Shane DeGaris, Group Chief Executive Officer of Barts Health and BHRUT

Shane was a physiotherapist in his native Australia, working clinically and managerially in public hospitals and private practice in Adelaide. He came to the UK in 1996 where he obtained a MSc in improvement methodology. He was part of the NHS London Next Generation Chief Executive programme and held several executive director posts at Board level, including at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust.

Shane was CEO of Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and has been deputy CEO at Barts Health for the last four years, leading on the operational performance of the five-strong hospital group.

 

Matthew Trainer, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer of Barts Health and BHRUT

As well as being Deputy Group CEO, Matthew is Chief Executive of BHRUT. Before joining our Trust in August 2021, he worked for three years as CEO of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, which provides a wide range of health and social care in south east London and parts of Kent. While at Oxleas, Matthew was seconded to help run the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London.

In 2016, he worked for King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where he was managing director of the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley. Matthew has also held senior positions at NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and the MS Society.

You can read Matthew's weekly stakeholder updates here.

 

Fiona Wheeler, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer

Fiona began working in healthcare at King’s College Hospital 30 years ago as a junior administrator. In the years since then, she has undertaken a wide range of strategic and operational leadership roles across the NHS and has delivered demonstrable improvements in clinical and operational services.

 

 

 

 

Dr Mamta Shetty Vaidya, Chief Medical Officer

 

Mamta is a consultant paediatric intensivist and joined us in May 2022 from The Royal London Hospital where she worked for 15 years, most recently as their Deputy Medical Director.

She brings a wealth of experience having held roles as both a clinical and a divisional director and she led the clinical transformation team. Mamta has also been a key figure in the Pan London Improvement Collaborative for children and young people that focuses on integrated care as a way of improving life chances for children and families.

 

Kathryn Halford OBE, Chief Nurse

Kathryn joined our Trust in January 2016 from Walsall Healthcare where she was the Director of Nursing.

She qualified as a registered nurse in 1984 and then as a registered sick children’s nurse in 1987.

Since that time she has held a number of senior nursing roles within secondary and tertiary care settings. Kathryn has led a number of national programmes including a focus on new roles and an independent review into children’s palliative care whilst working at the Department of Health.

 

Janine La Rosa, Chief People Officer

 

Janine joined us in November 2022, having previously held various senior NHS roles including Strategic Head of Equality and Inclusion for the NHS in London and Co-Director of the COVID Legacy and Equity Partnership. Providing leadership and expertise for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), staff engagement and tackling health inequalities.

Janine has led culture transformation programmes in large and complex organisations across a range of sectors, including BSkyB, BT and Go Ahead Group.

 

Mike Gilham, Chief Financial Officer

Mike has a long association with our Trust. He grew up in Upminster, went to school in Hornchurch and did work experience at Oldchurch Hospital (now replaced by Queen’s Hospital). After university, he worked across the NHS, including at Great Ormond Street and Barts Health. He’s also worked for the strategic finance team at NHS England and was the Head of Finance for North East and North Central London. 

Married with two children, Mike joined our Trust in 2019 and has been Director of Finance in recent years. He is passionate about delivering for patients through improving our finances and the services we offer residents.

 

David Newey, Chief Digital Transformation Officer

David has worked in the NHS for most of his professional life. He was Chief Information Officer at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust when they introduced the Epic EPR in March 2023 and played a pivotal role in the opening of their pioneering Oak Cancer Centre.

He joined us in June 2024 to provide expert oversight for the roll out of EPR and the extensive digital transformation work associated with this.

 

 

Peter Hunt, Director of Communications and Engagement

 

Peter joined us in November 2017 after a career as a BBC correspondent and presenter where he was at the forefront of the organisation’s news coverage. As one of the BBC’s most senior journalists, he covered international and national events, politics, and the royal family.

Mehboob Khan, Acting Chair

Mehboob joined our Board in April 2021 and became our Acting Chair in July 2024. He is also Chair of our Finance, Performance and Investment Committee.

Mehboob was elected as a Labour Councillor at the age of 27 and has had extensive experience in the public and private sectors. As Leader of Kirklees Council, Mehboob was the first British Muslim to occupy such a role and he transformed it into England's greenest council and saved £120 million through a comprehensive transformation programme. This achievement won Kirklees the prestigious Local Government Chronicle Council of the Year award.

Mehboob has also held other key positions including Chair of Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, Chair of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority, Chair of the Local Government Association Safer Communities Board and Vice-Chair of the Local Government Association.

