We are pleased to announce we have the following speakers confirmed.
Keynote speakers
Professor Miriam Johnson
Professor of Palliative Medicine, Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, University of Hull
Miriam Johnson is Professor of Palliative Medicine at Hull York Medical School, and Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre at the University of Hull. Her interests include mechanisms and management of breathlessness and inequalities in palliative care service provision e.g. for people with non-malignant disease such as heart failure and respiratory disease. The projects employ a wide range of research methodologies (clinical trials of drug or complex interventions, qualitative studies, observational, secondary data analysis, data linkage studies) and collaborative partners are involved across different disciplines and countries. In 2000, she set up one of the UK’s first integrated palliative-cardiology services.
Dr Rachel Johnson
GP, Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care, University of Bristol
Dr Johnson is a GP in Bristol, and a Clinical Lecturer at Bristol Medical School. Her research focuses on cardiovascular conditions, person-centred care and multimorbidity. Her heart failure research has included exploring patients’ experiences of shared decision making, ethnographic study of the reasons for hospital admission in severe heart failure, health care professionals’ perceptions of end of life care, and community case management for heart failure. Dr Johnson recently co-led a priority setting partnership for advanced heart failure research.
Dr Elizabeth Bates
West Midlands Clinical Lead, Doctors of the World, UK
Liz Bates is a GP at Cape Hill Medical Centre and West Midlands Clinical Lead for Doctors of the World UK ( part of the MDM network). She has helped establish the Safe Surgeries Network in the West Midlands, which now includes more than 80 GP practices who have committed to good practice in providing access to Primary Care for all. At a time when equitable access to healthcare has never been more important, The Doctors of the World Birmingham Clinic pilot is providing medical advice, advocacy and GP registration to the most excluded populations in the West Midlands.
Dr James Beattie
Consultant Cardiologist, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College, London, UK
Dr James Beattie is Consultant Cardiologist and Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London. After initial cardiology training in Glasgow, he undertook periods of research at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. Returning to the UK as Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine at Birmingham University, he was appointed Consultant Cardiologist at Heartlands Hospital in 1990. A Fellow of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology with a long-held interest in palliative care, he is a member of the HFA Palliative Care Task Force.
Dr Haider J Warraich
Associate Director, Heart Failure Program, VA Boston, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Haider Warraich is the Associate Director of Heart Failure at the Veterans Affairs Boston Hospital, Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the intersection of palliative care and heart failure and he has published in journals such as the NEJM and JAMA. He is also a frequent contributor for the New York Times and author of the books Modern Death – How Medicine Changed the End of Life and State of the Heart – Exploring the History, Science and Future of Cardiac Disease.
As a physician, writer, and clinical researcher, Haider Warraich wears many hats that have come together in his new book, State of the Heart - Exploring the History, Science and Future of Cardiac Disease (St Martin's Press/Macmillan).
He writes most frequently for the New York Times but also contributes to the Guardian, the Atlantic, the LA Times and the Boston Globe amongst others. He writes about all things that fall within the purview of healthcare, from health policy to the daily interactions between patients and their physicians.
Dr Warraich completed internal medicine and cardiology training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Duke University and will be the Associate Director of Heart Failure at the Boston Veterans Affairs Hospital, Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Instructor at Harvard Medical School in the Fall of 2019. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, CBS, PBS, and on NPR shows like Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Diane Rehm Show, The World, Marketplace and the BBC World Service.
Dr Warraich is also a prolific clincal researcher and has published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association amongst others. His research focuses on end of life care for patients with heart disease.
Workshop speakers
Dr Amy Gadoud
Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, Lancaster University
Amy Gadoud is a Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine at Lancaster Medical School where she is NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Training Lead. She also works with colleagues in the International Observatory on End of Life Care, Lancaster University. Her main research interest is palliative care for people with heart failure and she use a range of research methods from analysing large datasets to qualitative studies. She works clinically as a Honorary Community Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Trinity Hospice and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Bader Remawi
PhD Student in Medicine Lancaster University
Bader Remawi is a clinical pharmacist with an academic and clinical work experience. He is a current PhD student in Medicine at Lancaster Medical School, Lancaster University. His research focuses on palliative care for patients with heart failure. He uses a range of research methods including systematic reviews and qualitative data analysis.
Kate Binnie
PhD Student; Music, Yoga, Mindfulness therapist MSc Palliative Care
Kate Binnie is an HCPC registered music psychotherapist (allied healthcare professional) yoga and mindfulness teacher with an MSc in Palliative Care from King’s College London funded by the Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust. After twelve years in clinical practice, from 2016-20 she was a senior research associate with the Wellcome-funded www.lifeofbreath.org project based at University of Bristol researching breathing and breathlessness from a Medical Humanities perspective. Kate is now doing her PhD exploring the emotional component of chronic breathlessness and laying the groundwork for effective ways to integrate these findings into clinical practice, supervised by Professor Miriam Johnson at the Hull York Medical School.
Dr Purushottam Desai
Consultant Cardiologist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
Dr Desai is Heart Failure Specialist, working as Consultant Cardiologist at University Hospital Birmingham for the last 12 years. He has extensive experience in this field and is part of Advanced Heart Failure Programme at the Hospital and has run several community Heart Failure management clinics.
Helen Kelly
Heart Failure Nurse Specialist, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Helen Kelly has worked as a Heart Failure Nurse Specialist for over ten years, initially in the community, and more recently as a member of the Advanced Heart Failure Service at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Dr Sharon Chadwick
Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Medical Director and Deputy CEO, Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted
Dr Sharon Chadwick is Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Medical Director and Deputy CEO at the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted. She also works at Watford Hospital. She studied medicine at the University of Birmingham, graduating with Distinctions across the board. Following her success in passing Membership examinations for the Royal College of Physicians, she was susequently awarded her CST in Chest Medicine. She has an interest in the palliative care of patients with respiratory disease and heart failure. She has developed services locally working with specialist heart failure nurses and cardiologists to improve palliative care for these patients.
Dr Anna Lock
Anna works as a Palliative Medicine Consultant in Sandwell and West Birmingham Connected Palliative Care team providing integrated specialist and end of life care services. She works closely with the SWBH heart failure team and has a long standing interest in equity of care and ensuring services suit the needs of everyone with palliative care needs. She is also Clinical Lead for End of Life Care in the Black Country STP and chair of BrumYODO a community group who encourage open conversations about death and dying so that people can make active choices and make a big difference to their lives and deaths.
Laura Browne
Laura began her nursing career as a Nurse cadet aged 17. Once qualified she gained experience in medicine and community before specialising in heart failure. She has been a heart failure specialist nurse for 16 years at SWBH NHS Trust, initially beginning her career as a junior heart failure nurse in the community before making the move back into secondary care. Having a keen interest in end stage heart failure Laura set up the advanced heart failure MDT meeting with the palliative team to try and improve the care of heart failure patients with complex needs.
Dr Molly Bird
Dr Molly Bird is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine, her clinical work is focused in the community, reviewing patients at home and in outpatient clinics. She has an interest in education and has recently been involved in a large programme of remote education delivering sessions to 1000s of community healthcare professionals as a response to Covid-19.