Meet The Cura-H Judges
Judge
Professor Dame Lesley Regan DBE
Dame Lesley is a globally renowned expert on gynaecology and best-selling author on pregnancy and miscarriage. She is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial College’s St Mary’s Hospital Campus, and Honorary Consultant at the Imperial College NHS Trust. She is the Immediate Past President (2016-2019) of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), only the second woman ever to hold this role and the first in sixty-four years. She is Secretary General of FIGO, the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics; and is also Chair of CHARM – the Charity for Research into Miscarriage and Chair of Wellbeing of Women (WoW), the women’s health research charity.
Dame Lesley is also Principal Investigator of the Recurrent Miscarriage Tissue Bank, co-director of the UK Pregnancy Baby Bio Bank, and she co-chairs the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction People and Culture Committee (Athena SWAN).
In 2015 she received an Honorary Fellowship of the American College and a Doctorate of Science from University College London for the contribution to women’s health. Professor Regan was awarded a DBE for services to women’s health in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List. Professor Dame Lesley Regan has been appointed for three years from 6 December 2021.
Judge
Professor Dame Clare Gerada DBE
Professor Dame Clare Gerada is a Co-Chair of the NHS Assembly, and President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). She has practiced medicine for over 35 years, and has been a driving force behind efforts to provide more wellbeing support for NHS staff. As well as being the first female Chair of the RCGP in 50 years, Clare has held leadership roles with the Department of Health and Social Care, and is on the Council of the British Medical Association.
In the Millennium Birthday Honours, Clare received an MBE for services to medicine and substance misuse, and was awarded a damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2020. She was awarded a fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 2008 and was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in July 2013.
Judge
Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham
Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham is an award winning pharmacist, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Pharmaceutics at King’s College London, Founder and Academic Lead of King’s College London Fight the Fakes and Pharmacy Working Group Lead for the African Diaspora Malaria Initiative. She leads her research group 'The Raimi-Abraham Group' where her primary research focus is on addressing pharmaceutical challenges in infectious diseases.
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Dr Raimi-Abraham is the first graduate of the University of East Anglia School of Pharmacy to be awarded a PhD, the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Woman in STEM Precious Award and the 2022 Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain (APS) Emerging Scientist Award.
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Dr Raimi-Abraham is the FIPWiSE (International Pharmaceutical Federation Women in Science and Education) Chair, serves as an APS board member and a Scientific Advisor to Daye.
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Before her current position at King's, Dr Raimi-Abraham held positions at University College London (UCL) as an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) postdoctoral researcher position and at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a seconded Quality National Expert.
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Dr Raimi-Abraham’s passion projects include her start up Scientifically Speaking and Monday Science (selected in the top 25 Best UK Science Podcast by Feedspot and recently listed on Amazon Music’s Best Podcast of Week), a podcast which discusses the latest in Science, Health and Technology.
Judge
Dr Vishaal Virani
Dr. Vishaal started his career as an NHS doctor, and subsequently transitioned into healthcare strategy consulting. He worked in strategy consulting for four years, with a particular focus on due diligence for private equity firms, and corporate strategy for hospitals and medical technology companies.
He then chose to pursue a longstanding interest in leveraging digital health to meaningfully improve patient outcomes - initially as business development and client success lead at Ada Health, a venture-backed Al health technology company; and then managing digital health solutions for a FTSE 100 consumer healthcare company that owns global brands such as Durex, Nurofen and Dettol. Vishaal now works at Youtube, where he is building out the brand new Health offering to empower millions of Youtube users and NHS organisations across the UK.
Vishaal is also a co-founder of Doctorpreneurs, the world's largest community of medical innovators, governor of the Royal Free NHS Trust, guest lecturer on digital health, contributor to NHS innovation organisations, and mentor to various health tech startups. He has also previously served as a board member at the Youth Hostels Association and as a primary school governor.
Judge
Michelle Griffith Robinson OLY
As a former GB Olympic athlete, for over 15 years, Michelle knows what it takes to ‘reach the top’. Beyond that, she knows what it’s like to experience life outside elite sport, as a successful businesswoman and mother of three.
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Michelle draws on her own experiences to inspire and encourage others in her work as a Motivational Speaker, Lifestyle coach, Personal trainer and Mentor. Michelle works tirelessly as an Ambassador for Women’s Aid, The Menopause Charity, Diabetes UK and L’OCCITANE and is a Patron of the Menopause Mandate.
