Our presenter
Rae Williams
A passionate and creative individual, Rae Williams, also known as @OneSunRae, is ready to embark on yet another TedxNHS adventure…
Having delivered her own inspiring Ted Talk titled “Somebody Must Go First” in 2021 and hosting our TEDxNHS Talk in 2022, Rae is thrilled to join this year’s speakers and audience as your host!
With a growing following of 40k+ on social media, Rae engages with her audience through random acts of ‘everything.’ Using humour, lip-syncing, and relatable content, she explores topics such as being a single mum, dating, spirituality, mental health, and the challenges of adulting.
Fearlessly pushing all the buttons and hoping for the best, Rae encourages you to join her in normalising conversations around mental health, self-love, building bridges, and embracing the power of authenticity.
TEDxNHS 2023 Undivided speakers
Rivki Dwek
Rivki Dwek, CEO of Menucha, focuses on perinatal mental health in minority communities. Her organization raises awareness and offers therapeutic and advocacy services to Jewish women. Join her in exploring healthcare equity and culturally appropriate support.
Anna Edwards
Anna is an Innovation Project Manager with the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network. A secondary care pharmacist by background she is working on projects that align with the NHS Long Term plan and Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service report with a specific focus on medicines.
Anna believes it is essential to widen knowledge in this area and help protect health both now and for future generations and inspire other healthcare professionals and patients about the impacts of medicines and what they can do to mitigate environmental degradation.
As part of this work, she has established the West Midlands Pharmacy Environmental Sustainability Network- a cross-sector group of pharmacy professionals from across the West Midlands that meet regularly to share best practice and ways of working that seeks to improve medicines and their environmental impact.
Alice Hendy
Alice is founder and CEO of R;pple, a multi-award-winning suicide prevention initiative created following the loss of her brother, Josh, to suicide in November 2020. Alice has over a decade of experience in cyber-security and IT, delivering high quality information, advice, and guidance to corporate organisations around the world on all things relating to the topic of online safety.
In the midst of her grief, Alice utilised her cybersecurity skillset and entered the world of ‘tech for good’, where her technology has been downloaded millions of times around the world, has intercepted thousands of harmful online searches, and continues to provide hope to those who need it most.
Alice’s passion lies in mental health and ensuring no one else experiences the pain of losing a loved one to suicide. She dedicates her work to her much-loved brother, Josh.
Sameer Iqbal
Sameer is the National Health and Justice Lead for Career Matters, a social enterprise which exists to improve access to education, employment, and training for all. Sameer works across multiple projects across the health and justice system including within the secure and detained estate delivering education, mentoring employment programmes. Sameer has worked in the health and justice space for many years in a variety of different roles.
Sameer also supports services and organisations across the country to ensure fair and open recruitment practices for people with lived experience of the criminal justice system and care experience. Sameer is proud to have become a role model to individuals like him, as well as an influential and valuable voice supporting senior leaders and policy makers.
Suraj “Doctor Sooj” Kukadia
Suraj “Doctor Sooj” Kukadia is an NHS GP and emergency doctor. Over the past 18 months, he has been posting bite-sized, medically-informative videos to various social media platforms. He has received over 40 million views, has been part of campaigns for the NHS, and has been featured in both national and international press. He believes that high quality health information should be readily available and accessible for everyone, and this can help to combat the rise of misinformation on social media.
Katie Lean
Katie is an award-winning senior programme manager at Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN). A clinician with over 34 years’ experience in nursing and midwifery, she has expertise in research, risk management, patient safety, and quality improvement.
Whilst at Oxford AHSN, Katie has provided transformational leadership to the national Acute Kidney Injury and Maternity and Neonatal patient safety improvement programmes.
Ensuring that patients and staff have a voice is what motivates her most. She is passionate about bringing people together towards a common goal, helping them to understand the “why” in change and building bridges to support the process.
