SOA27

Dr Andrew Breen

Consultant Intensivist, Leeds Teaching Hospitals

Andy is a consultant in ICM working in Leeds Teaching Hospitals, having been appointed in 2005. He is Clinical Director for Adult Critical Care in Leeds, and President Elect of the Intensive Care Society.  He graduated in Liverpool in 1995, where he completed his clinical training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine.

Andy has strong interest in point-of-care ultrasound, having been a founding member of the FICE committee, current member of the FUSIC committee and co-author of a number of POCUS accreditation programmes. Other interests include ethical decision making and advance care planning, the science of quality improvement and IV fluids education.

: @ICUbreeno

James Bruce

Critical Care Occupational Therapist , Bristol NHSFT

James is an Occupational Therapist employed within the Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Royal Infirmary Hospital. He works as an ICU clinical specialist in a unique role focused on early rehabilitation, humanistic care, and rehabilitation education across the ICU team. He engages patients in early rehabilitation, screens rehabilitation needs, and delivers rehabilitation throughout the post ICU inpatient pathway.

James has a strong interest in upper limb dysfunction following critical illness, long term functional outcomes, and learning directly from patients to improve acute care practice. He is currently completing a research fellowship to strengthen his research pillar of practice.

He has co-authored the Occupational Therapy chapter for GPICS versions 2 and 3, and the GPICS Rehabilitation chapter version 3. He is an Intensive Care Society council member, deputy of learning in the ICS, associate editor for JICS,  a steering group member for the current JLA and ICS adult critical illness research prioritisations and a steering group member for the NCEPOD rehabilitation following critical illness study. He supported the development of the AHP Critical Care Professional Development Framework. He is the Chair of the ICS AHP Professional Advisory Group, co chairs the AHP Critical Care Network for the South West of England and deputy chair of the recent formation of the UK and Ireland OT ECMO network.

Steve Cantellow

Consultant Intensivist , Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Steve Cantellow is a Consultant Intensivist and Clinical Director of Urgent and Emergency Care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. He holds the position of Maternity Lead for the East Midlands Critical Care Network and contributes as a member of the Intensive Care Society’s Maternity Working Group and the ESAIC’s Subforum for the Obstetric Patient. Beyond maternal critical care, his interests include transfer medicine and systems-level human factors.

: @SteveCantellow

Dr Mike Charlesworth

Consultant in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and ECMO, Wythenshawe Hospital

Mike is a consultant in cardiothoracic anaesthesia, intensive care medicine and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). His clinical interests are around VV-ECMO, mechanical circulatory support, heart/lung transplantation and major cardiac surgical care. He is passionate about education and leads the local teaching programme as well as being a newly appointed FFICM Examiner. 

He has been an Editor of Anaesthesia for eight years and has contributed more broadly through highlighting the importance of scientific dissemination in the research process. He enjoys running most days but was built for comfort, rather than speed.

Hannah Conway

Advanced Practitioner in Critical Care and National Lead for FUSIC® Heart, UK

Hannah Conway is an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner and Associate Professor of Advanced Clinical Practice, specialising in cardiothoracic critical care.

As National Lead for FUSIC® Heart and Deputy Chair of the FUSIC® Committee, she champions the development of critical care ultrasound education and professional

 

 

Dr Andrew Conway-Morris

Consultant Intensivist, University of Cambridge/Addenbrooke’s Hospital

Dr Conway Morris is a critical care consultant and MRC Clinician Scientist based at the University of Cambridge.  He trained at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, undertaking a PhD in Edinburgh focused on immune failure in critical illness and nosocomial infection.  His research interests include neutrophil function and dysfunction in critical illness, where he identified complement component C5a as a key driver of dysfunction in patients.  He has also developed and tested a number of diagnostics for pneumonia, using both host and pathogen-focussed techniques.  His animating force is a desire to improve the management of infection in intensive care, and combat the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance.  He was recently awarded the Royal College of Anaesthetists 2023 Mackintosh Professorship.   He is the director of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine’s research and antimicrobial stewardship learning pathways.

