RECOVERY AND
REHABILITATION
SYMPOSIUM
23-24 July 2019, Diamond Building, Sheffield
Programme and Speaker Biographies
RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION SYMPOSIUM
PROGRAMME
DAY ONE: 23 JUL 2019
0900-0910 OPENING ADDRESS
SESSION ONE: HISTORY OF MILITARY INJURY CHAIR: AIR CDRE WITHNALL
0910-0935 The history of combat injury, rehabilitation and recovery
DR EMILY MAYHEW
SESSION TWO: INJURY CHAIR: LT COL AL MOUNTAIN
0935-1000 The science of blast injury: why is it so bad?
PROF ANTHONY BULL
1000-1025 Trauma Surgery- What we learned, how we improved?
SIR KEITH PORTER
1025-1050 UK Military Injury in Afghanistan and Iraq: The Size and Severity of the
Problem.
SURG CAPT JASON SMITH
1050-1100 Panel discussion
COFFEE
SESSION THREE: MILITARY REHABILITATION CHAIR: COL ALASTAIR NICOL
1130-1150 Key principals of military complex trauma rehabilitation
COL RHODRI PHILIP
1150-1210 Evolution and innovation in prosthetics
COL ALAN MISTLIN
1210-1230 The amputee rehabilitation pathway: room for improvement?
MAJ PETE LE FEUVRE
1230-1245 Panel discussion
LUNCH SESSION FOUR:PART I
RECOVERY AND REINTERGRATION
CHAIR: COL NEIL SMITH
1345-1410 Recovery and Reintegration- A Holistic Approach from Defence
HELEN HELLIWELL
1410-1435 Help for Heroes and Military Charities- Why the Third Sector is
Essential?
MEL WATERS
1435-1500 The Scar free Foundation: The Role of Medical Research in Recovery and
reintegration
BRENDAN ELEY
COFFEE
SESSION FOUR:PART 2
1530-1550 Reintegration by assisted activities- The Success of Battle back.
MARTIN COLCLOUGH
1550-1605 The effect of Invictus on the recovery journey
DR SHIRAZIPOUR
1605-1625 Defence Recovery Capability WG CDR TRACY PILKINGTON
1625-1650 The Impact of Sepsis- The Shock of Survival
DR RON DANIELS
1650-1700 Panel discussion 1700-17.10 CLOSING REMARKS AIR CDRE WITHNAL
DAY TWO:24 JUL 2019
SESSION FIVE THE LONG TERM OUTCOMES OF MILITARY SERVICE AND COMBAT
TRAUMA
CHAIR: AIR CDRE WITHNALL
0830-0855 The consequences of military service- what has the King’s Cohort
study taught us?
SIR SIMON WESSELY
0855-0920 The ADVANCE Study- The long term medical and psychosocial outcomes
of combat trauma
GP CAPT ALEX BENNETT
0920-0945 The effect of combat Trauma on Cardiovascular Health- Initial results
from the ADVANCE study
PROF CHRISTOPHER BOOS
0945-1010 Wounded Warrior Recovery Project- US military combat trauma
outcomes
DR JESSICA WATROUS
1010-1020 PANEL DISCUSSION
COFFEE
SESSION SIX THE PATIENT AND FAMILY PERSPECTIVE
CHAIR: CAPT (RN) SIMON JOLL
1045-1110 The effect of military service and injury on families
PROF NICOLA FEAR
1110-1135 The impact on families supported by the Royal British Legion
ANTHONY BAINES
1135-1200 Caring and Coping: The Family Perspective on Living with Limb Loss
BARRY LE GRYS/HEATHER BETTS
1200-1225 What about me?- The Patient’s perspective
CAPT (RTD) DAVE HENSON
1225-12.40 Panel discussion 12.40-12.45 Closing remarks AIR CDRE WITHNALL
Air Cdre Rich Withnall QHS MD MA MSc MBBS FRCGP CMgr RAF Head Research and Clinical Innovation
Air Commodore Rich Withnall joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a Medical Cadet in 1990 and qualified from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University of London in 1992. He undertook General Practice Vocational Training at Princess Mary’s RAF Hospital, Halton and Peterborough Hospitals National Health Service Trust. His UK postings have included Senior Medical Officer appointments on fast jet, multi-engine and rotary flying stations, and the RAF’s recruit Phase 1 training unit. He has undertaken Command & Staff appointments at HQ Personnel and Training Command, HQ AIR Command, HQ Surgeon General and the Ministry of Defence. His overseas experience includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cyprus, Denmark, the Falkland Islands, Ghana, Iraq, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Norway, Romania and the United Arab Emirates.
