Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli

CEO, Patients Know Best

Mohammad is founder of Patients Know Best and has over 15 years of experience in medical software. He trained as a physician at the University of Cambridge; worked as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health; and was a management consultant to US hospitals at The Advisory Board Company.

He is the author of six books, including Handheld Computers for Doctors and Streamlining Hospital-Patient Communication: Developing High Impact Patient Portals.

Dr Stephen Allen

Consultant in chronic pain management at the Oxford Pain Relief Unit

Having started my life in anaesthesia professing little or no interest in chronic pain, it seems somewhat strange that I now find myself closely involved in the management of patients with chronic pain and in the education of others healthcare professionals on the subject.

I founded the Pain Clinic in Reading over 25 years ago and it has now grown from a very small 'one-man band' into a large unit using a multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain management.

Like many others trained in a very 'medical' model of pain treatment, I initially found it difficult to embrace the bio-psycho-social model. However the more one becomes involved with patients with chronic pain, the more important one realises that, in order to manage these patients effectively, psycho-social factors may well have to be addressed and indeed may be as important as just simply dealing with physiological pain.

The increasing knowledge of the patho-physiology producing chronic pain is rapidly extending our ability to understand this very complex problem and the multiple factors involved.

I am considered to be a key opinion leader on pain management and have a particular interest in neuropathic pain. I have lectured at local, national and international meetings. I teach on the London course for both primary and final FRCA. I am a medical advisor to the Neuropathy Trust.

I have recently retired from full-time practice in Reading and am now working in the Oxford Pain Relief Unit.

Neil Bindemann graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1988 with a BSc Hons in Immunology and subsequently completed a PhD in Neurobiology at University College London in 1993. He has since pursued a career in healthcare education and communications, working with various not-for-profit organisations and commercial companies to design and develop programmes/projects aimed at supporting the communication between patients and healthcare professionals across the NHS. Working across primary and secondary care, he has several years of experience in networking and building relations with leading UK and international healthcare professionals as well as key contacts in the commercial sector.

Neil set up Innervate Ltd in 2001. During this time Neil has worked with many healthcare and medical clients, setting up and running a number of special interest groups, including the Primary Care Neurology Society, PCOS UK and the Community Therapist Network. As part of this work, Neil has been instrumental in stimulating various healthcare, multimedia initiative’s, the latest being the creation of Lifepsychol®, a project aimed at supporting the quality of life of people with chronic illness.

Dr Sarah Barker

Consultant Clinical Psychologist, INPUT Pain Management Unit, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Sarah Barker has worked in the NHS for 16 years, and has a particular interest in the psychology of pain and physical health. She has worked for Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust in Pain Management since 2001, and is the lead for the INPUT residential pain management programme. This multidisciplinary programme teaches self management skills, and consists of cognitive behaviour therapy, physical exercise, education about chronic pain, relaxation and pacing techniques, and medication review. The programme consistently demonstrates excellent outcomes in terms of improving quality of life, and a post-programme patient support group ensures that relapses are managed within the community.

Sarah is also interested in improving the patient benefit from implanted devices used in pain. Noting the complex decisions involved in psychological screening for implanted devices, the multidisciplinary team have developed a ‘pre-neuromodulation programme’, which improves informed consent to a surgical procedure, and ensures that patients optimize their outcome. The team are seeking to obtain a major grant to research the specific benefits of this, and have published the results of their work to date.

Dr Roger Bullock

Clinical Director, Older People's Strategic Business Unit, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership

Dr Roger Bullock is Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry and Manager of the Old Age Psychiatry Department, Swindon in the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Care Partnership NHS Trust. He is also the Principal Investigator and Director at the Kingshill Research Centre and has over 10 years clinical trials experience. The research centre is on the same site as Dr Bullock's NHS practice, allowing his participation in and close supervision of the clinical trial processes

Dr Bullock completed his pre-clinical medical training at Keble College, Oxford University, gaining an BA (Hons) Physiological Sciences in 1978 (converted to MA in 1985). This was followed by clinical medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London where he gained the MB.BS in 1981.
In 1990, following training in other areas of medicine, Dr Bullock specialised in psychiatry, gained membership of The Royal College of Psychiatry and undertook postgraduate psychiatric training including higher specialist training in geriatric psychiatry which concluded in 1993. This was in order to pursue research into Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Dr Bullock is well respected in his field and often called upon to speak to professional groups about his work and research. As the only non-industry physician member of the British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians (BrAPP), he also has a unique opportunity to liaise with the industry.
He is now sharing his experience and knowledge by acting as Speciality Tutor in Old Age Psychiatry for Wessex and Associate Professor for St George's University Teaching Hospital, Grenada. He also has affiliations with Southampton, Bath and Oxford universities.
Dr Bullock is committed to research, particularly in psychopharmacology, neuropsychology and the use of both in all areas of care. He believes that clinical trials not only benefit his current patients but will be of benefit to further patients in the future. He also feels that trials improve the the service, introducing additional rigour to clinical practice.

