Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme

Dr David Bishop MB BChir MA PGCert (MedEd) MRCPsych

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David is currently an NHS Consultant Psychiatrist, working in the community for Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust.

David obtained his medical degree in 2015 from Peterhouse, Cambridge, intercalating in neurophysiology and neuropsychology. He moved to Sheffield to take up an academic foundation programme in medical education and obtained his PGCert. He completed dual training in older adult and general adult psychiatry with an endorsement in liaison, finishing in 2024.

David has an interest in the relationship between psychiatry and neuroscience and how this is communicated with professionals and patients alike. He is an honorary clinical teacher at the University of Sheffield. David completed LMFS himself in the third cohort which sparked his own interest in medical leadership. He became associate programme director and then director of the scheme from March 2025.

Outside of work David enjoys church, cycling, and running (mostly after his children).

Dr Ross Runciman

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Ross works as a general adult consultant psychiatrist at Wotton Lawn Hospital in Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust. Ross is also the medical lead for quality improvement as well as leadership and quality champion for Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

He was the RCPsych Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee chair 2019/2020 and involved as a trainee in developing the new 2022 curricula. Ross was in the first cohort of RCPsych’s Leadership and Management Fellows Scheme and now an associate programme director of the LMFS. Ross is the lead co-author of the RCPsych Data and Digital Literacy Competencies for all Psychiatrists which was launched in March 2023. 

Outside of work he is taken for walks by his dogs in the Cotswolds and enjoys swimming slowly.

Dr Marcin Ostrowski

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Marcin is a Specialist Grade Doctor (SAS) and Assistant Medical Director in Secure Care at the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW). He provides senior clinical leadership within his trust and co-leads the development of Public and Physical Health Policy at CNTW. He serves as an Associate Dean for SAS and LE Doctors and Dentists with NHSEENE, and is also a mentor and appraiser. He is an Associate Programme Director at the Leadership and Management Fellows Scheme with the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) and a member of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM). He takes great pride in his career as a SAS psychiatrist and spends most of his spare time traveling through Europe with his family and walking his dog in rural Northumberland. Dr Ostrowski’s interests are focused on the management and leadership skills development of medical staff. While pursuing an MSc in Strategic Leadership, he is a firm believer in an inclusive leadership culture and advocates for equal access to a variety of leadership opportunities for SAS doctors in the NHS. 

Dr. Saleema Durgahee MBBS, MSc Psychiatry, MRCPsych 

Dr Eleanor Swift

Ellie is a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist working in the community at Mersey Care NHS trust in a split research and clinical role. After completing a BSc in Human Communication Sciences from the University of Sheffield she then attended Hull York Medical School. She moved to Manchester for her Foundation Training and then took a one year post at Health Education England as a Management and Leadership Fellow, also completing a PGCert in Medical Education.  She was an Academic Clinical Fellow during her Core Psychiatry Training, completing a Research Masters in Medical Sciences. During her Higher Training she led on work to improve the working patterns for trainees, which contributed to her being awarded Higher Trainee of the Year at the RCPsych NW Awards in 2022. Ellie was a Fellow on the scheme in the 2022/23 year and returned from maternity leave to complete the scheme in 2023/24. She was appointed ALS Lead in 2025.

Dr Derek Tracy

Derek Tracy is the Medical Director of West London NHS Trust. He was previously the Clinical Director of a nationally innovative integrated directorate of adult social care, mental and physical health services in South East London. His clinical work has generally been in crisis care: his team produced some of the first qualitative and patient-centred research on Home Treatment Teams and designed and ran an award-winning digitised patient reported outcome measurement (PROM) programme that has been profiled by NHS England.
Derek is a Senior Lecturer at King’s and University College London, where he runs two MSc modules. He has published over one hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers and fifteen book chapters. His research interests include New Psychoactive Substances (‘legal highs’) and Derek is a member of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs that advises the Home Office on drug harms. In this role he is currently chairing an inquiry for the Home Secretary into the use of nootropics in student populations.

At the Royal College of Psychiatrists Derek is an elected member of the executives of the academic, evolutionary psychiatry, and occupational health faculties. With regards to the last of these, he has a particular interest in NHS staff well-being; in 2020 he was co-opted as one of the medical leads to design and run the mental health team at the London Nightingale hospital, providing on-site support to ITU staff during the pandemic. He is the editor for public engagement at the British Journal of Psychiatry, writing its Kaleidoscope and Highlights columns, and running its social media output and trainee-engagement programme.

