SOA Congress 2026 | #SOA26

Dr Sekina Bakare

Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, London

Dr Bakare is currently an Advanced Trainee in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia in Northwest London. She graduated with Honours from the University of Bristol and commenced her career in the West Country before pursuing Specialty Training in Northwest London. As an elected member of the Trainee Advisory Group of the Intensive Care Society and leverages her expertise to contribute actively to the society's Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group. She also holds the additional responsibility of serving as the EDI lead on the Editorial Board for GPCISv3.

Dr Bakare is deeply passionate about advancing Equity in Healthcare and Medical Education, with clinical interests spanning Major General Surgery and Transfer Medicine.

: @@sekina_bakare

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 an elected the Intensive Care Society's Honorary Secretary.  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

Professor Luigi Camporota

Consultant Intensivist , Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Luigi Camporota is consultant in critical care and Lead of the Severe Respiratory Failure and ECMO Service at St Thomas’ Hospital. He is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Intensive Care Medicine at King’s College London.

Luigi Camporota is the Chair of the Acute Respiratory Failure Section of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM) and Intensive Care Medicine (ICM). His clinical and research interest is His clinical and research interest in Respiratory failure, ARDS, mechanical ventilation, respiratory monitoring, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal (ECCO2R). He has contributed to over 200 published peer-reviewed papers and > 20 book chapters and edited a book in Intensive Care.

 

: @Luigi_ICM

Professor 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 Chair of the Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care Professional Advisory Group, she champions the development of critical care education and professional standards.

https://linktr.ee/cardiacaccp

 

 

: @cardiacACCP

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

Dr Polly Fitch

Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Royal London Hospital

Polly Fitch is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist working in Adult Critical Care at the Royal London Hospital in East London. Working in this role since 2017 she has responsibility for delivering psychological interventions for patients, relatives, and staff in the Intensive Care Unit. She has particular interests in talking about death and dying in acute health settings including how best to facilitate difficult news conversations and support end of life situations. She has specialist experience of facilitating discussions and decision making around complex medical information in the context of a diverse patient population with differing health beliefs. In addition, she is committed to working with colleagues across the Trust to promote reflection and learning in relation to communicating about death and bereavement, including facilitating Schwartz Rounds, Death Cafes and co-organising the Barts Health Annual Bereavement Conference. She has previously held posts in the Tower Hamlets Palliative Care Team (with specialist input to respiratory services) and the Tower Hamlets Community Learning Disability Service. She retains strong links with health psychologists working across the borough. She is a member of PINC-UK (Psychologists working in Intensive Care), the BPS and is HPC registered.

Professor Kevin Fong

Consultant Anaesthetist, University College London Hospitals

Kevin Fong is consultant anaesthetist at UCLH and professor of public engagement and innovation in the Department of Science, Technology, Education and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London. Dually accredited in anaesthesia and critical care medicine, he also works as a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) doctor with Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex. In March 2020, Kevin was seconded to NHS England as National Clinical Advisor in Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response for the COVID-19 incident.

He is an honorary senior lecturer in physiology at University College London, where he organises and runs an undergraduate course in Extreme Environment Physiology. He studied astrophysics and medicine at University College London and a masters in astronautics and space engineering at Cranfield University. He is a member of Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of anaesthetists and has completed postgraduate clinical training in Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine. Kevin has a long standing interest in human space exploration and space medicine and has worked with NASA's Human Adaptation and Countermeasures Office at Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

Dr Ned (Edward) Gilbert-Kawai

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthesia

Ned Gilbert-Kawai is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine & Anaesthesia at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.  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.

Rebekah Haylett

Physiotherapist in Critical Care and and ICS Physio Professional Advisory Group, Chair

Becky is a Physiotherapist working in Oxford and is the Chair of the ICS Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group.  Since qualifying in 2006 she has remained committed to the speciality of intensive care, and to the recovery of critically ill patients across their entire pathway.  Throughout her career she has developed interests in multiprofessional education, service development, and advanced practice, and is currently undergoing accreditation as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner.  Becky has continued to make contributions to a range of educational sessions for multiprofessional groups, at undergraduate and multiple stages of postgraduate training. She is keen to ensure that all professional groups have opportunities to advance knowledge and skills in all domains of clinical practice, and actively promotes the sharing and exchange of knowledge and practice, critical analysis and development.  Quality improvement remain a key focus of her work, and she is dedicated to projects stemming from clinical practice.

