RESUSCITATION COUNCIL UK - Key Persons


Adam Benson Clarke

Job Titles:
  • Clinical Lead

Andy Lockey

Job Titles:
  • Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Trust
Professor Andy Lockey is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Trust. He is also an Associate Dean for Health Education England (covering Yorkshire and the Humber). He first became involved with Resuscitation Council UK in 1993, when he became an ALS Instructor, going on to join the ALS Subcommittee as a doctor-in-training representative in 1998. He also acted as Chair of the ALS Subcommittee for seven years, steering the evolution of the ALS course through two guideline changes. Prior to becoming President, Andy held the posts of Vice-President and Honorary Secretary, during which he led a whole-scale review of the membership structure for the Council. He is a vocal advocate for training all children in CPR and defibrillator awareness.

Brigitte West

Job Titles:
  • Trustee

Buster White

Job Titles:
  • Digital Account Executive

Carrie Gaston

Job Titles:
  • Director of Customer and Business Standards
Carrie leads the Customer Service and Business Standards team. Her role includes customer service and support to our centres, instructors and candidates; organisational governance, quality and risk assurance; and she also has oversight of the people and organisational development function in the organisation. Carrie has worked in the not for profit sector for over 20 years. She has spent the last 12 years working in the areas of quality assurance, compliance, governance and risk assurance in a variety of roles in different health-related charities. She has also worked as an independent advisor to international organisations on information governance best practice.

Catherine Baldock

Job Titles:
  • Clinical Lead - ReSPECT

Charles Deakin

Job Titles:
  • Consultant in Cardiac Anaesthesia and Cardiac Intensive Care at University Hospital Southampton
Professor Charles Deakin is Consultant in Cardiac Anaesthesia and Cardiac Intensive Care at University Hospital Southampton, Professor of Resuscitation and Prehospital Emergency Medicine at Southampton University and Divisional Medical Director of South Central Ambulance Service. Charles has been a member of RCUK's Executive Committee since 2001 and previously chaired the ALS Committee for the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), Co-chairing the ILCOR ALS Committee for the 2005 and 2010 Guidelines revision. His research interests include pre-hospital airway management, drugs and mechanical devices in ALS, defibrillation, and the delivery of bystander resuscitation instructions by telephone.

Charlotte Shepherd

Job Titles:
  • Partnerships Manager

Crystal Govender

Job Titles:
  • Digital Product and Development Manager

Dami Daramola

Job Titles:
  • ALS Coordinator

Dr Alan Williams

Job Titles:
  • Executive
  • Registered Nurse
Alan is a registered nurse with over 25 years of experience in resuscitation and education as an emergency care nurse, Resuscitation Officer and academic. Alan's association with Resuscitation Council UK began in 1994 on an ALS course when he was recommended as an Instructor, and subsequently as a paediatric and GIC Instructor and ALS Regional Representative. Alan moved to higher education in 2006, educating future health professionals and completing a doctorate investigating how students and tutors design web-based learning resources. Alan is a Senior Fellow for Advance HE, and provides resuscitation education to the public through sports clubs.

Dr Christopher Smith

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Chris Smith is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Emergency Medicine, dividing his time equally between clinical practice and academia. He completed a PhD in Health Sciences in 2021. His research interests concern improving the community response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, particularly the use of public-access Automated External Defibrillators. His interest in resuscitation began at medical school where he taught and later chaired a peer-led BLS/AED course. He is now involved in efforts with Resuscitation Council UK to facilitate peer-led resuscitation training in medical students across the UK. He is also a member of the CaRE subcommittee and instructs ALS and EPALS.

Dr James Cant - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • RCUK As CEO
Dr James Cant joined RCUK as CEO in September 2019. Prior to that, he was Director of Devolved Nations at the British Heart Foundation, was Head of Scotland and Northern Ireland at British Lung Foundation and previously held civil servant roles within the Ministry of Defence and Scottish Government. With a specific interest in driving strategy and improving cardiac arrest survival rates, James is steering RCUK into a new chapter of development.