He was appointed as Advisor in General Practice (RAF) in 2005, then undertook the Advanced Command & Staff Course in 2007-8, winning both the Brooke-Popham Prize for the Best Defence Research Paper and the Sir Michael Howard Prize for the Best MA student. After a tour as SO1 Med Pol in the Ministry of Defence, Rich returned to HQ AIR Command as Deputy Director Health Services (RAF) in 2010. He was selected as the first RAF Defence Professor of General Practice & Primary Care in 2013. In 2017, he became the first primary care clinician to be appointed as the Defence Medical Services’ Medical Director. Rich has remained clinically current throughout, revalidating with a licence to practise in 2013. He is on the National Performers List. An accredited GP Trainer and Appraiser Trainer since 2002, and an RCGP Examiner since 2005, Rich became a Fellow of the RCGP in 2006. He is a member of RCGP Council, the RCGP’s International Medical Director, and Deputy Clinical Lead for the MRCGP Clinical Skills Assessment. He is the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s GP Advisor, a GP Specialty Advisor to the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and Convener of the World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Association of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) Special Interest Group on Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine. Rich is a Chartered Manager and has undertaken the RAF’s Strategic Leadership and Development Programme. He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two children. He remains a keen motorcyclist and fly-fisherman but, despite being very proud to have captained the RAF Medical Services rugby team, Rich has now hung-up his rugby boots in favour of season tickets at Gloucester Rugby (where watching is sometimes more painful than playing!)
Gp Capt Alexander Bennett PhD FRCP MFSEM Defence Professor of Rheumatology & Rehabilitation
Gp Capt Alexander Bennett joined the RAF in August 2000. He has been a Consultant in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court and Stanford Hall since October 2008, the Head of the Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation since June 2011 and is the RAF Consultant Advisor in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation. He was appointed Defence Professor of Rheumatology & Rehabilitation in March 2017 and Honorary Clinical Professor at the University of Loughborough in May 2018. He is a clinical academic and has published widely in the fields of Rheumatology, Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine in particular in the fields of early diagnosis and prognosis in seronegative inflammatory arthritis
/spondylitis and in musculoskeletal injury. He has lectured on many occasions at national, European and American conferences. He is a Fellow of Royal College of Physicians and a member of the British Society for Rheumatology, the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine and the International Society of Assessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis (ASAS) and is the secretary to the British Society of Spondyloarthritis (BRITSpA). Gp Capt Bennett oversees all research at the Academic Department of Military Rehabilitation, which focuses on trauma rehabilitation and outcome, musculoskeletal injury and disease. He is the Chief investigator of the ADVANCE Study, a 20yr cohort study investigating medical and psycho-social outcomes of combat casualties with multimillion pound funding and is also principal investigator to another 3 large randomized controlled trials investigating interventions for musculoskeletal injury and supervising multiple PhD studies. He has successfully raised over £7million in grant funding for research for the benefit of military personnel.
Col Alastair M Nicol MBChB MSc Dip IMC RCS(Ed) FFSEM(UK) L/RAMC
AH Rehab HQ DPHC and DCA Rehab
Col Alastair Nicol is now Head of Defence Rehabilitation and the Consultant Advisor. He also has a lot of experience in elite sport, having been at the last three Commonwealth Games with Scotland as Team Doctor, he was CMO of the Prep Camp prior to the Rio Olympics in 2016 with Team GB and is one of the Team GB Doctors for the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Dr Emily Mayhew Author and Military Medical Historian
Dr Mayhew is a military medical historian specialising in the study of severe casualty, its infliction, treatment and long-term outcomes in 20th and 21st century warfare. She is historian in residence in the Department of Bioengineering, working primarily with the researchers and staff of The Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies, and a Research Fellow in the Division of Surgery within the Department of Surgery and Cancer. She is based jointly in the Department of
Bioengineering and at the Chelsea and Westminster campus. (Or, as a colleague put it recently when he introduced me: "this is Emily. She's a historian. It's complicated.") Emily is the Imperial Lead on the Paediatric Blast Injury Partnership, part of the Centre for Blast Injury Studies network.
Lt Col Al Mountain Consultant Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgeon
Joined RAMC as medical cadet in 1990
Served in NI as RMO to 1st Bn Highlanders and 1 RRF
Surgical training on South Coast based around Portsmouth
Operational Tours NI and Bosnia
Higher Surgical Training in North East of England
Appointed Consultant to QE UHB in 2010 and developed
interest in post-traumatic hindfoot reconstruction.