: @andymoz78

Katie Cranfield

Consultant Intensivist and Obstetric Medicine , Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust

Katie is an adopted Geordie having graduated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and completing most of her training in the North East in Intensive Care, Anaesthesia and Obstetric Medicine. She is Consultant at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where she works in both Intensive Care and Obstetric Medicine. Katie has a particular interest in Obstetric Critical Care. She undertook RCP Obstetric Medicine credentialling at St Thomas’ Hospital in London in 2022. Having been involved in setting up the Maternal Medicine Network within the North East and North Cumbria Katie now works as lead Obstetric Physician within the Network. She is an MBRRACE-UK maternal mortality review assessor and an active member of the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) Steering Committee. Katie has been involved in the creation of a number of national guidelines and publications related to critically unwell obstetric patients and regularly teaches on this topic. Outside of work she loves to bake (complete with sticky fingers and copious sprinkles courtesy of her children), swim and spend time exploring the beautiful North East with her family.

: @CranfieldKatie

Professor Paul Dark

Vice Dean for Health and Care Partnerships, University of Manchester

Paul studied undergraduate physics and medicine. Graduating from The Manchester Medical School, he went on to study clinical academic surgery, emergency medicine and critical care at the Universities of Glasgow and Manchester in the UK, and at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

As MRC PhD Clinical Training Fellow, supervised by Professor Rod Little, he developed methods to transduce and study dynamic cardio-respiratory responses to tissue injury and haemorrhage. This work produced key evidence for the validation and refinement of minimally-invasive patient monitoring technologies including Doppler ultrasound and arterial pulse wave analysis systems.

He was appointed to his current clinical academic post at the University of Manchester in 2003, developing clinical services and academic practice in Critical Care Medicine at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (Salford Care Organisation). He developed and provides leadership for a programme of work, funded mainly by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR), investigating the clinical and cost effectiveness of emerging molecular diagnostic technologies in the setting of sterile tissue injury and severe infections (sepsis) within both high and low resource healthcare settings internationally. Funded by NIHR Manchester BRC, NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care and Innovate UK in partnership with industry, he also co-leads an ongoing programme of work developing novel technologies aimed at rapid point-of-care infection/sepsis theragnosis with the objective of optimising patient exposure to antimicrobial drugs.

Paul was NIHR Clinical Research Network's National Deputy Medical Director (2022 - 24). He provided strategic leadership for the development, delivery and accessibility of a large portfolio of national clinical research in NHS acute hospital settings and he represented NIHR internationally. As a former NIHR National Specialty Lead for Critical Care (2015-22), he served on NIHR's Urgent Public Health Research Advisory Group, providing expert advice on research priority for the Department of Health and Social Care and UK's Chief Medical Officers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He is also Research Professor at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, providing strategic interdisciplinary leadership in global health and social justice.

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-dark-33002722?lip
: @https://x.com/darknatter

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Wg Cdr Toby Elkington

Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensivist, Royal Air Force

Wg Cdr Toby Elkington is an RAF Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensivist, currently posted to 16 Medical Regiment. He holds an Honorary Consultant contract at Peterborough City Hospital. In May 2026 Toby tandem parachuted onto Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic as part of the UK Hantavirus response.

Following training in Manchester and the wider North West, Toby accepted a Consultant post in Peterborough in 2011 and enjoyed working with military colleagues so much that he went on to join the RAF in 2017. Following a period on the RAF's Critical Care Air Support Team rota and an overseas deployment, Toby posted into 16 Medical Regiment and it from here that he deployed to the South Atlantic.

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Dr Luke Flower

Specialty Registrar & Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Cambridge

Dr Flower is a Specialty Registrar in Intensive Care Medicine in London and a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, based at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute. His doctoral research focuses on mechanisms of immune dysregulation in severe acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure and is supported by Cambridge University's first Centre for Pandemic Risk Management Doctoral Research Fellowship.

His clinical and research interests centre around the pathophysiology and management of ARDS and cardiogenic shock. He has also been involved in several critical care ultrasound initiatives, including leading a large national study investigating echocardiography in shock (NEAT-ECHO) and serving as lead editor of the textbook Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Intensive Care.