Dr Jasmeet Soar

Job Titles:
  • Chairman - ALS Course Subcommittee
  • Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine at Southmead Hospital
Dr Jasmeet Soar is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine at Southmead Hospital, Bristol. He has had numerous roles and responsibilities with RCUK since 2000, including Chair (2009-2012), Vice-Chair (2007-2009, 2012-2013), ILS Subcommittee Chair (2004 to 2016) and Guidelines 2015 Working Group Chair. He currently chairs the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Subcommittee and the Quality Standards Working Group, and is a member of the CARe and Research and Development Subcommittees. Jas helped to develop both the iResus and Lifesaver apps. He also has a number of national and international resuscitation roles. He is an Editor for the journal Resuscitation, ALS Co-chair for the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), and ALS Task Force Chair for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR).

Dr Joe Fawke

Job Titles:
  • Consultant
  • Chairman - NLS / ARNI Subcommittee
Dr Joe Fawke is a Consultant Neonatologist at University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leicester. Joe was one of the originators of the ARNI course, co-editor of the ARNI course manual and Chair of the ARNI working group. He became chair of the NLS Subcommittee in 2018. As part of a wider interest in medical education, Joe is a Paediatric Training Programme Director for Health Education East Midlands. His clinical interests include resuscitation, simulation based training and neonatal neurodevelopmental follow up. He was a NICE Guideline Committee member for the Developmental Follow up of Children and Infants born Preterm, and he is Chair of the NICE Neonatal Parenteral Nutrition Guideline Committee.

Dr Joseph De Bono

Job Titles:
  • Executive
  • Member of the Executive Committee
Dr Joseph De Bono has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2019. He is a consultant cardiologist and electrophysiologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Prior to his time at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, he trained across the country in Cambridge, Oxford and London. He was awarded the British Heart Rhythm Society Young Investigator award for his research into the cardiovascular consequences of exercise training. Joe specialises in the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms and has a particular interest in the management of arrhythmias in patients with Adult Congenital Heart Diseases.

Dr Joyce Yeung

Job Titles:
  • Chairman - ILS Subcommittee
  • Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Joyce Yeung is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and an Associate Professor at University of Warwick. She chairs the Immediate Life Support and led the development of e-ILS as well as e-ALS update. Joyce is also a member of the ALS Subcommittee, a Fellow of European Resuscitation Council, and an Expert systematic reviewer and Scientific Advisory Committee member for International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR).

Dr Sophie Skellett

Job Titles:
  • Chairman - EPALS Course Subcommittee
  • Consultant in Paediatric
Dr Sophie Skellett is a Consultant in Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care and the Associate Medical Director for Leadership and Professional Affairs at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). Sophie has been instructing in Paediatric Advanced Life Support since 1998 and supported the development of the RCUK EPALS course. She is committed to constantly improving the course to achieve the best outcomes for the acutely unwell child and infant. Sophie is Chair of the Resuscitation Committee at GOSH and current deputy Chair of the Resuscitation section for the European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care. She was the PI for the in-hospital THAPCA trial at GOSH and currently participates in the international quality improvement collaborative PediResQ in conjunction with Children's Hospital Philadelphia.

Dr Thomas Keeble

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Dr Keeble trained in Cardiology within the London Chest Hospital, and performed international fellowships in Australia and Switzerland. He was appointed as a consultant cardiologist (heart expert) in 2014 and is a specialist in heart artery stent implantation both in stable patients with chest pain (angina) and in patients presenting to the Essex cardiothoracic centre with heart attacks (blocked arteries). He has a strong research interest in heart attack and cardiac arrest medicine, and is a recognized UK and European expert in the field. He is a Senior researcher at the Anglia Ruskin School of medicine and has supervised 7 MD / PhD students in the last 5 years. He is Chair of the BCIS focus group on Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), and a founding member of the International Task Force for Cardiac Arrest Recovery (ITCAR), both formed to improve standards of acute care and long term follow up of cardiac arrest survivors and families.