From 1996 to 2015, Mehboob served as a Councillor in Kirklees. He then became a Councillor in the Royal Borough of Greenwich for the next six years. Since 2021, Mehboob has been the Director of Policy, Programmes, and Change at the London Borough of Redbridge. Previously, he was a senior manager at London Councils (the cross-party organisation that represents the city’s 32 boroughs and the City of London) where he worked closely with Sadiq Khan’s administration on policy and government relations.

In his spare time, Mehboob enjoys running, walking, volunteering and cooking.

 

Professor Hilary Thomas, Chair of Quality Assurance Committee

Professor Hilary Thomas is a joint non-executive director (serving also at Barts Health). 

As an academic and clinician, Hilary specialised initially in oncology and served as medical director at The Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Recent positions have included serving as chief medical advisor at KPMG LLP and she continues to work as a partner at PA Consulting.

 

 

Professor Sir Mark Caulfield MD FRCP FAHA FESC FBHS HonFPharmacol FMedSci

Professor Sir Mark Caulfield is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Queen Mary University of London. He is also Vice Principal for Health, President Elect of the British Pharmacological Society and a non-executive director at Barts Health. He has joined our Board as part of our closer collaboration.

Sir Mark graduated in Medicine in 1984 from the London Hospital Medical College and trained in Clinical Pharmacology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

His research has focused on the genetics of hypertension and cardiovascular health, cancer and rare diseases. As Chief Scientist for Genomics England from 2013-2021, Sir Mark was instrumental in delivering the 100,000 Genomes Project and worked with NHS England to co-create the National Genomic Test Directory. He was awarded a knighthood in 2019 for his leadership of the 100,000 Genomes Project.

 

Marta Phillips OBE

Marta has extensive experience of working at board level in the public and higher education sectors. Her board appointments include a member of Court for Heriot-Watt University and its Finance Committee, and member of Council for the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and its Audit Committee. She is a member of Court for Heriot-Watt University and its Finance Committee and a member of Council for the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and its Audit Committee.  Marta is also the independent chair of the London Fire Brigade’s audit committee, and board member and audit committee chair of the Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited. 

Marta was a senior civil servant and has many years of experience in the financial sector including as Chief Executive of the Pensions Advisory Service. She was made an Officer of the British Empire in 2006 for services to social housing.  

Lesley Seary CBE, Chair of People and Culture Committee and Chair of Remuneration and Terms of Service Committee

Lesley has more than 30 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in local government. This includes spending the last 8 years as Chief Executive of Islington Council. During this time, she has led a workforce of 4,500, managed a range of successful services, and developed considerable experience of partnership working with both statutory and non-statutory organisations.

Lesley has worked extensively with local health partners in north central London at both STP and borough level, including the hospital trusts, CCG, GP Federation and GPs. She has worked with health partners on health and social care integration as well as developing a strong approach to prevention and early intervention.

She has a strong commitment to public services, combatting health inequalities and delivering excellence in health and care. She is delighted to have the opportunity to use the skills and experience she has gained in the public sector in the area where she has lived for 26 years.

Sue Lees, Chair of Audit and Risk Assurance Committee

Sue was appointed in August 2019. She was previously a Non-Executive Advisor for our Trust, having been appointed to that role in October 2017.

She is a qualified chartered accountant with more than 30 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors including periods working within the NHS and local government. She has led large capital programmes, including the delivery of a number of new health care facilities within Barking, Dagenham, Havering and Brentwood.

Sue has recently retired from her role as Chief Executive of Elevate East London. She continues on a part-time basis to provide commercial and leadership support to Agilisys Ltd, a leading provider in the technology advisory sector.

Caroline Roberts

Caroline, who is one of our associate non-executive directors, has a special focus on wellbeing and on ensuring the Board always considers the impact that decisions will have on the health and wellbeing of staff.

After an earlier career in BBC radio production, Caroline worked in a variety of roles where she ran secondment schemes, news management and events. 

Moving into human resources, she has held a number of HR Director roles in the public sector, media and architecture. 

After recent senior HR leadership roles at the CBI, News UK and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Caroline is now Executive Director for People and Culture at Octavia, the housing, social care and community charity founded by Octavia Hill."

Ruth Crowley

Ruth, who is one of our associate non-executive directors, works as a GP Partner in Upminster after beginning her training in Havering and working at Queen’s and King George Hospitals.

She is also a clinical director of Havering Federation which strives to work as a collective to improve care for all of their patients.

Ruth is passionate about creating partnerships between primary and secondary care so that every single patient experience is efficient, effective and positive.