Since we were founded in 1989, our charity has grown from just a few pioneers to a wide team of operational crew and fundraising staff.
Whether it’s our pilots, fire crew or charity team, every member of our workforce has a vital part in providing London with our service. Read their bios to find out how they keep us running.
Dr Tom Hurst
Medical Director
Tom is a consultant in pre-hospital care with London’s Air Ambulance and consultant in intensive care medicine and major trauma at King’s College Hospital. He trained predominantly in Greater Manchester before undertaking a secondment to London’s Air Ambulance in 2008. He was clinical lead at East Anglian Air Ambulance from 2011 to 2014 and is now the sub-speciality lead for training in pre-hospital emergency medicine in London.
Dr Anna Dobbie
Lead Clinician
Anna is a consultant in emergency medicine at The Royal London Hospital. She remained an emeritus doctor since her year-long secondment to London’s Air Ambulance in 2008, and was appointed a consultant with our service. She developed an interest in pre-hospital medicine whilst at medical school and gained experience in pre-hospital care in Birmingham before coming to work in London.
She has interests in paediatrics and teaching and her time out of work is mainly spent trying to tame two children.
Dr Gareth Davies
Consultant
Dr Gareth Davies, consultant in emergency medicine, pre-hospital care and emergency preparedness with Barts Health NHS Trust, has over 25 years experience in the air ambulance industry. He joined London’s Air Ambulance as a registrar in 1993 and served as the medical director from 1996 to 2019 and trustee of the charity from 2006 to 2019. He has developed standards in pre-hospital medical care and a number of innovative procedures, including resuscitative thoracotomy (open-chest surgery), and rapid sequence induction of anaesthesia with intubation. Gareth has been the lead consultant at many of London’s major incidents, including the Paddington Rail Disaster and the 7th of July 2005 Bombings. He became a Trustee and Chair of the London’s Air Ambulance Charity in 2006 and is also a director of EMSC, a company formed to provide clinical governance to a number of UK Air Ambulances. He is also honorary consultant at Kent Surrey Sussex Air Ambulance Service and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Service.
Professor David Lockey
Consultant
David Lockey is a consultant at London's Air Ambulance and is on sabbatical until 2020. David formerly was the lead for research and development and served as a trustee of the Charity from 2005 to 2019. He grew up in London and moved to medical school in Newcastle upon Tyne. After graduation he trained in Newcastle, Nottingham, London and Bristol. He also did his intensive care training in Perth, Australia. He is currently a consultant in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia in Bristol, Clinical Director of Severn Major Trauma Network and national director of EMRTS Cymru.
He was a registrar at London's Air Ambulance in 1997 and 2000 and has been a consultant here since 2001. As a military reserve he has worked in the conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He completed an MD (Research) at University College London and has authored around 100 peer reviewed publications and book chapters mostly related to trauma and pre-hospital Care. He is co-editor in chief of one medical journal and on the editorial board of two others. He is Honorary Professor in trauma and pre-hospital emergency medicine at Bristol University, Honorary Clinical Professor at Queen Mary, University of London and Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Stavanger. He is currently Chairman of the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Vice and Immediate Past Chairman of the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine. He is also a board member of the Trauma Audit and Research Network.
Dr Anne Weaver
Consultant
Dr Anne Weaver is a consultant at London’s Air Ambulance. In 2004, she became the first female consultant in emergency medicine and pre-hospital care in the UK. Anne has years of experience in pre-hospital care spanning the UK and Australia. In 2007 she became lead clinician for London’s Air Ambulance and co-founded the first pre-hospital care programme in the UK for medical students. She organises mentoring of the undergraduate medical students by London's Air Ambulance doctors. Anne is an honorary consultant, on call to advise crews from South East air ambulances in moments of uncertainty on scene. Anne is also a (resting) trustee of the London’s Air Ambulance charity.
Dr Anne Weaver led the blood on board initiative that brought pre-hospital blood transfusion from battle fields to civilian medicine in March 2012. Not only was a precedent set in London, Anne also led the development of protocols on efficient blood storage and safe administration of blood transfusion in the pre-hospital environment, making this innovation available to any air ambulance, aspiring to deliver the same standards of care.
Dr Gareth Grier
Consultant
Gareth is a consultant with London’s Air Ambulance, and a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-hospital Care at Barts Health NHS Trust/The Royal London Hospital.
As Clinical Director and Education Lead at The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at London’s Air Ambulance, Gareth works closely with the clinical leadership of both The Institute and London’s Air Ambulance to define The Institute’s overall medical strategy. He also defines and leads The Institute’s Education strategy. He has published on the use of hi-fidelity scenario training in pre-hospital medical education, and studied medicine at University of Wales College of Medicine.
Dr Claire Park
Consultant
Dr Claire Park is a consultant in pre-hospital Care with London’s Air Ambulance and in intensive care and anaesthesia at King's College Hospital.
In addition to years of experience with London’s Air Ambulance, Claire has worked with a number of air ambulances in the South of England, has spent time in the US working with both pre-hospital teams and hospital trauma teams at Shock Trauma in Baltimore and has paediatric retrieval experience with the South Thames Retrieval Service.
Claire is an examiner for the Diploma in Retrieval and Transfer Medicine for the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) and lectures and examines on advanced pre-hospital care courses.
Dr Ali Sanders
Consultant
Ali is a consultant with London's Air Ambulance. She is chief of service for emergency medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Ali took on the role of organising the emeritus doctor team following her full time secondment with London’s Air Ambulance in 2008, and continued this role until we switched to our new consultant model in late 2017. Ali is an ex-Olympic rower and has an interest in team performance and human factors.
Dr John Chatterjee
Consultant
John is an anaesthetic consultant at Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust with an interest in difficult airway and major trauma management. He is also a major incident medical advisor for London Ambulance Service and has worked for air ambulances in Australia, New Zealand and in the UK, as well as BSAICS, motorsport and event medicine. He provides advice to companies involved in pre-hospital care and education. John is a clinical tutor for The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at London’s Air Ambulance, and is proud to be involved in mentoring the next generation
Dr Chrissie Hymers
Consultant
Chrissie is an emergency physician who trained and works in London. Prior to working with London’s Air Ambulance, Chrissie has worked for air ambulance services in Sydney, Cambridge and Essex & Herts. She has been heavily involved with the charity, representing them in the Redbull Soapbox and Run the Beat half marathon. She is a keen skier, runner and enjoys travelling.
Dr Sam Sadek
Consultant
Sam works as a consultant in emergency medicine at The Royal London Hospital and in pre-hospital Care with London's Air Ambulance. He also leads clinical governance at Essex and Herts Air Ambulance, our charity's neighbouring network.
His particular interests include education, innovation and endovascular resuscitation. He led the REBOA project together with others at London's Air Ambulance and aims to work across industries to innovate this and other procedures.
Having flown with many different air ambulances, Sam has found a love for the culture of these close knit teams and a passion for training them to perform in unpredictable and stressful situations.