Served with 16 Medical Regiment (2013-2016)
Completed 4 tours of Afghanistan.
Has worked at Royal Stoke University Hospital and North
Midlands MTC since 2015
Awarded Surgeon General Individual Quality Improvement Award 2017 for services to British
Forces Germany.
Appointed Consultant Adviser (Army) in Trauma & Orthopaedics to SHA December 2018
Regional Surgical Adviser to Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) July 2018
National Clinical Director of European Trauma Course UK
International Chair of Course Management Committee for ETC
Professor Anthony Bull FREng
Head, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London
Anthony is Professor of Musculoskeletal Mechanics at Imperial
College London and leads the Royal British Legion Centre for
Blast Injury Studies that has worked since 2008 on translational
research into the mitigation, protection, treatment, and
rehabilitation of blast injuries. He also serves on the ADVANCE
study Project Board, the 20 year cohort study following the war
wounded from Afghanistan.
A mechanical engineer by background, Professor Bull’s
research is focused on the basic mechanics of joints (including
the tissues of joints and the mechanics of joints within the whole
musculoskeletal system) and the application of this knowledge and technologies developed
to clinical practice, including the diagnosis and treatment of pathologies, improving
performance, and ageing. These are applied to Sport Biomechanics, Trauma (and Blast)
Biomechanics, and the Biomechanics of Ageing including Osteoarthritis.
Anthony has received numerous awards and honours for his work, including being elected
to the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the American Institute of Medical
and Biological Engineering. In 2018 he was elected as one of 40 members of the World
Council of Biomechanics.
Professor Sir Keith Porter
Head of Traumatology, RCDM
Professor Porter was educated at Marlborough College and St Thomas’s
Hospital, London. He was appointed Consultant Trauma Surgeon at
Birmingham Accident Hospital in 1986, a service that is now delivered at
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, where he is Professor of Clinical
Traumatology and until June 2018 the Clinical Director of the Major
Trauma Centre.
He is the clinical lead for injured soldiers returning to the UK for the last
decade including both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Professor Porter has been a leader in the development of the new medical subspecialty of
Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine and in recent years has been the Chairman of the Faculty
of Pre-Hospital Care and also the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Emergency Medicine.
He is Chair of the Trauma Care Council and co-editor of the journal “Trauma”.
Professor Porter has over 190 peer review publications and has co-authored/edited
numerous books.
For his services to the military he was knighted in the 2010 Queen’s New Year’s honours list.
Surg Capt (RN) Jason Smith
Defence Professor Emergency Medicine
Surgeon Captain Jason Smith joined the Royal Navy
and qualified in medicine from Newcastle University in
1992. He underwent specialist training in London,
Plymouth and Sydney before being appointed as a
consultant in emergency medicine at Derriford
Hospital, Plymouth, UK in 2005. He has extensive
military operational experience, having undertaken
several deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra
Leone, and most recently South Sudan.
He undertook a doctorate in the management of
patients with blast lung injury, and his current research
interests include the treatment of pain in emergency
patients and the management of traumatic cardiac
arrest.
He is currently the UK Defence Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Academic
Department of Military Emergency Medicine, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine,
Birmingham. He was appointed Royal College of Emergency Medicine Professor in
2013,and is an Honorary Professor at Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of
Medicine and Dentistry.
He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service,
and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps and the
Emergency Medicine Journal. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency
Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians of London, and the Royal Geographical
Society.
Col Rhodri D Phillip OBE
Clinical Director & CT lead Consultant, Defence Medical Rehabilitation
Centre
Col Rhodri D Phillip is the Clinical Director for DMRC Stanford Hall, the British
military’s tertiary rehabilitation centre. He is a trained rehabilitation medicine and
rheumatology consultant and completed his specialist training over ten years ago.
He primarily works in the field of complex trauma rehabilitation, with his case-mix
varying from amputation to multiple injuries and spinal cord damage. He is a
member of various working parties looking at improving care for this patient cohort
Col Alan Mistlin
Consultant DMRC
Col Mistlin Qualified from Guy’s Hospital in July 1989 with MBBS. After Pre-
registration jobs in London embarked on General Duties in Germany, Northern
Ireland, Aldershot and Africa and the Caribbean. A return to hospital medicine in
1994 saw a junior doctor rotation through Rinteln, QEMH Woolwich, Frimley Park,
The Royal Brompton, Musgrave Park and Bosnia. Selected for specialist training in
Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Medicine in1997 after gaining MRCP. A six-year
programme through Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas
Hospitals, The Royal London, The Hospital for Neuro-Disabilities, Putney and the
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. Certificate of Completion of
Specialist Training gained in 2003.
