Meet the Team
Our team of experienced technical staff, consultants and affiliates have extensive knowledge and access within the local and greater health community.
An experienced healthcare professional with extensive knowledge in academia, industry and public sector.
PhD in Cell and molecular biology. Post graduate academic and work interests include health economics, prioritisation and advanced physical and digital engineering (including 3D printing and artificial intelligence).
Experience includes 10 year career in industry with two major pharmaceutical companies within sales, marketing and medical and regulatory affairs. 20 years experience within UK National Health Service in National commissioning, specialised services, regional cancer delivery, innovation and value based healthcare.
A firm believer in user centric design and in understanding the importance of socialisation and the human: machine interface in the development of technology. Committed to net zero, SMART and intelligent technology development and importance of making work and the workplace fun
Research interests – Respiratory Medicine especially novel technologies and biomarker discovery
Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Swansea University and Respiratory Lead Clinician, Hywel Dda University Health Board in Wales, UK.
After qualification and junior doctor jobs in London, I completed my specialist training in Wales. I have been an NHS consultant since 2003 and lead the COPD, Smoking Cessation and non-invasive ventilation services for my group of hospitals covering 380,000 people in a semi-rural area.
I have led or been co-applicant on grants worth over £25Million, working across institutions and different countries, publishing over 100 papers, 3 textbooks, various book chapters and supervised post-graduate research students.
I am the NIHR Speciality Lead for Respiratory research for Wales and was an NHS R&D Director for over 10 years. RIW will improve links between clinicians, industry and academia to test and adopt new ideas and technology that will improve patient care and generate wealth.
Resources
Professor Keir Lewis – Swansea University
Keir Lewis – Linked in
Welsh Gov: Lewis | Health Care Research Wales
(healthandcareresearchwales.org)
Keir E Lewis (researchgate.net)
TWITTER: @keir_lewis
Andrew is a Chartered Accountant and has worked in the public sector for over 30 years. He joined the Audit Commission in 1983 and became a District Auditor in Wales signing off public sector accounts and undertaking value for money studies across the whole range of local authorities’ and health organisations’ services.
He left the Audit Commission in 2004 to set up his own management consultancy business. He was subsequently employed by the NHS in Wales, firstly as Acting Chief Executive of the National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare and then as Director of Innovation and Improvement at Cardiff & Vale Health Board reporting to the Board on performance, innovation, audit and IT.
He retired from the Health Board in 2013 and returned to running his management consultancy business, specialising in advising public sector organisations how to improve financial governance and value for money. He was appointed as Director of Finance for Welsh Wound Innovation Wales (WWII) Ltd in 2014 working one day per week managing all aspects of the company’s finances and helping to advise on performance management. In 2019 he left WWII Ltd to take up a similar role for Respiratory Innovation Wales Ltd, another fledging not for profit company established by Welsh Government.
An experienced public and private sector manager with a Strategic and Operational background with a keen interest in innovation within the health sector.
I have worked in the NHS for 6 years specialising within the Primary Care sector as a Strategic and Operational Manager. I have successfully led on several projects some of which include the National rollout of NHS 111 in Urgent Primary Care for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board; departmental Health Board mergers; and large infrastructure change. I have degrees in BSc Medical Science, MSc Forensic Anthropology & Archaeology with published papers in this field, and an MSc in Leadership & Management. I have also worked in academia, as a seasonal lecturer for various Biology subject fields.
I have a keen interest in data analytics, with the aim to connect data together to understand the whole system approach and areas of improvement.
Twitter – @victoria_jeynes
LinkedIn – victoria-jeynes
I am an experienced commercial and business development
manager with a passion for digital innovation. I have extensive experience in
supporting a variety of major commercial, charitable, and public organisations
to identify and capitalise on new market opportunities, developing commercial
strategies and innovative solutions for growth.
I have worked in Europe and across the Middle East, Africa
& India, identifying and nurturing key relationships with Government
officials, and CEOs of major corporations. Introducing a number of substantial
multi-million-pound commercial sales distribution pipelines and gaining a deep
and broad understanding of how businesses operate on a global scale.
I was privileged to be seconded to the Ministry of Justice, to lead on implementing the Sally Coates review of prison education and my interactions with Ministers and senior civil servants, across multiple departments helped to shape and drive significant change in the delivery of innovative digital education solutions in the Justice sector.
I am excited to be joining Respiratory Innovation Wales,
where I’m excited to be a part of a remarkable team of digital and clinical
experts in driving innovative respiratory health projects that can have such a
positive impact on people’s life.
Dr Tom Powell is Innovation lead for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and Research Innovation and Improvement Hub manager for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Regional Partnership Board. He is also Digital Innovation Ambassador for the Life Science Hub Wales.
Tom’s roll with RIW is as a Disruptive Innovator, bringing together like minded colleagues to create multi-organisation innovation collaborative to deliver new approaches and ideas. These include the ORIEL and ARIA – TRE initiatives.
With over fifteen years project management experience, he has worked within the NHS, academia, clinical research and the wider public sector, successfully completing and evaluating projects, research trials, and organisational change initiatives. With a doctorate is in Respiratory Physiology, he holds a number of grants and is the CI on a number of research projects.
Tom has a wide breadth of healthcare related experience including; successfully developing funding bids; research and analysis of Government policy; supporting the production of independent expert policy advice; synthesising and reporting on routinely collected health data; contributing to national economic analysis; and working with colleagues across NHS Wales, academia and government inform senior service and policy leaders.
LinkedIn: Tom Powell
Consulting Healthcare Scientist with Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Innovation Department specialising in Advanced Digital Physiological Engineering.