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Over the last 20 years, Michelle’s passion for ‘unlocking the potential of her clients’ has seen her successfully work with many celebrities and corporate companies. She revels in creating a climate of change, to dream big and to achieve beyond your expectations.
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Michelle has regularly featured in Hello Magazine around the growing topic of menopause and lifestyle, wellbeing , and spoken several times in Parliament on Diversity and Menopause. In 2022 Michelle was involved in an ‘Abuse is not love’ campaign with Marie Claire, highlighting the red flags in relationships.
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In July 2023 Michelle was an ambassador on ‘Every Menopause Matters’ campaign for Holland & Barrett which highlighted the importance of the needs for women of colour in Menopause. It is evident to see Michelle’s zest for life and passion when she delivers her motivational talks.
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Judge
Professor Deena Harji
Deena is an Associate Professor of Surgery and NIHR Advanced Fellow at the University of Leeds and a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Deena completed a Post-CCT fellowship in Advanced Pelvic Oncology and Robotics in Bordeaux. Her clinical interests centre around locally advanced and recurrent rectal cancer and robotic colorectal surgery.
She is passionate about improving patient outcomes through new technology, advanced reconstructive techniques and evidence guided interventions. Her research interests focus on clinical trials, patient-reported outcomes and survivorship. She holds several research grants in advanced pelvic oncology and robotic surgery, and has attracted funding from multiple sources, including NiHR HTA and RfPB, Bowel Research UK and the Pelican Foundation.
She is the CI for the phase III, emergency colorectal surgery trial, LaCES2, the CO-CI of the multidisciplinary cancer portfolio, IMPACT and is the CI for the EORTC funded PelvEx PROM. She is involved in several initiatives in robotic surgery and digital technology, including the Royal College of Surgeons of England Robotic and Digital Surgery Initiative (RADAR) and the NIHR Advanced Surgical Technology Incubator.
Judge
Professor Debra Bick OBE
Debra Bick was Professor of Clinical Trials in Maternal Health at Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and Deputy Pro Dean for Research at Warwick Medical School until December 2023, when she retired from her academic role. Debra’s research focused on interventions to improve women’s health after birth. She led research on women’s and clinicians’ views and experiences of postnatal care following hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, a multi-centre cohort study of postnatal morbidity, interventions to support women with postnatal weight management, pathways for women with medically complex pregnancies, midwifery training to support pregnant women to correctly perform pelvic floor muscle exercises to prevent postnatal urinary incontinence, and clinical education interventions to enhance assessment and management of perineal trauma.
Most recently, Debra worked with colleagues on several large multi-centre trials to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes, including the Big Baby Trial, GIANT PANDA and STOPPIT II. Debra was a steering group member of the NIHR 70@70 programme to support senior nurse and midwife research leadership, a member of the NIHR Health Services Delivery and Research Priorities Committee, NHS England’s Perinatal Pelvic Health Implementation Group and the OASI Care Bundle Independent Advisory Group. She is currently Chair of Trustees of the MASIC foundation which supports women who suffered severe perineal injury during birth. Debra contributed to major policy reviews of maternity care in the UK and internationally, and guidelines developed by NICE and WHO. She was awarded an OBE for her services to midwifery in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020.
Judge
Gary Waltham
Gary Waltham, CEO, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare
Gary is CEO of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH), having joined in November 2021. He was previously an Executive Director at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for six years, where he led the education, examinations, quality and project areas of the College. He also spent two years leading a multidisciplinary NICE clinical and social care guideline development centre.
He has extensive experience in leading organisational development and change management and has overseen numerous modernisation programmes across his career. Gary spent 15 years working in postgraduate medical education both at Health Education England (HEE) and the London Postgraduate Deanery. He has a BSc in sociology and an MSc in human resources.
Judge
Dr Adejumoke Adeyemi
Jumoke as she likes to be known is a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Periodontology at the University of Liverpool. She obtained her dental degree from University of Benin (Nigeria) in 1999, master’s degree from the University of Glasgow in 2003 and completed her doctorate degree (PhD) from the University of Liverpool in 2007. She successfully completed the General Dental Council’s (GDC) International Qualifying Statutory examinations in 2006. In addition, she obtained the diploma of the membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) in 2009. After completing her studies, she decided to stay on in the city with her husband and their young son.