Appointed a Consultant at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Headley
Court 2003. Has worked as the consultant lead to Spines and Neuro-Rehabilitation
Group. Currently consultant lead to the Complex Trauma and mild Traumatic Brain
Injury Groups. Col Mistlin holds a full time clinical consultant appointment within the
MOD and NHS in Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Medicine at The Defence
Medical Rehabilitation Centre and Frimley Park Hospital. Until January 2015 he was
Medical Director of the only self-managed Military Unit with responsibility for all
clinical outputs, providing clinical direction and policy, Healthcare Governance and
Clinical Delivery. He has directed liaison with NHS care providers. Nationally he has
represented the AF on the BSRM Specialist Interest Group in Amputation Medicine.
He is Chair of the Clinical Reference Group for NHSE for Complex Rehabilitation
and Disability. He sits on the Veterans Prosthetic Panel with NHS England
delivering seamless transfer of Military patients to NHS care and chaired the RSM
SEM Section.
As Complex Trauma Rehabilitation and mild traumatic brain injury lead he has
driven forward the developing rehabilitation service for injured servicemen. The
service has evolved using DMRC staff and evaluation of advanced technology.
Previously he has lead the Spinal and Neurological services at DMRC. He believes
that rehabilitation medicine in the UK can develop into a world leading service.
Rehabilitation needs to look forward and use the experience and knowledge of
Neurological, Prosthetic, SCI, AAC, EC and the Military experience to prepare not
only for the patients that NHSE already treats but also needs to be prepared for
emergency situations such as those experienced in Paris, London and Madrid.
Col Mistlin was awarded FRCP(London) and FFSEM.
Maj Peter Le Feuvre MBE
Complex Trauma Research Fellow
Major Peter Le Feuvre has enjoyed a varied career as
a physiotherapist. Having started his professional life
within the NHS, he went on for a Non-Governmental
Organisation, before joining the British Army in 2003.
In 2006 he was posted to RCDM, where he led the
military physio team at Selly Oak Hospital,
Birmingham. This coincided with the surge in
casualties from British military operational
commitments. This surge continued for 8 years. His
role in the early development of the rehabilitation
pathway, together with operational tours in Iraq and
Afghanistan led to a posting at DMRC Headley Court.
As Clinical Lead Physiotherapist within Complex
Trauma he continued his work with the combat casualties until 2014. He is currently
working towards a PhD within the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College
London. The research is seeking to capture many of the rehabilitation lessons we
learnt during this period of intense operational activity.
Col Neil Smith QHVS
AH Future Healthcare, Healthcare Plans in JMG
He has had an eclectic career over the last 30
years, which includes being RCD (Scotland &
Northern Ireland) with responsibility for multiple
PCRFs and a couple of RRUs. His current
responsibilities cover IPC4V and the Defence
Recovery Capability WG. In addition he is also
the Chief Veterinary and Remount Officer, so
brings a different perspective to Healthcare. He
was involved in the first Invictus Games in 2014
as his ex-military working dog, who had been
injured by an IED in Afghanistan, was asked to
be the mascot for Team GB.
Helen Helliwell
Director Armed Forces People Policy, UK Ministry of Defence
Helen took up the position of Director
Armed Forces People Policy in February
2019. The portfolio is responsible for the
strategies and policies to ensure we
attract and retain a sufficient, capable
and motivated Armed Forces through
the provision of world class enabling HR
policies. The policy areas include health,
wellbeing and welfare, accommodation,
remuneration, flexible service, the
service justice system, transition and
support to families and veterans through
the lens of the Armed Forces Covenant.
Prior to this position, Helen was the Hd of Service Personnel Support where she
was responsible for the Armed Forces Health, Wellbeing and Welfare portfolio
including specific responsibility for delivering the Armed Forces Covenant - a
promise by the nation that those who serve and have served, and their families, are
not disadvantaged in accessing goods and services.
Helen is a career Senior Civil Servant who joined the Ministry of Defence in 2001;
she has held roles in HR developing talent, leadership and engagement; with the
Department of International Development, where she developed a cadre of Civil
Servants to deploy to fragile states; in the Prison Service, where she led a
Programme of Workforce Modernisation within Prisons and a number of roles within
Defence, including on Afghanistan and War Crime Tribunals.
Helen has a BSc (Hons) in Physiology and Pharmacology; is a fellow member of
the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and holds the Diploma of
Chartered Director with the Institute of Directors.
In her early career, Helen also enjoyed time as a Royal Navy Reservist (Medical
Branch).