Dr Vix Monnelly

Job Titles:
  • Consultant
  • Executive
  • Member of the NLS Subcommittee
Dr Vix Monnelly works as a Consultant Neonatologist in a regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Vix has been a member of the NLS Subcommittee since 2015, and the ARNI Subcommittee since 2017. An experienced NLS and ARNI Instructor, Vix co-authored the NLS 2015 and 2021 guidelines and was part of the editorial group for NLS and ARNI manuals. One of Vix's interests is increasing inclusivity through social media. She is part of the ILCOR (International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation) Social Media working group. Vix is also passionate about reducing health inequalities, as she manages the consequences of these in her day to day work.

Dr Zoë Fritz

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Dr Zoë Fritz is a Consultant Physician at Cambridge University Hospitals and a Wellcome Fellow in Bioethics, based between Warwick and Cambridge Universities. She became interested in the possible negative effects of DNACPR orders while working as a Registrar in Acute Medicine and Intensive Care, and has conducted research on the use, ethics, and understanding of DNACPR orders. She and her colleagues in Cambridge have developed and assessed an alternative approach to DNACPR orders, the Universal Form of Treatment Options (UFTO) which contextualises the resuscitation decision amongst other treatment decisions and is completed for all patients.

Esther Kuku

Job Titles:
  • Director of Communications and Engagement
Esther leads the Communications and Engagement Team. She has responsibility for the development of our marketing, communications and stakeholder engagement strategy in relation to all key areas of resuscitation and the organisation's Vision to 2030 and strategic plan. Esther is former national broadcast journalist. She has spent the last 20 years working in the health communications sector for the NHS and leading not for profit organisations; advising on campaigning, political strategy, policy positioning, media relations, internal communications and stakeholder engagement. In addition to her healthcare experience, she has a solid communications background in international development, having started her communications career in this field.

Gavin Perkins

Job Titles:
  • Director of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit
Professor Gavin Perkins is Deputy Dean at Warwick Medical School and Director of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit. He works clinically as Professor of Critical Care Medicine at University Hospitals Birmingham and West Midlands Ambulance Service. He serves as a Non-executive Director at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire. He previously chaired the ALS Subcommittee, developing, evaluating and implementing the e-ALS course. He is currently Chair of the Community and Ambulance Resuscitation Committee for the Resuscitation Council UK; Director of Science and Research with the European Resuscitation Council and Co-chair for the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation. He has an active research portfolio in cardiac arrest which includes the PARAMEDIC trials and the OHCAO Registry.

Helen Keen

Job Titles:
  • ALS Coordinator

Ian Maconochie

Job Titles:
  • Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at St Mary 's Hospital
Professor Ian Maconochie is a Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at St Mary's Hospital, Imperial Academic Health Sciences Centre. He is Co-chair of the Paediatric Section of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Ian is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York. Ian is Registrar for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the current President of the Paediatric Section of the European Society of Emergency Medicine.

Isabelle Hamilton-Bower

Job Titles:
  • Clinical Lead

James Bolton

Job Titles:
  • Executive
James has worked as a Resuscitation Officer in several NHS Trusts in Yorkshire for the past 18 years. James is a Course Director for ALS and GIC and a member of the ALS Subcommittee. Since 2018 he has been the ALS Regional Representative for Yorkshire. As an Executive Member, James is keen to continue Resuscitation Council UK's work to raise awareness of the need for CPR and AED training, and to address health inequalities and diversity.