Out of work Sam loves spending time with his family and occasionally sneaks away to his other great love, the mountains, on his bike or snowboard.
Dr Dom Krzanicki
Consultant
Dom is a consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He has worked with London's Air Ambulance since 2012 and more widely within pre-hospital care since 2004.
"Working as a doctor with London's Air Ambulance requires you to be at the top of your game. I am extremely proud to be part of a world-leading trauma service which helps so many of my fellow Londoners."
Beyond medicine he spends his time with his wife and two children. He is a (distinctly average) triathlete.
Dr Ben Singer
Consultant
Alongside his role at London’s Air Ambulance, Ben is a consultant in critical care, ECMO and anaesthetics at Barts Heart Centre, St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In addition, he is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University London, and also flies for Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance.
His main clinical interests are major trauma, resuscitation, ECMO and, one day, combining all three. He is passionate about the life-saving potential of future pre-hospital innovations. He also has a strong interest in education and research.
When not at work his main hobbies are his family, cooking and wine- preferably all together.
Dr Robbie Lendrum
Consultant
Robbie has worked with London’s Air Ambulance since 2012. Alongside his role as a Consultant in Pre-Hospital Care with Bart’s Health, he is also a Consultant in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Critical Care at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
He is passionate about developing, delivering and conducting research into innovative pre-hospital resuscitation strategies and treatments, to improve the outcomes for our patients suffering from major trauma in London, the UK and internationally.
Dr Daniel Nevin
Consultant
Dr Daniel Nevin is a consultant in anaesthesia and pre-hospital care at The Royal London Hospital. Dan has years of experience working in pre-hospital care in both South Africa, where he originally trained, and in the UK. His special interests include trauma, critical care anaesthesia and helicopter emergency medicine. When not at work, Dan is a Springbok rugby fanatic.
Andrew Wood
Consultant
I’m a consultant in Anaesthesia and Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine having completed anaesthetics training in London and PHEM training in the West Midlands. I am a member of the Trauma Anaesthetic Group based at The Royal London Hospital, where I am Anaesthetic Lead for Trauma Governance. The highlight of working in PHEM are the many opportunities to be involved in teaching, training, and learning alongside a diverse group of inspiring colleagues. Outside of work I love to put on my hiking boots and head for somewhere mountainous.
Dr Matthew Mak
Consultant
Matthew is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at The Royal London Hospital. He has previously worked for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey and Sussex full time as a HEMS doctor, then remained on the service as an emeritus doctor. He has interests in medical education and public health.
Outside of medicine, he enjoys travelling, the theatre and has a love/hate relationship with his Peloton bike.
Liam Hannon
Doctor
Liam is originally from the UK but has been working in Australia for the last 12 years where he completed his training in Emergency Medicine. He also has a keen interest in humanitarian work, having been on missions in South Sudan and Yemen in the past few years.
Liam was delighted to get a job with London’s Air Ambulance to gain further experience in trauma care in one of the world’s leading prehospital services, and to exchange the sunshine of Australia for the sunshine of London.
Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his family, exploring London and travelling.
Jasmit Mohindru
Doctor
Jasmit started off as a medical student at Barts & The Royal London and has spent the last 14 years training in Emergency Medicine in various departments around the country. He has also worked as an air ambulance doctor with AAKSS for the past 4 years.
Jasmit was overjoyed to obtain a secondment with London’s Air Ambulance, to gain further understanding of the physiology and management of patients so close to their time of injury.
“Being able to work for and contribute to the charity has been an aspiration for me, for much of my career. I consider myself exceptionally privileged to be part of - as is the case in such close-knit organisations - such a dedicated and driven group of individuals, who support and push each other to constantly improve upon the care we deliver to Londoners.”
When not at work Jas enjoys irritating his wife, cycling the Thames and cooking.
Manish Verma
Doctor
Manish is a registrar in Anaesthesia working in northeast London who is currently on secondment with London’s Air Ambulance. He qualified from Barts and the London Medical School in 2010 and is delighted to join a service delivering crucial care to the people of London. He has interests in major complex anaesthesia and has previously worked as a clinical fellow in undergraduate teaching and critical care echocardiography. He enjoys swimming, SCUBA diving and sailing with his friends, but also sitting in the pub watching football when feeling less adventurous.
Joe Steer
Paramedic
Joe started working for the London Ambulance Service as a Paramedic in 2013. Since then Joe has undertaken a variety of roles within the ambulance service. Whilst not on secondment with London’s Air Ambulance, Joe is a Clinical Team Manger in North West London.
Outside of work Joe enjoys running and training as a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
“I am relishing the opportunity to work with such a dedicated team, pushing the boundaries to provide world class critical care to the people of London”
Chris Demaine
Paramedic
“I'm originally from Perth, Western Australia and in 2015 I moved to London and started working for the London Ambulance Service. I have previous experience working on the Motorcycle Response Unit in East and Central London and my role prior to starting this secondment is on the Hazardous Area Response Team."
Chris Roberts
Paramedic
Chris has worked for the NHS for 10 years and prior to joining London’s Air Ambulance he worked as a Paramedic and Incident Response Officer in North West London. Outside of work, Chris likes to unwind by going for road trips on his motorbike.
“It’s difficult to put into words just how much of a privilege it is to work alongside the team at London’s Air Ambulance every single day. It’s even harder to articulate what an honour it is to do so while serving the people of London."
Chris Doyle
Paramedic
Chris joined the London Ambulance Service in 2003, spending time on operational duties before moving to a management position based at Trust HQ, Waterloo. Chris has a special interest in emergency preparedness and clinical provision at mass crowd events, leading on the London Ambulance Service Medical Response Team, a bespoke team providing critical care in dense crowds and hostile environs in London. Chris is also a Motorcycle Response Unit Paramedic operating in Central London. When not providing a clinical response Chris regularly delivers educational sessions on clinical care, crowd dynamics and crew resource management.
"To qualify as a Flight Paramedic with London’s Air Ambulance has been a life long ambition. Delivering critical care as part of an advanced trauma team is immensely rewarding.”
Lynsey Grant
Lead Paramedic
Lynsey joined the London Ambulance Service in 2002 and has been a paramedic for the last 6 years working primarily in South East London. Lynsey started her secondment with London’s Air Ambulance in September 2013 having always been interested in advanced Pre-hospital Trauma Care. Before becoming a paramedic, Lynsey was a HGV driver and currently holds a licence to race trucks which she hopes to do again soon in the future.
Nick Baxter
Paramedic Development and Governance Lead
Nick joined the ambulance service in 2005 and qualified as a paramedic in 2008 he progressed to his current role as a clinical team leader in the north west of London in 2012. Nick has been with London’s Air Ambulance charity since 2018 and is now one of the Lead Paramedics for governance.
In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two boys, and being outdoors and adventurous. Nick is also a motorcycle rider and enjoys anything motorcycle-related.
