Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
Meet the Team
Learn more about the team behind the 2021/22/23/24/25 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 is a Consultant Psychiatrist – dual-trained (old age and general adult). She is currently working in an old age inpatient setting at South West London and St George’s NHS Trust. She is Director of Medical Education at the Trust and continues as Supported Return to Training Champion.
Psychiatrists and is currently Chair of the London Division, Deputy Chair of the Leadership and Management Committee and an executive member of Old Age Faculty. She was also co-host of Mind Masters at International Congress in 2022.
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.
experiences in the Independent.
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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 is a Specialist Psychiatrist (SAS) and Assistant Medical Director in Secure Care at the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW). After completing his GP Vocational Training, Dr. Ostrowski embarked on a career in psychiatry. He provides senior clinical leadership within his trust and leads the development of Public and Physical Health Policy at CNTW. He serves as an Associate Dean for SAS Doctors and Dentists with NHSEENE, a SAS Tutor at CNTW, 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
David is currently a dual higher trainee in general adult and old age psychiatry, based in the South Yorkshire Deanery.
David obtained his medical degree from the University of Cambridge, intercalating in neurophysiology and neuropsychology. He moved to Sheffield in 2015 to take up an academic foundation programme in medical education and obtained his PGCert. David has an interest in the relationship between psychiatry and neuroscience and is an honorary clinical teacher at the University of Sheffield. During higher training he became more aware that every doctor is a leader within the NHS and completed the LMFS scheme in 2021/2022. He remained involved as an ALS facilitator the following year.
Outside of work David enjoys cycling, trail running, and walking.
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 Suhana Ahmed
She is delighted to have recently been appointed as Clinical Director of Older Persons services at West London NHS Trust and is due to start imminently.
Deputy Chair of the Leadership and Management Committee and an executive member of Old Age Faculty. She was also co-host of Mind Masters at International Congress in 2022.
runs a mental health workshop for their programme.
She is a mummy to a ten-year-old boy and loves cats, reading and cake.
Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan is a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and Medical QI lead in Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She is interested in Quality improvement (QI), leadership and medical education. She is passionate about improving QI training and coaching doctors in leading QI projects. completed a two-year Leadership fellowship in Health Education England East Midlands and Masters in Leadership for Health Professions from the Swansea University. Deepa was a fellow in the first cohort of RCPsych Leadership and Management fellowship scheme (2019/20). Having completed NHS improvement and ACT academy, Quality and Service improvement and redesign (QSIR) Associate training, she leads the QI training for doctors in the Trust. She is the QI representative for RCPsych Trent Division and co-lead for RCPsych Dean’s Grand rounds.
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 Autism/ASC 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, Clinical Lead for Mental Health Outcomes and Chief Clinical Information Officer. Asif has also been the NHS London Clinical Lead for Mental Health Outcomes for 2 years (2017-19). In this role, In this role, Asif has co-authored various policy documents and papers around data and digital include NHS London Introduction to HoNOS, the HoNOS analytical framework and Healthy London Partnership Development of Primary Care Mental Health Models.
Asif has had an interest in clinical value of data and data literacy for clinicians. Asif set up 1st ever data events for clinicians initially regionally in 2018 and then nationally from 2019 via RCPsych Better Data, Better Care series of conferences which is now in its 5th year. Asif was also one of co-authors of a two-part series on digital literacy in contemporary mental healthcare in RCPsych Advances (2022).
Within the RCPsych, Asif is leading the work on data and digital literacy for all grades of psychiatrists. Within this work stream, Asif is the:
lead co-author of the RCPsych Data and Digital Literacy Competencies for all Psychiatrists which was launched in March 2023.
co-lead for the Digital Module of RCPsych LMFS
creator and developer of the RCPsych Digital Team of the year launched in 2023.
developer of the Diploma Programme for Psychiatrists on Digital and Data Literacy.
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 a Consultant Psychiatrist for Older People in Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft). He is also the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Transformation and Improvement and the Deputy Caldicott Guardian.
Gareth has held a number of roles and previously he was the Director of Medical Education in LSCft and led the significant improvement in the quality of education and training in the organisation. Gareth is well published in peer reviewed journals. He has Masters Degrees in Clinical Psychiatry and Clinical Education. Gareth has won a number of awards including the North West RCPsych Educator of the Year in 2018. In 2021, he was awarded a Fellowship from the Academy of Medical Educators which recognises significant commitment, expertise and achievement as a medical educator and leader.
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.
She remains clinically active as an old age psychiatrist, a qualified Quality Improvement facilitator and the clinical lead for Older Peoples’ Transformation in the trust and passionate about providing excellent quality of care to service users and carers.
She is a strong proponent of a values- based approach in the organisation including recruitment and on developing and delivering a person-centred service which is co-produced. She is collaborative in her approach as a leader and working across systems internally and externally including regional ICS systems and nationally.
She has held a number of posts in Training and Education including being the Director of Medical Education and has a real passion for providing a high quality learning environment for doctors and currently supports the Trust Medical Leadership Pathway. As the Director of Medical Education, she is passionate on developing the next generation of doctors, underpinned by a strong medical education and training strategy that focusses on the overall development of a person. She is a member of the RCPsych Leadership & Management Committee and keen to support the next generation of young leaders.
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.
Dr Uju Ugochukwu
Dr Uju Ugochukwu is the Medical Director for Quality at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, a role she has held since May 2021. Prior to that she held other leadership roles within the Trust. She also works as a Consultant Psychiatrist in an Early Intervention in Psychosis service. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and she holds a postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT).
Uju is trained as a Quality Improvement (QI) Coach with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. She has led various QI programmes and is currently leading her trust programme on Advancing Mental Health Equality (AMHE) aimed at improving access, experience and outcomes for Black men and refugees and asylum seekers. Her other work is focused on improving physical health care of people with severe mental illness and learning from deaths and patient safety incidents.
She has an active interest in research and is currently the Principal Investigator at her trust for two studies, PPiP2 (Prevalence of Pathogenic Antibodies in Psychosis) and the SNAPPER Trial (a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of stimulant compared to non-stimulant medication for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a history of psychosis or bipolar disorder).
She believes that training in leadership and management is essential for all doctors and is keen to use her experience to support the development of up-and-coming medical leaders.
She enjoys trying out new recipes, travelling and gardening.
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