: @Becky_HPhysio

Dr Julie Highfield

Consultant Clinical Psychologist , Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Julie Highfield is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Lead for Organisational Health in Adult and Paediatric Critical Care, Cardiff. She is the National Project Director for Wellbeing in the Intensive Care Society. She has a long experience of working as a psychologist in medical and health care settings and works closely with staff in their experience of working in healthcare, as well as advising managers on matters of workforce wellbeing. Julie has worked with the British Psychological Society and its Division of Clinical Psychology in Wales. She led the BPS team writing the National Guidance for Staff in the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Julie works with the Welsh Assembly Government in various projects, including as the lead for Critical Care Workforce Task and Finish Group, and Modelling for Rehabilitation for patients post COVID-19, and the Wellbeing Conversation Tool. She has a number of publications and book chapters in the field of critical care, staff wellbeing, and leadership.

 

: @DrJulie_H

Gemma Jones

Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist for Critical Care, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

Gemma is a Speech and Language Therapist based in Cardiff with over 20 years of experience in Intensive Care. She specialises in dysphagia management, FEES, tracheostomy management, and supporting communication for patients who are critically ill.

Gemma is Chair of the National Specialist Interest Group for SLTs in Intensive Care and a member of the ICS AHP Professional Advisory Group. She also serves as a Specialist Advisor to the RCSLT for Critical Care. Her contributions include developing national policies and guidelines such as the ICS SLT Pillar, RCSLT Tracheostomy Competencies for SLTs, and the ICS Capability Framework.

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 Honorary Secretary. He is also the Society's Learning Division Chair leading the education and ultrasound programme across the UK.

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).  

Professor Hugh Montgomery

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 Ramani Moonesinghe OBE

National Clinical Director for Critical and Perioperative Care, NHS England

I am the National Clinical Director for Critical and Perioperative care at NHS England, a Professor at UCL and a consultant at UCL Hospitals (UCLH). During the pandemic, I provided national leadership for critical care – this included clinically leading the government’s Ventilator Challenge and overseeing all clinical and operational support for NHSE’s critical care response across a range of issues including workforce support (including securing £10 million to support mental health and wellbeing support for the critical care community), medicines and equipment procurement and clinical guidelines. Subsequently I led the NHSE critical care transformation programme which increased critical care bed capacity by 25%, commissioned regional adult critical care transfer services, provided intensive care training for thousands of nurses, pharmacists and AHPs, and supported service modernisation including enhanced care services. I continue in this role at NHSE, and in addition, during 2025, took on the full-time role of National Director of Patient Safety for 6 months. I am currently leading the development of the Modern Service Framework for Sepsis, which will commit to improving care and outcomes for patients with severe infection over the next 10 years, which will be published in 2026.  

Academically, I lead and support research across the translational pathway from device development and validation through to clinical trials and policy research. My academic roles include being head of the Research Dept for Targeted Intervention at UCL, Director of the NIHR Central London Patient Safety Research Collaboration and co-lead of the Critical and Perioperative Care theme of the UCLH Biomedical Research Centre. I have been chief investigator on research studies recruiting over 110,000 participants to the NIHR portfolio. I am a firm believer in supporting the role of the resident and non-medical workforce in clinical research.  I established high-profile resident-led infrastructure projects (e.g. the original “RAFT’ - first trainee research network in anaesthesia/perioperative care, and the RCoA’s trainee-led Sprint National Anaesthesia Project programme), and my studies have provided support for over 250 NIHR Associate Principal Investigators.  I also mentor early and mid-career researchers from the breadth of the NHS workforce including nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals.

Outside work, I am married to a very patient and supportive inventor and live in Sussex with him and our adopted children aged 6, 9 and 10. I was awarded the honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2021 for services to anaesthesia, perioperative and critical care.

: @rmoonesinghe

Professor Marlies Ostermann

ICS Director of Research, Consultant Intensivist and Nephrology, ESICM President-elect, UK

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 Deputy Chair of the AKI working group 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

Jack Parry-Jones

Consultant Intensivist and Vice Dean, FICM

I am a consultant in adult ICM in Cardiff; a large intensive care service including major trauma, neuro-critical care, CAR T therapies, and Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OOHCA). I have an interest in long-term complex intensive care patients, rehabilitation and intensive care follow up services.