"Being a part of this charity and clinical team has been the single most difficult and rewarding achievement of my career, it’s inspiring to witness everyone’s individual efforts to make this the world’s leading pre-hospital trauma service.
Jason Morris
Paramedic
Jason Morris joined London Ambulance Service in 1999, where he has progressed from emergency medical technician to paramedic, through to clinical team leader. He completed his first secondment on London's Air Ambulance in 2009.
While working with London's Air Ambulance he has helped to design the dispatch screens which filter calls to the paramedics working in the London Ambulance Service Emergency Operations Centre. He was involved in the development of the London's Air Ambulance dispatch app, which was a massive team effort involving the London Ambulance Service and EE. The app means that calls deemed suitable for the team are now sent within moments to iPads that are held by the medical team and pilots, to enable tasking to an incident to happen within seconds.
Mike Strutt
Paramedic
Mike joined the London Ambulance Service in 2004 and completed his first secondment as a Paramedic with London’s Air Ambulance in 2018. He has worked in a number of different roles within the Ambulance Service and when not on secondment to the charity, he is a Clinical Team Leader at Brent Ambulance Station.
Outside of work Mike enjoys playing and watching a variety of sports, including captaining his local cricket team Egham Roses.
“Having the opportunity to work alongside a team of professionals who are passionate about delivering advanced trauma care is certainly the highlight of my career.”
Michael Fraser
Paramedic
I have been a paramedic for 6 years and have worked on fast response units and motorcycles in East London. Most recently I work as an incident response officer, providing a scene commander role and crew support at incidents across London.
Working for London's Air Ambulance is something I have always strived for since becoming a Paramedic. I love being part of an incredible team totally dedicated to delivering the hospital to the patient.
Outside of work I have a 1 year old to keep me very busy and wear me out! I love riding my motorcycle when I get a spare minute.
Vic Brooker
Paramedic
Vic joined the London Ambulance Service in 2001 progressing from Qualified Ambulance Technician to Paramedic in 2005. He has undertaken a variety of roles throughout his time with the LAS, including Clinical Support Advisor and HART Paramedic, all with a focus of delivering care within different situations and environments.
He works as a Motorcycle Response Unit Paramedic and also enjoys mentoring new frontline staff joining the Ambulance Service.
‘Working for London’s Air Ambulance has been an ambition for as long as I can remember and I feel privileged to be able to work with an outstanding group of people to be able to deliver Advanced Trauma Care at the Road side to the people of London.’
Dr Alex Alexiou
PRU Consultant
Alex initially worked as a fellow on the Physician Response Unit in 2017. He has also completed secondments with both Essex & Herts Air Ambulance and most recently Sydney HEMS. Having trained in North, Central and East London he has also worked in both Emergency Medicine and Intensive care in Sydney, Australia for 2 years. Alex is an Emergency Medicine Consultant at Barts Health NHS Trust and also works at Wembley Stadium for the Football Association as a Senior Medical Officer.
Julia Mayayo
PRU Nurse
Julia has been a nurse in the Emergency Department at The Royal London since 2019, having originally trained in Barcelona, Spain. Julia is on a secondment with the Physician Response Unit regularly joining the crews out on shift as a 3rd member of the clinical team. This opportunity to share learning between the ED and the prehospital environment is invaluable in improving patient care in our community; “I feel incredibly lucky to be part of the team and grateful to all of the public who support our work.
Ben Taggart-Ryan
PRU EAC
I have been working for the London Ambulance Service since 2017, always in East London being based at Homerton. I'm excited to be working for the PRU and to be part of a team which makes a real difference to our local communities.
Dr Alice Munro
PRU Doctor
Alice is an Emergency Medicine registrar training in North East London. She has a particular interest in public health, health inequities and social justice. Working with the Physician Response Unit has allowed Alice to learn from experts in Pre-Hospital Care as well as deliver pioneering, individualised, and holistic care to patients in the community. Alice is keen to find new ways of sharing learning with the wider medical community and has created education videos for Don't Forget the Bubbles as well as editing the NETRAG+ podcast. When she isn't at work you will find her at On Call Coffee; a coffee shop and community space that she co-founded with her partner.
Mathew Alex
PRU Doctor
Having moved to the UK after completing my medical education and core emergency medicine training in India, I went on to complete my higher specialist training in emergency medicine in South West London which included sub-speciality training in paediatric emergency medicine. After my training, my interest in pre-hospital critical care encouraged me to work with the South Thames Retrieval Service for children for a year. This included both working in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and retrieving critically unwell children from hospitals in the South East of England to specialist hospitals.
I am passionate in delivering high quality care to patients and working on the Physician Response Unit will enable me to do this in the comfort of the patient’s home surrounded by family and friends. The speciality of Community Emergency Medicine is new and evolving and it is a privilege to be a part of this team delivering emergency care to patients where they need it the most.
My interests include medical education, research and pre-hospital care. I continue to work as a medic at major sporting events including being a club doctor with BEMSEE, the London Marathon and as a stadium medic.
Dr Jack Navein
PRU Doctor
Jack is a South London EM trainee who has braved the trip across the river in order to expand his horizons.
Jack joined the PRU in 2022, attracted to the innovative way in which the service is tackling the inequalities in healthcare that some of the most vulnerable parts of the population face.
Mark Thorburn
PRU Nurse
Mark is an emergency care nurse and advanced clinical practitioner within the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS). Building on the fantastic cohort of PRU nurses, Mark is the first to pilot a collaboration between London Air Ambulance Physicians Response Unit (PRU) and Defence Nursing.
“It is a real privilege to join the PRU and wider LAA team. As a pioneer of Community Emergency Medicine (CEM), the innovative and team based approach to delivering exemplary CEM across East London has been inspiring. Witnessing the impact of care delivery to each of our patients has been hugely rewarding, and I hope to take the lessons I’ve learned back into my deployed role to improve outcomes for future military patients”.
Peter McColm
PRU EAC
“I joined the ambulance service in 2019. I am fortunate to have secured a secondment with the PRU where I aim to further develop my knowledge and understanding whilst growing my experience and skill sets in all aspects of pre-hospital care with the highest standards. This in turn will help me deliver the best care to patients first and foremost, in addition to coach and support current and future generations of pre-hospital clinicians. Where better to achieve this than alongside some of the best and most passionate clinicians in the country?”
Kayleigh Ward
PRU EAC
I joined the London Ambulance Service in 2018 onto the TEAC apprenticeship programme and have worked in Croydon since completing my training.
I come from a background of high ropes and outdoor activities with an interest in rock climbing and swimming in my spare time.
I've joined the PRU to empower patients to champion their own treatment and bring the care they need to their home or in a local setting.
I see this as an exciting opportunity to explore a new area of London, help alleviate some of the pressure on hospitals and to educate patients and their families on alternative means of care.