Frances Cole is part time GP in Huddersfield and trained in cognitive behavioural therapy at Newcastle CT Centre in 1993-4. In 1996, she started the first UK multidisciplinary primary care pain rehabilitation service in Bradford based on cognitive behavioural therapy principles. She continues to run this service and works in clinical health psychology at Bradford Teaching Hospitals using CBT in a wide range of mental and physical health problems. She runs a range of workshops and training courses for primary care trusts in Yorkshire and UK for primary care practitioners in CBT techniques for both mental health, chronic pain and long term health condition self management. She is a co-author of a CBT self help guide “Overcoming Chronic Pain”, part of the CBT based self help guides published by Constable Robinson. She is currently a clinical lead for musculoskeletal disorders, pain and rheumatology at NHS Kirklees.

Dr Dilley trained at King’s College and completed his specialist training at The Maudsley Hospital, Institute of Psychiatry and National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery. He continues to hold an Honorary Consultant Neuropsychiatrist appointment at Queen Square and The Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Section of Neuropsychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists.

A keen educator of both undergraduates and postgraduates, Dr Dilley lectures on the neuropsychiatry of head injury & depression and anxiety in neurological settings at most of the London medical schools including Imperial College, where he is Honorary Senior Lecturer.

Dr Avril Drummond is Associate Professor of Rehabilitation at the University of Nottingham and is currently Deputy Director of the Trent Stroke Research Network. She is an Occupational therapist by background and represents the College of Occupational Therapists on the RCP intercollegiate working party for stroke- which produces the National Stroke Guidelines. Avril has been involved in rehabilitation research for many years and her interests cross the fields of stroke, falls, brain injury, MS, cancer and paediatrics. Her most recent study is the HOVIS study (Home visits after stroke) which is a feasibility randomised controlled trial of pre-discharge occupational therapy home visits for patients with a stroke.

Professor Ernst qualified as a physician in Germany where he also completed his MD and PhD theses. He was Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). He came to the University of Exeter in 1993 to establish the first Chair in Complementary Medicine.

Professor Sir David Goldberg

Professor Emeritus, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London; Chairman, Psychiatry Research Trust, Institute of Psychiatry

Professor Goldberg is principal investigator in producing a CD-ROM for the self treatment of anxious depression in primary care ["Beat the Blues"], using principles of cognitive behaviour therapy (with Jeffrey Gray, Isaac Marks and Judith Proudfoot). He is principal designer of the Maudsley Distance Learning Package on Neuropsychiatry, funded by the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust; was a principal investigator for the WHO’s Psychological Disorders in General Medical Settings; directed the WPA project Training Primary Care Staff in Mental Health Skills, and currently serves on the Mood Disorders Group for DSM-V, and the Primary Care Consultation Group for WHO.

Professor Goldberg's work appears in over 300 books, chapters and publications in refereed journals.

Sarah Hewlett has a multi-disciplinary research team that explores the patient perspective of rheumatoid arthritis, having identified general areas that important to patients in early qualitative studies. Her programme of research concentrates on fatigue (meaning, measurement and management), well-being within chronic illness, outcomes important to patients, reactions to being newly-diagnosed and the process of adaptation, and the experience of flares of disease. She has conducted qualitative and quantitative studies, observational and interventional, single and multi-centre trials and randomized controlled trials. Sarah has a 7 strong team of researchers working on this programme. In addition she has a small clinical practice focusing on help patients adopt coping strategies to deal with the impact of the RA on their quality of life.

Having trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, Professor Hewlett had a career as a ward sister running a high dependency neurosurgical unit for many years. After a move into rheumatology research, she undertook a PhD in the impact of disability. She now has a large research team looking at patient centred outcomes, and a small clinical practice supporting patients who struggle with coping and adjusting to their inflammatory arthritis, or need support in making behavioural self-management changes. All their research is conducted in collaboration with patient research partners.

Ms Tasneem Irshad is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Population Health Sciences GP Section. Her interests include ethnicity, marginalised populations and how these can impact healthcare.

A qualitative researcher with a background in medical sociology, she has worked on a wide range of studies ranging from hereditary recessive disorders, palliative care, allergies, drug use within South Asian communities and cancer. She is currently involved in or running a number of research projects including investigating the psychosocial impact of cancer on South Asian children and their families in addition to developing culturally and linguistically competent ante-natal screening information for Black and Minority ethnic populations in collaboration with NHS Scotland.

