Enhancing care,
Advancing health science

Polycystic ovarian syndrome: much more than just a gynaecological condition

Dr Tommy Tang Consultant Gynaecologist and specialist in reproductive medicine MD MRCOG

Consultant gynaecologist and specialist in reproductive medicine

Regional Fertility Centre, RVH, Belfast.

Dr Thomas Tang graduated from the University of Aberdeen and did most of his specialist training in the Yorkshire region. He was awarded a postgraduate degree of Doctor of Medicine by theUniversity of Leeds in 2007. His research focused on fertility care for women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. He became a Consultant Gynaecologist and Specialist in Reproductive Medicine in 2010 and joined the team in theRegional Fertility Centre, Belfast in 2012. He is also interested in postgraduate education and is currently an associate editor in the RCOG journal “The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist”, the Human Fertility and a guest editor in the Seminars in Reproductive Medicine.

Building a Patient-Centred Clinical Network

Professor Frank Casey OBE MD FRCP MRCPCH FRICS BSc

Frank Casey is Clinical Professor of Paediatric Cardiology in Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. He is also a Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist at The Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, in Northern Ireland. He graduated in Biochemistry from Queen’s University before going on to study Medicine at University College Cork. He trained in Paediatric Cardiology in Belfast and at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Professor Casey was the Northern Ireland Clinical Lead for The All-Ireland Congenital Heart Disease Network in the Years 2016 -2022 and was central to the development of this unique and innovative development in Healthcare.

In September 2021 he was appointed as Clinical Professor in Paediatric Cardiology, a new joint position between Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. He is now leading the development of an Academic Research Department in Paediatric Cardiology in both universities and the Belfast Trust. He is internationally recognised as a researcher in congenital heart disease, particularly in the areas of long term neurodevelopmental outcomes and quality of life for those treated in childhood.

In January 2023 he was awarded an OBE for his services to Healthcare in Northern Ireland. In

October 2023 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Irish Cardiac Society and In May 2024 he was awarded Honorary Lifetime membership of The Association for European Paediatric Cardiology, for his contribution to Paediatric Cardiology in Europe.

Sir John Curtice and Mr Hugh McCaughey

Doctor, when can I see you? Waiting Times and Dissatisfaction with the NHS/Dear Mr Bevan, your child is ill. Can I suggest a treatment plan?

Professor Sir John Curtice is Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, and Senior Research Fellow, National Centre for Social Research and the ESRC’s ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative. As part of his work for the National Centre, he has been co-editor of the annual reports emanating from the British Social Attitudes survey, a high quality general social survey which, inter alia, has been collecting data on attitudes towards the NHS since the survey began in 1983.

Improving health and social care - right touch regulation in practice

Professor Lourda Geoghegan

MB MPH MSc PhD FRCPI FFPHMI FFPH MFMLM

Lourda is currently Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health in Northern Ireland. She commenced in this role in June 2020, and prior to that (from Mar 2020) she was temporarily seconded to the Department as a Senior Medical Adviser working on the Department’s response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past 4 years Lourda has been a core member of the Department’ senior medical team responding to and mitigating the impacts of the pandemic. More recently she has been working on the Department’s strategies for recovering both the health service and the health of the population, as Northern Ireland emerges from the pandemic. She also provides advice and expertise to range of medical professional, educational and workforce related policy matters.

Lourda was previously Medical Director and Quality Improvement Lead in the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), the health and care system regulator in Northern Ireland. She held that role from Jan 2017 to Mar 2020. Prior to that Lourda worked as a Consultant in Public Health/Health Protection in the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland, from its establishment in 2009.

Lourda qualified from National University of Ireland, Galway in 1994. She received her Masters in Public Health (MPH) from University College Dublin in 2000. She completed her service training in Public Health in Northern Ireland between 2004 and 2009. She was awarded her PhD in Health Services Research from University College Dublin in 2009.

Lourda was Health Foundation GenerationQ Fellow from 2013 to 2015, during this time she completed her Masters in Leadership (Service Improvement) through Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, London. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (Faculty of Public Health) and the UK Faculty of Public Health. Until recently she was Chair of the Ireland Chapter of Eisenhower Fellowships, an independent non-profit organisation supporting leadership development in the US and globally.

Realistic Medicine in an Unrealistic World

Mr Shobhan Thakore MBChB FRCS (EM) FRCEM,

National Clinical Lead for Unscheduled Care, Centre for Sustainable Delivery

Consultant in Emergency Medicine, NHS Tayside

Clinical Lead, Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship Programme, NHS Education for Scotland

Shobhan has been an Emergency Medicine Consultant in NHS Tayside since 2003. He spent 8 years as Clinical Lead of the service with responsibility for operational matters relating to the team and its function in the wider system. He then spent 5 years as Associate Medical Director for Quality Management, working with the improvement team in Tayside providing support to the Board Medical Director and other executive officers across a wide portfolio spanning unscheduled care, planned care, mental health and cancer care.

For the last 8 years, Shobhan has been Clinical Lead for the Scottish Quality & Safety Fellowship (SQSF) programme. This programme trains clinicians and managers of clinical services from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Norway and further afield to become improvement leaders with knowledge of QI, design thinking and human factors approaches.

He has recently has taken on the role of National Clinical Lead in Unscheduled Care with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital. In this job he works in a national team to support Scottish Boards in their attempts improve the delivery of unscheduled and emergency care. Whilst in this role he will continue to work as an EM consultant in Tayside and lead the SQSF programme.

shobhan.thakore2@nhs.scot

@sbteez