Dr Flower currently serves as Co-Chair of the UK Trainee Research in Intensive Care (TRIC) Network, Academic StR Representative to the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, and International Subcommittee Lead for the American Thoracic Society Critical Care Assembly’s Early Career Professionals Working Group. He is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Intensive Care Society, a member of the Intensive Care Society’s EDI Working Party, and has received the Intensive Care Society's ICU People Champion Award and the Association of Anaesthetists’ Kathleen Ferguson Award for his work addressing health inequity.

: @LukeFlower1

Dr Robert Gatherer

Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Cardiac Anaesthesia, Royal Papworth Hospital

Rob is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Cardiac Anaesthesia at Royal Papworth Hospital and Co-Director of the ECMO service, he also works for the London Adult Critical Care Transfer Service (ACCESS), and is the current Chair of the ICS Research division.

His clinical expertise lies in Cardio-pulmonary shock, and he is deeply committed to research and improvement of approaches and pathways for care of patients with acute Respiratory and Cardiac failure.

Rob is the current chair of the UKECMO Network Education group, and an active researcher both in traditional clinical research and novel research methodologies re-focusing our efforts towards team development, practitioner-patient interaction and better integration of scientific knowledge into practice.

Rob hopes to help shape a professional advisory group that evolves our understanding of the role of the Consultant in the modern Intensive Care landscape, championing our professional identity as practical philosophers through research innovation, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and elevating the intellectual and clinical standards of our field.

When not dashing about in the back of an ambulance or writing another grant proposal Rob most likes to be hanging out on the North Devon coast with his family, surfing, sailing or just mucking about on the beach.

Dr Ned (Edward) Gilbert-Kawai

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthesia, Royal Liverpool Hospital

Ned Gilbert-Kawai is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine & Anaesthesia at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Co-Programme Director of SOA26.  Ned completed his PhD at University College London on the effect of hypoxia on microcirculation and then undertook a Masters in Genomic Medicine at Imperial College London. He was the Chief Scientific Officer for the Xtreme Everest 2 expedition (UCL Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment (CASE) Medicine, 2013), and has since maintained an interest in both cardiovascular physiology and genomic medicine. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Intensive Care Society and an examiner at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Exams.

Lt Col Jeyasankar Jeyanathan OBE

Defence Consultant Advisor for Intensive Care Medicine, British Armed Forces

Lt Col Jeyasankar “Jey” Jeyanathan OBE is the current serving Defence Consultant Advisor for Intensive Care Medicine for the British Armed Forces, holding cadre leadership across the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. A Military Consultant in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and ECMO with the Defence Medical Services and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Trust, London, he has spent his career developing capabilities across the full spectrum of care for the critically ill and injured — across NHS, military, humanitarian and austere operational environments.

From the Middle East and Eastern Europe to South Sudan, Zambia, Uganda and Sri Lanka, Jey’s work centres on designing, and nurturing capabilities from inception, developing clinicians and inspiring teams to deliver care in austere and resource challenged environments. His talk offers a clear eyed look at what large scale combat operations mean for critical care and why calm, considered, collaborative preparedness is both possible and necessary.

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Dr Justin Kirk-Bayley

Consultant Intensivist & Anaesthetist and National FUSIC® Lung Lead, UK

Justin Kirk-Bayley is a Consultant Intensivist & Anaesthetist at Royal Surrey NHS Trust in Guildford, UK where he has been Clinical Lead for ICU, and is now Deputy Medical Director. His clinical passion is for pragmatic delivery of point of care ultrasound, having run a training fellowship for over a decade and being a part of the ICS’s FUSIC committee. He has published and teaches ultrasound around the world. As his Trust’s Professional Director for Therapeutics, he is committed to medication safety and optimisation, lecturing internationally about improvement in medication process and has helped found the Turning the Tide group to improve the UK’s use of intravenous fluids. (@Turningthe_Tide)

: @PARADicmSHIFT

Professor Shondipon Laha

ICS President and Consultant in Critical Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Shondipon is a Consultant in intensive care and anaesthesia at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Intensive Care Society's President.

