We would like to thank Tracey Thomas and Fiona McDonald for their contribution to the Steering Group and wish them all the best for the future.
Shera Chok – Co-Founder & Chair
Shera is a GP in East London and is the former Chief Medical Officer and executive lead for clinical governance at NHS Digital. She started the Shuri Network in 2019 as she is passionate about increasing diversity, innovation and safety and to encourage other women from minority ethnic groups to lead and engage with digital transformation. She was awarded the international Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship by the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin in 2023 to examine the German digital health strategy and help develop new insights and perspectives that will help health systems deliver more equitable and innovative care.
An experienced Medical Director and Chief Clinical Information Officer, Shera has also held national leadership roles with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. She has helped to develop and implement health policy as a national clinical advisor on new models of care and Integrated Care Systems with NHS England and advised ministers a member of the NHS Independent Reconfiguration Panel for seven years. She worked at Barts Health, the largest acute trust in the NHS at the time as Director of Primary Care from 2010-2016, helping to improve patient pathways across organisational boundaries. She is also a member of the Sciana Network for European health leaders, sponsored by the Health Foundation.
Shera has volunteered as a clinician in countries including Sudan, Laos, Indonesia and Greece with NGOs working in war and disaster zones and with displaced populations. She studied at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health on the NHS Executive Fast Track programme, focusing on quality improvement, community engagement and leading change. She has completed an M.B.A., M.A. in Inter-professional Education and a Nuffield Trust Fellowship on cross-organisational learning with Sunderland Athletic Football Club. @SheraChok
Rafiah Badat
Rafiah Badat is Speech and Language Therapist at St George’s University Trust and a National Institute of Health Research clinical doctoral research fellow based at City University of London. Her PhD explores the role of user co-design in digital therapy. Rafiah was a 2018 NHS Digital Pioneer Fellow and is due to start a research fellowship at The Alan Turing Institute in January 2021.
Di Bullman
Di Bullman is the Lead for ‘Our Future Workforce’ in the Digital Readiness Education Programme at Health Education England. We are building a comprehensive professional landscape for specialists in digital, data, information and technology working in health and social care. Key work is supporting the establishment of the Federation for Informatics Professionals (FEDIP), the Faculty of Clinical Informatics and the Shuri Network, as well as developing professional standards, learning and development products, professional networks and career pathways.
She has an MSc in Workforce Development and Performance Management, is an Associate of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics and has worked in a wide range of workforce and organisational development roles in the NHS since 1990.
Twitter @Di.Bullman
Jenny Chong
Jenny is a Non-Executive Director with Medway NHS Foundation Trust. She sits on boards and committees for The Design Museum, Imperial College London’s Venture Mentoring Service, the Egypt Exploration Society; and Orthopaedic Research UK. She is a deputy director and mentor on Imperial College’s Imperial Venture Mentoring Scheme and the Engineering Faculty’s Imperial Technology Experts Service; and an advisor to various start-ups in the FinTech, MedTech and social impact space.
Originally from Singapore, after graduating from the London School of Economics, Jenny embarked on a 20-year career in Investment Banking. Starting in Equities, she has worked across client relationship management, infrastructure, software engineering, program management, big data and AI. Her most recent role was as Credit Suisse’s Global Head of Electronic Communications Surveillance, running a global regulatory compliance platform that detects potential malicious behaviour; leveraging natural language processing and deep learning to cognitively learn human context; identify patterns to create behavioural models; and detect anomalous signals.
Jenny actively promotes education in STEM, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. She is also a recipient of the inaugural Tech Star award at the “Women in Banking and Finance Annual Awards for Achievement”.
Nadira Hussain, Chief Executive, Socitm
An established ICT and change management leader, NED and coach with 25+ years’ experience, Nadira has worked primarily in local government; leading the ICT and digital service, managing wider teams including business improvement, transformation and customer services. Nadira has implemented numerous complex change programmes across shared services to deliver new operating models, efficiencies and service improvement.
At Socitm, Nadira is keen to support members shape and deliver effective public services through improved use and adoption of technologies, data and digital solutions & practices. She continues to focus on the work she initiated as president of the society (15/16), building the leadership, skills and diversity of the sector’s workforce. Her passion is to tackle inequality, promote professionalism, improve personal development opportunities and champion women role models.
Her wider responsibilities include director for Federation for Informatics Professionals (FEDIP) advisory board, board member for the Institute of Government and Public Policy (IGPP), board member for the Solace in Business (SiB) Board. Her voluntary and charitable work include; steering group member for the Shuri Network, the Solace EDI forum and Diversity in Local Government Leadership (DLGL) forum, co-founder and co-chair of the Socitm/UKAuthority Women in Local Government ICT network and non-executive director for the #techmums board and Executive Committee member of the Major Cities of Europe (MCE) forum.
Twitter @nadirahussain44
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadira-hussain-63a08314/
www.socitm.net
Adjoa Nsiah-Jennings
Adjoa Nsiah-Jennings is a Digital Educator at Saint Francis Hospice, specialising in technology enhanced education and digital transformation. A qualified nurse and health visitor, over the last decade her career has traversed across a variety of roles including quality, education and digital. Developing excellent skills and experience in programme development, project management and healthcare leadership.
A proud alumnus of the first Shuri Nursing Fellowship (2021) and Digital Health Leadership Programme (2023). Adjoa is also an Academic Fellow of Higher Education and experienced Action Learning Set Facilitator. As a passionate advocate for digital inclusion and accessibility across health and education. Adjoa is committed to developing programmes and initiatives that transcend barriers and empowers both healthcare professionals and the communities they serve.
Adjoa can be found on LinkedIn. You can learn more about Adjoa’s role here, as part of the Royal College of Nursing series – ‘Every nurse an e-nurse’. Click here.
Eddie Olla
Eddie is the Regional Director for Digital Transformation at NHS Midlands. He joined the National Health Service (NHS) in 1988 and has worked as a clinician in secondary and primary care sectors. Eddie moved into the IT sector utilising his clinical knowledge and skills which has proved valuable in helping organisations to improve patient experience and increase the quality of care.
As a non-practicing clinician and digital expert, Eddie is enthusiastic about innovative technologies and their application in Healthcare. Eddie believes that clinicians have a key role to play in the delivery of digital, interoperable electronic health records, artificial intelligence and population health
management.
Eddie is a graduate of the NHS Leadership Academy Executive Directors programme and is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion to address healthcare inequalities for patients and championing equality for all staff.
Ayesha Rahim
Dr Ayesha Rahim is a Psychiatrist, and Chief Medical Information Officer at a Mental Health Trust in the south of England. She is also the Clinical Lead for Digital Mental Health at NHS England, and has worked in the NHS since 2003. She is a graduate of the first cohort of the NHS Digital Academy, and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics. Her interests include clinical engagement in digital transformation, User Centred Design, health inequalities, and workforce development.
Through her work she has led major digital transformation programmes such as the roll-out of electronic patient record systems in a secondary care context, and other digital innovation programmes such as the Global Digital Exemplar scheme.
She can be found on Twitter @AyeshaRahimCCIO.