She is also currently involved as a voluntary advisor to The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow in their programme of improving access to hospice based services for Black and Minority ethnic communities.

Tom Isaacs was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 27. In 2002, at the age of 34, he gave up his job as Director of a property company to walk 4,500 miles right round the coastline of the UK while at the same time raising £350,000 for Parkinson's research and increasing awareness of the condition through the significant media coverage developed on this walk. Since then he founded the UK-based nonprofit organization "The Cure Parkinson's Trust", wrote a book entitled "Shake Well Before Use"; and has taken an active involvement in Parkinson's research for which he has now been instrumental in raising over £2.5 million. Tom is also a member of the Board of the European Parkinson's Disease Association where he represents younger people's interests and he sits as a Patient Representative on the PD section of Dendron, a Government sponsored clinical trials network.

He speaks regularly about Parkinson's using both self-effacing and dark humour but with a refreshing and powerful openness which is inspirational for both people involved with Parkinson's Disease or indeed from any walk of life. He was UK Charities "Personality of the Year"; in 2004 and was runner up in GMTV's fundraiser of the Year in 2003. He has made numerous radio and television appearances and has presented two of his own documentaries on Radio 4 dealing with his determined quest to find a cure.

Tom has spoken at venues such as The Mansion House, Kensington Palace, the Guildhall, The Royal Geographical Society, the NEC, the Grosvenor House Hotel , Merchant Taylors' Hall, The Houses of Parliament, The Royal College of Nursing, The Law Society, Leicestershire Cricket and Football Club, Coventry Football Club and has been a keynote speaker at International Conferences in Washington, Dublin, Lisbon and Ljubljana. He was a speaker at the Opening Ceremony at the Parkinson's World Congress in Amsterdam in 2007.

Speaker biography to follow.

Dr Jennifer Newbould has recently taken up a new post in Cambridge where she has a joint role with Rand, a not for profit research organisation, and the University of Cambridge. In her previous role as research fellow at the School of Pharmacy, University of London, Jennifer has conducted a variety of health research including projects funded by Nice and the Department of Health. Jennifer specialises in qualitative research techniques, her particular research interests are young people’s health and the management of chronic conditions. In 2005 she completed her PhD which explored the views and experiences of young people and their parents in the management of asthma and diabetes.

In 2006, Dr Noble joined the School of Health Science at Swansea University as a lecturer in pathophysiology and therapeutics, and he is the course leader on the MSc Chronic Conditions Management course as well as leading the development of a new BSc (Hons) Osteopathy course. Additionally, Dr Noble is an associate editor for the Physiotherapy Journal and a member of the international editorial advisory board for Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. Previously, he has held posts at the University of Nottingham, Keele University and the University of Ulster. Currently, he is co-leading the new Chronic Conditions Research Group within the Institute of Health Research.

Speaker biography to follow

Professor Glenys Parry BA, Dip.Clin.Psych., PhD, C.Psychol., FBPsS

Professor of Applied Psychological Therapies, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield

Professor Glenys Parry is a health services researcher, a chartered clinical psychologist & Fellow of the British Psychological Society, accredited psychotherapist and NHS Consultant. Her career spans five areas – research, teaching, clinical practice, health services policymaking, and NHS senior management. She has a longstanding commitment to using research to improve practice (and vice versa) and has led or contributed to most of the national policy initiatives in clinical psychology and psychological therapies over the last 20 years. She is lead author of the Department of Health reports NHS psychotherapy services in England: A strategic review (1996) and Guideline on treatment choice in psychological therapies and counselling (2001). She has conducted research in the fields of mental health, life event stress, social support, health inequalities and psychological therapies.

Current research includes the Sheffield Personality Disorders Trial (SPeDi)trial which investigates the cost effectiveness of psychological therapy for severe and complex mental health problems and an evaluation of a new model of services Improving Access to Psychological Therapies. Recent research includes studies of the relationship between therapist competence, experience and outcomes, the resolution of threats to the therapeutic alliance, the prevalence of panic-fear in asthma, the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy in asthma-related anxiety, the mental and physical health of Gypsies and Travellers in England. Her interests include the application of research to policy and practice, process and outcomes of psychotherapy in health service settings and psychotherapeutic competence.

Dr Anita Rose has been the Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist with the MS Team at the Walton Centre of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, since October 2005. She has had an interest in Neuropsychology obtaining extensive experience in this field since 1998.

Her original career, (before marriage and children!) was as a psychiatric nurse. She visits South Africa yearly to work as a volunteer with women and children. Since 2005 she has provided training within a Neuropsychology Dept in Cape Town following a 4 month secondment to that department.

