Mindset Advisory Board members

Chris Hollis is Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Nottingham, Director of the NIHR MindTech MedTech Co-operative and leads the NIHR Nottingham BRC Mental Health and Technology Theme. Chris trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, where he was awarded an MRC Training Fellowship and completed his PhD on the long-term adult outcome adolescent-onset psychosis. He works as a Consultant in Developmental Neuropsychiatry with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and leads a regional lifespan neurodevelopmental service, including a Tourette's Clinic and Adult ADHD Clinic based at Queen's Medical Centre. His clinical and research interests include ADHD, Tourette syndrome, early onset schizophrenia and the development, evaluation and implementation of digital technologies to support better mental health. As Director of MindTech, Chris is passionate about harnessing digital technology and building its evidence-base in mental healthcare by bringing together patients, clinicians, academics and technology developers.

In 2020, Chris was a contributor to the 2020 World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) report: The digital mental health revolution: Transforming care through innovation and scale-up. He was the recipient of the Association of Child of Child & Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) Digital Innovation Award 2020. He recently led the James Lind Alliance priority Setting Partnership's Top 10 research priorities for digital technology in mental healthcare (Hollis et al. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018 Oct;5(10):845-854). Chris chaired the NICE Guideline for schizophrenia and psychosis in children and young people (2011-13) and was a member of the 2018 NICE ADHD (Update) Guideline Committee. He is a member of Innovate UK's Digital Health Strategy Group. In 2015, Chris received a prestigious NIHR Senior Investigator Award. This distinguished accolade was awarded for a further 4 years in April 2019.

Chris has recently joined the Experts by Evidence subgroup of the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Taskforce.

Contact details: chris.hollis@nottingham.ac.uk

Jen is the Deputy Director at NIHR MindTech and oversees all activities and projects. Jen works closely with the Director, Chris, to develop the overall MindTech strategy and ensure their response to the latest changes in the digital technology landscape.  Jen manages relationships with their partners in industry, academia, the NHS and the 3rd sector and is also responsible for capturing the impact of work and communicating this to funders and other stakeholders. 

Jen has a PhD in Human Factors and has worked in health technology development and evaluation for more than 20 years.  Prior to joining MindTech, Jen was Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Engineering at Nottingham University and Human Factors lead at the NHS National Patient Safety Agency. Jen recently led the implementation workstream of gameChange (VR to transform the lives of people with psychosis) as well as our evaluation of the Lumi Nova game, which has been recommended by NICE for the treatment of anxiety in children.

Contact details: Jennifer.Martin@nottingham.ac.uk

Kathryn is Professor of Psychological Medicine and Reproductive Psychiatry at the University of Manchester. She is Director of the Centre for Women’s Mental Health within the Division of Psychology and Mental Health. She is also an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist in Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust and has been at the forefront of policy and service developments for women in mental health services. With the Department of Health, she developed an open access e-learning resource for mental health professionals. 

Kathryn has a wealth of experience delivering mental health research in NHS settings and is the Greater Manchester NIHR Clinical Local Research Network Lead for Dendron, Mental Health and Neurology delivering high quality research for NHS patients.

Contact details: Kathryn.M.Abel@manchester.ac.uk

Peter is the Director for EDI and Involvement with Rethink Mental Illness, a leading national mental health charity working to help those affected by severe mental illness. Peter’s role focuses on EDI, anti-racism and involvement strategies. Prior to joining Rethink, Peter spent nearly two decades in the Civil Service at the Home Office, where he held senior operational, policy, HR, and EDI roles. Peter also did a 12-month secondment at the Metropolitatan Police where he led on the overhaul of the Met’s internal grievance and discrimination complaints procedure following a high-profile investigation into the Met by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Prior to leaving the civil service, Peter supported Wendy Williams CBE on her review of the Home Office's progress on implementing the 30 recommendations in her Windrush Lessons Learned Review into the Windrush scandal. Peter led the written assessment on the operational effectiveness of the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which was published in the Windrush Lessons Learned Review Progress Update Report in March 2022. 

Peter is a Trustee with the Centre for Mental Health and chair of its Equality Committee; an advisory board member with the Health Innovation Network - South London and an EDI Panel Member on the Football Association’s Anti-Discrimination Judicial Panel. 

Contact details: Peter.Alleyne@rethink.org

Dr. Paul Best is the Research Director for the Centre for Technological Innovation, Mental Health, and Education at Queen’s University, Belfast. This Centre is a trans-disciplinary partnership between academics, practitioners, and technology companies, focused on advancing mental health and social care through digital innovations.

Dr. Best has published several journal articles in the field of digital mental health and serves on the editorial board of Frontiers in Digital Health. He is also the Principal Investigator on multiple digital mental health projects in Northern Ireland involving Immersive Technology (NI). In addition to his research, Dr. Best is a member of the Department of Health’s (NI) Digital Mental Health Forum, which is responsible for developing the Digital Mental Health Action Plan as part of the wider Mental Health Strategy (2021-2031). He also participates in the Digital Health and Social Care NI’s Capacity and Capability Group, which oversees the development and implementation of digital skills training for health and social care professionals in Northern Ireland.

Beyond his academic work, Dr. Best continues to practice as a CBT therapist specialising in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), offering his services free of charge to local mental health charities in Northern Ireland.