She has been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate dental education since 2006 and has led on the teaching of periodontology at the University since 2015. She completed her specialist training in periodontology in 2020 and obtained the membership in Periodontics from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. She is on the GDC specialist list for Periodontics. As a researcher she has presented and published her work nationally and internationally. She is a member of the British Society of Periodontology and Implant dentistry and serves as councillor on the British Society for Oral and Dental Research (BSODR) Perio research group.
She enjoys treating patients suffering from gum disease and over the years, has treated a large number of patients both in hospital and private specialist referral practice settings. As a specialist, she receives referrals to treat patients with a variety of complex or advanced gum health needs. She is passionate about helping her patients optimise their oral hygiene and oral health so that they prevent and control gum disease.
She is passionate about EDI related issues and serves at the School’s inclusive curriculum lead (working closely with the student EDIW team) and also supporting the next generation of women in dental academia. She has been a GDC external examiner for the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) since 2012 and serves in various leadership and mentoring roles within and external to the University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, dancing and exercising.
Judge
Dr T. Ayodele Ajayi
Dr T. Ayodele Ajayi is Consultant Psychiatrist , a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and a Trauma Informed Executive Coach.
He is the Founder of Tripart Care Emotional Well-being Hub, and Convener of The Tripart Care Mind Gym Courses. He runs a public mental health education YouTube Channel by the same name.
Dr Ajayi has been featured multiple times in the Department of Health's Every Mind Matters Campaign as a Spokesman to the Black community in UK. He is an engaging public speaker, mental health columnist and an author.
Judge
Prof. Asma Khalil, MD,MBBCh, MRCOG, MSc(Epi), DFSRH, Dip(GUM)
Director of Fetal Medicine Unit
Liverpool Women’s Hospital
Vice-President of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Asma Khalil is a Professor of Fetal Medicine. She is the Obstetric Lead at the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA). She gained her MD at the University of London in 2008. She was elected as the Vice-President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
She set up the Laser service for fetal interventions at Liverpool Women's Hospital in 2011.
Prof. Asma Khalil has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers, and many published review articles and chapters. She was awarded many research prizes, both at national and international meetings. She was awarded the 2021 FIGO Women's Awards: Recognising Female Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Her research interests include twin pregnancy, congenital infections, fetal growth restriction and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.
She had a fellowship with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). committed to the implementation of clinical guidelines in practice. She is the Lead author of the ISUOG guideline on the role of ultrasound in twins and congenital infections. She also led the guideline team developing the FIGO guideline on twin pregnancies. She was a member of the NICE Guideline Committee updating the Twin and Multiple Pregnancy guidance.
Judge
Dr Dele Olajide PhD. FRCPsych
Dr Dele Olajide is Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, London.
He was, until his retirement, Associate Medical Director for clinical informatics at the South London and Maudsley NHS foundation Trust, and Academic Health Sciences Centre. He was previously a senior lecturer at Kings College Medical School/Institute of Psychiatry, London.
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He was a member of Council of Caldicott Guardians United Kingdom, widely consulted on policy around Data Policy Act and ethics of consent and data confidentiality.
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He was the clinical lead for the development of the first electronic health records developed in the NHS the UK and digitization of legacy case records.
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Had a pivotal role in the development of the security model for consent and confidentiality of the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) for the Maudsley’s National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre. He was also pivotal in the development of the consent protocol for the Biomedical Research Centre Biobank. In designing research consent forms, it was critical that the patient should be placed at the centre of research programme to ensure the democratisation of consent in big data utilisation.
As a clinician, he developed award winning and cutting- edge psychiatric services and is a highly regarded medical educator.
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While on secondment as a Senior Medical Officer, Department of Health, he had been involved in mental health policy with especial reference to ethnic minority mental health and in that capacity, advised health ministers from both political parties.
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As part of his interest in the arts, Dr Olajide has collaborated with a professional actors' cooperative to produce a play by psychiatric inpatients based on improvisational methodology. He has also curated an art exhibition.
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He is an accomplished public speaker and has appeared on TV and radio as an expert on mental health policy, mental illness and current affairs.
He has edited two books, published in several scientific journals and given over 300 keynote speeches and lectures.