Dr Salman Naeem
PRU Fellow
Salman is a higher specialty trainee in emergency medicine in KSS and is currently doing his fellowship year with the Physician response unit at London's Air Ambulance. He has been involved in pre-hospital care in various roles and race track doctor and event doctor.
Salman is passionate about pre-hospital medicine, research, medical education and PoCUS. As he did his training in Pakistan, Salman is involved in the teaching and training of doctors back home and in the UK. He teaches PoCUS to medical students and to his peers at various platforms. He has also been involved in research in emergency medicine and pre-hospital medicine with a few publications and chapters to his name.
It is a privilege for him to work with PRU being able to deliver patient-centered emergency care in the community. Outside of medicine, he loves landscape photography and spending time with his son.
Rob Lumsden
PRU EAC
“I joined the ambulance service in Essex in 2012 before moving to London Ambulance Service in 2017. I joined the PRU team to have the opportunity to work within a patient focused team who are pioneering community emergency medicine. I have worked in a variety of roles across the service most recently having undertaken a secondment as a mentor at the operational placement centre. I enjoy my role as a practice placement educator and am continuing my own development by undertaking a BSc in Paramedic Science.”
Hannah Smith
PRU EAC
"I joined the London Ambulance Service in 2018, after having a career change from being a veterinary nurse. I feel very lucky and grateful to have been seconded to the PRU to further develop my knowledge and experience in my career. Outside of work I enjoy travelling, films and spending quality time with family and friends."
Dr Susie Beck
PRU Doctor
Susie is an Emergency Medicine registrar who has been working in North East London since 2014. She's a passionate advocate for treating patients as a whole person along with their families and this is what has drawn her to working with the PRU. Susie is also a keen medical educationist and enjoys mentoring and teaching both junior doctors, students and the wider team wherever possible.
Danielle Thorpe-Gray
PRU Nurse
"I am an emergency care nurse within the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) and I feel honoured to be a part of the collaboration between London's Air Ambulance, Physician Response Unit (PRU) and Defence Nursing.
It is a real privilege to be a part of a service that provides definitive clinical assessment and management within community emergency medicine. I have no doubt this experience will have a positive impact on my deployed role and enhance the care we can provide to military patients."
Dr Alice Munro
PRU Doctor
Alice is an Emergency Medicine registrar training in North East London. She has a particular interest in public health, health inequities and social justice. Working with the Physician Response Unit has allowed Alice to learn from experts in Pre-Hospital Care as well as deliver pioneering, individualised, and holistic care to patients in the community. Alice is keen to find new ways of sharing learning with the wider medical community and has created education videos for Don't Forget the Bubbles as well as editing the NETRAG+ podcast. When she isn't at work, you will find her at On Call Coffee; a coffee shop and community space that she co-founded with her partner.
Dr Chris Cann
PRU Doctor
Chris is an emergency medicine registrar working in Northeast London with a keen interest in resuscitation, decision-making, medical education, and human factors. He has recently completed an MSc in Resuscitation and Emergency medicine during which he undertook a project assessing how clinicians make decisions in emergency situations and explored potential ways to mitigate error in these processes.
Chris has a passion for medical education and has taught on numerous simulation-based courses. In 2018 he developed and now manages a Resuscitation Interventions and Procedures (RIPS) course for higher emergency medicine trainees that has a focus on high performance when delivering rare skills in stressful situations.
Chris joined the PRU team in 2022 with the goal of expanding his knowledge and experience of patient-centred decision-making to deliver individualised care.
“The standards of care the leadership sets are inspiring and although it was tough, I feel privileged to have been trained up to this standard. The value of seeing patients in their own environment allows us to explore what excellent care is for them as individuals which can be difficult to achieve in a busy emergency department. I truly believe Community Emergency Medicine will become an integral part of healthcare in the future and I feel honoured to be a part of this pioneering service”.
Dr Annie Chapman
PRU Doctor
Annie is an emergency medicine trainee with an interest in pre-hospital and expedition medicine. Her work so far has taken her from the gritty excellence of East London to the very basic refugee camps on the shores of the Greek islands, from expeditions up Kilimanjaro to pre-hospital work with displaced people in Calais, and back to the Spice Girls at Wembley Stadium...! Speaking of her role in the PRU, she says: "I am so looking forward to working as part of the PRU team, and maintaining the innovative, excellent care this service provides, on my own East London doorstep."
Dr Ben Collis
PRU Doctor
Ben is an Emergency Medicine registrar who has trained in both North-East and South London. He joined the Physician Response Unit team in 2022.
Alongside the PRU fellowship he is undertaking a 3-year MSc in Pre-Hospital Medicine out of Queen Mary University of London.
Ben is also the Sutton United FC match-day doctor and has worked as a crowd doctor at West Ham, Millwall, and Dagenham & Redbridge. Additionally, he has done further event medicine at Glastonbury Festival and the London Triathlon.
When he is not working, Ben volunteers for The Listening Place – a suicide support charity.
In his remaining spare time Ben is a long-suffering Southampton FC supporter, and plays American Football for the London Hornets.
Kate Hutt
PRU Nurse
"I am an Emergency Specialist Nurse from the Royal Navy, Queen Alexandra Royal Naval Nursing Service (QARNNS). I feel privileged to work with such an amazing team at LAA where I have gained a valuable insight into pre-hospital emergency medicine. I look forward to every shift with the PRU team because it feels that we make a real difference in patient investigation, treatment and overall care delivery. I hope by the end of my placement with PRU, I can use the pre-hospital experience in my deployed role to deliver the best possible care to my patients."
Dr Tony Joy
Clinical Lead PRU
Tony qualified in medicine from the University of Sheffield in 2004, shortly after which he volunteered as a doctor providing immediate disaster relief in Sri Lanka following the Boxing Day tsunami. His interest in trauma and emergency care developed, and he gained training in a variety of key trauma-related specialties at The Royal London Hospital including neurosurgery, vascular surgery and orthopaedic surgery before undertaking specialist Emergency Medicine training. In 2011/12 he was a Darzi Fellow in Clinical Leadership, and is particularly interested in human factors relating to clinical performance, team-work and patient safety. He is also passionate about health equality, illness and injury prevention, and improving the processes by which emergency healthcare is delivered.
Tony led the remodelling of our charity's Physician Response Unit, delivered in partnership with Barts Health and London Ambulance Service, in 2017. Tony now leads the service to deliver the emergency department to the patient.
‘Working for London’s Air Ambulance has been an ambition for many years, and I feel privileged to work with such an inspirational group of people in such a high-performing service’.
Bill Leaning
PRU Clinical Manager
Bill is responsible for managing our charity’s Physician Response Unit team, having begun his time with the service as a paramedic.
Dr David Whittington
PRU Consultant
Dr David Whittington is a GP-consultant in emergency medicine at The Royal London Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust. Qualifying as a doctor in 1983, he has been a local GP since 1988 and a GP-consultant since 2001. Dr Whittington is now medical director of Harold Wood Polyclinic in Romford and he specialises in urgent care and the interface between general practice and emergency medicine. His interests include walking, music, gardening. His family forgive him for loving his job.