Derek is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists; he was a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. In 2015 he was awarded the Institute of Psychiatry’s Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2019 the Royal College of Psychiatrist’s “Communicator of the Year” award.

He likes enthusiastic people, running, and the Stone Roses; he hates whinging, butter, and cats.

Dr Suhana Ahmed

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Dr Suhana Ahmed is a Consultant Psychiatrist – dual-trained (Old Age and General Adult She is currently Clinical Director of Older Persons services at West London NHS Trust but was recently appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
She has been Director of Medical Education at South West London & St George’s (SWLSTG) Mental Health Trust having completed her training there and working as an Old Age and Adult Consultant Psychiatrist.
Dr Ahmed is heavily involved with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is currently Chair of the London Division, Deputy Chair of the Leadership & Management Committee and an executive member of Old Age Faculty.

She is a co-host of Mind Masters at International Congress. She is interested in training, flexible working and supporting leadership and career progression in working parents. She has been a fellow with the award-winning organisation Leadersplus, has contributed to their podcast series and now runs a mental health workshop for their programme.

She is passionate about the impact of and stigma surrounding postnatal depression having talked at RCPsych international Congress in 2021 and had an article published about her experiences in the Independent.

She is a mummy to a twelve-year-old boy and loves cats, reading and cake.

Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan MBBS, MRCPsych, MSc (Leadership), Dip IBLM/BSLM, FHEA 

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Dr Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan is a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and Medical Quality Improvement (QI) Lead at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She is also a part-time PhD student at the University of Nottingham, researching user experience in AI-based mood assessment and monitoring application in perinatal period. Deepa is a Mental Health Mission Principal Investigator for mood disorders and the qualitative research lead for the TrueBlue clinical trial.

Deepa’s professional interests lie in quality improvement, leadership development, and medical education. Passionate about embedding QI principles into clinical practice, she has coached and led multiple award-winning projects that have delivered sustainable improvements at both regional and national levels.

Deepa completed a two-year Health Education England East Midlands Leadership Fellowship and an MSc in Leadership for Health Professions with distinction from Swansea University. She was part of the first cohort of the RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellowship (2019/20). She is an NHS Improvement and ACT Academy Quality and Service Improvement and redesign (QSIR) Associate and leads QI training initiatives for doctors within her Trust.
She currently leads the RCPsych Dean’s Grand Rounds, bridging the gap between evidence and practice, and serves as the QI Representative for the RCPsych Trent Division. She is an active member of the RCPsych data and digital literacy working group involved in planning and developing data and digital literacy training programmes. Since 2021, she has been the Projects module lead for the RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellowship Scheme.

Dr Mudasir Firdosi FRCPsych 

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Mudasir is a Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist and Deputy Director of Undergraduate Medical Education at Kent and Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT). With over three years as Clinical Director of Quality Improvement, he has been instrumental in designing and implementing KMPT’s quality improvement systems and building a dedicated team to drive sustainable change. 
Mudasir is also a Clinical Lecturer at Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) and serves as an executive member of the General Adult Psychiatry Faculty at the RCPsych.  His expertise lies in quality improvement, leadership, and medical education.  
Trained in methodologies such as the Model for Improvement, Quality and Service Improvement and Redesign (QSIR), and Lean, Mudasir has also completed the Chief Quality Officer Course (CQO) from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).  

Dr Ayesha Rahim 

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Dr Ayesha Rahim is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Chief Medical Information Officer in Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS FT. She is also the Clinical Lead for Mental Health at the NHS England Transformation Directorate, which sets technology policy for the NHS. Her specific interests are around clinical engagement in this arena, as well as equality, diversity and inclusion.

Dr Rahim is a founding member of the Shuri network, which is a grass-roots organisation to support the visibility and participation of minoritised ethnic women in the digital health space.

You can find her on Twitter @AyeshaRahimCCIO.

Dr Asif Bachlani

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Dr Bachlani works as Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Lead for the Autism/AuDHD pathway at Priory Woking Hospital.

Asif has held various managerial and digital positions in NHS and independent sector including Clinical Director, NHS London Clinical Lead for Mental Health Outcomes and Chief Clinical Information Officer. Between 2022-24, Asif was Associate Non-Executive Director (NED) for Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust with his portfolios being data, digital and quality.

Asif has been an actively involved within the Royal College of Psychiatrists for over 10 years, previously with the General Adult Faculty. Asif is currently a committee member of the Digital Special Interest Group and is Co-lead for the Digital Module of RCPsych LMFS for ST4-6s. Asif is the RCPsych Lead for Data and Digital Literacy and interim Programme Lead for RCPsych Data and Digital Literacy Training Programme.

