The Team

Dr David Elliman, DCH FRCP FRCPCH FFPH

Programme Centre Strategic Director

David has been consultant in community child health for Islington PCT and Great Ormond Street Hospital since 2003. Prior to that he was a consultant at St George's Hospital in south west London for 12 years.

His main interests are in immunisation, health promotion and screening. From January 2000 to March 2005 he was chair of the child health sub-group of the National Screening Committee (NSC) and continues to be a member of the NSC and its fetal, maternal and child health sub-group.

David is an officer to the newborn physical screening group which is drawing up standards for the newborn physical examination.

Alongside Professor David Hall, he co-authored the fourth edition of ‘eHealth for all Children’, published in 2003. This document, drawn up by a multidisciplinary group, lays out national guidance on most aspects of community child health. These include child health promotion and screening, as well as the care of children with special needs, e.g. disabilities, those in need of protection and children in need. David was also a member of the working group that advised on the well child elements of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. He is co-author of a book for parents on immunisation.

Professor Carol Dezateux, MSc MD FRCP FRCPCH MFPHM

Programme Centre Deputy Strategic  Director and Epidemiologist

Carol Dezateux is Professor of Paediatric Epidemiology and Head of the Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Institute of Child Health, London. She obtained an MSc in Epidemiology with distinction under Professor Geoffrey Rose at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Her research entails the application of epidemiological methods to clinical and public health problems in child health, with particular emphasis on the epidemiology, natural history, detection, prevention and management of genetic and developmental childhood disorders.

Carol has published studies of the pre- and post-natal environmental and genetic influences on airway growth and development, as well as research on the epidemiology, aetiology, early detection and management of congenital dislocation of the hip, congenital cataract, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disorders. One example of her current research is a meta-analysis of newborn screening trials for cystic fibrosis. She is also currently a principal investigator of a national collaborative study to evaluate newborn screening for medium chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency using tandem mass spectrometry.

As Stategic Co-Director and Epidemiologist to the UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre, Carol contributes to the strategic development of the centre and has specific responsibility for convening multidisciplinary groups to develop: standards in relation to the storage and use of residual dried blood spots, including consent for, and oversight of their use; surveillance systems to identify children not diagnosed through screening; new patient registers to facilitate follow up and assessment of longer term outcomes in children affected by the disorders for which screening is offered; custodianship of the earlier MRC/DH funded national PKU and hypothyroidism registers; information systems to support operational aspects of newborn screening and to facilitate data collection in relation to agreed standards for process and outcome measures; statistical analyses of annual datasets to provide a national picture of the performance and quality of newborn screening.

Dr Sandy Oliver, PhD

Parent Support Research Director

Dr Sandy Oliver's interests combine evidence-informed decision making for policy and practice with involving service users in planning and evaluating health services. She has systematically reviewed health promotion and policy literature, taught critical appraisal skills and involved service users in generating and using research evidence for personal, policy and practice decisions about health.

Dr Oliver is leading the centre's parent support research programme, developing evidence-informed resources for parents and health professionals, and supporting parents who work in partnership with the centre to set standards for newborn blood spot screening.

Dr Oliver is a senior research officer at the Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

Paul Griffiths

Laboratory Lead

Paul Griffiths was appointed Laboratory Lead for the Programme Centre in February 2011. Paul is Director of Newborn Screening for the West Midlands and Clinical Lead for the Paediatric Clinical Chemistry Department and Clinical Inherited Metabolic Disorders (IMD) Services based at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Paul is also currently Director of the Down's Screening Laboratory based at Birmingham Women's Hospital.

Paul has had a long standing involvement in newborn screening, participating in the roll-out of screening for congenital hypothyroidism in the early 1980's and many newborn screening IT developments. Paul has recently been Chairman of the UK Newborn Screening Laboratories Network.

Cathy Coppinger RGN, RM, ADM, MSc

Programme Manager

Cathy Coppinger joined the team as Programme Manager in December 2005; prior to her appointment Cathy was a Head of Midwifery in King’s Lynn and a Supervisor of Midwives. She has worked as a part-time Child Health Coordinator for the Antenatal and Child Health Screening team in the East of England.

In 2004 Cathy was seconded to the UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre as Pilot and Implementation Co-ordinator. She was responsible for auditing the process standards in the Strategic Health Authority of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Cathy currently holds a midwifery bank contract.

Christine Cavanagh RGN, RM, MSc

Programme Manager

Christine is a practising midwife who previously worked for the UKNSPC in 2003/4 piloting ten blood spot process standards in Bromley and Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. She was then appointed to two part-time positions as Screening Choices Project Training Coordinator and South East Region Child Health Screening Coordinator. Christine returned to the Programme Centre in December 2005 as Programme Manager.

Emma Scott

Office Manager / PA

Emma joined the Programme Centre in 2008 as Office Manager / PA. With a background in chemistry and nursing, Emma worked in Australia in pharmaceutical sales covering a large area of country Victoria promoting a cardiovascular related product.

Emma ensures effective running of the UK Newborn Screening Programme Centre and provides comprehensive administrative and secretarial support for the management team.

Tessa Morgan

Data Manager

Tessa joined the Programme Centre in October 2010. Since graduating from Nottingham Trent University, Tessa has spent three years in Administration and Performance Management roles within the NHS.

Within the Programme Centre, Tessa is responsible for ensuring that high quality and often complex information from a range of sources is appropriately collected, collated, analysed, interpreted and reported for use at operational and strategic levels to inform decision making and performance management in newborn blood spot screening.

Radhika Rajani

Project Assistant

Radhika joined the Programme Centre in January 2011, following her graduation from Aston University with a BSc in Human Psychology.

Radhika has previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Psychiatry, on a project researching Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in pregnancy and the postpartum.

As Project Assistant, Radhika supports the Congenital Hypothyroidism Board, the UK Laboratory Quality Assessment Development Group and has assisted with the implementation of the Bar-coded NHS Number Label across maternity units in England.

Lucy Pylypiw

Project Assistant

Lucy joined the Programme Centre in May 2011. Since graduating from Warwick University with a BSc in Biology, Lucy has spent three years in biochemistry publishing roles. She recently completed a gap year in Australia where she worked as a Literacy and ESL Teaching Assistant.

Satveer Kour

Programme Centre Secretary

Satveer joined the Programme Centre in May 2011. Satveer previously worked for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service as a Medical Secretary for over two years.

As Programme Centre Secretary, Satveer will be providing general secretarial support to the Programme Centre as well as administering the senior management team meetings and joint meetings between the regional teams, NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme and the UKNSPC.