Contact details: p.best@qub.ac.uk

Dr Lynsey Bilsland is the Head of the Mental Health Translation team at Wellcome, which aims to develop a diverse global portfolio of tools and interventions to catalyse progress towards early identification, prediction and intervention, and support our mission to drive a step change in early intervention in mental health. Previously, Lynsey was Deputy Head of the Innovations programme team, which funded targeted translational research to maximise patient impact. She had strategic oversight of a diverse global healthcare portfolio, including commercial and non-commercial projects, across multiple disease indications, developmental stages and modalities. Lynsey also developed and led the Innovations Psychosis Flagship, which aimed to reduce the global burden of psychosis by developing innovations to improve diagnosis and monitor disease progression and by developing novel, targeted interventions to ultimately improve outcomes for patients. Lynsey joined Wellcome in 2009, initially in the Neuroscience and Mental Health team, in the Science division, where her role was to oversee the molecular and cellular neuroscience portfolio, identify and develop strategic funding initiatives and build relationships with stakeholders within UK neuroscience.

Prior to joining Wellcome, Lynsey was a postdoctoral research fellow, funded by the Motor Neuron Disease Association and Cancer Research UK. Her research focussed on developing in vivo imaging methods to evaluate the contribution of defective axonal transport in Motor Neuron Disease pathogenesis. Lynsey gained her PhD in Neuroscience from University College London and also holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Pharmacology from the University of Glasgow. 

Contact details: L.Bilsland@wellcome.org

Joanne is currently the Head of Engagement at the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre. (DHI) As an organisation, DHI is tasked with delivering innovation in digital health and care that will help Scotland’s people to live longer, healthier lives, deliver sustainable health and care services for the future and create economic benefits for Scotland. DHI provides opportunities for Scotland’s public sector, academia and industry to co-design digital solutions to some of the country’s biggest health and care challenges working with patients, service users and their families.

Joanne was previously the National Lead for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) working across Health, Social Care and Education sectors to implement the recommendations of the AAC strategy in Scotland. She is an Occupational Therapist who also qualified and practised in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, before moving into more strategic based roles. Joanne has worked in DHI since its early inception and currently leads the national Innovation Clusters for Digital Mental Health and Healthy Ageing.

Contact details: Joanne.boyle@dhi-scotland.com

Julian David is the CEO of techUK, the UK technology trade association, representing over 1,000 member companies with more than 800,000 employees in the UK. Julian leads the company’s 90-person team working to deliver positive outcomes from digital technology for People, Society, the Economy and the Planet. Julian led the transformation of techUK from its predecessor Intellect in 2013, putting an increased focus on the economic growth and skilled jobs the technology industry offers in a global economy. In 2021 techUK launched TechSkills, an expanded company based on the Tech Partnership, the employer-led organisation that aims to improve access and increase the flow of talent into the digital workforce.

Julian has over thirty years experience in the technology industry. Prior to joining techUK, he worked in many roles at IBM, culminating as Vice President for Small and Medium Business and then Public Sector. After leaving IBM he worked as a consultant helping tech SMEs establish successful operations in the U.K.

Contact details: Julian.David@techuk.org 

Jason is a lived experience consultant who uses his knowledge, skills and experience to improve outcomes for people within the mental health system. Jason currently works at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust in a community mental health service and is a strategic lived experience practitioner for the Trauma Informed Collaborative. He is a patient representative for the Accreditation of Community Mental Health Services and the National Clinical Audit of Psychosis at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

As a lived experience consultant, Jason is currently working on a range of research studies with the Mental Health Implementation Network and a programme of research investigating Recovery Colleges at Kings College London. Jason sits on various mental health advisory boards including the National Institute for Health and Care Research; Applied Research Collaborative Kent, Surrey and Sussex; Healthy Brains Global Initiative’s Lived Experience Council; and Health Innovation Network’s Mindset XR Innovation Support Programme.

Dr Nick Peres is a pioneering force in digital healthcare innovation, currently serving as the Programme Director of Innovation and Transformation at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust. With over 20 years of experience spanning broadcast media, innovation and the NHS, Nick has established himself as a leader in the application of emerging technologies to healthcare.

Nick's expertise lies in developing and implementing cutting-edge XR (Extended Reality) solutions in healthcare settings. His work supports digital research and development projects, digital health fellowships, and digital literacy initiatives. As an advisor to NHS organisations and the University of Plymouth, Nick plays a vital role in shaping the future of digital health innovation across the UK. With a passion for bridging technology and compassionate care, Nick continues to push the boundaries of what's possible in healthcare education and patient care through innovative digital solutions. His work exemplifies the NHS's commitment to embracing technological advancements to improve patient outcomes and staff experiences.

Contact details: nick.peres@nhs.net

Dr Neil Ralph is the Deputy Director of Technology Enhanced Learning at NHS England (NHSE TEL), leading a national function within the NHS that aims to maximise the impact of learning technologies and simulation-based education in how we train and educate the health and care workforce.

Contact details: neil.ralph2@nhs.net 

Dr James Woollard is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, and National Specialty Advisor in Digital Mental Health at NHS England. James currently works across all levels of the NHS system focusing on how digital cultures, practices and technologies can transform mental health care. Over the last nine years at NHS England, he has supported the development and delivery of national policy programmes to improve digital maturity in mental health services, the integration of digital health technologies into pathways, and workforce capabilities around digital practices. He chairs the regional London Digital Mental Health Forum and provides clinical leadership in the digital mental health space to the NHS England London regional digital team. He is working with colleagues to support collaboration on shared regional priorities for digital transformation in mental health services.

As CCIO for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, James is clinically leading digital transformation that takes a design thinking-based approach to the optimisation of existing systems and adoption of innovation to improve clinical safety and effectiveness of care, reduce the use of shadow IT, and improve the experience of staff. As a senior clinician in a busy integrated neurodevelopmental service, he has worked with his team to adapt and adopt new ways of working with technology to manage the needs of a growing caseload of young people and their families. He has previously published a book with Dr Victoria Betton on supporting professionals in engaging young people about their mental health and online worlds.

Contact details: james.woollard1@nhs.net