Shondipon is also Honorary President of the Association of North Western ICUs (ANWICU).

: www.ics.ac.uk
: @shond3

Dr Victoria Metaxa

Consultant in Critical Care, King's College Hospital

Dr Victoria Metaxa is a full-time Critical Care and Major Trauma Consultant, at King’s College Hospital in London. She is a King's College London Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, and has a PhD in neurosciences and an MA in Medical Ethics and Palliative Care from Keele University. Her clinical interests include bioethics, end-of-life care, critical care outreach and the management of patients with haematological malignancies. Dr Metaxa is a member of the European Society of Intensive Care (ESICM) Ethics section, and the representative of the section in the e-learning committee. She is the UK National Outreach Forum board Secretary and a member of the Legal and Ethical Advisory Group of the UK Intensive Care Society (ICS).  

Dr Ashley Miller

Consultant Intensivist , Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals

Ashley Miller is an Intensivist at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals. His specialist area of interest is Intensive Care ultrasonography. The 1st person to become BSE accredited in Critical Care Echocardiography, he is a BSE committee member and examiner. He has co-authored guidelines for the BSE on assessing fluid responsiveness with echocardiography. He is an elected ICS council member and co-chair of the Focussed Ultrasound in Intensive Care (FUSIC) committee where he has helped introduce a modular curriculum and accreditation pathway for Intensive Care ultrasonography. He is a speaker on ultrasound at international conferences and teaches on ultrasound courses around the country. He is a published author on ultrasound and is co-editing a forthcoming textbook on critical care ultrasound.

: @icmteaching

Professor Hugh Montgomery OBE

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London

Prof Hugh Montgomery obtained a first-class degree in cardiorespiratory physiology/neuropharmacology before graduating from the Middlesex Hospital Medical school in 1987. He has since gained accreditation in general internal medicine, cardiology and intensive care medicine, and practices as a consultant in intensive care at the Whittington hospital in North London.

Hugh obtained his research degree (MD) in 1997, and is Professor of Intensive Care at UCL, where he directed the Institute for Human Health and Performance. Hugh's interest has been in the use of environmental stressors in the exploration of human (patho)physiology – often using a genetic approach. He was the first to discover a 'gene for human fitness'. He has published over 450 scientific articles.

Hugh also has a strong interest in environmental impacts on health, and in climate change in particular.

His current roles are:

• Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, UCL
• Director, UCL Institute for Human Health and Performance
• Consultant Intensivist, Whittington Hospital
• London Leader, GLA.

Professor Marlies Ostermann

ESICM President-elect, Consultant Intensivist and Nephrology, Guy’s and St.Thomas’ hospital NHS Trust

Marlies is a Consultant in Critical Care & Nephrology at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Foundation Trust, London and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College London.

Following medical school in Goettingen (Germany), she completed her postgraduate training in the United Kingdom and Canada. She is one of the Directors of Research at the Intensive Care Society, and actively involved in the Renal Association. She is President Elect of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.

Her clinical and research interests include acute kidney injury in the critically ill, including biomarkers and long-term complications, and all aspects related to acute renal replacement therapy.

: @MarliesOsterman

Dr Claire Park

Consultant in Critical Care , Kings College Hospital and Prehospital Care for London HEMS

Dr Claire Park MBE is a Consultant in Critical Care at Kings College Hospital and in Prehospital Care for London HEMS. Claire is also a reserve army consultant with 23 years of previous regular army experience.

Claire is the London HEMS lead for Major Incidents and the Chief Investigator on a national research project looking at ‘Improving patient outcomes in the hot zone of major incidents.’ She is also the Medical Adviser for the Metropolitan Police Service, sits on the National Police Clinical Panel, is a Member of the Guidelines Committee for the US based Committee for Tactical Emergency Care (CTECC), a Board member of the British and Irish Tactical Medical Association (BRITMA) and Director and Co-Founder of the European Tactical Medical Association (ETMA).

