Dr Kevin Fernando

FAcadMEd MSc Diabetes, GP Partner North Berwick Health Centre, GP with Specialist Interest in CVRM & Medical Education, Content Advisor for WebMD Medscape Global & UK and Honorary Clinical Reader at the University of Dundee

Kevin is a part-time GP Partner working at North Berwick Health Centre, near Edinburgh. Kevin is also Scottish lead of the Primary Care Diabetes Society, Content Advisor for WebMD Medscape Global & UK and a co-founder of GoggleDocs.​

Kevin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2000 and holds both MRCGP and MRCP(UK) qualifications and has completed a Master’s degree in diabetes which he passed with distinction.​

Kevin has been elected to Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and also the Academy of Medical Educators for his work in diabetes and medical education.​

Dr Patrick Holmes

MB BS, MSc, DipTher, MRCGP​

Dr. Holmes has been a GP Partner at St. George’s Medical Practice, Darlington for 25 years. He is a local clinical commissioner for diabetes.

He is North-East & North Cumbria Diabetes Clinical Network Primary Care Lead, Primary Care Diabetes NIHR Research Lead for the North East and Associate Editor for Diabetic Medicine and member of the UKKA SGLT2i in Chronic Kidney Disease 20212 & 2023 writing group.

He is an active participant of GoggleDocs (www.goggledocs.co.uk), an innovative group of medical educators working in the SoMe space.

His clinical interests are adult type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease prevention and chronic kidney disease.

Twitter: @drpatrickholmes​

Dr Sundhya Raman

Founder and director of My Wellness Doctor - a Lifestyle Medicine Health consultancy.

Dr Sundhya Raman is the founder and director of My Wellness Doctor - a Lifestyle Medicine Health consultancy. She has a degree in Pharmacology & Physiology, a Medical degree from Guys, King’s and St Thomas’s, London, a PhD (D.Phil) in Genetics & Epigenetics from Oxford University and is a qualified Lifestyle Medicine physician with the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine & British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr Raman has held a variety of both clinical and research roles.  She has worked with well-known scientists in labs around the world including in cancer genetics at Yale University, and Alzheimers’ cellular physiology at the Wolfson Centre, London. 

Dr Raman is the Lifestyle Medicine lead at the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society.  She created and runs a lifestyle to lower cholesterol programme in primary care.  She authored the diet section for JBS4 and co-authored the section on physical activity.  She regularly delivers talks and teaching on lifestyle medicine and healthy ageing to both healthcare professionals as well as to the lay public, including a focus on specific risks and solutions for ethnic minority groups. Her advice on lifestyle shifts for optimum health has been featured in national news publications.

Harriette Van Spall

Julie Brake

Diabetes Nurse Consultant and Advanced Clinical Practice Lead at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Julie Brake is a Diabetes Nurse Consultant and Advanced Clinical Practice Lead at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust. MSc in Healthcare Management. PGD in Leadership. She is also on the UK editorial board of the Journal of Diabetes Nursing.

Ms Chaandni Devgon

Lead and Senior Clinical Pharmacist across multiple PCNs in South West London (SWL).

Chaandni Kay Devgon is the Lead and Senior Clinical Pharmacist across multiple PCNs in South West London (SWL). An Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Chaandni is an IP with a special interest in Cardio-Renal and Metabolic Medicine. With a profound passion for training and education, she is the SWL GP Clinical Pharmacist Education and Peer Support Lead. She has trained as an Educational Supervisor and DPP of Allied Healthcare Professionals across the board and is dedicated to the development & growth of future Allied Healthcare Professionals in practice and as a Senior Honorary Lecturer at King’s College London, University of London, and Kingston University. She was recently awarded Associateship of King's College London. Associate Director at Morph Training Consultancy.