She is currently involved in or running a number of research projects including; Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for people with MS, Service related issues with Cognitive deficits in people with MS, Carer burden and strain related to cognitive issues in people with MS, Investigation into Cognition in MS.

Outside of her work within the NHS she is an advisor to City Hearts Women's House, Sheffield, a residential home for women with life controlling issues.

Adrian is leading The Health Foundation's programme to improve the quality of health care by transforming the dynamic between the people who are responsible for the provision of health services and the people who use them. Prior to this, Adrian worked for many years in the department of Health, leading the development and delivery of policy in a variety of areas, including the Diabetes National Service Framework, mental health and reducing teenage pregnancy, as well as early thinking in the Department on patient empowerment and, more recently, on stakeholder engagement. Adrian has worked for the Audit Commission, at KPMG, in the Government's Social Exclusion Unit and in the voluntary sector. In his spare time, Adrian is a Trustee of Tzedek, which works in partnership local community organisations to support sustainable development projects in some of the world's poorest countries.

Speaker biography to follow

Annette studied Psychology & Biology at University of Konstanz from 1988-1994. Following a period as visiting researcher at the University of San Diego, California in 1995-1996, she completed her PhD in 1998. She was a postdoctoral research fellow if the German Research Foundation before she accepted a lecturer-/readership at the University of Liverpool in 2000. In 2003, she took up a chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Surrey.

Her area of expertise comprises brain plasticity, clinical neuroscience, structural and functional brain imaging, psychophysiology, neuropsychology & neurorehabilitation sleep and mental health. For further information please visit the CNRT website.

Speaker biography to follow

Dr Iñigo Tolosa

Lead Consultant Psychologist-Pan Birmingham Cancer Network, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre, Birmingham

Iñigo completed his psychology degree in Spain then came over to the UK in 1994 to train in Health and then Clinical Psychology. Later on he has trained as a Cognitive Analytic Therapy psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. He is the current Chair of the Faculty of Psychologists in Cancer and Palliative Care at the British Psychological Society (Special Interest Group of Oncology and Palliative Care, SIGOPAC)

Iñigo works in Birmingham as part of the Health and Neuropsychology Division at the Psychology Services of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health FNHST. He is also Lead Consultant Psychologist at the Pan Birmingham Cancer Network, where a small team of 3.2 chartered psychologists offer in- and out-patients with cancer psychological support, as well as training and reflective practice to cancer staff. The Pan-Birmingham Cancer Network has 11,000 new cancer patients every year. Since this small team could never offer a full direct service to such a large population, the aim of the service is also to promote the use of psychological thinking and practices by front line cancer staff, which patients clearly see as their preference and priority. The last six years have been aimed at this cascading by offering Advanced Communication Skills Training workshops, training on Screening for Bio-psychosocial concerns, End of Life and Staff Relentless Self Care, and Cognitive Behavioural First Aid for Palliative Care Staff amongst others.

Dr Ian Walton MB, BS., MRCGP

GP and Trustee of Primhe (Primary Care Mental Health and Education)

Ian has worked as a GP in Tipton for 24 years, was a clinical assistant in addiction for 16 years and has also worked for 2 years in a pain clinic, so he is well aware of the effects of adversity and poverty on mental and physical health. His mission to influence medicine to go beyond the medical model has led him to become chair of Primhe (Primary Mental Health and Education) and to be mental health lead in his PCT for a number of years, before realising that as chair of the professional executive committee (PEC), his current post, he could really ensure that primary care mental health, resilience and wellbeing were always high on the PCT’s agenda.

A further realisation, whilst learning hypnosis, that during all his medical training no-one had ever taught him how the brain works and why people get emotional, has led him to lead development of a masters course for Practitioners with a special interest in Primary Care Mental Health, which he himself is just completing as well as a number of other university accredited courses on mental health for primary care practitioners. He is a member of the joint RCGP/RCPsych mental health forum, co-chair of the RCGP mental health expert group and chair and course organiser for the Midlands branch of the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis.

Pip Wilford is a Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist working at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London. She has worked across a wide range of neurological services since qualifying in 1992. She is currently completing an MSc at Brunel University and her final dissertation is on the topic of fatigue management.

Pip’s clinical caseload consists primarily of patients with progressive neurological conditions attending the outpatient vocational rehabilitation service. Pip has been actively involved in developing fatigue management resources including designing and implementing AHP training programmes in the management of fatigue. Pip is currently the chairperson for the Long Term Conditions Forum of the College of Occupational Therapy – Neurological Specialist Section.

Pip's session at Lifepsychol will focus on practical strategies that help people with progressive neurological conditions to manage the impact of fatigue in a work setting.