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Fellows and Scholars

Our dedicated fellows and scholars have worked alongside CSH to contribute to projects and research that has had a significant impact on the role of sustainability in healthcare. On return to clinical practice, they become life-long ambassadors for sustainability within their specialty.

SusQI and education fellows and scholars

Shashank Kumar

SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE EDUCATION FELLOW 2021-23

Shashank is a Senior Lecturer (on leave) at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India. During his fellowship he worked closely with the CSH Education team.

Projects:

Following the Fellowship, Shashank project-managed the launch of the Green Surgery Report (a collaboration between UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, Brighton and Sussex Medical School and CSH).

Publications/outputs:

Summary: Shashank’s work has been integral not only for the understanding of what doctors have done in order for sustainability to become mainstream but also to show practically how this learning can be used to influence medical education and training. 

Dr Victoria Stanford

SUSQI EDUCATION FELLOW 2021-22 hosted by CSH

Having trained as a doctor at Severn Deanery and completed a Masters of Public Health at the French National School of Public Health(EHESP) Victoria joined CSH as our SusQI Education fellow.

Projects

Peer-reviewed articles

Summary

Victoria’s work was vital in embedding SusQI in teaching and curricula around the UK and in furthering the understanding of how to teach SusQI and talk to students and health professionals about climate change and actions they can take.

Dr Rosie Spooner

SUSQI EDUCATION FELLOW 2020-21 hosted by CSH

Dr Rosie Spooner took up the post of QI Education Fellow at CSH when a Paediatric Trainee (St5) in Severn Deanery. 

Projects

Peer-reviewed articles

Articles/blogs/podcasts

Summary

Rosie’s influential work led on the integration of SusQI into universities and postgraduate education programmes for doctors and health professionals. She created the SusQI website to host SusQI resources, developed education materials and founded the Paediatric Sustainability Network. Her work with Kings College London integrating SusQI into their teaching programme was shortlisted as a runner up for the Green Gown Awards for sustainability in higher education.

Dr Ayoma Ratnappuli

SUSQI EDUCATION FELLOW 2023-2024

Ayoma is an HIV/Genitourinary Medicine specialist registrar. Ayoma is working alongside the team to embed and spread SusQI into undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Dr Alice Clack

Headshot Dr Alice Clack

SUSQI EDUCATION FELLOW 2022-23

Alice is a consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. During her fellowship she supported the CSH SusQI team to promote and support the inclusion of SusQI into undergraduate and postgraduate health professions education.

Dr Stuart d’Arch Smith

SUSQI EDUCATION FELLOW 2019-20

Dr Stuart d’Arch Smith was a specialist registrar in psychiatry with South London and Maudsley NHS trust. He helped launch the Sustainability in QI Education project. 

Surgery fellows and scholars

Dr Chantelle Rizan

SUSTAINABLE SURGERY FELLOW 2018-2022

Chantelle used her fellowship to lead the way on lifecycle analysis of reusable vs single use surgical equipment and to carbon footprint the most common operations in the UK and operating theatres themselves.

Mr Ife Osinkolu

WELSH CLINICAL LEADERSHIP FELLOW 2022-23

Ife was a general surgery trainee and worked on quality improvement projects that increased the use of low carbon alternatives within surgery and promoted sustainable healthcare within the NHS.

Dentistry fellows and scholars

Jenny Girdler

NET ZERO/SUSTAINABILITY IN DENTISTRY CLINICAL LEADERSHIP FELLOW 2022-23

Employed by Health Education Yorkshire through the Future Leaders Programme

Projects:

Articles/blogs/podcasts:

Summary:

Jenny took a year out of oral surgery specialty training to undertake a full-time fellowship in leadership for sustainability. She designed a strategy for embedding carbon literacy into dental training and engaged in numerous projects to influence national and regional curricula. Ahe re-energised the Dental Health Sustainability peer Network and brought the field of sustainable dentistry a leap forward.

