Sir Muir GrayProfessor Sir Muir Gray

Muir Gray is the Director of OAP Ltd.  He is also an adviser to Public Health England and the Chair of the NHS Health and Social Care Digital service. Sir Muir’s work focuses on providing training to healthcare professionals on value based healthcare, and his optimal ageing programmes.

Sir Muir has worked for the National Health Service in England since 1972, occupying a variety of senior positions during that time, including serving as the Director of Research and Development for Anglia and Oxford Regional Health Authority, and first establishing and  then being the  Director of the UK National Screening Committee. He founded the National Library for Health, and was the Director of Clinical Knowledge, Process, and Safety for the NHS (England) National Programme for IT, serving as the Director of the National Knowledge Service.  He was the first person to hold the post of Chief Knowledge Officer of the NHS (England), also serving as the co-Director of the Department of Health’s Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention  (QIPP) Right Care Programme.  Together with Sir Iain Chalmers, Muir was instrumental in establishing the Cochrane Collaboration.

Sir Muir is an internationally renowned authority on healthcare systems and has advised governments of several countries outside the UK including Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and Germany and regularly delivers plenary sessions at international events, the most recent being the 2014 World Health Summit in Berlin, the Big Data in Pharma conference in London in 2015 and the 2015 Transplantation meeting at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

Sir Muir is also a Professor in the Nuffield Department of Surgery at the University of Oxford.  He received the CBE in 2000 and was knighted in 2005 for services to the National Health Service.  His book – SOD 70! – was published in 2015.

Erica IsonErica Ison

Erica Ison is the lead for the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. She is an experienced trainer/facilitator in a range of fields and has worked with a variety of people from health and care professionals and third sector personnel to politicians, students and members of the public. Erica also designs and develops training and skills development courses, tailored for local, national and international audiences as required.

Erica is an Expert Adviser to the World Health Organization European Network of Healthy Cities, one of her main responsibilities being training and skills development. Erica also worked on the European Union’s Equity Action programme training civil servants in assessing equity in government policies.

Ruth Brice

Ruth Brice is the Operations & Project Support Coordinator. She started working for the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) in 2011, and now manages the day to day running of the programme.

Ruth organises all of the training programmes and events that 3V delivers. She develops marketing material, manages the social media strands, and liaises with the trainer network. Ruth has interests around how critical appraisal is used to inform health decisions, both by healthcare professionals and the public.

Tom FutterTom Futter

Tom is an accomplished finance manager with an excellent aptitude for business.  He has worked across the private, public and not for profit sectors.

Tom gained his core experience navigating the financial complexities of the NHS and now provides virtual and direct services to small and medium sized businesses.  His analytical and methodical approach to financial management enables his clients to understand and absorb information easily.

Dr Amanda Burls (Associate)

Amanda is a Public Health Physician, with special interest in Evidence-Based Health Care and Public and Patient involvement in Health Care and Health Research. She is an experienced teacher and has worked for the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) from its inception in 1993 and has been a senior fellow of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine since 1996 where she coordinates and facilitates the Spanish-speaking groups and runs plenary sessions on teaching EBHC.

From 1997 to 2008, Amanda founded and directed the West Midlands Health Technology Assessment Collaboration at the University of Birmingham which produced systematic reviews and economic evaluations to inform national and regional UK NHS policy decisions, such as the NICE appraisal process. She set up the Oxford International Programme in Evidence-Based Health Care which includes Certificate, Diploma, MSc and Doctoral Programmes as well as standalone modules.

She was also Director of Post-Graduate Programmes in Evidence-Based Health Care (EBHC), at the University of Oxford where she ran and taught on the MSc in EBHC and supervised DPhil in EBHC students. She received several awards for teaching excellence during this period, including one awarded by the students themselves.

Jonathan West (Associate)

Jon has 18 years’ experience in public health roles across England and Wales and a track record of facilitating critical appraisal skills learning for multi-agency audiences across the UK. In current and previous roles, as Public Health Information Analyst and Advanced Public Health Practitioner Jon has developed excellent knowledge and skills in the analysis and application of research evidence in public health.

Jon leads work on Behaviour Change and Public Information for Public Health Wales, and contributes to other national work. Jon also has significant experience of working in local public health teams.

Jan Yates (Associate)

Jan is a senior Consultant in Public Health with experience at Director level. Highly motivated and action oriented. A sound, politically astute leader and effective team player. Able to deliver high quality, efficient health and care outcomes and provide professional support for effective decisions. Exceptional teaching skills with experience in coaching, mentoring and supporting staff through personal and organisational development. Jan’s career history includes several years teaching followed by Public Health training and time as a Director of Public Health and in various regional and national level positions.

Josie Sandercock (Associate)

Josie trained with the Medical Research Council working on cancer clinical trials, then worked with the West Midlands Health Technology Assessment Collaboration on technology assessment reports for NICE and the local health authority, and evidence reviews for other public sector organisations. Now self-employed providing statistical consultancy and training, primarily for the public sector.

Peter Bradley (Associate)

Prof. Peter Bradley has worked with CASP for over 15 years. A senior medical leader with considerable national and international experience and a track record of delivering major cultural and transformational change. Has delivered quantifiable improvements in health outcomes which have won several national awards. Peter has a strong international interest having worked in 3 countries, acted as an international consultant and speaks French, Spanish and Norwegian to professional level.

Petros Mylonas (Associate)

Petros is a Clinical Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry at Cardiff University, School of Dentistry. His PhD was on erosive toothwear from King’s College London Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences, and his MMedEd from Warwick Medical School focused on e-learning and curriculum development. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, and a Member of the Royal Colleges of Glasgow (MFDS RCPS) and of England (MJDF RCS). He also conducts research into erosive toothwear and treats patients at StR-level. He is currently the module lead for ‘2nd BDS – Preparing for Patients’ and is supervising several research projects on erosive toothwear and dental biomaterials.

Derick Yates (Associate)

Derick Yates has been in his current role as an Evidence-Based Practice tutor at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust for almost 20 years. During that time, he has trained clinicians, nurses, midwives and students from all backgrounds and at all levels of experience in information skills, particularly focusing on the first two steps of evidence-based practice, i.e. writing clinical questions and searching for information. Derick also leads the literature-search service providing literature searches to inform evidence-based practice and research and has been a co-author on several systematic reviews published in peer-reviewed journals or presented at conferences, and has been acknowledged (and gone unacknowledged) for providing literature searches for dozens of journal articles down the years.

Sarah Franks

Sarah is a final year Orthodontic registrar at Birmingham Dental Hospital; undertaking a Masters (by research) at the University of Birmingham, investigating patient perceptions of facial deformity. As an undergraduate Sarah showed an interest in research, publishing the results of a local population Cephalometric Analysis, which lead to the award of The Sands Cox John Rippin Memorial Prize. Sarah has always shown a keen enthusiasm for representing her peers, having been the President of the Birmingham University Dental Student Society for 2 terms, as well as previously holding the position of President of the British Dental Student Association. She continues this interest in her current role on the Wesleyan Junior Advisory Board.