I have worked in the NHS for 17 years as an engineer/ scientist and 10 years as field specialist for Hewlett Packard / Agilent and then Philips Healthcare. I have led several research trials and managed multimillion-pound implementations of digital systems and medical device integration. Two-time winner of NHS Wales Excellence Award and Runner up in NHS Wales Awards. I have secured over £1 million in Welsh Government innovation grants to date.
Director and founder of Rowan Tree Scientific Limited providing bespoke API design for clinical systems integration and the base2base software package enabling system administrators to configure their own API interfaces.
Specialisms include; 3D printing, RFID, GS1, MDR & QMS, API integration, HL7 /FHiR, Medical Devices, PACS systems, Patient Information Systems and Patient Flow Software.
STEM Ambassador for See Science Wales supporting technology innovation projects with local schools and FE establishments.
LinkedIn: Robert Salter
Erin is a Business degree graduate, who has worked in the logistics industry for 8 years previous to joining RIW. By working in the manufacturing industry, which is an extremely fast paced environment, has enabled Erin to adapt quickly and appropriately to change and demand. She has solely managed logistical departments, which involved shipping to worldwide locations, amounting to over 50 countries daily.
Erin is a keen and experienced organiser and event planner, who has a passion for making day to day life flow seamlessly for all the team at RIW.
As a GP I have an unwavering vision that future healthcare is a holistic partnership with patients and their community. My role with Respiratory Innovation Wales is the Wellness Innovation Lead and my aim is to help create solutions that empower patients in their own health and wellbeing. This will require the expertise from all industries and background and therefore I am keen to build a network to collaborate with the aim of creating a healthier, prosperous Wales.
I am the medical lead of the CTMUHB NHS Wellness Improvement Service. We are a Wellness Coach led service that empowers patients to address the lifestyle, behavioural and socio-economic factors that contribute to chronic physical and mental health conditions. I have a particular area of interest in Lifestyle Medicine, Preventative Health and the use of meditation to improve symptoms and was honoured to be nominated by patients and winning the runner up award at the RCGP GP of the Year Awards 2018. I am one of the first graduates of the RCGP GLOW programme – the Royal College of GPs General Practitioner Leadership in Obesity and Weight Management. During the pandemic I was the medical lead for our health board’s field hospital, the busiest field hospital in the UK.
Twitter @drliza_revivepx
Website www.reviveprescribed.com
Linkedin Dr Liza Thomas-Emrus
A clinician with over 25years experience working both operationally and strategically across the whole health and care system. A qualified and practicing GP and have worked across Australia, rural Republic of Ireland, and for the last 17 years in the NHS both in England and Wales.
Meinir currently works in West Wales and has been an Associate Medical Director in Hywel Dda for the last 6 years leading the development of the Healthier Mid and West Wales Clinical Strategy. She has clinically led the development of the Value Based Health Care (VBHC) Programme within Hywel Dda and has supported the design and delivery of the VBHC education programmes ‘Bringing Value to Life’ over the last 2 years.
During COVID she clinically led the 3 operational field hospitals in Hywel Dda which provided her with incredible insights into whole system working and developing resilient sites and workforce. More recently she was appointed the National Clinical Lead for Musculoskeletal Conditions and Arthritis and is passionate about shifting toward a more prudent model of prevention and early intervention and person centred care in this space. Meinir was appointed the Clinical Digital Lead for the Health Board in late 2022 ( Chief Clinical Information Officer), believing strongly in providing clinical leadership in the digital space to utilise data and technology intelligently , to inform and support the development of innovative solutions to improving outcomes for our population.
Meinir is passionate about tackling the wider determinants of health and working with our partners across the system to improve health and well-being outcomes for our population.
Mike is an award winning communications specialist with over 12 years of experience in the creative industries. Graduating from the University of South Wales with degrees in Design for Media and Social Media Marketing, Mike has developed a broad range of skills in filmmaking, graphic design, marketing, and effectively communicating key messages to diverse stakeholder groups.
Mike’s ability to leverage his knowledge and expertise has helped organisations across third, public and private sectors to communicate and connect with their target audiences in a more efficient way.
Liz is a graduate member of the Institute of People Development and has an BA in English Literature, an MSc in Human Resources Management and a PGCE in post-compulsory education. Liz has a strong strategic and operational background, having worked in the NHS for 35 years, as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Manager for CTMUHB for the last 8 years. She has led on strategic equality planning, equality impact assessment and policy development and developed tools for use during COVID-19 and in the Health Boards mass vaccination roll out.
Liz has developed staff networks which have led to innovation in the areas of race (buddy and reporting systems) and LGBT (innovative trans awareness training, trans toolkit and patient support initiatives) and previously won many awards in the achievement of positive change for service users with sensory loss. She has developed many initiatives that have been shared across Wales including the introduction of on-line interpretation for people who use British Sign Language, Welsh or any other language.
Liz has a keen interest in community engagement and service user participation in the development of new products in order to ensure they are accessible and inclusive to all groups within society.
Hannah has recently graduated from Cardiff University with a BSc in Sociology and a Q-Step qualification in Social Analytics. She has a strong interest in research and completed a gender equality study for Chwarae Teg as an undergraduate. Hannah also won a student mentorship award for the support she gave to first year students during the pandemic and set up a British Sign Language society to connect and support Deaf students.
Hannah currently combines a project management support role in University of South Wales with her engagement and research role within RIW. In addition to her professional commitments she is an experienced martial artist and photographer for several local football teams.
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