Dr Alison Sykes is an emergency medicine consultant having worked both in Leeds and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust Major Trauma Centres. Her journey in Compassionate Leadership began in a chance meeting with Professor Michael West at a conference where she was representing her trust as the Foundation Programme Director. She is now the Director of Medical Education at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and also a Compassion Ambassador with Stanford (US). Over the last few years, with the support of Professor Michael West and the Foundation School Director Professor Paul Baker, she has developed and delivered a number of training courses in Compassionate Leadership for doctors in training, supervisors, nursing teams, education administrators and executives alike. When not working she’s often found wandering the Lakeland fells with her anaesthetist husband and their golden retriever Stoffle.
You can read more about Alison and the team on www.nwcompassion.uk
Professor Sujesh Bansal is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and holds an Honorary Clinical Chair at Manchester Academic Health Science Centre. He is also Associate Director of Medical Education for the Trust with remit of about 800 Locally Employed Doctors and also the Director of Manchester International Fellowship Scheme, a multi-speciality scheme.
He has specific interest in induction, supervision, support and career progression of overseas doctors and LEDs. In 2015, he conceptualised and developed online induction for International Doctors which won multiple national awards for it’s UK-wide usefulness and effectiveness. He is one of the collaborators for the national induction guidance on Welcoming and Valuing International Medical Graduates which was launched nationally in June 2022. National guidance and IMG induction modules can be accessed on eLearning for Healthcare platform via https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/nhs-induction-programme-for-international-medical-graduates/
He is regularly invited as a faculty to train Educational Supervisors in the field of ‘Supporting and Supervising International Doctors’ to ensure optimum performance in transcultural teams. He is a trained mentor and has mentored many CESR applicants through their CESR application. He is member of RCoA’s Equivalence committee and AoMRC MTI Steering Group.
Dr Ashwini Keshkamat qualified in 2002 in India and completed anaesthetic training in the cities of Mumbai and Bangalore in 2009, where she was awarded the Gold medal at the National Board of Examinations. She arrived in the United Kingdom in 2011 and has been working as an SAS doctor at Dartford since 2013.
Ashwini has a keen interest in teaching and training, especially the novice anaesthetists, and is one of the organisers of the HEKSS novice courses, which include simulation. Her specialty interest is obstetric anaesthesia where multidisplicinary team management and human factors are of pivotal significance.
Ashwini joined the College's SAS Committee in 2018 and as the Chair of the committee since 2021, represents RCoA at the AoMRC and Association's SAS committee. She is the vice chair of the Equivalence committee and member of the ETE board. Through these roles, she is part of various other sub-committees.
She has been the clinical content lead at the Winter symposium in 2021, speaker at the Hong Kong ASM in 2022. She regularly writes blogs for the College website and articles for the Bulletin. She has recorded podcasts on No trace =wrong place, SAS doctors, and International Women's Day alongside the President Dr Fiona Donald.
She has previously been a speaker at the 'New to NHS' day at the College and endeavors to support SAS and locally employed doctors.
She is married to an anaesthetist and divides her spare time listening to music, painting and enjoying regional Indian dance.
Professor Partha Kar is National Specialty Advisor, Diabetes in the NHS
He is an International Medical Graduate (Kolkata, India) who works as a Consultant in Diabetes & Endocrinology at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, UK since 2008- and won multiple awards at the BMJ, HSJ & Guardian Care Awards
He has helped to expand use of technology in Type 1 Diabetes- namely use of Flash Glucose/CGM and implementation of use of CGM in T1D pregnancy along with use of online digital self-management platforms- while recently leading on real world data collection on Closed Loops for subsequent NICE review for wide access
His other work has involved championing “Language Matters”; principles of Peer support for Type 1 Diabetes as well as Co- creator of Type 1 Diabetes comic (Volume 1 to 4)
He is one of the leading users of social media in diabetes care- and writes a monthly blog for the British Medical Journal.
He has also been recognized as one of the most influential figures from the ethnic minority population across healthcare in the UK by the Healthcare Service Journal in 2020,2021 & 2022
He received an OBE for services to Diabetes care in 2021
Dr Quasim has been a consultant obstetric anaesthetist in University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust since 2009. She is the lead anaesthetist in the obstetric cardiac service, she is an MBRRACE Anaesthetic Assessor, an ACSA reviewer for the Royal College of Anaesthetists, and a Clinical advisor with Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations. She is collaborating on research in healthcare inequalities in obstetric anaesthesia.
Professor Nigel Huggins has been a Consultant Neuroanaesthetist for 34 years at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. During this expansive career, he has seen a multitude of changes in practice and has been innovative in bringing TVI TIVA into neuroanaesthetic practice. He was a founder member of the Society for Intravenous Anaethesia and sat on the committee continuously until 2022. He has also been Hon Sec of the Neuroanaesthesia Society of GB and Ireland.
He was a phase 3 investigator for Glaxo Smith Kline as was and was involved in the phase 3 clinical trials for both Cis-Atracurium and Remifentanil. He chaired many of the UK launch meetings for GSK following the launch of Remifentanil into clinical practice and also chaired and presented internationally for similar meetings.
His first international presentation was on the use of TCI Propofol for awake craniotomy to the World Congress of Anaesthesia in Sydney in 1996, just before Remifentanil was launched.