Dr Adam Woodgate
PRU Consultant
Adam completed basic surgical training as a junior doctor, then higher training in emergency medicine working in many North East London and Essex hospitals. For the last five years he has been a consultant in emergency medicine at The Royal London Hospital, a role which involves being the duty trauma team leader for the North East London and Essex Trauma Network. His interests in the emergency department include violence reduction projects and issues relating to major trauma in the elderly – two areas which relate well to the challenges of the pre-hospital environment.
Dr Sophie Mitchinson
PRU Consultant
Sophie is an emergency medicine physician from London who is now a Consultant on our Physician Response Unit. In addition to pre-hospital medicine and trauma care, she has a keen interest in teaching, particularly simulation training, having spent a year as a simulation fellow in the emergency department at St George's Hospital, London. Sophie has previously flown with London’s Air Ambulance as an emergency medicine physician and worked on the Physician Response Unit in 2017-2018.
Alongside medicine, Sophie has an interest in endurance events and completed a solo swim across the English Channel in 2005.
Jamie Scott
PRU Doctor
Jamie is a registrar in emergency medicine, he spent 18 months working on novel models of care with a group of clinicians, and is currently in Year 3 of the Resuscitation MSc at Queen Mary University of London.
Jamie was destined to be a GP but fell in love with emergency medicine in Australia where he practiced for 3 years.
He loves running and cycling, really anything he can turn into a competition and settle things with a beer after!
Dr Richard Muswell
PRU Doctor
Richard is an Emergency Medicine Registrar working in North East London with strong interests in Pre-hospital and Paediatric Emergency Medicine. He is passionate about delivering excellent holistic care and enjoys the challenge of doing that in the patient's own home.
Outside of medicine, he is a keen Modern Jive dancer.
Dr Amar Mashru
PRU Doctor
I am now coming towards the end of my training in Emergency Medicine and subspecialty training in Prehospital Emergency Medicine and it feels like the perfect time to be working on the Physician Response Unit. The opportunity to provide care to patients in the community, in their own environment, and working together with their friends, families and carers to best help them receive the support that they need is fantastic. It’s great to work with such a fantastic team supporting the local health service - I hope I can do the service proud!
Dr Shal Kanagaratnam
PRU Doctor
Shal is a Physician Response Unit Fellow and Emergency Medicine Registrar based in London. During training, she has worked as a medical writer for Edelman Communications and with a group of practicing clinicians and data analysts to perform workforce modelling and clinical transformation using a ‘big data’ approach. This work, with support from HEE, subsequently formed the basis for a national training programme where Shal worked as a course developer and member of faculty.
Shal appreciates the significant impact system inefficiencies can have on patient care and staff experience. She is particularly passionate about improving staff retention within acute and emergency services and believes this is possible by developing and empowering the NHS workforce and harnessing their unique insights into frontline work to drive patient-centred change. Shal also has a keen interest in global health, with experience working in Ghana and Sri Lanka, and has recently completed an MSc in Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh.
"I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from our pre-hospital colleagues and to acquire a skillset that will enrich my Emergency Medicine training and enable me to be a valuable asset to the NHS, its continued improvement and, most importantly, its patients," Shal says of her time with our Physician Response Unit.
Husna Ahmed
PRU Administrator
Husna began working in Barts Health NHS Trust after graduating in business management from the University of Westminster in 2016. She has worked in various departments within the trust such as pathology, health records and cancer pathways, where she gained excellent administrative and organisational skills before joining the emergency department. She worked as A&E medical coordinator in The Royal London Hospital before becoming our PRU administrator.
Husna is responsible for supporting the team with administrative duties and helps to enable the smooth running of the service. She oversees the activity data, induction packs, training schedules, rotas and minute taking to ensure ensure the highest standard of office organisation is maintained at all times.
Jonathan Jenkins
CEO
After a distinguished career in the city, Jonathan comes to London’s Air Ambulance from Social Investment Business, where he dealt with charity and social enterprise investment as the company’s CEO. He has a lifelong commitment to charity work, and has served as trustee for a number of third sector organisations. In his spare time he has also managed to run 12 London Marathons and the 2016 & 2018 Marathon des Sables, raising vital funds for London’s Air Ambulance in the process.
Jonathan lives in West London with his wife Heidi, a headteacher, and their two young children, Maggie and Lottie. He is a lifelong Spurs supporter.
Charles Newitt
Deputy CEO & Chief Operating Officer
Charles joined London’s Air Ambulance at the beginning of August 2014 as the charity’s first Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for aviation, helipad operations, finance & HR. He is the charity’s Air Operations Certificate (AOC) Accountable Manager and it is in this capacity that Charles assumes responsibility for all aspects of our aviation function, ensuring our compliance with the UK and European regulatory frameworks.
Colonel Charles, as he was formerly known, held various senior positions during his time with the British Army including Chief of Staff at the NATO Training Mission in Iraq where he directed a team of 250 multi-national personnel. Towards the end of his military career he was heavily involved in the operational delivery of Army training and developing Aldershot Garrison’s strategy and planning to meet the Army’s restructuring programme.
Deployed to help London’s Air Ambulance to pursue its strategic goals, Charles’ experience of inspiring and motivating mixed teams is a huge asset to the charity.
Richard Lewy
Manager of the CEO's Office
Richard is responsible for managing the CEO's office and providing organisational and workload management support to the directors. He also provides the administration resource for the Board and is the primary contact for business systems and office facility issues across the office.
Jackie Clifton
Receptionist and Office Coordinator
Jackie is responsible for manning the incoming calls at the reception desk, dealing with queries and other office admin.
Jackie previously worked in a secretarial role for Rush Green Hospital and on the Arcus Facilities Management helpdesk.
Bob Forsyth
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Bob describes himself as an Aberdonian, Trinidadian born, Arsenal supporting water skier and accountant. Bob’s career with Ernst & Young has been an unusual one (for an accountant), with Bob leading change programmes in sales, major account programmes and marketing. At the moment he is also leading the audit quality programme for his firm. Bob has spent more than 20 years as a partner of Ernst & Young, helping clients like Lotus, Sony and Greene King improve their governance and control. His passion is slalom water-skiing, but he spends a lot of time keeping fit with Parkruns, tennis and playing cricket. His wife is a consultant anaesthetist at the Royal Free and between them they have three children now evenly distributed across the world.
Gemma Sherrington
Trustee
Gemma is a member of the Executive Board at Save the Children UK, leading fundraising and marketing teams responsible for engaging the Charity’s supporters who generously give their time, money and voice to support the UK’s most vulnerable children. Gemma has over 15 years of fundraising and marketing experience, previously working for NSPCC, Cardinal Hume Centre and WaterAid.