Dr Park has worked closely with all of the emergency services in London on developing the joint response to high threat incidents. This multiagency work has included the development of a new primary scene triage tool which has now been implemented by all UK emergency services as well as the military and many voluntary aid organisations known as “Ten Second Triage.“

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Dr Prashant Parulekar

Consultant in Intensive Care, Acute & General Internal Medicine and National Lead for FUSIC® Research, William Harvey Hospital

Prashant is a Consultant in Intensive Care, Acute & General Internal Medicine at William Harvey Hospital (East Kent Hospitals). He is an honorary senior lecturer at Queen Mary University London (QMUL), giving lectures regarding the role of echocardiography in resuscitation and chairing tutorials on diagnostics and imaging modalities in resuscitation. He teaches and lectures at both regional and national ultrasound and echo conferences and courses.

He is member of the national Focused Ultrasound in Intensive Care (FUSIC) committee and is BSE Level 2 accredited in Critical Care Echocardiography. He is a FUSIC & FICE (Focused Intensive Care Echocardiography) supervisor & mentor and runs national FUSIC courses. He is published in research in the use of echo and ultrasound in Intensive Care and Acute Medicine and in the assessment of haemodynamic status using echo.

Prashant was the Chief Investigator (CI) for the national lung ultrasound and echo CORONA study (COre ultRasOund of covid in iNtensive care & Acute medicine) assessing the lung ultrasound features and the incidence of left and right ventricular dysfunction in COVID ICU patients. He is the creator and co-host of Ultra Live, the world’s first live POCUS gameshow at the SOA this year. 

: @parulekar8550

Dr Marcus Peck

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthetist and National Lead for FUSIC® Networking, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Marcus Peck is an NHS anaesthetist & intensive care consultant, past-cochair and current network lead of the Intensive Care Society’s Focused Ultrasound in Intensive Care (“FUSIC”) committee, and editor of the OUP textbook 'Focused Intensive Care Ultrasound'. He is a passionate POCUS advocate, who speaks and teaches widely, and sits on multiple national committees focused on improving POCUS training opportunities and quality assurance. He relishes breaking down organisational barriers and dreams of the day when POCUS is normal practice for every frontline clinician. You can find Marcus on X as @ICUltrasonica".

: @ICUltrasonica

Dr Alastair Proudfoot

Consultant Intensivist, Barts Health NHS Trust

I am currently a cardiac & general intensivist at Barts Heart Centre where I lead for cardiogenic shock. My clinical focus is acute cardiac care including the management of cardiogenic shock, mechanical circulatory support, pulmonary embolism and post-cardiac arrest syndrome. I am also a Clinical Senior Lecturer within the Perioperative Medicine Group at Queen Mary University of London with a research interest in cardiogenic shock, specifically the genetic drivers of the heterogeneity of host response. I am the CI for the GolDilOCS study which is a partnership with the Knight group at Oxford University. I am the CI for the development of a cardiogenic shock module within the ICNARC case mix programme and a co-lead for a European / North African cardiogenic shock registry. 

: @ICUDocAP

Professor Zudin Puthucheary

Consultant Intensivist , UK

Dr Zudin Puthucheary is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine at the William Harvey Institute, Queen Mary, University of London, and a Consultant at the Royal London Hospital Adult Intensive Care Unit. He graduated from Nottingham University in 1997, and moved to London post MRCP in 2000. Following a 3-year stint in Sydney, he started his Respiratory training in Bristol, before completing his critical care training in London. He worked as a Respiratory and Critical Care Consultant at National University Hospital Singapore before returning to the UK.

His research focusses on acquired functional disability, and the use of metabolic, nutritional and exercise interventions to prevent and treat muscle wasting, and has published over 100 papers with a H index of 39. Zudin is a nationally elected Council member of the Intensive Care Society (UK). He was the inaugural chair of the UK National Post-Intensive Care Rehabilitation Collaborative, a multi-professional cross-disciplinary group focussing on rehabilitation and restitution of critical illness survivors. His work on acute muscle wasting has won awards from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine , European Society of Anesthesia, the British Thoracic Society, the Intensive Care Society, The American Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition and Zudin was named a Global Rising Star by the Australia and New Zealand Intensive Care Society.