Amarantha Fennell-Wells

WELSH CLINICAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAMME FELLOW 2020-21

Fellowship undertaken with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, and Health Education Improvement Wales.

Projects

Peer-reviewed articles

Articles/blogs/podcasts

Policy Impacts

Summary

Amarantha was the first Welsh Leadership Fellow in Sustainable Healthcare.  Her inspiring work saw Green Health Wales and the Nitrous Oxide Project launched, established and included in policy documents, and sustainability embedded into quality improvement, curricula and postgraduate dental core training.  Amarantha was shortlisted for the BMJ Environmental Award 2021 and awarded the Barema & Association of Anaesthetists Environment Award for Anaesthesia 2021 as part of Chakera’s implementation team.

Darshini Ramasubbu

SUSTAINABLE DENTISTRY CLINICAL FELLOW 2017-19

Darshini is a practising dentist who had recently completed her Masters in Dental Public Health, and worked on developing a guide for dental practices and exploring the inclusion of sustainability in dental education.

Sara Harford

SUSTAINABLE DENTISTRY CLINICAL FELLOW 2017-18

Sara is a practising dentist working for the community dental service and in general dental practice, with a special interest in anxiety management and conscious sedation. Through this scholarship hosted by CSH and Health Education England she explored ways dental care provision can become more sustainable.

Dr Devika Vadher

SUSTAINABLE DENTISTRYKSS DENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOLAR 2015-16

Devika joined CSH to undertake projects in Kent, Surrey and Sussex promoting the role of sustainability in the provision of dental care. She is a practising dentist and Dental Public Health core trainee and, in addition to the Scholarship, was concurrently studying for an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene.

Dr Divya Verma

SUSTAINABLE DENTISTRY, KSS DENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOLAR 2015-16

Divya is a dentist working within community and  prison dental services. Among her achievements as Sustainable Dentistry Scholar 2015-16 was the successful integration of sustainability across a number of the e-Learning for Healthcare dentistry modules. Other sustainable dentistry interests include the collection/recycling of nitrous oxide, and tele-dentistry.

Cancer care fellows and scholars

Dr Fatima Tahir

ONCOLOGY CLINICAL SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW 2023-24

Fatima is a junior doctor working at the Northern Centre of Cancer Care in Newcastle. Her fellowship is run by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with support from CSH. Her primary focus revolves around mitigating the environmental impact associated with pharmaceuticals, such as finding eco-friendly, low-carbon alternatives while actively working towards minimizing medicinal waste. Additionally, she is engaged in carbon footprint analysis of patient pathways within the oncology service, seeking out opportunities for improvement in our environmental sustainability practices.”

Louise Davey-Hewins

CANCER CARE SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2023-24

Louise is an Oncology dietitian linking together sustainability, improved patient care and staff wellbeing. She has a dual role working clinically as a Head and Neck Specialist Dietitian for London North West University Healthcare Trust and as a Green scholar at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre just outside London. She is currently working on a project to reduce the carbon footprint of the Head and neck radiotherapy pathway, with a focus on reducing the impact of enteral feeding.

Joshua Cartwright

ADULT ONCOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW 2022-23

Joshua is a doctor working at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care in Newcastle upon Tyne.  His interests lie at the intersection of transport, health and the environment. During his fellowship year supported by Newcastle Hospitals Charity, Joshua carbon footprinted patient pathways within the Oncology service and identified opportunities for improvement.