Bianca Gill
Trustee
Bianca is an audit associate partner at Ernst & Young, where she has spent over 20 years auditing both private and listed companies in the real estate and construction sectors. She is currently responsible for leading high risk complex audits, providing robust challenge, and making key judgements, and she consistently delivers audits to a high quality. During her career at Ernst & Young, Bianca spent a period of time in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi, providing advisory services to the local government tourism body where she gained valuable experience of integrating and developing teams. Bianca is a mental health first aider and takes an active role in providing a mental health and wellbeing support function at Ernst & Young. She has a keen interest in developing others and provides coaching, mentoring and support in career development to managers within her department.
“Joining LAA is a fantastic opportunity to learn and contribute to a cause that is ultimately about saving lives – a cause that has a meaningful purpose. I’m looking forward to working and collaborating with new people that have different career backgrounds to mine.”
Gordon Pitman
Trustee
Gordon has been leading the global HR function at GKN Aerospace since 2016 and is a member of the Aerospace Executive team. GKN Aerospace is a global tier one supplier into all the major Aerospace OEM’s and has business lines covering Civil Airframe, Defense Airframe and Engines. With over 40 manufacturing locations and 16,000 people it is an exciting, globally diverse organization. Previous to joining GKN Aerospace, Gordon spent 11 years in coatings and chemicals manufacturing with ICI and AkzoNobel and lived in Canada, The Netherlands and USA. Gordon holds an Msc in Organizational Psychology from the University of Birbeck in London. He lives in south London with his husband and 2 Burmese cats.
On joining London’s Air Ambulance Charity Gordon said “It’s a privilege to be able to support the charity with my experience in the world of HR, organizational change, leadership, Diversity & Inclusion and Aviation. I am looking forward to working with the London's Air Ambulance Charity team as we continue on our mission to save more lives in London from preventable deaths.”
Nick Goodwyn
Trustee
Nick Goodwyn has enjoyed a career as a military and civilian Pilot, Instructor, Examiner and has worked for the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA). He is also a qualified Aircrew, Executive and Business Performance Coach and mentor.
On behalf of the CAA, he led an overview of Pilot Performance and he developed a concept for Peer Support Programmes promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing of commercial flight crew. His expertise extends to Human Factors, Performance and Crew Resource Management.
After an early career restoring and operating vintage aircraft in the film and display world, he learnt to fly gliders and won a Royal Air Force Flying Scholarship at age 18, completing his Private Pilots Licence before he had learnt to drive a car. He served in the RAF as a fast jet military pilot, instructor and examiner amassing over 4500 hours (including multi-engine and rotary experience). He left the RAF in 2016 to become Director of EPT Ltd (Aviation Services), working in the commercial air transport sector.
Nick has a Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching Psychology and a Masters in Executive and Business Coaching.
Nick was Master of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, City Livery, in 2021. Nick and his wife juggle busy working and family lives and he has a wide variety of other interests including oenology, F1, rugby and test cricket.
“I am humbled and excited to join the London’s Air Ambulance Charity team as a Trustee and to support the Charity in any way I can through this next period of challenge, change and growth in this exceptional organisation, helping to save lives in London”
Sheri Adigun
Trustee
Sheri Adigun is Senior Commercial Finance Manager at the Wellcome Trust, overseeing International activities & UK finance.
Sheri's career has spanned multiple sectors, with her ultimately electing to focus on finance within health around a decade ago following several years initially in the private sector. I was motivated to join the board at London Air Ambulance as a volunteer trustee as London is so close to my heart. Being born in the Royal London Hospital and living in London all my life this is a real opportunity to save diverse local lives with the unique service LAA provides. Sheri hopes to contribute and build on LAA’s legacy, supporting ambitious growth, stewarding efficient financial policies/controls, and supporting the safe replacement of the new LAA helicopters in the town she loves.
Sheri is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant and studied law with Business at Kingston University, gaining an LLB.
Rita Chadha
Trustee
Rita has had a lifelong career in the not-for-profit sector, working for over twenty different international, national, and local charities.
Over the years, she has also worked on many high-profile human rights-based campaigns advocating for the needs of refugee and migrant communities. Currently, Rita is working with several faith-based charities and supporting organisations requiring interim management support. She is also a trustee of several other charities in her spare time.
Will Walden
Trustee
Will has developed messaging and communications for some of the biggest names in media, politics and business. He began his career as a journalist, reporting for GMTV, Granada, ITN and the BBC, and worked on both News At Ten and the Nine O'Clock News. He spent more than a decade covering UK and US politics for the BBC in a variety of senior roles, including Chief Political Producer, Deputy Bureau Chief in North America, and Westminster News Editor. As a political advisor at City Hall, the Foreign Office and 10 Downing Street, he helped shape the public profile of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, first as Johnson's Director of Communications and official spokesman, and latterly as his Chief Counsel.
He is currently Executive Director of strategic communications at Edelman - one of the world's leading PR firms - where he advises business leaders on media engagement, political campaigning, crisis and international relations.
Will joined London's Air Ambulance Charity as a Trustee in 2016. He comes from a medical family - his brother is a GP, his sister-in-law is a consultant, his cousin is a surgeon and his aunt is a retired nurse. Will is a keen amateur artist, average cricketer and rusty golfer. He grew up in Guernsey, and lives in West London with his wife and four children.
Ed Owen
Trustee
Ed works as the Head of Communications for Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service. In this role, he supports the modernisation of our justice system and an ambitious reforms programme with first-class communications. Previously, Ed was Chief Executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, one of the UK’s leading medical research charities. Under his leadership, the Trust implemented a new research strategy and established plans for a national clinical trials platform in cystic fibrosis. Between 1997 and 2005 Ed was a government adviser in the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Outside of work Ed’s interests are politics, travel and Manchester City.
Brigadier Tim Hodgetts
Trustee
Tim is an emergency physician with over 35 years of military experience and has treated victims of conflict in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Specialising in military emergency medicine and pre-hospital care, Tim has published extensively and designed curricula for both military and civilian audiences in pre-hospital care, trauma and disaster medicine. He is also a Commissioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and co-Founder of the registered charity citizenAID.
Dr Margot Gosney
Trustee
Margot is a Geriatrician also trained in Medical Oncology. She was appointed Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool in 1992 and Professor of Elderly Care Medicine University of Reading and Honorary Consultant in Elderly Care Medicine at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust in 2003. Margot has set up and run a a Comprehensive Care for Older People with Cancer service in Berkshire and has advised the Department of Health and Macmillan Cancer Care on the management of older people with cancer. She also researches barriers to good nutrition and strategies to improve this with a particular focus on hospitalised individuals at most risk of the results of suboptimal nutrition.
James Thomas
Trustee
James is Chief Technology Officer for Wellcome, an independent health research foundation, where he is responsible for leadership of technology and digital services. James is on the Industrial Advisory Board for the School of Computing and Communications at the Open University, and is also executive sponsor for the Data for Science and Health Priority area, a programme seeking to ensure everyone can benefit from health data innovation. Prior to working at Wellcome, James had an extensive career in the private and public sectors including technology leadership roles in the NHS.
