Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent has vast experience in healthcare provision and is the first Chief Midwifery Officer in England.

She has worked as a midwife and a nurse and held senior positions in clinical practice, education, leadership and management including: Director of Midwifery and Nursing positions for Women’s and Children’s services at Imperial College Healthcare Trust & Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Academic roles have included: Senior Lecturer, Curriculum Leader, LME and Professor of Midwifery.

Jacqueline was appointed Chief Midwifery Officer in Spring 2019 at NHS England and NHS Improvement and is National Maternity Safety Champion for the Department of Health. She is also visiting Professor of Midwifery at Kings College London and London South Bank University.

Her experience has seen her leading and influencing national maternity standards and guidance. She also influences healthcare, nationally and internationally through research, education and publications and is frequently invited to speak at national and international conferences. She is a member of the British Journal of Midwifery editorial board and until recently was an active member of the Maternity and Newborn Forum at the Royal Society of Medicine.

She has joined the Tommy’s Charity National Advisory Board as Midwifery advisor, and the Women of the Year management committee. Her voluntary work currently includes Midwifery Advisor for the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and until recently a trustee.

In 2014 she received the HSJ, BME Pioneers award and in 2015 she was selected from over 100 nominations for inclusion on Nursing Times’ Leaders 2015 list that celebrates nurses and midwives who are pioneers, entrepreneurs and inspirational role models in their profession.

A social scientist and barrister, Caroline has spent her career in the voluntary and public sectors, mostly on children and families’ issues. She has worked in a senior capacity at the children’s charity, Action For Children and at the Local Government Association.

Caroline has also been a policy adviser to Ministers and Shadow Ministers, and a senior civil servant. A former chair of the End Child Poverty campaign, Caroline’s policy interests include integrated health and care, family policy, poverty and the role of the voluntary sector.

Pamela Campbell, retired nurse consultant for homelessness and health inequalities at Solent NHS Trust, and last year’s winner of the NHS Parliamentary Award for Lifetime Achievement

Qualifying as a registered nurse in 1979, Ms Campbell has played an instrumental role in the homeless healthcare team at the trust originally set up in 1992 and has also been crucial in the development of key initiatives such as the “alcohol day detoxification project” and the “breathing space project”, which allows homeless patients to be supported after they have been discharged.

Simon enjoys using the skills learned in nearly two decades at the BBC to help influence audiences and inspire change to improve health care in England. 

He is passionate about the NHS and keen to ensure it is accurately represented in the media, to parliament, and with key partners. He is also determined that NHS staff get the recognition they deserve for their commitment to providing diligent care, on the basis of need and not ability to pay. 

Simon leads a team providing all round communication support for NHS England - press, public affairs, publishing, parliamentary briefing, marketing, brand management, events including the annual Innovation Expo conference, bulletins, campaigns, strategic communication and Freedom of Information. 

Rachel joined the Patients Association as Chief Executive in June 2017, bringing with her over 20 years’ experience of health and social care in the not-for-profit sector.

Since joining, Rachel has overseen a significant period of change. Her achievements include the strengthened reputation of the organisation as a credible voice for patients nationally, and a significantly increased and engaged membership.

Rachel is now focused on taking the Patients Association to a new level of patient representation and voice. Working to an inclusive strategy, she will be championing issues that matter to patients and members. These will include utilising the value of diversity in addressing health inequalities and ensuring that patients’ needs are at the heart of healthtech development.

Rachel is a member of the NHS Assembly. 

Dave Prentis has been General Secretary of UNISON, the largest union representing health and care staff in the UK, since January 2001. He is a passionate advocate for public services and public service workers and believes in the dignity of labour and fighting for a decent living wage. He was a visiting fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and President of Public Services International – the umbrella body for public sector trade unions across the world.  Dave is a member of the Court of the Bank of England and he is a past president of the Trades Union Congress.

Dom Smithies works as the Student Voice and Equality Lead at Student Minds, the UK's student mental health charity, and is a member of the NHS Youth Forum.

At Student Minds, Dom is responsible for the organisation's policy & research work on tackling health inequalities. He’s done research on LGBTQ+ students’ & international students’ experiences, has worked on co-producing peer-led mental health interventions for male students and is supervising a PhD researching BAME mental health. He also leads on their equality and diversity work, student engagement and co-production across the organisation.

As a member of the NHS Youth Forum, Dom is passionate about highlighting the importance and value of peer support, ensuring young people have a voice in their healthcare to ensure that services and treatments are best meeting their needs and working to make every young person aware of their rights in healthcare. As part of his role on the NHS Youth Forum, Dom co-chaired the NHS Youth Voice Summit last summer.

Dom is passionate about achieving mental health parity in healthcare, tackling inequalities - particularly in health and is passionate about the NHS and all the people who work to make it as special as it is. He’s overjoyed to have the opportunity to play a part in recognising some of the amazing things people do to make the NHS the national treasure that it is.

As joint Honorary Secretary, Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown has responsibility for governance of the RCGP and leads on College consultations and College representation.

Victoria was formerly Chair of RCGP London faculties. She is an East London GP and a board member of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in Tower Hamlets where she leads on Integrated Care and Research. In her academic role at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Victoria undertakes research on the design and evaluation of healthcare quality improvement interventions and their impact on professional behaviour and health inequalities.

Victoria has been one of the founding members of the Health Foundation Q initiative which connects people with improvement expertise across the UK. She is a trustee and board member of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and sits on the NIHR Primary Care, Community and Preventive Interventions Panel (PCCPI).

Victoria is also a member of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine and has a clinical and research interest on musculoskeletal medicine and education.

Helen joined Carers UK in December 2018, from the national volunteering charity TimeBank where she was chief executive for 10 years.

She has worked in the voluntary sector for 18 years. Her extensive leadership experience and sector knowledge saw her create a well-respected and successful brand at TimeBank, leaving the charity on a secure financial footing.

Originally from the Isle of Man, Helen studied for a degree and M.Phil at the London School of Economics.  Her experience as a trustee of a small charity funding a school for deaf children in Tanzania inspired her to join the sector.

While at TimeBank Helen worked in partnership with Carers UK to launch the first volunteer led online mentoring project for carers which opened her eyes to the significant challenge faced by thousands of carers every day.

Cecilia works as a clinical nurse specialist in sexual and reproductive health at the Margaret Pyke Centre in London and received a long service award for over 30 year’s commitment to the NHS. Cecilia specialises in family planning and aspects of women’s health and has a particular interest in menopause and public health issues.

Cecilia was awarded the Bevan award for Health and Wellbeing in 2013 and the Wise Woman of the Year Award in 2014. In 2015 Cecilia had the great honour of being receiving the United Nations African Women of Excellence award. This award celebrates and recognises the contribution of African Women or women of African descent have made to political, social and economic independence. Cecilia originally trained as a midwife in Ghana, where she worked before moving to the UK and qualifying as a nurse in 1977.