Anaesthesia and ICU fellows and scholars

Dr Jason Gandhi

ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ANAESTHESIA FELLOW 2021-23

Employed by Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals

Funded by the Association of Anaesthetists

Peer-review articles

Non-peer review articles

Summary: Jason produced and facilitated an International Anaesthetic sustainability course, re-introduced the green star award for national anaesthetic conferences, authored a number of publications in high impact journals, worked with industry to assess novel technologies to mitigate climate impact, investigated current practices to reduce environmental burden, presented at national conferences, and worked with anaesthetists across different sites to investigate the applicability of volatile capture devices Jason played a role in the decommissioning of Desflurane as this process required an intense amount of research to negate any perceived clinical benefit in its use, and demanded a shift in culture

Dr Becca Elson

ANAESTHETICS/ICU SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW 2022-23

Employed by East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust 

Projects

Summary

Becca undertook a raft of practical projects with the support of CSH, which showed how practical changes can be made and inspired colleagues to get involved. Her work carbon footprinting various anaesthetic methods, and projects showing how to replace Desflurane and reduce Nitrous Oxide wastage have contributed to the growing evidence and awareness of sustainability in ICU and Anaesthesia. 

Dr Chris Allen

ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ANAESTHESIA FELLOW 2020-21

Chris undertook the Fellowship in Environmentally Sustainable Anaesthesia with the CSH and the Association of Anaesthetists in Newcastle upon Tyne. Chris continues to promote strategies to reduce the impact of anaesthesia on the environment, with areas of focus including nitrous oxide usage, alternatives to anaesthetic gases, and reusable vs disposable equipment. 

Dr Cathy Lawson

ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ANAESTHESIA FELLOW 2019-20

Cathy’s interest in environmental sustainability took off when she was elected as a member of the Group of Anaesthetists in Training (GAT) committee at the Association of Anaesthetists (AoA). Cathy sat on the AoA Environmental Task group  for three years, and through this learnt about how the anaesthetic speciality impacts on the environment and sustainability.

Endoscopy fellows and scholars

Robin Baddeley

SUSTAINABLE ENDOSCOPY RESEARCH FELLOW 2021-23

Robin is a specialist registrar in gastroenterology, and research fellow at St Marks and Kings College Hospitals. He is undertaking a dedicated period of research on the topic of sustainability in endoscopy.

Kidney care fellows and scholars

Dr Rosa Montero

SUSTAINABLE DENTISTRY CLINICAL FELLOW 2017-18

CSH/UKKA SUSTAINABLE KIDNEY CARE GROUP SCHOLAR 2022-3

Employed by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Projects:

Summary:

Dr. Rosa Montero is a Kidney Consultant at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her scholarship focused on driving sustainable changes in dialysis and kidney transplantation locally and nationally. Her strong leadership influenced a wide range of practitioners to adopt greener kidney care across different settings. 

Gareth Murcutt

CSH/UKKA SUSTAINABLE KIDNEY CARE GROUP SCHOLAR 2022-3

Employed by Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

Projects:

Articles/blogs/podcasts:

Summary:

Gareth is an experienced Renal Technical Manager at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. During his scholarship, his work highlighting the triple wins associated with transferring to central acid concentrate delivery is helping other dialysis services develop business cases for similar projects and supporting the phased removal of 1:34 acid concentrate in the UK.

Dr Andy Connor

GREEN NEPHROLOGY FELLOW 2009-10

Funded by NHS Kidney Care. Partnership organisations included the British Renal Society, the Renal Association, the Association of Renal Industries and the National Kidney Federation.

Projects

Peer-reviewed articles

Articles/blogs/podcasts

Summary

In 2009, Andy became the first ever Sustainable Specialties Fellow. He founded the Green Nephrology network (now called the Kidney Care Sustainability Network) to facilitate sustainable practice within renal services and undertook pioneering research into the carbon footprint of haemodialysis as part of his MD at Warwick University.  Andy received the Green Nephrology Award 2010 on behalf of the Green Nephrology Project Board in recognition of his contribution during the year.

Dr Luis de Mello

CSH/UKKA SUSTAINABLE KIDNEY CARE GROUP SCHOLAR 2022-3

Luis is a doctor based at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in the North East of England, who has been selected as a Scholar in Sustainable Kidney Care as part of CSH’s and UKKA’s group scholarship programme. He has a background in Diagnostic Radiography and studied medicine at Newcastle University.