Neil Jeffers
Chief Pilot
Captain Neil Jeffers is chief pilot at London’s Air Ambulance. He has flown over 7,000 hours since he started flying in 1997 and has a 5,000-hour track record in instructing and examining. Before he joined the service in 2005, Neil worked in a number of areas including commercial air transport and aerial filming. Neil is an experienced crew resource management instructor. He is a certified first responder and has been a volunteer emergency responder with London Ambulance Service for two years. Neil ran eight marathons in six days through the deserts of Jordan and completed the 2018 Marathon des Sables to raise money and awareness for London’s Air Ambulance.
Johnny Crewdson
Pilot
When not flying for our charity, Captain Johnny Crewdson lives just south of Bordeux in France. His hobbies include skydiving, drums and curry (although not all at the same time).
Andy Thomson
Pilot
Captain Andy Thomson started his career in the Royal Navy. Since leaving in 2004, he has worked in San Francisco as a flight instructor as well as with the police and news crews. Before joining London's Air Ambulance, he spent five years flying to oil rigs and boats in the North Sea for Bristow Helicopters.
David Rolfe
Pilot
Captain David Rolfe started flying helicopters commercially in 1999, flying to the oil rigs out of Aberdeen for CHC. He has since flown for the police and in the corporate sector, operating in a variety of countries around the world
Pete Driver
Pilot
Captain Pete Driver joined London's Air Ambulance having previously spent seven years working as an air ambulance pilot outside of London. Previously, Pete flew as an instructor, commercial and corporate helicopter pilot and an airline pilot on Boeing 737 jets.
"I leave behind the open countryside of the counties and get ready for the challenge of London," says Pete.
John Power
Chief Fire Office
As Chief Fire Officer, John is responsible for fire prevention and safety at the helipad. John has worked in aviation since 1989 and holds a fixed wing private pilot’s licence and a hot air balloon private pilot’s licence. John was a member of the Air Training Corps (ATC) 16F Wood Green and Hornsey until the age of 18, which helped him to get his foot in the door of the aviation business. He enjoys working within such a close knit team and finds meeting ex-patients and their families very rewarding.
Chris Sutton
Fire Crew
Chris is a member of our charity’s fire crew, who are responsible for fire prevention, safety and running the operations room at our helipad.
Stuart Whitford
Fire Crew
Stuart is a member of our charity’s fire crew, who are responsible for fire prevention, safety and running the operations room at our helipad.
Michael Horton
Fire Crew
Michael cycles 14 miles, not including the train ride, to get to work each day. He is also a volunteer fire fighter at The Shuttleworth Collection and Yorkshire Air Museum, providing fire cover for air shows and other events.
Mark Drewitt
Fire Crew
Mark joined London's Air Ambulance in January 2018, having previously worked as an aviation firefighter (later crew commander) at London Biggin Hill Airport for nine years. Mark has also served as a retained firefighter/crew commander with Kent Fire & Rescue Service for 12 years. Prior to this, he trained as an electronics engineer and is a qualified domestic electrician. In his spare time, Mark enjoys martial arts, motor sport and music.
Christine Henry
Senior Technical Healthcare Business Analyst
Christine Henry, PhD is the Senior Technical Healthcare Business Analyst with the London’s Air Ambulance Clinical Operations team. She is project lead on Digital Transformation projects which include moving to digital patient records and equipment checks, and improving data use for the charity’s clinical and operations goals.
Christine has a background in data analysis, product management and data ethics across the charity and healthcare sectors.
Samit Tailor
Helipad Data Analyst
Samit joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in August 2021, bringing with him knowledge of data from various roles within the charity sector, his background is in data analysis, selections, and data management.
Samit supports the Clinical Operations Team by providing insight of team activity and analysis of clinical data to help provide solutions and improvements to the service alongside other Digital Transformation Projects which include reporting on POCUS and TARN data.
Parbin Begum
Personal Assistant
Parbin is the Personal Assistant to the Senior Clinical Team. She joined the service in 2016 having previously worked for many years as Administrator in the Emergency Department at The Royal London Hospital.
Parbin assists with the coordination of team diaries, commitments, rotas [Consultant on-call/Medical Advisor/Teaching rotas] and is the liaison point for our medical staff recruitment, on-boarding and temporary staffing cover as needed.
She also assists with the general HR processes for helipad-based staff from within our pri-partite system. Parbin is also the point of contact for non-stock ordering using Barts Health procurement system [Oracle].
Paul Smith
Helipad and Driving Standards Manager
Helipad & Driving Standards Manager Paul Smith is responsible for the secure running and development of our charity's helipad, and for managing our fleet of rapid response vehicles.
Paul began his time with our service as an aviation firefighter and funded his own training to become our fleet manager when we first began using rapid response cars in 1999. Paul introduced London's Air Ambulance's own driving licence system and policies. He is responsible for ensuring that all the blue light driving is checked every day to make sure that we drive to our exemptions, and the navigation is also checked on a daily basis.
As one of the most qualified blue light driving instructors in the UK, Paul has single-handedly trained every paramedic that has worked for our service in the last 20 years. He also trains our doctors in night-time navigation, and other doctors and paramedics from services across the UK. In 2014, Paul added aviation security manager to his list of responsibilities, coordinating the maintenance and development issues that come with a helipad atop the UK's busiest major trauma centre
Liz Foster
Patient Development Nurse
Liz maintains the pre-hospital trauma registry and is responsible for data analysis, which includes activity figures and submission of financial data. Liz also co-ordinates audit and research projects. Previously, Liz worked in accident & emergency, paediatrics, orthopaedics and as an in-flight nurse. She is both a registered general and children’s nurse with speciality courses in emergency nursing, autonomous practice and in-flight nursing.
Demi Walsh
HEMS Administration Officer
Demi joined London’s Air Ambulance in January 2019 as HEMS Administration Officer, working closely with and assisting the Helipad & Driver Standards Manager in ensuring the smooth running of the helipad, while also providing necessary administrative support to the operational and clinical teams as necessary.
Jayne Clarke
Director of Fundraising and Marketing
Jayne joined the London's Air Ambulance Charity team in June 2022 and will lead the Fundraising, Marketing and Communications teams. Jayne stared her career in marketing and advertising working with small boutique agencies before moving to McCann Worldgroup to work on global clients.
From there, Jayne moved to ethical banking and soon realised that she wanted to work for organisations that made a difference to the world. After 5 years in banking she moved to the Third Sector where she headed up the Marketing, Media and Creative teams at the RNLI. During her time at the RNLI, she led the teams though large scale campaigns, media issues, large corporate partnerships amongst other things.
Jayne then became the Director of Income Generations for St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol and then went on to consult for other charities.
Jayne brings to us her combination of work at the RNLI and her healthcare roles, and will lead the team as we launch on an exciting phase in the Charity's history.
