Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
Meet the Team
Learn more about the team behind the 2021/22/23/24 Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
Dr Alex Till MBChB MRCPsych MSc MBA AFFMLM JP
Alex is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Associate Chief Clinical Information Officer at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT and the Founder and Director of the RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme.
Graduating from The University of Leicester in 2012, he accepted a leadership and management academic foundation programme within the East Midlands, and completed his psychiatric training in the North West, taking a year out of programme to complete the National Medical Director's Clinical Fellow Scheme 16/17.
Alongside his clinical training, Alex has been Chair of the Psychiatric Trainees' Committee 18/19, was recognised regionally as RCPsych North West Higher Trainee of the Year 2020, and nationally as RCPsych Higher Trainee of the Year 2021.
Alex is an Associate Fellow with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management (FMLM), and holds a Master’s in Leadership for the Health Professions from Swansea University, and an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School - both with distinction.
He is a Specialist Advisor with the Care Quality Commission and a Magistrate sitting on the Greater Manchester Bench in criminal court.
Alex is proud to lead the RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme to support the next generation of medical leaders within psychiatry.
Dr Suhana Ahmed
Dr Suhana Ahmed is a Consultant Psychiatrist (dual-trained in Old Age and General Adult Psychiatry) and Director of Medical Education. She is currently working in an Old Age inpatient setting at South West London and St George’s NHS Trust.
She is heavily involved with the College: Finance officer at London division, executive member of Old Age Faculty and Startwell Lead.
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 this year and had an article published about her experiences in the Independent recently.
She is a mummy to an eight-year-old boy and loves cats, reading and cake.
Dr Ross Runciman
Dr Ross Runciman is a trainee in General Adult and Old Age Psychiatry at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust where he is also the medical lead for quality improvement. He was the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee chair 2019/2020. Ross was in the first cohort of RCPsych’s Leadership and Management Fellows Scheme, getting involved in setting up the alumni for this scheme thereafter.
Outside of work he is taken for walks by his dogs in the Cotswolds.
Dr Kapil Bakshi
Dr Kapil Bakshi is a Fellow of Royal College of Psychiatrists and currently works as a consultant psychiatrist at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Kapil trained as a Psychiatrist at London and East of England deanery and has a CCT in General Adult Psychiatry with an endorsement in substance misuse.
He has a Master’s degree in Leadership and Management from the University of Birmingham and was awarded the Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson award for Senior Healthcare Leadership by the NHS Leadership Academy. Throughout his career, Kapil has undertaken roles and responsibilities in both medical and education management such as Deputy Medical Director and College Tutor. He is an executive member of the RCPsych’s Eastern Division and contributes to the quality network with the CCQI.
Kapil has a keen interest in clinical leadership, co-production and its role in improving care quality. He has been involved in the Leadership and Management Fellowship Scheme (LMFS) since its inception and has mentored the senior trainees. He is delighted to lead the LMFS mentor network and hopes to promote medical leadership with members at all stages of their careers.
Dr Stefan Ivantu MD, MRCPsych
Dr Stefan Ivantu is a Private Consultant Psychiatrist, having expertise in ADHD specialist services and complex cases. Dr Ivantu completed his training in Oxford, UK having clinical and leadership experience in developing specialist mental health services. Dr Ivantu is passionate about developing sustainable services, and improving technologies such as telepsychiatry, virtual reality, and A.I. He is an advocate for promoting sustainability in healthcare and believes that ethical AI is the foundation for the next generation of mental health services.
After graduating in 2012 from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, had an interest in the International and U.S. Healthcare Systems by completing the USMLE examinations. Started to work in the NHS in 2013, and completed his higher specialist training in Oxford, Thames Valley Deanery. Dr Ivantu is currently offering private consultations in London, on Harley Street.
With support from Oxford Health, Dr Ivantu was sponsored to be part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme 2020/2021. In the program, he established the new service in Adult ADHD for Oxford Health, NHS Oxfordshire ADHD Service using telepsychiatry and input from experts by experience.
Dr Ivantu decided to stand with the RCPsych Management and Leadership Program, sharing his expertise in service development. Dr Ivantu is our Alumni Network Lead for the Programme and Action Learning Set Facilitator for the 2022/2023 cohort.
Dr Emma Brandish BSc BM MRCPsych
Dr Emma Brandish is about to complete Higher training in General Adult Psychiatry in Wessex.
She has been appointed as Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist with sub specialty interest in addiction liaison in Southampton and will take up this post in early 2022.
