Healthcare leadership

Dr Jag Ahluwalia graduated in medicine having studied as an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge and in London. He initially trained in general practice but then developed an interest in paediatrics and in particular in newborn intensive care. Following postgraduate clinical and research training in neonatology in Cambridge and Melbourne he was appointed to the consultant staff at Addenbrookes and the Rosie in 1996 within the regional neonatal intensive care unit. Alongside his clinical practice Jag became increasingly involved in clinical management as unit director, then associate medical director for the trust and then Executive Medical Director, a role he held for nearly 10 years. During his time as Medical Director he has served as Co-Chief Operating Officer, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Executive lead for Research, Executive Lead for Medical Education and Executive Lead for IT. He also served for many years as clinical lead for the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire neonatal network and as a senior officer of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine for six years. National and regional management roles have included serving as Vice-Chair for NHS Employers’ Consultant Contract Negotiation Team, Chair of Monitor’s Medical Director Advisory Group and as Chair of the East of England Medical Directors’ Forum. Latterly he has served on the National Consultant Clinical Excellence Awards Committee as well as various other invited advisory roles. His published research interests have included neonatal ventilation, the use of nitric oxide in newborns, ethical dilemmas in neonatology and long-term follow-up. He has lectured extensively on these topics as well as in the area of clinical management and leadership and directs or co-directs major training programmes in clinical leadership. He is now the Director of Digital at Cambridge University Hospitals and a Trustee at Macmillan Cancer Support. He graduated with an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School in 2017 (Cambridge Executive MBA, class of 2015).

Lawrence Ashelford has been involved in the UK social care and healthcare sectors for over 30 years. As well as running large-scale operational services in a London borough, he has extensive experience implementing new government policy at corporate, strategic and operational levels, strategy and service development, business planning and public sector investment.

Until May 2013 Lawrence was Director of Strategy, Policy and Planning at Cambridge University Hospitals (Addenbrooke’s) and worked across the Trust and the health and care economy leading on the development of strategy, policy and business planning as well as clinical service development. He has produced  successful business cases for a significant number of major infrastructure and service developments as well as undertaking individual and group work to implement change across all clinical service areas. With a strong track record of partnership working across sectors and disciplines, he is currently Chair of the Northstowe Health New Town initiative, a joint programme to promote health in England’s largest planned new town since Milton Keynes, with Homes England, two local authorities, the CCG, and the Cambridge University Institute of Public Health.

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Pam Garside has her own management consultancy, Newhealth, specialising in organisational strategy and development in healthcare. She works extensively with boards of a wide range of healthcare organisations on strategy, governance and leadership issues and advises new entrants to the UK health market including digital and startup companies. Pam founded and co-chairs The Cambridge Health Network, a membership group of senior players in UK health, both private and public sector, and is a board member of Whizz-Kidz charity, Cambridge Angels, ZPB and Punchdrunk theatre company. She is a member of the Investment Committee of Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer company of the University of Cambridge. She also sits on a number of advisory boards and is an angel investor.

Pam began her professional life in management in the NHS and subsequently spent many years studying and working internationally based in the USA. She holds a BSc from the University of Durham and a masters degree in Hospital and Health Care Administration from the University of Minnesota.