He chairs the  UK National Post-Intensive Care Rehabilitation Collaborative, a multi-professional cross-disciplinary group focussing on rehabilitation and restitution of critical illness survivors. 

: @Zudin_P

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Dr Antonio Rubino

Cardiothoracic Anaesthetist and Intensivist and National fTOE Lead, Co Chair of fTOE Subcommittee (AoA), Royal Papworth Hospital

Antonio Rubino is a cardiothoracic anaesthetist and Intensivist at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He is clinical lead for Organ Donation for the Eastern Region as part of the National Transplant service. He is Intenisve Care Society's national lead for the focused transoesohpageal echocardiography (fTOE) program. His research interest include critical care ultrasounds, ECMO and cardiothoracic donor organs optimisation.

: @AEA_rubino

David Sapsford

Consultant Pharmacist , Cambridge University Hospitals NHSFT, Pharmacy PAG Chair

David has been practising critical care pharmacy since 2003 and now leads a team of ten pharmacists and a pharmacy technician covering the 59 adult critical care beds at Cambridge University Hospitals NHSFT. His particular interests include safe, effective use and stewardship of antimicrobials, and management of pain and delirium in ICU patients.

David is deputy chair of the Intensive Care Society Pharmacy Professional Advisory Group and is delighted to count himself as inaugural ICS Leadership Programme alumni. 

 

Professor Mervyn Singer

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London

 Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at UCL.ICU consultant at UCLH since 1993. Published mainly on sepsis and multi-organ failure, infection, shock, monitoring. Developed various monitoring and support devices and has two ‘home-made’ drugs in current development. Co-chaired Sepsis-3 Definitions International Task Force. Past-Chair, International Sepsis Forum. Emeritus NIHR Senior Investigator. Written various textbooks e.g. Oxford Handbook of Critical Care. Has run Medical Emergencies Courses for >25 years. Masochistic Spurs season ticket holder. Loves being iconoclastic and gently provocative.

Dr Jennie Stephens

Consultant in Intensive Care and Acute Medicine, and National Lead for FUSIC® Abdomen, Royal Cornwall Hospital

Jennie is the Chair of the FUSIC committee and National lead for FUSIC Abdomen.

She works as a Consultant in Intensive care and Acute Medicine in, the sometimes sunny but always beautiful, Cornwall in Southwest England.

She was a founding member of three of the major working groups for point-of-care ultrasound (FUSIC, FAMUS and CACTUS).  She continues to teach POCUS on a regular basis in her local setting but also nationally and via remote mentorship.

She is the clinical lead for OPAT (Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy) in Cornwall and supervises a nursing team delivering acute care in the community.

She is a mum to 2 boys, cross-fit enthusiast and occasionally competent gardener.

Dr Ema Swingwood OBE

Consultant Physiotherapist, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Ema is a Consultant Physiotherapist in Critical Care at Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Her area of clinical expertise and interest is ventilation, weaning and complex airway clearance. She has lectured at International conferences over a number of years around these topics.

Her PhD work focused on the use of Mechanical Insufflation-Exsufflation in the intubated population which was funded through the NIHR Clinical Academic Research Fellowship pathway. Post-doctoral work continues to examine the role of airway clearance interventions in the ICU population, which includes recent development of a core outcome set. She is a current Senior Clinical Practitioner Research Award holder (2025-7).

Regarding research capacity and capability building, Ema is passionate about developing others. She is the current Adult Therapies and Division of Diagnostics and Therapies Research Lead.  Most recently she was a co-applicant on a successful NIHR Health and Care Professions Internship Programme for Southwest Central and lead applicant NIHR Undergraduate Internship Placement award. Education contributions include the Physiotherapy programmes at the University of the West of England and University College London. She sits on the Intensive Care Society (ICS) Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group (Deputy Chair) and Education Committee, she is a current Programme Director for the ICS annual congress (SOA) and Deputy Chair for Professional Affairs.