Joanne Martin

CSH/UKKA SUSTAINABLE KIDNEY CARE GROUP SCHOLAR 2022-3

Joanne is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner who works in Renal Services at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. Joanne has been selected as a Scholar in Sustainable Kidney Care as part of CSH’s and UKKA’s group scholar programme to look at the patient pathway in peritoneal dialysis, identifying hotspots and looking at ways of improving the carbon footprint.

Dr Sharan Chugani

CSH/UKKA SUSTAINABLE KIDNEY CARE GROUP SCHOLAR 2022-3

Dr Sharan Chugani is a renal specialist registrar at Swansea Bay University Health Board with experience working across a variety of hospitals across Wales. He has been appointed as a Scholar in Sustainable Kidney Care as part of CSH’s and UKKA’s group scholar programme, and is an active member of the green community in his health board.

Dr Tara Collidge

GREEN NEPHROLOGY FELLOW 2010-11

Tara continued the work in kidney care through a six-month Fellowship in 2010. She supported ongoing work by Green Nephrology local representatives, documented additional case studies, organised a joint meeting on telemedicine with the RSM Nephrology Section.

Paediatrics fellows and scholars

Dr Emily Parker

PAEDIATRIC MEDICINE SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW 2022-23

Employed by Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Projects:

Articles/blogs/podcasts:

Summary:

Emily used her year-long fellowship to contribute to the literature on the carbon footprint of pharmaceuticals and how clinical decision-making can reduce this. Her hard-work in engaging multi-disciplinary teams and healthcare users delivered successful projects across many areas.

Dr Emma Vittery

PAEDIATRIC MEDICINE SUSTAINABILITY FELLOW 2023-24

Emma has worked as a paediatric and clinical genetics doctor in the North East and is undertaking a joint fellowship with Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. In collaboration with the local Wildlife Trust Emma is running an ‘Eco Influencers’ project with young people facing barriers to nature connection. She is also coaching a project to reduce smoking on hospital grounds and hoping to focus on sustainability within paediatric asthma care and infant feeding.  

Dr Stacey Harris

WELSH CLINICAL LEADERSHIP/PAEDIATRICS FELLOW 2021-2

Stacey is a paediatrician and Welsh Clinical Leadership Fellow in Sustainable Healthcare 2021/2022. She has an enthusiasm for quality improvement (QI) work and a keen interest in Medical education, in 2019 she co-founded a paediatric medical education podcast called DragonBytes. Stacey used her fellowship to embed sustainability within quality improvement training and medical education.

Value based health care fellow and scholars

Michelle Dunning

SUSTAINABILITY FELLOWSHIP WITHIN VALUE BASED HEALTH CARE 2022-23

Michelle works in Hywel Dda University Health Board as a Senior Project Manager for Value Based Health Care. Michelle encourages collaborative working and has a keen interest in all four Principles of Sustainable Clinical Practice.

SFERIC (Sustainability Fellowship for Engagement, Research, Innovation and Co-ordination) fellows and scholars

Laura Burton

Laura was an ENT registrar at Cardiff and Vale Health Board and a leadership fellow. Laura’s project looked at Sustainable ENT: fractured nose manipulation with a local aneasthetic pathway. A protocol was created for a local anaesthetic procedure as a response to COVID and find a sustainable alternative to general anaesthetic. The changes gave an estimated carbon saving of 4608kgCO2 e per annum and financial savings of £27,337.

Jackie Reynolds

Jackie was a pharmicist with a Respiratory MSc who worked in primary care. Her project was “Turning Blue Inhalers Green- High Quality low carbon Asthma Care”

Sian Jones

Sian was an operational manager in the clinical, diagnostics and therapeutics clinical board. She investigated how to improve awareness of sustainability across clinical diagnoses and therapeutics and support sustainability projects.

Vanessa Curtis

Vanessa was a nurse, with a background in adult nursing, vascular surgery and dermatology.