Asif was awarded UK Psychiatrist of the year by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2024. This was in recognition of his work around Digital psychiatry, Population health and Neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr Ananta Dave, Chief Medical Officer

Dr Ananta Dave is Chief Medical Officer and Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist of the Black Country Integrated Care Board, part of the Black Country Integrated Care System. She was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) in July 2023 in recognition of her work in psychiatry and mental health. Also, in July she was appointed Presidential Lead for Retention and wellbeing at RCPsych.

She was the first female President and is immediate Past President of the British Indian Psychiatric Association (BIPA).

Dr Dave works regionally and nationally in addressing healthcare inequalities and in developing a diverse & humane leadership culture which leads to good quality patient care. She is keenly interested in doctors’ health and wellbeing and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2019 to study the topic of preventing doctor suicides in the US. In 2022 she was awarded ‘Doctor of the Year’ by BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin).

In addition to her medical qualifications, Dr Dave holds a Master’s in Medical Ethics and Law and is an Honorary Asst. (Clinical) Professor at the University of Nottingham.

Dr Gareth Thomas

Dr Gareth Thomas is Chief Medical Officer and Consultant Psychiatrist for Older People in Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. 

Gareth has held a number of senior leadership roles including Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Network Medical Director, Director of Medical Education and has held senior roles in continuous improvement and transformation.

He has Masters Degrees in Psychiatry, Clinical Education and Medical Leadership and has completed the Nye Bevan Programme.

He is an experienced medical leader and team player who is fully committed to developing an improvement and learning culture, improving staff experience and developing a high quality, inclusive and patient centred approach within the organisation and across boundaries with partners in the system.

Catherine Eden 

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Catherine Eden is Managing Director of Eden & Partners, a consultancy that has provided leadership development to the health sector for 20 years. They also work with leaders from universities, charities, local government and private sector organisations. Their niche area of expertise is to help leaders better understand and demystify the politics of their sector and as a result, to think about how to influence policy and practice more effectively. This often involves helping health leaders better understand the pressures and drivers of local and system politics, as well as developing improved relations with local MPs. We help people “walk in others’ shoes”.
A modern European languages graduate, her professional background is in health politics; she has worked at all levels of politics – local, national and in the European Parliament. She ran the campaigns and parliamentary department for a UK health charity and has also worked in the NHS as a manager ensuring that the voice of patients and public was heard in all decisions that the organisation took.

For the past twelve years, Catherine has led the company. Most of her time is spent designing and running leadership programmes for senior leaders and clinicians in the health and social care sector, often through using complex simulations and case studies. She works with the NHS Leadership Academy on programmes to develop NHS Directors and Chief Executives and with a variety of clients and partners such as the University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, The Royal College of Nursing, the Florence Nightingale Foundation, the Faculty for Leadership and Management and Health Education England.

Eden & Partners is a small consultancy with a large pool of associates, all of whom have in-depth experience of the political world, including local and national politicians, journalists, sector leaders and those who experience policy and practice, including staff, patients and carers.

Twitter: @EdenPolitics

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Website: Eden and Partners

Dr Katy Mason

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Dr Katy Mason is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Medical Psychotherapist. She works in community Forensic Services, and leads the Lancashire wide multi-agency self harm collaborative. She is an organisational consultant, trained at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations.  

Dr Ruslan Zinchenko

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Dr Ruslan Zinchenko is an ST7 in General Psychiatry and Medical Psychotherapy, currently working in an NHS Psychotherapy Service in Lancashire. He is interested in how psychodynamic and systemic principles can support effective leadership and team functioning in psychiatric settings.  
His clinical interests include working with patients with personality and complex relational difficulties in the perinatal period, particularly where multi-agency involvement is required. He also has a special interest in the ethical and legal challenges of applying mental health and capacity legislation to patients with personality difficulties, and iatrogenic harm caused by restrictive and coercive practices. 
Ruslan hopes to work as a consultant in community perinatal psychiatry following completion of his training

Dr Billy Boland 

Dr Billy Boland is Chief Medical Officer and Consultant Psychiatrist in Community Psychiatry at South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust.   

Billy has served as the Trust’s doctor on the executive team since 2021, whilst also holding roles as Clinical Director for Mental Health for NHS England, London region and Honorary Reader in the Population Health Research Institute at St George’s, University of London. He undertook his early training at South West London and St George’s and returned to the Trust following his time at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. 

He was elected Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatry General Adult Faculty Executive Committee in 2019 and did this role until 2023. Since then, he has been a member of the College's Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Money and Mental Health Policy Unit.