Yasmin Mulji
Yasmin is a specialist registrar in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, a Clinical Fellow in fertility & reproductive medicine, and a Trustee of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
She adopts a holistic approach to her clinical practice, recognising that physical and mental wellbeing are interconnected. Yasmin’s clinical medicine experience, her academic specialism in Tropical Medicine & International Health, and her lived experience of the specific vulnerabilities that women who have emigrated face all fuel her passion to advocate for women’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Yasmin is particularly committed to resolving healthcare inequalities and is keen to implement and scale interventions that drive improved healthcare outcomes for all women including those from ethnic minority and low socio-economic status backgrounds. She recognises the pivotal role that breaking the language barrier can play in improving immediate clinical outcomes for women as well as enhancing women and their respective communities’ long-term socio-economic prospects.
Aisling Pigott
Aisling Pigott is a Registered Dietitian and PhD Student (RCBC /Health Care Research Wales funded) at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She is a media spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association (BDA), and was awarded BDA spokesperson of the year in 2020.
Aisling is passionate about supporting people to enjoy and appreciate food and nourish their bodies, an approach she takes working with children and young people with Type 1 Diabetes in her NHS role.
Becky Platt
Becky Platt is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Paediatric A&E at the Royal London, an executive member of the Don’t Forget the Bubbles team and a senior lecturer on the PEM MSc at QMUL. Becky has deployed to several disease outbreaks as part of the UK Emergency Medical team and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2021 for her overseas humanitarian work.
Becky is passionate about humanity in healthcare, putting patients first, and caring for staff. She is a committed educator and loves teaching in a variety of ways as well as supporting teams with debrief and time for reflection.
Emma Short
Emma is a consultant histopathologist, based in Swansea Bay University Health Board, specialising in bowel and soft tissue pathology. She has a PhD in the genetics of bowel polyps and is passionate about improving gut health to improve overall health, wellbeing and happiness.
Emma is also a medical, scientific and health writer. She has published several books exploring how lifestyle changes can have a positive impact on wellbeing – A Prescription for Healthy Living, How (not) to do it all, the Smoothie Doctors – and she has written for a variety of magazines. She is actively involved in health promotion, disease prevention and medical education.
Anna Spencer
Anna Spencer was born in Germany before moving to England, growing up in Greater London.
She joined the NHS in May 2000 in West London as a Secretary before relocating to Wales in 2008. Since relocating, Anna has successfully navigated her NHS career from Band 2 to Band 6 where she currently works as Individual Patient Care Commissioning Manager for Swansea Bay UHB.
Anna has no College or University level credentials. Despite the absence of higher education, she committed to improving herself so as to reduce any barriers to succeeding in her career.
She is a keen walker and loves the outdoors. She spends much of her spare time volunteering for the Scouts and other youth organisations and is fervent about supporting and encouraging people to grow and realise their strengths and confidences.
If Anna could do her time again, she would major in Drama and English Language.
Funmi Vanessa Ullam
Funmi Vanessa Ullam is a devoted mother of two boys, one of whom was diagnosed with Sickle Cell at two weeks old. Funmi understands the profound importance of ensuring the well-being of unwell children. With a thriving career in the technology sector, she combines her passion for innovation and her commitment to improving paediatric healthcare.
Funmi is the founder of a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting children with sickle cell, providing them with the care and resources they need to thrive. Additionally, she has embarked on an entrepreneurial journey by establishing a health-tech business. Her company has created a Kids Health Monitoring Platform, catering specifically to children with chronic health challenges.
Driven by her deep-rooted enthusiasm for health, tech, science, and paediatrics, Funmi continuously looks for innovative solutions to improve the lives of young patients. Funmi shares her journey and insights, offering a glimpse into the exciting possibilities that lie at the intersection of health, technology, and compassionate care.
Performers
Parsa Amin
Parsa has been working as a doctor for the past 10 years and she is currently working in child and adolescent mental health services in London. She has experience spanning different areas within England as well as in Singapore.
She also teaches dance fitness classes in North London and is passionate about dancing as a therapeutic tool for one’s wellbeing.
When she is not working, she spends her time raising two primary school aged daughters and cooking dishes she finds on YouTube.
Sunil Lad
Dr Sunil Lad is the National Clinical Director for Health and Justice, and works in the NHS as a Consultant Counselling Psychologist with over 20 years of experiences of working in prisons. He also trained as a yoga teacher 6 years ago and is interested in the mind body relationship.