THET

Independent Selection Panel chosen for Funding Scheme

Posted on 27. Sep, 2009 by Erin in Latest News

THET and the British Council are pleased to announce the Independent Selection Panel for the International Health Links Funding Scheme.

The Panel is made up of seven volunteers offering a wealth of experience in international health, international development, the management of international partnerships and grant making. Their role is to review, assess and make decisions on awarding the IHLFS large and medium grants. They may also advise on the Scheme. The Panel is chaired by Professor Anne Tattersfield who will have final decision making power.

The Panel is independent of THET and the British Council – THET and BC will not have any decision making powers on matters entrusted to the IHLFS Selection Panel. In the event that a Panel member has a personal or professional association with an applying organisation which presents a conflict of interests, they will not take part in judging that proposal.

Selection Panel Members:

Professor Anne Tattersfield (Chair)
Dr Peter Poore OBE (Deputy Chair)
Dr Titilola Banjoko
Professor David Mabey
Dr Gillian Holdsworth
Marian Surgenor
Denis Hawes

Professor Anne Tattersfield (Chair)
Professor Tattersfield was Chair of the Respiratory Medicine Department in Nottingham from 1984 to 2005. Anne has extensive experience of leadership and committee management having held places on a variety of panels and boards, including the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Respiratory and Allergy Advisory Group, and the Department of Health Committee on the Medical Effect of Air Pollutants.

Dr Peter Poore OBE (Deputy Chair)
Peter has 35 years experience of health care delivery in developing countries, including Ghana, Tanzania, and Papua New Guinea. He joined Save the Children Fund in 1983 as Health Adviser to the Fund’s global campaign to Stop Polio and the Expanded Programme on Immunisation and subsequently worked as the Fund’s senior health adviser responsible for all aspects of its health sector work. In 2000, he became an independent consultant and has since worked for a range of UN, government and non government agencies.

He currently serves on the Board of Evidence for Development, and the Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health. He was awarded an OBE in 2001.

Dr Titilola Banjoko
Dr Banjoko successfully pioneered the formation, and is currently chairperson, of AfricaRecruit. The organisation seeks to build human capital and skills capacity in Africa by strengthening the human resource framework on the continent, mobilising skills inside and outside Africa to address policy and skills shortages in operational areas. AfricaRecruit also seeks to mobilise the African Diaspora to investment in Africa.

Titilola has over fifteen years’ experience in international development and has designed and executed a wide range of projects in both the private and public sector, including the NHS in the United Kingdom, healthcare services in Africa and the Commonwealth Business Council UK. She holds a Fellowship of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons England and a Masters in Healthcare Management from the University of Wales.

Professor David Mabey
Professor Mabey is a physician specialising in infectious and tropical diseases. He worked for 8 years as a clinician at the MRC laboratories in The Gambia, and was in charge of clinical services there from 1982-86. He has been Professor of Communicable Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) since 1994. He is also an Honorary Consultant Physician at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. David has been Director of the Wellcome Trust Bloomsbury Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine since 1995, and was responsible for the Knowledge Programme on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections, funded at LSHTM by DFID from 1991-2007.

At the LSHTM, David teaches on the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the MSc courses in Tropical Medicine and International Health and in the Control of Infectious Diseases. David’s research interests are in both trachoma and sexually transmitted infections in particular, and most of his field work has been done in The Gambia and Tanzania.

Dr Gillian Holdsworth
Since 2002, Dr Holdsworth has been a Consultant in Public Health for Southwark Primary Care Trust where she is the public health lead for women and children’s services, sexual health and the link to the health protection unit. She is also the Screening Commissioner and Educational Supervisor for Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Primary Care Trusts.

Gillian has extensive experience in strategic leadership and public health both in the UK overseas. Between 2001 and 2004, she was the Asia Regional Coordinator for the International Trachoma Initiative. Prior to this she managed primary care development programmes with Health Unlimited in a range of countries including Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Namibia. She has previous experience of working both with DFID in Lesotho and as a field doctor for the British Nepal Medical Trust, and currently is one of their Trustees. She also has an MSc in Community Health in Developing Countries from LSHTM.

Marian Surgenor
Mrs Surgenor began her nursing career in Scotland in the 1970s and has a wealth of experience gained through a variety of midwifery and nursing roles. In 2004, she became Lead Clinical Skills Tutor in Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, a role in which she was responsible for the management of the Clinical Skills Unit and for teaching clinical skills to the undergraduate medical students.

In October 2008, while continuing with her role as Lead Clinical Skills Tutor, she took over as the Trust’s lead on Global Health. Earlier this year she became Head of Global Health Development/Inter-professional Lead at the University Hospital of South Manchester Education Academy, leading on the development of international health initiatives. She is also the UK Co-ordinator for the Health Link between South Manchester and Gulu, Uganda.