where she was the project lead for the North-West region, managing multiple adult education contracts awarded by Greater Manchester and Liverpool Combined Authorities, as well as the European Social Fund.

Prior to moving into the not-for-profit sector, Shirley spent 9 years working as a Research Psychologist across three universities (Edinburgh, Leeds, and York), having gained her Undergraduate, Masters, and PhD degrees in Psychology from the University of Dundee.

Shirley started her academic career at the University of Edinburgh, working first as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and then as Undergraduate Teaching Coordinator in Psychology. Shirley then moved to Yorkshire in 2013 and spent six years in the School of Education at the University of Leeds. Whilst at Leeds she specialised in the design, delivery, and evaluation of educational interventions, particularly those aimed at improving children’s reading skills, and those employing randomised controlled trial (RCT) methodologies. More latterly, she worked in the University of York’s Trials Unit where she managed several high-profile health and education RCTs.

Shirley is a PRINCE 2 Project Manager, a trustee of an Academy in Hartlepool, and a Reiki Practitioner. She enjoys travelling, walking in the countryside, going to music festivals, and spending time with her cat.

Sophie Bates

Programme Manager

Sophie is a Programme Manager in the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s Enterprise and Innovation Team delivering aspects of the AHSN’s commission from the Office of Life Sciences.

Since joining the organisation 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 AHSN’s Health Innovation Exchange Portal, managed the Innovation Champions programme and supported the delivery of NHS England’s ITT / ITP programmes across the region.

Prior to joining the AHSN, 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.

Soraya Jenney

Programme Manager

As Programme Manager, Soraya plays a pivotal role in the development and delivery of the AHSN programmes and projects.

Soraya supports SME’s and entrepreneurs to develop their innovations and ensure they’re evidence based and effective. By supporting the deliveries, Soraya will be introducing innovative practices, products, and services to drive transformation and change across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Soraya’s collaborative engagement history helps build relationships and create effective engagement with clinicians, academics, and industry representatives.

Prior to joining the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, Soraya worked as an NHS Operations Manager to oversee the delivery for unplanned and urgent care services. Additionally, as Primary Care Network manager with overall operations responsibility and the development of the PCN including digital transformation and green initiatives. In March of 2020 when the pandemic hit Soraya was part of the local Covid-19 response, and subsequently selected as one of the leads for the Covid-19 Vaccination Planning Group for North-East Lincolnshire.

Soraya enjoys travelling & spending time with family and friends. She holds a soft spot as a home grown Canadian from Toronto, Canada.

Steph Potts

Programme Lead

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 AHSN 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 the AHSN Steph has worked on many different projects including the Innovation Technology Payment and the Accelerated Access Collaborative programmes. She currently leads on the long-term conditions portfolio of work.

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

Digital Navigator

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 the YHAHSN, with the remit of supporting Health Tech innovators with their journey into the NHS.

Before joining the AHSN, Tim worked for over eighteen years in the Primary Care 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 Coordinator

Vanessa has joined the AHSN as a Programme Coordinator and is supporting our NHSEI programme team to implement Digital Care Home and Virtual Ward projects to drive forward a new digital era within healthcare. As we are approaching the project closure, she will be focusing on collating information for the lessons learnt reporting. This report will be beneficial for future programmes, sustainability plans and when considering further spread.

Vanessa has over 5 years’ experience in customer service and before joining the AHSN, 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

Programme Manager

Vicky started working at the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN in 2015 as a Project Coordinator and now works as a Programme Manager. One of the things she likes about working at the AHSN 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 AHSN 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 Coordinator

Yara works at Yorkshire & Humber AHSN as Programme 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 network, 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.