Melanie Waters OBE
CEO Help for Heroes
Melanie Waters was appointed Chief Executive
Officer of Help for Heroes in November 2016.
Prior to joining Help for Heroes Mel was Chief
Executive of The Poppy Factory – an independent
employment charity, which puts the recovery and
employment of ex-Service people at its heart. In this
role, she made history as the first female CEO of a
military charity.
In her earlier career Mel held significant roles in the
commercial sector, leading the External Affairs,
Business Improvement and Operations for
companies such as the Automobile Association and
Unite Students. Having graduated in Law from
Manchester University Mel joined The AA and
quickly became one of the first female patrol
managers. She attained her MBA in 2005.
In non-executive roles, Melanie is a member of NHS England’s Armed Forces
Clinical Reference Group and an Executive member of Cobseo (Confederation of
Service Charities); she is also on the board of Women in Defence.
Mel has a strong personal interest in disability and was awarded the OBE in 2017
for services to the Armed Forces.
Once a keen athlete, Mel’s interests now are Pilates and cycling; she completed
her first Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride in 2017.
Brendan Eley CEO Scar Free Foundation
Brendan Eley has been Chief Executive of The Scar Free Foundation (formerly the Healing Foundation) since April 2004. The charity’s mission is “To achieve scar free healing within a generation and transform the lives of those affected by disfiguring conditions”. He joined the charity in 2001 as Appeal Director, managing the charity’s major donor fundraising drive. Since
2003, the Scar Free Foundation has raised over £15 million and secured matched funding support in excess of £10 million, to support a national programme of research in burns, cleft, regenerative medicine and the psychology of disfigurement. Chaired by the National Medical Director of NHS England, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, other Trustees include Lt Gen Richard Nugee, The UK Armed Forces’ Chief of Defence People and Professor Peter Weissberg, former Medical Director of major research funder, the British Heart Foundation. The Foundation is currently undertaking a £24 million fundraising and research drive to deliver scar free healing within a generation. In 2018 the charity was awarded £3 million by The Chancellor from LIBOR funds to establish The Scar Free Foundation Centre for Conflict Wound Research. Focused on the recovery, repair and rehabilitation of wounds and scars caused by blast and gunshot injuries encountered in both military and civilian conflict, research is now underway at the Centre’s sites at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and the Centre for Appearance Research, Bristol. Before joining the Foundation, Brendan was Director of the Mary Rose Foundation raising funds and the profile of Henry VIII’s famously favourite Tudor warship, and enjoyed previous positions with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Cancer Research UK.
Martin Colclough MSc OBE Head of Sports Recovery at Help for Heroes
I joined H4H in May 2011 having served in Army and a Junior Soldier from the age of 16, firstly in the Parachute Regiment and latterly in the Royal Army Physical Training Corps (RAPTC). During my military career I developed a keen interest in rehabilitation and paralympic sport, which led me to take a career break as the Senior Paralympic Performance Manager at UK Athletics during 2006/7. In 2008 I helped establish the MOD's Battle Back Programme at Headley Court, a founding partner of which was H4H. My role in the Charity as Head of Sports Recovery is to maintain our position as the leading provider of adaptive sport and adventurous training opportunities, through the Battle Back programme, to
wounded, injured and sick personnel to help maintain an active and independent lifestyle, participate in competitive sport and through the delivery of vocational training courses. Much of this work involves exploiting existing opportunities and developing innovative programs with key partners such as the British Paralympic Association and National Governing Bodies for sport.
Dr Ron Daniels Chief Executive Sepsis Trust
Ron is Chief Executive and one of the
founders of the Trust; he developed his
passion for improving systems for Sepsis
during his Role as a Consultant in Critical
Care and Anaesthesia, and his parallel
role as CEO of the Global Sepsis
Alliance. He is a recognised world expert
in sepsis and lectures internationally.
I won’t rest until patients with sepsis are
dealt with as quickly and reliably as
patients with heart attacks or stroke, every time. I initiated the development of the
UK Sepsis Trust when it became clear that to achieve this required not only
education, but also engagement.