She is focused on improving patient outcomes in patients with Cardiovascular-Renal & Metabolic risk factors and disease. Her expertise in advising people on steering away from simply a gluco-centric approach has been key in helping allied healthcare professionals nationally provide up-to-date evidence-based practice, with the patient at the forefront. Her patient-centred work in the CVRM field has been recognised at multiple high profile conferences such as the Clinical Pharmacy Congress, Diabetes Profession Care, Best Practice, Birmingham and Pharmacy Show. She is dedicated to addressing health inequalities and driving for change nationally from her own personal experiences and is motivated to establish, educate and empower clinicians to not only practice what she preaches but share best practice along the way.

Professor Smeeta Sinha

Professor Smeeta Sinha is a Consultant Nephrologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester.

Professor Smeeta Sinha is a Consultant Nephrologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester. She was the Clinical Director for Renal services at Salford Royal between 2014 and 2020 and oversaw the delivery of kidney care centres across the North of Greater Manchester. These kidney care centres have enabled patients to receive kidney care closer to home. In early 2021, Smeeta was appointed as the Northern Care Alliance Research & Innovation Deputy Director and in 2022 was appointed as National Clinical Director for Renal Medicine by NHS England. She is passionate about innovation and improvement and ensuring patients have access to the services they need. Smeeta provides clinical leadership with a focus on innovation and improvement which will further develop systems that enable findings from projects to be translated at pace and scale.

Smeeta’s clinical interests are in CKD, metabolic stone disease and glomerulonephritis. She leads the complex glomerulonephritis service at Salford Royal which is an integrated clinical and research clinic serving a population of 1.3 million. Smeeta is also the Clinical Lead for the North West NHS England Renal Network and the NHS England National Clinical Advisor for Chronic Kidney Disease, which is one of the four work streams that make up the National Renal Service Transformation Programme.

Smeeta’s research interests include chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder, in particular vascular calcification, glomerulonephritis and rare renal diseases. She is a recognised international key opinion leader in the field of Calciphylaxis and, despite the challenges of conducting research in the rare disease space, has supported the development of clinical trials including Phase 1-3 studies.

Dr David Hargroves

MB BSc (Hons), MSc FRCP, Consultant Physician and Clinical Lead for Stroke Medicine, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, and South East Coast Strategic Clinical Network and Senate.

Dr David Hargroves graduated from University College London MB BSc (Hons) in 1996.  His postgraduate training was in London undertaking designated stroke fellowship training at St Helier's and St George's Hospitals; gaining his Masters from Kings College London with a research thesis titled 'Effects of position upon cerebral oxygenation in the acute phase post stroke using Near Infrared Spectroscopy'. 

He has been a consultant for over 10 years in East Kent and Clinical Lead for Stroke Medicine for the last 9 years.  He was appointed Clinical Lead for the Strategic Health Authority in October 2010 and now to the South East Coast Strategic Clinical Network and Senate 2013.

The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) Stroke Service is in the top quartile of services in the country, and uses one of the country’s first examples of horizontal stroke telemedicine, with currently >25% of patients receiving IV thrombolysis, and one of the largest cohorts of patients treated with unknown time of onset (SUTO / wake up stroke) using CT perfusion in the country.

David has personnally assessed, imaged and treated over 3000 patients with transient neurological deficit with same day MRI / CEMRA and a similar number of patients with persistent neurological deficit. He chairs the IV Stroke Thrombolysis governance meeting and has reviewed the clinical histories and neuroradiology for over 1200 cases treated in East Kent.  Dr Foster and Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently ranked it the top performing stroke service in the country and in a recent round of SSNAP the WHH hospital achieved the highest overall rating level A for both patient and team scores.

He has a keen research interest and has acted as local guarantor to stroke related publications submitted from East Kent for the last 8 years.  He has been local Principal Investigator for over 10 international clinical trials.  He has a particular research interest in: Use of advanced imaging in hyper acute stroke care using CT Perfusion for patients with Stroke of Unknown time of onset (SUTO) and MRI / CEMRA for transient neurological deficit; Obstructive Sleep apnea and neurovascular disease; Telemedicine use in Stroke care and medication compliance and adherence in patients with neurovascular disease.