: @emaroids1

Dr Tom Syratt

Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia, Royal Liverpool Hospital

I’m a Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, appointed in 2022. I have a particular interest in point-of-care ultrasound and am EDEC accredited, and I currently supervise trainees in FUSIC HD and focused TOE (fTOE). More broadly, I’m interested in perioperative medicine and in finding practical ways to make critical care more sustainable.

Dr Alicia Waite

Speciality Registrar in Intensive Care Medicine, North West of England

Alicia Waite is a speciality registrar in Intensive Care Medicine in the North West of England. Alicia completed her medical degree at Imperial College London, where she also undertook an intercalated PhD investigating the pathophysiological mechanisms of ventilator-induced lung injury. Her research interests have since evolved to focus on post intensive care syndrome and the long-term outcomes of survivors of critical illness. Alicia was a co-founder of the Trainee Research in Intensive Care (TRIC) Network, and was awarded the Intensive Care Society Young Investigator Award, which supported the delivery of the network’s first multicentre study examining the psychological impact of COVID-19 on ICU survivors. She is an early career researcher within the UK REMAP-CAP team, an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Intensive Care Society, and a member of the UK Critical Care Research Group Oversight Committee.

Dr Jonny Wilkinson

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthetist and National Lead for FUSIC® Blocks, Northampton General Hospital

Dr. Jonny Wilkinson (MBChB.MRCP.FRCA.FFICM) is a Consultant in Intensive care medicine and Anaesthesia in Northampton, UK. He trained in Nottingham, where he undertook a fellowship in thoracic anaesthesia. He is the editor in chief of the Oxford Handbook of Thoracic Anaesthesia and founder of www.criticalcarenorthampton.com. When not on Twitter , he is a national and international expert in point of care ultrasound, with specialist interests in the use of handheld devices to assess the critically ill patient. He is a course director for Advanced Trauma Life support and NICE IV fluid lead for his trust, promoting safe fluid prescription and education on fluid physiology. He is a member of the ICS council and the FUSIC committee (Focused Intensive Care Ultrasound). He is faculty for The State of The Art Intensive Care Society meeting, the International Fluid Academy, the Critical Care Symposium and RA-UK. He enjoys speaking / teaching on all that is ultrasound, nationally and Internationally.

: @Wilkinsonjonny

Dr Clare Windsor

Consultant Intensivist, Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust

Clare is a Consultant in ICM & Anaesthesia in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, having been appointed in 2014. 

She has a keen interest in patient safety and governance, taking the lead for Critical Care Governance since 2015 and being an active member of the ICS Standards & Guidelines Committee. 

She is a strong advocate for the care of young adults as they transition into the care of Adult Critical Care and was the lead author for the joint national guidelines between the ICS and PCCS (Paediatric to Adult Critical Care Transition).

: @ClareMWindsor

Dr Rachel Wong

Consultant Intensivist, Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and ECMO and Co Chair of fTOE Subcommittee (ICS), Royal Brompton Hospital

Dr Rachel Wong is a Consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital, specialising in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia, Intensive Care, and ECMO. Rachel holds Level 2 accreditation in EACVI TOE and serves as a mentor for FUSIC and FAMUS across all existing modules. She is co-chair of the fTOE committee. When not instructing in Echocardiography or Ultrasound, Rachel dedicates her time to training and developing roles allied to medicine, including Clinical Scientists and Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care.

: @RachelWongLiene

Dr Parjam (PJ) Zolfaghari

Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, The Royal London Hospital

PJ was born in Iran and moved to the UK when he was 11 years old. He studied medicine at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ (UMDS) and after initially training to be a surgeon, he switched to anaesthesia and critical care medicine training in East London. He did his PhD with Mervyn Singer at UCL on mitochondrial dysfunction in sepsis and multiorgan failure before starting his consultant post at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, London. His interests are metabolic response in critical illness and trauma. His current main focus is his passion for teaching: he runs the Critical Care MSc at Queen Mary University London and is a senior lecturer in the Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine Research Group at QMUL. He is also one of the associate editors of BJA Education. He was Programme Director for three editions of SOA (2023 to 2025) and is very excited to bring education, research and debate to this multi-professional meeting, as well as great social events in the evenings (another one of his passions!). 

: @PJZolfaghari