We are here to support NHS and healthcare colleagues to use genomics safely, effectively, and appropriately within their clinical practice, providing supported learning and adoption of genomics into patient care, for all.
Our team
Professor William Newman
Clinical Director
Dr Catherine Breen
Deputy Clinical Director
Professor James Hill
Deputy Clinical Director
Professor James Hill is a Clinical Professor of Colorectal Surgery.
He is the Past President of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.
He has a long-standing interest in the genetics of colorectal cancer and familial colorectal cancer and has co-authored the recently published national guidelines on the management of these patients. His research collaborations have included establishing techniques for the diagnosis of Lynch syndrome and the international Prospective Lynch Syndrome database.
Stuart Bayliss
Alliance Director
Barbara Coleman
Communications and PPIE Lead
Glenda Beaman
Workforce Development and HEE Liaison Lead
Kate Dack
Genomic Educator
Kate is one of our Genomic Educators and she has spent over 15 years working in engagement and education roles in the NHS.
Following her genetics degree, she trained as a genetic counsellor and one of her placements was at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, which is where her passion for genetics education began in 2001. Prior to joining the Alliance, Kate worked for NW Genetic Knowledge Park, Nowgen, and the NHS National Genetics Education and Development Centre.
Lisa Dowell
Genomic Educator
Lisa Dowell, Genomic Educator has worked in the NHS for over 15 years. Prior to working for the Alliance, Lisa worked as the 100,000 Genomes Education and Training Project Manager for the North West Coast
Scott Watson
Chief Information Officer (interim)
Mike Parkinson
Technical Project Manager
Adele Kilcourse
Data Analyst
Waheeda Abbas
Midwifery Lead
Waheeda is the Midwifery Lead for the NHS North West Genomic Medicine Service Alliance.
Her role is to provide operational leadership to midwives across the North West, in support of the development of genomics in healthcare and delivery of transformational projects within midwifery practice.
Waheeda has over 20 years of experience in midwifery practice as a midwife, and more recently as a Specialist Cultural Liaison and Specialist Haemoglobinopathy midwife and counsellor.
Jessica Keen
Lead Pharmacist
Jessica Keen is the Pharmacy Lead for the NHS North West Genomic Medicine Service Alliance.
Her role is to engage the pharmacy workforce across the region; supporting them to access genomics education and training so that they can embed genomic medicine into routine clinical pathways and ensure equity of access to genomic testing and treatments for patients. She is the pharmacy lead for the PROGRESS programme (Delivering Pharmacogenetics for the NHS).
She has recently completed an MSc in Genomic Medicine at the University of Manchester, with particular interest in the role of pharmacy teams and the wider workforce in the implementation of pharmacogenomics in the NHS. Her background is as an oncology pharmacist prescriber, where she has seen the benefit of genomics to inform treatment from diagnosis through to stratification and medicines optimisation.
Ben McIntyre
Senior Pharmacist
Eva Whitaker
Senior Clinical Trials Coordinator - The PROGRESS study
Anthony Sutcliffe
Senior Programme Manager
Anthony is our Senior Programme Manager. Anthony has worked in the healthcare industry for over 7 years, previously working for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), leading the training programme in asymptomatic testing for Test and Trace workforce across the UK. In addition to his work for UKHSA, Anthony has previously worked in project management roles with high-profile pharmaceutical companies both at home and abroad.
Salim Ahmed
Project Manager