Wing commander Tracey Pilkington MBE BA(HONS) RAF SO1 Recovery Delivery RAF
Tracey Pilkington was commissioned into the Administrative (Support) Branch of the Royal Air Force in 1991. As a junior officer, she served in a variety of roles including accounts, recruiting, instructing and human resources, as well as serving on Ascension Island as the OC Admin Flight and Property Manager. Promoted to Squadron Leader in 2003, he became OC Infrastructure Central responsible for delivery of major infrastructure projects including the preparations for the arrival of the Typhoon aircraft at RAF Coningsby, before serving as OC Personnel Management Squadron at RAF Coltishall and completing tours in project management, performance management and career managment. On promotion to Wing Commander in 2009, she joined the RAF JPA
Focal Point responsible for future development, deployed to the Middle East with the NATO (Training Mission), completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree through the Open University in 2010, and was a Case Officer within the Defence Inquests Unit before moving to the Ministry of Defence Headquarters as a staff officer specialising in tri-Service allowances policy. In March 2018, Wing Commander Pilkington took up post as SO1 Recovery Delivery with responsibility for the oversight of all RAF Wounded, Injured and Sick (WIS) personnel on the Defence Recovery Pathway, and took on two separate new roles as Product Owner for the development of a new Defence Case Management System and tri-Service Patient Advocate. She serves as a Charitable Trustee for the Victory Services Club. Wing Commander Pilkington lives in Buckinghamshire and is married to Alex. Her interests include all skiing, diving and going to the theatre or cinema.
Professor Sir Simon Wessely
Regius Professor of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College
London
Simon Wessely studied medicine and
history of art at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and
finished his medical training at University
College Oxford, graduating in 1981. He
obtained his medical membership in
Newcastle, before moving to London to
train in psychiatry at the Maudsley. He has
a Master’s and Doctorate in epidemiology.
He is consultant liaison psychiatrist at
King’s College Hospital, Civilian Consultant
Advisor in Psychiatry to the British Army
since 2001, and a Foundation Senior Investigator of the National Institute for Health
Research.
He founded the Gulf War Illness Research Unit, which in 2003 became the King’s
Centre for Military Health Research. Its flagship project is a large-scale ongoing
study of the health and wellbeing of the UK Armed Forces, has had a direct impact
on public policy and on forms of treatment and help for serving and ex serving
personnel. Professor Wessely has over 800 original publications, with a particular
emphasis on the boundaries of medicine and psychiatry, unexplained symptoms
and syndromes, military health, population reactions to adversity, and
epidemiology, He is active in public engagement activities, speaking regularly on
radio, TV and at literary and science festivals. He is a trustee of Combat Stress and
his contributions to veterans’ charities include cycling (slowly) eight times to Paris
to raise funds for the Royal British Legion.
In 2012 he was awarded the first Nature “John Maddox Prize” for Standing Up for
Science, and was knighted in 2013 for services to Psychological Medicine and
Military Health. He was President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists between
2014 and 2017, chaired the Review of the Mental Health Act at the request of the
PM, and is now President of the Royal Society of Medicine. He became the
country’s first Regius Chair of Psychiatry in 2017. His favourite occupation though
remains arguing in cafes.
Dr Christopher Boos
Consultant Cardiologist Poole Hospital NHS Trust Visiting Professor,
Carnegie Research Institute
Dr Boos has been a consultant Cardiologist at Poole
Hospital in Dorset since 2008. Following SPR training
in Wessex he transferred to Birmingham to undertake
his MD and further training in heart failure and device
therapy. He recently retired from the Defence Medical
Serviced as the Army’s senior Cardiologist after 23
years in the military, yet has maintained close links.
He is the current Armed Forces Civilian Consultant in
Cardiology. Dr Boos has a strong academic interest
and has published more than 130 papers in peer
reviewed journals. He is a visiting research fellow at
Bournemouth University and a visiting Professor at
Leeds Beckett University. His main research interests
are around high altitude and exercise Medicine and
Cardiovascular Risk. He is a founding project
member and a co-investigator with the ADVANCE
Study.
Antony Baines
The Royal British Legion Director of Operations
Antony began working for The Royal British Legion at
the beginning of 2013 as Assistant Director of
Operations for the Midlands region before being
appointed as the Director of Operations in February
2016.
After ten years in the architectural glazing and
construction sector, he held a number of senior
management roles in social finance, housing and
community regeneration organisations, including Chief
Executive of a group of community owned social
enterprises working to improve the lives of the residents
in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK.
Educated at Southwell Minster and Naropa University,
Colorado, Antony’s qualifications include International
micro-finance, project and programme management, business improvement and quality, he
is a Master Black belt in Lean Six Sigma.