Jay Valand

Job Titles:
  • Learning Design Manager

Jenny Orswell

Job Titles:
  • Digital Media and Marketing Officer

Jerry Nolan

Job Titles:
  • Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal United Hospital
Professor Jerry Nolan is a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, and Honorary Professor of Resuscitation Medicine at the University of Bristol. He trained at Bristol Medical School (MB ChB 1983) and undertook anaesthesia and critical care training in Plymouth, Bristol, Bath and Southampton, and at the Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore. Jerry is Chair of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), and has previously been Chair of Resuscitation Council UK, and Co-chair of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR). In 2016, the American Heart Association gave Jerry a Lifetime Achievement Award in Cardiac Resuscitation Science. Jerry is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Resuscitation and has authored over 300 original papers, reviews and editorials on subjects including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, airway management, and post-cardiac arrest treatment.

Joanna Lawrence

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Joanna has a background in Intensive Care, Resuscitation and Emergency department as a nurse and a business manager. She has a Masters in Business Administration and, as a company Director, her business delivers resuscitation services to primary care, secondary care and mental health organisations. She is a Senior Lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical school where she runs a post graduate module in Debriefing and Feedback. She is fellow of the higher education academy and an Educator for RCUK. Her educational philosophy the belief that adult learning is facilitative approach that should empower learners. As a qualified coach, she combines her knowledge and beliefs to support her educational work. Her project work includes Project Lead for the feasibility study for setting up CPRO, and the subsequent launch and implementation of the organisation. More recently she has been working with Health Education England on a project looking at the behavioral changes of the multi-disciplinary team in GP practices after undertaking in-situ medical emergency simulation.

Jonathan Wyllie

Job Titles:
  • Consultant
Professor Jonathan Wyllie has been a Consultant Neonatologist at the James Cook University Hospital since 1994 and was Clinical Director of Neonatology until May 2017. He is Professor of Neonatology and Paediatrics at Durham University. He has a long-standing interest in resuscitation and neonatal haemodynamics as well as an interest in paediatric cardiology. He was one of the originators of the Newborn Life Support (NLS) course in the UK and Europe. He is Chair of the NLS Subcommittee, a previous Chair and now a member of the Advanced Resuscitation of the Newborn Infant (ARNI) Working Group, and Science Co-chair of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) NLS Science and Education Committee. He is an invited board member of the ERC. He was European Co-chair of the ILCOR neonatal task force for the evidence evaluation process of 2010, 2015 and continues as Vice-Chair of the ILCOR neonatal task force at present. He is co-author of newborn resuscitation Guidelines for Europe and the UK for 2005, 2010 and 2015. In 2010 he was awarded the Fellowship of the European Resuscitation Council for services to resuscitation and in 2015 given honorary membership of Resuscitation Council UK. In 2018 he was elected as an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Jonathan was President of RCUK from 2017 -2021 and Vice-Chair of RCUK from 2021 - 2022. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, mountain biking and, more recently, photography.

Karen Cooper EPALS

Job Titles:
  • NLS / ARNI / PILS Coordinator

Karla Wright

Job Titles:
  • ILS Coordinator

Kevin Mackie

Job Titles:
  • Lead - Education
  • Lead Educator
Kevin Mackie has been with Resuscitation Council UK since 1993, first as an ALS Instructor and Course Director, before becoming an Educator in 2003 and a Lead Educator in 2015. As an Educator, Kevin has facilitated many courses and is Educational Adviser to the Advanced Resuscitation of the Newborn Infant (ARNI) course. He is a member of the e-ALS review Working Group and occasional adviser to the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Subcommittee. His particular interest is in debriefing candidates engaged in medical simulation. Now a freelance consultant in medical education and company director, Kevin also spent nearly 25 years in the Royal Air Force.