I trained in medicine, anaesthesia, and ICM but have only worked in ICM since 2002. I am committed to the development of ICM as speciality in its own right and to a College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM). The keys to CICM lie in our members, with our commitment to education, examinations, advocacy, career long support, our professional standing with other specialities, research, development of standards and developing good strong relationships with other Colleges and professional Societies.

Professor Natalie Pattison

Professor of Clinical Nursing, University of Hertfordshire

Professor Natalie Pattison is a clinical academic who has worked clinically in cancer, critical care and critical care outreach. She is a Professor of Clinical Nursing with a joint appointment across the University of Hertfordshire and East and North Herts NHS Trust. Natalie also holds a Researcher in Residence (ICU) position at Imperial College London, working in the CATO team, with an honorary contract with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She is the clinical lead for critical care follow-up services, combining this with a research role. Her research interests focus on her clinical area of critical care and critically ill ward patients, end of life in critical care, and disability in critical care. She is widely published in critical care supportive care.  She is Chair of the National Outreach Forum, immediate past-Chair of UK Critical Care Research Group, and the UK Critical Care Nursing Alliance. She is also Deputy Lead for the National Institute for Health Research National Specialty Group for Critical Care.

: @drnatpat

Professor Susanna Price

Consultant Cardiologist & Intensivist, Royal Brompton Hospital

Professor Susanna Price trained at King's College London, and continued training in cardiology and intensive care medicine at a number of centres, including St Thomas', St George's and Royal Brompton hospitals, London. During her cardiology training, she undertook a fellowship in echocardiography at the Thoraxcenter, Rotterdam and on completion of her training, she was awarded the Jill Dando GUCH fellowship, allowing her to train for a further two years in imaging and management of the critically ill grown-up congenital heart disease (GUCH) patients. 

She has extensive expertise in critical care cardiology, including extracorporeal support and adult congenital heart disease, as well as echocardiography for valvular heart disease and intensive care/peri-procedural transoesophageal echocardiogram.

Professor Price is Chair of the Pan-London Cardiogenic Shock Board, NHS London, aiming to improve survival of patients with cardiogenic shock. She is Vice President of the European Society of Cardiology,  sits on the on the global ELSO board of directors,  is a member of ECMONet, as well as a WHO advisor for acute cardiovascular disease, and a Deputy Editor of the European Heart Journal. She received Honorary Membership of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) for her exceptional contribution to the ESICM and the speciality of intensive care medicine over a prolonged period. 

Professor Charlotte Summers

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine , University of Cambridge

Charlotte graduated in both Biomedical Sciences and Medicine from the University of Southampton, and later undertook a PhD at the University of Cambridge investigating the role of inflammation on the pulmonary transit kinetics of human neutrophils, alongside specialist clinical training in Respiratory (East of England) and Intensive Care Medicine (London).  She was subsequently appointed as the UK’s first NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine, and went on to be awarded a Fulbright All-disciplines Scholar Award and a Wellcome Trust Fellowship for Postdoctoral Clinician Scientists.  Charlotte joined the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine in 2015 from University of California, San Francisco.

: @charlot_summers

Ema Swingwood

Consultant Physiotherapist, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Ema is a Consultant Therapist (Physiotherapist by background) in Critical Care at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. Her area of clinical expertise and interest is ventilation, weaning and complex airway clearance. 

Having completed the Advanced Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy Msc programme at University College London (UCL) in 2012, Ema has continued her research focusing on the use of Mechanical Insufflation-Exsufflation (MI-E) and other cough augmentation strategies. Her current PhD work focuses on the use of MI-E in the intubated population which is funded through the NIHR Clinical Academic Research Fellowship pathway. 

Extra-curricular activities include contributions to the Undergraduate Physiotherapy programme at the University of the West of England, and post-graduate teachings at University College London and Brunel University. She sits on the Intensive Care Society Physiotherapy Professional Advisory Group and Education Committee, the Equity, Diversity and Belonging Committee of the CSP, and ICUsteps support group network. She has been part of the multi-professional authorship for BTS/ICS documents related to Respiratory Support Units and Weaning Centres. Most recently, she is part of the NHSElect working group for the development of a Critical Care Capability Framework.

: @emaroids1

Dr Jonny Wilkinson

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthetist, 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