Dr Jessica Watrous
Clinical Health Psychologist and Senior Researcher, Naval Health Research
Center in San Diego, California
Dr. Jessica Watrous is a licensed Clinical Health Psychologist and Senior Researcher (contractor) at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California. Dr. Watrous received her PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus in Behavioral Medicine/Clinical Health from the University of Memphis. She completed her clinical internship and a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported postdoctoral fellowship at the Veterans Affairs (VA) San Diego Healthcare System and University of California, San Diego. Broadly, her clinical and research efforts have focused on health behaviors, the relationships between physical and mental health, and optimizing clinical prevention and intervention protocols for health promotion and behavior change. This has included work in the areas of addictions, co-occurring disorders, and chronic illness in civilian, veteran, and active duty
military populations. Dr. Watrous has co-authored 27 manuscripts and book chapters, over 50 professional presentations, and has contributed to numerous Department of Defense (DoD), NIH, and VA-funded clinical research projects. Dr. Watrous is the Co-PI of the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project (WWRP), a longitudinal examination of patient-reported outcomes for service members injured during overseas contingency operations. Her work with WWRP aims to understand the complex relationships between mental and physical health, with the ultimate goal of informing optimized healthcare to improve outcomes for this population.
Capt Simon Joll MA MSc Royal Navy
Head of Welfare Policy
Capt Joll joined the RN in 1992 and, after BRNC Dartmouth, he
served training tours in HMS JUNO, PEACOCK, BIRMINGHAM and
SPLENDID. Capt Joll qualified as a nuclear submariner serving as
the Logistics Officer of HMS SOVEREIGN. This included taking the
submarine out of refit and back to operational readiness and
qualifying as surfaced OOW. Capt Joll then served as EA2 to the
Chief of Staff to the Second Sea Lord and the Chief Naval Logistics
Officer. This was followed by a short tour as a training Officer at the
Royal Naval Supply School.
Staff and professional training was followed by promotion to Lt Cdr
and assignment as the head of the Logistics Department of the T23
frigate HMS MARLBOROUGH. MARL conducted BOST and force
generation back to full operational readiness and then deployed on
live operations in the Gulf as part of OP TELIC/OIF in 2003. During
this time, MARL acted as CTG and Capt Joll acted as Group Logistics Commander for a 4 ship UK TG
sustaining high tempo operations over stretched lines of supply. His time on board concluded with
exercises with the FPDA Navies.
Appointed to Navy Command HQ in summer 2003, Capt Joll was responsible for Afloat Support policy
for the RN optimising support from current platforms, developing new policy and strategy and setting the
requirement for new maritime auxiliary platforms. Selected to be Military Assistant to an Army General
in 2005, two fascinating years followed with insight into the higher levels of Defence, management of
10,000 plus geographically dispersed personnel, contractorisation and private finance initiatives as well
as joint logistics and Army personnel management.
Selected for promotion to Cdr in 2007 and after attending ACSC11, Capt Joll returned to Navy Command
as the Joint Support Chain and Logistics C4I lead developing the RN’s capability and understanding in
these areas as well as supporting frontline operations. This was followed by two years in the PJHQ
working on J1 and J4 support to all UK operations around the world ranging from Afghanistan to Libya.
This tour included two months with the USMC’s 2 MEF as the PJHQ Liaison Officer to the Commanding
General of RC(SW) in Afghanistan.
Capt Joll joined the British Embassy in Washington, DC in summer 2012 and served for two years on
the British Defence Staff in the US as the lead for both Maritime and Joint logistic and personnel
cooperation between the US and UK armed forces. Capt Joll remained in the US for 2014-5 as the UK’s
International Fellow for the yearlong US National War College, the US’s senior joint, interagency and
international strategic security course. He served as the Logistics Commander at RNAS Yeovilton 2015-
18 responsible for supporting Force Generation and global support for all UK embarked aviation. In
2018, Capt Joll served in Baghdad, Iraq as part of the US-led multinational coalition OP SHADER/OIR
supporting the Government of Iraq as part of the Ministerial Liaison Team. He joined the MoD in 2018
as the Head of SP Welfare Policy and DHd SP Sp.
A graduate of the University of Manchester, King’s College London and the US National Defense
University, Capt Joll is married with two children
Prof Nichola Fear
Director of the King’s Centre of Military Health Research
Nicola joined the Academic Department of
Military Mental Health at King’s College London
(KCL) in 2004 having trained as an
epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine and University of Oxford.
Nicola has also worked as an epidemiologist
within the UK Ministry of Defence.
Since 2011, Nichola has been Director of the
King’s Centre of Military Health Research
(KCMHR) alongside Professor Sir Simon
Wessely. In 2014, Nicola was awarded a Chair in
Epidemiology.
Nicola is the lead epidemiologist on the KCMHR military cohort study and leads
several studies examining the impact of military service on families.