Kevin Whitley

Job Titles:
  • Finance Assistant

Linda Steel

Job Titles:
  • Finance Manager

Luke Williams

Job Titles:
  • Business Support Manager

Marcus Loney-Evans

Job Titles:
  • Policy and Public Affairs Manager

Mark Sedge GIC

Job Titles:
  • FEEL / ILSi Coordinator

Michael Bradfield

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Michael is a Paramedic with postgraduate training in pre-hospital trauma care and resuscitation. He is the HEMS Paramedic Clinical Lead at University Hospital Southampton for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. His experience in resuscitation education includes teaching on ALS, EPALS and GIC courses, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Pre-hospital Care at St George's, University of London. Michael has previously worked as a Consultant Paramedic and lead for Clinical Education at South East Coast Ambulance Service and as a consultant on national ambulance service evaluation and improvement projects for the Lebanese Red Cross Emergency Medical Service and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Nancy Smallwood

Job Titles:
  • Interim Digital Media and Marketing Manager

Neil Appleton

Job Titles:
  • Trustee

Paul White

Job Titles:
  • Director of Business Operations
Paul White has been with Resuscitation Council UK since August 2013. Paul oversees RCUK's business operations, which includes programme management, information technology, data protection and finance. Paul has worked in the not for profit sector for over 20 years, as an IT Director, Membership Manager, Project Manager and IT Manager, delivering multiple change projects to web services, IT infrastructure and membership systems. Paul is a PRINCE2® and AgilePM® practitioner and a professional member of the British Computer Society.

Pippa Jones

Pippa Jones had grown up knowing CPR and first aid as a result of her involvement with organisations such as the Girl Guides, Red Cross, and Army Cadets, but nothing could prepare her for doing CPR on her child.

Sarah Rance

Job Titles:
  • Business Standards Project Lead

Serena Cottrell

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Serena Cottrell was a member of the Executive Committee from 2009-2018 and re-joined in 2019. She has a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in paediatrics with dual accreditation in both paediatric emergency medicine and paediatric intensive care. She currently works in Portsmouth at the Queen Alexander Hospital as a consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine. She was lead for resuscitation for eight years for University Hospitals Southampton from 2004 to 2012, has directed APLS and instructed on ATLS for over a decade, and for five years taught all the consultant staff in Southampton on a local bespoke resuscitation course.   Serena is lead of the Collaborative Child and Young Person's Advance Care Plan Group. She is a member of the RCUK Patient Advisory Group and the ReSPECT group. She also leads on the Restart a Heart medical student programme at Southampton University.

Sheila Turner

Job Titles:
  • Executive
Sheila Turner is currently the Lead for Resuscitation at Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist cardiothoracic hospital. She has been a Resuscitation Officer for 18 years in both District and Specialist Trusts. Sheila has worked actively with CPRO and Edited the British Journal of Resuscitation alongside the co-ordination on the CPRO conferences. She has been a co-opted member of the Executive Committee since 2012.

Sirat Bhalla

Job Titles:
  • Policy and Public Affairs Officer

Stella Hindle

Job Titles:
  • Media and Campaigns Manager

Sue Hampshire

Job Titles:
  • Director of Clinical and Service Development
Sue Hampshire has worked for RCUK since 2012. Her role includes the management of Resuscitation Council UK's courses and involvement in related projects. Since taking up her post she has worked on the development and improvement of new and existing courses. She has also worked closely with ALSG to redesign and develop the jointly run GIC. Sue is involved in the organisation of Resuscitation Council UK events, and has organised resuscitation training sessions at the British Cardiac Society and Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health conferences. Before joining RCUK, Sue worked as a Senior Resuscitation Officer in the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Sultana Begum Ali

Job Titles:
  • Learning Product and Development Manager

Suzanne Horner

Job Titles:
  • Office Manager and SLT Support

Tom Shearsmith

Job Titles:
  • Media and Campaigns Officer

Uzma Uddin

Job Titles:
  • Business Process Executive

Vanessa McKinlay

Job Titles:
  • Physiotherapist
  • Trustee
Vanessa McKinlay started her career as a Physiotherapist working in the NHS, specialising in Neurological Rehabilitation. She retrained for the Bar and has been a barrister since 2000. She is a member of Gatehouse Chambers in London and specialises in the law relating to all aspects of medical practice. She is also an Assistant Coroner in Birmingham and Solihull. Vanessa became a Trustee of Resuscitation Council UK in 2017.

Vicky Simms

Job Titles:
  • Business Standards Manager