Catrin Simpson

Catrin was a community paediatric constultant and lead for sexual assualt referral. Her project explored the environmental impacts of acute sexual assault medical examinations and identified areas for carbon efficiency savings. 

Jennifer Jenkins

Jennifer was an Anaesthetic Operating Department Practitioner looking at sustainable choice in the theatre environment. 

Anna Gilfedder

Anna was a CT1 in Anaesthetics at University Hospital Wales with an interest in supply chains and single-use materials 

Jessica Notzing

Jessica worked in ICU and renal medicine and looked at attitudes to waste disposal. Jane worked on the development of a sustainable central venous surgical insertion pack.

Jane Boult

Jane was a procurement business manager in Wales shared services partnership with a focus on supply chains. Jane worked to establish a carbon emissions baseline and outline the impact procurement could have within NHS Wales.

General Practice fellows and scholars

Dr Jonathan Rocks

SEVERN DEANERY GP SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2016-17

Jonathan is a GPST3 trainee. Currently based in Somerset, he is very keen to discover more about sustainability in primary care and in turn have an impact in this area. Jonathan is on the South West GP trainee committee and also represents trainees at the Somerset LMC. He has recently completed an MSc in topical medicine and international health. 

Dr Charlie Kenward

SEVERN DEANERY GP SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2014-15

Through the scholarship, Charlie worked with the National Union of Students to lead the development of Green Impact for Health, an online evidence-based toolkit for sustainable action in general practice. He also formed a quality improvement team within his own practice which ran a project to improve the pre-operative care pathway for their patients.

Psychiatry fellows and scholars

Dr Daniel Maughan

RCPSYCH RESEARCH FELLOW IN SUSTAINABILITY 2013-15

Funded by the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Projects

Peer-reviewed articles

Reports/blogs/articles

Presentations/TV and radio

Summary

Daniel took two years out of specialist training in psychiatry to become a full-time Fellow with CSH, while studying for an MD at Warwick University.  His publications, presentations and national leadership moved the sustainability of mental health provision into the spotlight, with mental health organisations pledging to promote sustainable practice and commissioning of services.  Daniel founded Psych Susnet (Mental Health Sustainability Network) and established it with over 200 members.  Daniel’s work in designing policy to think sustainably, environmentally and ethically has been recognised with a President’s Medal from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. 

Dr Emma Brandish

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2016-17

Dr Emma Brandish was a higher trainee in General Adult Psychiatry, based in Salisbury. Her scholarship was hosted by Wiltshire County Council working with both the local Public Health team and the Clinical Commissioning Group. She focused on quality improvement, behavioural change and the comorbidity between mental health problems and substance use.

Dr David Gregory

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2016-17

David was a higher trainee in General Adult Psychiatry working in Brighton for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. He explored a sustainable approach to mental health service commissioning with Brighton and Hove CCG.

Dr Shiva Marjani

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2016-17

Shiva was a higher trainee in Psychiatry of Learning Disabilities in Oxford. She was one of five Scholars working one day per week on sustainability in mental health in 2016-17, and applyied sustainability principles to the bio-psycho-social model of psychiatric care, as well as in clinical leadership and management.

Dr Suhana Ahmed

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2015-16

Suhana was a dual higher trainee in old age and adult psychiatry, based in South London.  Through the Scholarship, she worked with Brighton & Hove CCG to incorporate aspects of sustainability into their commissioning for homeless people.

Dr Oliver Bashford

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2015-16

At the time of his scholarship, Oliver was an ST6 in Older Adult Psychiatry, based in South London. His special interest is in sustainable healthcare and through the Scholarship he worked with City and Hackney CCG to implement a sustainable approach to commissioning in the mental health crisis pathway.

Dr Mike Pearce

RCPSYCH SUSTAINABILITY SCHOLAR 2015-16

Mike was a Higher Trainee in Psychiatry.  He helped contribute to the Sustainability in Psychiatry Occasional Paper 57, and did research on reducing local did-not-attend rates.