Barry Le Grys
Chief Executive BLESMA
Barry Le Grys worked in the offshore oil industry before
being commissioned into the Royal Engineers. Barry is
currently the Chief Executive of Blesma, a Service charity
that has specialised in assisting veterans overcome limb
loss and loss of use since the end of World War One. He
is also a Governor of Motability, Director of the
Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo), a Director of
Veterans Scotland, and a Member of the Independent
Medical Expert Group, advising the Ministry of Defence on
the relevance and validity of the Armed Forces
Compensation Scheme.
Heather Betts
Director Independence and Wellbeing
Heather has worked in the military charity sector
since 2005, following an 18-year career as an
officer in the WRNS/Royal Navy.
When she joined the WRNS women didn’t serve at
sea, but following a change in policy and the
disbandment of the WRNS she became an RN
Officer and having volunteered for sea service she
went to sea for the first time in 1993 as the
Captain’s Secretary in HMS INVINCIBLE, despite
being warned by a number of ‘salty sea dogs’ that
“she’d hate serving in big ships”. Always ready to
listen to advice she nonetheless decided to make
up her own mind and having enjoyed her
appointment so much (including two six-month
deployments to the Adriatic) went back in 2001 as
the Refit Pusser and Deputy Logistics Officer. In
between her drafts to INVINCIBLE she completed the Supply Charge Course and
enjoyed a two-year appointment as the Supply Officer HMS SUTHERLAND which
included a six-month deployment to the South Atlantic. Heather also enjoyed her
appointments training new entry Wrens, new entry officers and junior logistics
officers and the time she spent recruiting officers in Scotland when she served with
the Directorate of Naval Recruiting.
Heather retired as a Lieutenant Commander in 2004 and was determined to work
in the charity sector. Having worked for the Tourette Syndrome (UK) Association
in business development and as the General Secretary of the Royal British Legion
Scotland she brought a wealth of experience when she joined Blesma as the
National Welfare Officer (NWO) in April 2008.
As NWO she was responsible for directing the activity of the Area Welfare Officers
who delivered Blesma's very comprehensive welfare service to Members and
Widows. In 2017 following some restructuring in Blesma Headquarters Heather’s
remit was expanded and as Director Independence and Wellbeing she is
responsible for all membership matters, including liaison with MoD recovery
services and the National Health Services, prosthetic provision, the Blesma welfare
service in the field, grant making and Blesma’s Outreach programme.
Dave Henson MBE
Capt (rtd RE), Invictus Games, European Championships, World
Championships, Paralympic Medal Winner
Dave joined the British Army in 2008, starting his military career
with a year of infantry and leadership training at the Royal Military
Academy, Sandhurst. Upon commissioning, Dave joined the
Corps of Royal Engineers and deployed to Afghanistan in 2010
as a Royal Engineer Search Advisor, responsible for the co-
ordination, planning and execution of Improvised Explosive
Device (IED) Search Operations.
In February 2011, this high – risk role cost Dave both of his legs
during what should have been a routine clearance patrol. He
was brought back to the UK and spent five weeks in the care of
the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, a very highly skilled
military medical unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Here Dave was put back
together piece by piece before being sent to the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre,
Headley Court. Dave was up and walking just 8 weeks after losing his legs.
During his time at Headley Court, Dave used sport as a catalyst for his recovery and found
a new passion after receiving his running prostheses. Determined to leave the military in the
same fitness state as he entered, Dave passed his military fitness test before moving to track
racing. He competed at the 2013 Warrior Games but his athletic abilities came to the fore
during the inaugural Invictus Games in London, 2014.
As Captain of the hugely successful British Team, Dave took gold medals in Sitting Volleyball
and athletics. Success at these games led Dave to pursue international representation in
athletics, and gained his first GB vest in 2015. In 2016 he retained his Invictus Games gold
medal, won his first international medal at the European Championships and achieved his
ambitions of a podium finish at the Rio Paralympic Games. Dave was awarded his fourth
GB appearance in two years at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2017 and won his
third international medal in the 200m.
In his time post-injury, and alongside his sporting achievements, he has gained his Masters’
in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London, and is undertaking his PhD in
Amputee Biomechanics at the same institution. Pursuing his passion for the improvement
and development of new technologies for amputees, Dave is currently developing a new
running prosthesis for the improvement of running mechanics and versatility of amputee
runners.
He is a trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation and the Explora Scholarship Fund, the
Veterans’ Advisor to the Centre for Blast Injury Studies and the co-chair and founding
member of the CASEVAC Club. Dave is married to Hayley and has two daughters. He was
awarded the MBE in 2014 for services to the military.