OUR SAM - Key Persons
Alex Mancini-Smith, experienced senior neonatal nurse, leading the National Neonatal Palliative Care Project in the UK. https://oursam.org.uk/specialist-independent-advisory-alex-mancini-smith/
Job Titles:
- Director of Nursing at LauraLynn
Ed is the co-director and founder of applied theatre company 2engage CIC. For 18 years he has used creative methods to explore difficult social issues. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Chester where he trains students to become future facilitators, teachers and creatives and has attended and presented at conferences in Finland, Estonia, Spain and Romania sharing creative approaches to impactful community engagement. As a director, he steers 2engage in achieving its vison to raise awareness, challenge perceptions and start conversations. Ed is passionate about breaking down the taboo surrounding baby loss by bringing his expertise to the charity. Ed loves to cycle, cook and travel.
Hemant is the North Wales Clinical Lead for Women's Services at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, the largest Health Board in Wales. He is also a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Bangor University. He feels passionately about developing research and clinical education to support ongoing improvement to women's healthcare, and also improve the care of women and families who experience loss as result of miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death through education, training and raising awareness.
Job Titles:
- Head of Midwifery & Gynaecology Nursing
Karen is the Head of Midwifery & Gynaecology Nursing in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. With over twenty years experience within Nursing and Midwifery, she has been involved with compassionate leadership and training across Wales. Karen has a particular interest in patients experience and engaging with service users to identify areas for improvement in order to provide high quality care.
Job Titles:
- Bereavement Lead for the Memory Milk Gift Initiative
Laura is the bereavement lead for the Memory Milk Gift initiative, based at the Milk Bank at Chester, Countess of Chester hospital. Laura's role is to raise awareness of the choices available to families affected by baby loss specifically with a view to lactation management. With a background in peer support in the community and hospitals across Merseyside, Laura hopes to be an advocate for supporting families to have access to information and high quality signposting for support that is right for the each individual family. Laura lives in North Wales and spends most of her spare time on the side of a football pitch or netball court with her three children.
Postgraduate biologist and former lecturer in biology and physiology, Funding Manager for The Neumark Foundation, bereaved Mum, Founder of Our Sam and Sam's Mum. Also a creative writer and playwright, Our Sam originated from a play called ‘Dancing in the Wings' written by Philippa, and performed on stage and recently online, based on the loss of Sam, who was stillborn in 2012.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Tommy 's Stillbirth Research Centre
Alexander Heazell is Professor of Obstetrics and Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK. His research portfolio includes basic science, clinical and qualitative research studies to gain better understanding in order to understand the causes of placental dysfunction, to prevent stillbirth and improve care for parents after stillbirth or perinatal death. He has received over £3.7M of grant income and has published over 240 research papers. He was the lead investigator for the MiNESS case control study and national evaluation of Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB). He is currently leading a follow-up evaluation of Version 2 of the SBLCB. He is on the national steering group of the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool.
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Neumark Foundation
Rebecca is the CEO of The Neumark Foundation, and has a successful career in interior design/project management and business development in both London and Shropshire where she now lives with her partner, four children and a menagerie of animals. Rebecca is keen to break down the barriers around baby loss, and her extensive business development and charity funding background provides great strength to the Our Sam board of trustees.
Rob is currently the All-Wales Police Rural & Wildlife Crime Coordinator, having served the police in North Wales for over 35 years. Having taken on such roles as a Hostage Negotiator and managing the force helicopter unit, he now finds himself heading up the fight against Rural & Wildlife crime for the whole of Wales.
In 2016 Rob was awarded in the Queens' Birthday Honours list with a Queens Police Medal (Qpm) for a distinguished career. Having sadly gone through the neonatal death of his only child 30 years ago, Rob is proud to be an ambassador for Our Sam