She completed a RCPsych leadership and management fellowship in 2019/20 where she undertook quality improvement work looking at substance use comorbidity.
Module Leads for Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme 2021/22/23/24
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 Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan is an academic ST5 trainee in East Midlands Deanery.
Deepa's interests include quality improvement, leadership and medical education. Dr Bagepalli Krishnan is passionate about improving QI training and coaching doctors in leading QI projects. Deepa completed a two-year Leadership fellowship in Health Education England East Midlands and a Masters in Leadership for Health Professions from the University of Swansea.
Deepa was part of the first cohort of RCPsych Leadership and Management fellowship scheme (2019/20). Dr Bagepalli Krishnan developed an interest in QI and leadership early in core psychiatry training and led several Trust level QI projects and set up QI training for doctors in the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in collaboration with Trainees improving Patient safety through QI (TIPSQI). As a part of this scheme, they have trained more than 150 doctors.
Dr Bagepalli Krishnan has completed the NHS improvement and ACT academy, Quality and Service improvement and redesign practitioner (QSIR) training programme.
As a Psychiatric Trainees Committee (PTC) Trent division representative, Deepa is involved in the RCPsych QI committee where she is involved in developing a QI 'Train the trainers' programme. Deepa is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Association of University Teachers of Psychiatry (AUTP). In this role, she has supported the AUTP team in organizing several National events/conferences and projects with an aim to promote the highest quality of undergraduate psychiatric education.
Dr Ayesha Rahim
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. She is a founding member of the Shuri network, which is a grass-roots organisation to support the visibility and participation of BAME women in the digital health space.
You can find her on Twitter @AyeshaRahimCCIO
Dr Asif Bachlani
Dr Bachlani works as Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Lead for the ASD pathway at Priory Woking Hospital. Asif is also an Associate Non-Executive Director (NED) for Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust with his portfolios being data and digital. Asif has held various managerial and digital positions in NHS and independent sector including Clinical Director, Associate Medical Director, Clinical Lead for Mental Health Outcomes and Chief Clinical Information Officer. Due to his interest in mental health outcomes, Asif was also the NHS London Clinical Lead for Mental Health Outcomes for 2 years (2017-19). Asif has co-authored various policy documents and papers around data and digital include NHS London HoNOS analytical framework and HLP Development of Primary Care MH Models. Asif was co-author of the two part series in RCPsych Advances (2022) on Digital literacy in contemporary mental healthcare.
Asif set up 1st ever data events for clinicians initially regionally and then nationally via RCPsych Better Data, Better Care series of conferences which is now in its 4th year. Asif is lead co-author of the RCPsych Data and Digital Literacy Guide for Psychiatrists due for launch in 2023.
Dr Ananta Dave
Dr Ananta Dave is Medical Director and Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT). She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and also holds a Master’s degree in Medical Ethics and Law.
Dr Nick Broughton
Dr Nick Broughton is a psychiatrist by background and has worked as a Consultant in Forensic Psychiatry from 2000. Nick has worked in a wide variety of secure settings including a specialist remand service, an enhanced medium secure service for women, a remand prison and a young offenders’ institution.
Dr Broughton joined Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Executive in June 2020. Prior to joining the Trust, Nick was the Chief Executive of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and was Medical Director of a large specialist mental health Trust in London for almost 6 years.
Dr Subha Thiyagesh, Medical Director
- MBBS
- MRCPsych
- MD (University of Sheffield)
- Nye Bevan NHS Leadership Academy Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership
- Quality Improvement Facilitator
Dr Subha Thiyagesh is a Medical Director and Responsible Officer at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and is also a Consultant in Older People’s Services. She was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine in the field of Dementia and the Nye Bevan NHS Leadership Academy Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership. She was also the winner of the Leader of the Year award in her Trust’s Excellence awards.
Dr Billy Boland
Dr Billy Boland took over the role of Medical Director at South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust in March 2021. Billy brings a wealth of experience to the role. He previously worked as Deputy Medical Director at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, where he was also a Consultant in community psychiatry.
Billy is an Honorary Senior Lecturer (Clinical) at the University of Hertfordshire. He was elected to the Royal College of Psychiatry General Adult Faculty Executive Committee in 2013 and took over as Chair in 2019. Billy is also on the Advisory Board of the Money and Mental Health Policy Unit. Billy first trained as a Consultant Psychiatrist here at South West London and St. George’s Mental Health Trust and is delighted to be back as Medical Director.
Catherine Eden
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
Website: Eden and Partners