Anne Weatherill
Deputy Director of Fundraising and Marketing
Anne is responsible for managing income from individual supporters of London’s Air Ambulance Charity. She looks after the strategy and development of our individual giving programme which includes our successful lottery and regular giving programmes, our legacy fundraising programme and is also responsible for developing new income streams for the charity. She has over 15 years’ experience of charity fundraising, having worked at both Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Marie Curie for a number of years.
Hayley Rainey
Head of Community Engagement
Hayley is responsible for managing income from individuals and groups fundraising for London’s Air Ambulance Charity in their local communities. She manages the development of our Community Fundraising and Volunteering strategy and also oversees the London’s Air Ambulance Charity Shop at the Royal London Hospital and our Learning and Outreach programme. Hayley joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in 2013 to develop our Volunteer programme after working in fundraising and programme delivery at The Prince’s Trust and homelessness charity, Crisis, where she led on a grants programme.
Lucy Brooks
Head of Corporate Development
Lucy is responsible for managing income from our corporate supporters. Lucy manages some of the charity’s high-profile corporate partnerships as well as strategically developing new business opportunities. Along with the rest of the corporate team she works to effectively support our charity of the year partnerships, strategic partners, corporate events and sponsors. With a degree in marketing Lucy, has over eight years’ experience working in the charity sector, with a background which includes large corporate partnerships, event management and communications.
Phoebe Nicholson
Senior Philanthropy Officer (Trusts)
Phoebe is responsible for managing relationships with trusts, foundations and the City Livery Companies. She works with both new and existing supporters to secure income in support of London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s core services, and to help replace our existing helicopter fleet by 2024. Phoebe joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in 2022, having previously worked in Philanthropy at Lepra and St Mungo’s.
Catherine Hughes
Philanthropy & Partnerships Coordinator
Caroline Totterdill
Senior Advisor - Philanthropy & Partnerships
Caroline joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in May 2021 as the Senior Advisor, Philanthropy & Partnerships, leading the Philanthropy and Partnerships teams raising funds from major donors, charitable trusts and companies. Caroline has worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years, in both charities and higher education, specialising in high value fundraising from individuals, trusts and companies. She has led successful teams working across philanthropy and corporate partnerships at the British Heart Foundation and Macmillan Cancer Support and has worked on sector leading appeals such as the NSPCC’s Full Stop Campaign and UCL’s Advancing London’s Global University – the Campaign for UCL.
Lipa Paul
Supporter Engagement Team Leader
Working across the Fundraising and Marketing team, Lipa facilitates all aspects of supporter engagement including service, stewardship, and fundraising activity. As Supporter Engagement Team Leader, Lipa plays an integral role in strengthening the relationships with our wonderful supporters. She equally assists in the delivery of multi-channel stewardship campaigns and is passionate about championing positive supporter experience.
To date, Lipa’s background in fundraising, supporter care and quality assurance in the charity sector spans over 10 years.
Danny Kane
Community Fundraising Administrator
Danny joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in May 2022 as the Community Fundraising Administrator to support the community team with day-to-day tasks. He organises the pot collections and supports local fundraisers with their events. He is also responsible for thanking our community supporters and dealing with enquiries.
Danny recently graduated with an MA in Medieval History, after having previously studied and worked in Film and Television as a videographer. He has previously worked at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and Breast Cancer Now in Community Fundraising and Supporter Care. He is going onto study a PhD in Italian Renaissance History in October.
Suzanne Smith
New Business Lead
Suzanne is responsible for developing new corporate business opportunities in the philanthropy, partnerships and events team. She grows commercial and strategic opportunities and plays an instrumental role in supporting charity of the year partnerships. Before joining London’s Air Ambulance, Suzanne had over nine years’ previous experience as a senior solicitor at a leading regional firm.
Ana Rodrigues
Senior Marketing Analysis Officer
Ana joined the charity in February 2017, having started at London’s Air Ambulance as a volunteer in 2016. Ana has worked in the database team being responsible for all data related queries, and the finance team working within accounts receivable processing all income for the charity. Combining logic and data analysis, Ana now uses her expertise to provide insight to the charity, helping it to better understand its supporters, improve its DM campaigns and unlock new opportunities.
Asha Patel
Corporate Development Officer
Asha joins us to cover maternity leave. She has responsibilities in developing new corporate relationships and managing key accounts for some of our corporate supporters, including helping with employee engagement and corporate events.
In her spare time, you will find Asha walking and trekking in nature.
Tanya Moss
Senior Philanthropy Lead (Trusts & Statutory)
Tanya is responsible for managing the charity’s relationships with trusts, foundations and the City Livery Companies. She identifies partnership opportunities and grows income in support of London’s Air Ambulance’s core services, essential medical kit, and to launch innovative projects to help improve the lives of severely injured patients. Before joining the charity in 2014, Tanya worked at a global insurance broker in the City.
Caroline Gellatly
Senior Philanthropy Lead (Major Donors)
Caroline manages philanthropic giving at London’s Air Ambulance, working with individual supporters to fund our life-saving services and medical research. She began her fundraising career in academic development, going on to manage major gifts programmes at Prostate Cancer UK and London Business School.
Jessica Hazelton
Major Donor Manager
Jess works with individual supporters to fund London’s Air Ambulance’s life-saving services and medical research. Jess also manages the Innovation Circle: a group of passionate individuals, family foundations and trusts who support the Charity with an annual gift of £5,000. She began her fundraising career in the arts, raising money for some of the world’s leading conservatoires.
Heather Carroll
Volunteer Development Manager
Heather is responsible for the strategic development and management of the volunteer programme at London's Air Ambulance Charity. She joined the organisation in October 2021, having previously worked at the British Heart Foundation developing and growing the Community Fundraising Groups and Volunteers programme there for 3 and a half years.
Before that, she worked with student volunteers at both Kingston University and London School of Economics Students’ Union, and also volunteered for Raleigh International in Malaysian Borneo, managing younger volunteers out on remote projects. She is a keen backpacker and loves exploring new places and cultures and meeting new people.
In her spare time, you can often find Heather hiking and exploring the outdoors, admiring other people’s dogs (until she can get her own), playing or watching sport, or having a natter over a cuppa and slice of cake!
Ghadeer Abu Shawareb
Corporate Development Officer
Ghadeer joined us after completing her postgraduate studies at Oxford Brookes University specialising in Corporate Social Responsibility. She manages key accounts for some of our corporate supporters, helping with employee engagement and supporting corporate events. She previously held a similar role at a local Children’s Museum. Ghadeer has an active interest in the Social Return on Investment discipline. When she has some spare time from taking care of her son, she is found working on her next painting.
Sacha Tremain
Prospect Researcher
Sacha joined the charity in February 2021 as Prospect Researcher and is responsible for identifying new opportunities to raise funds across all income streams. Prior to joining the team, she spent 15 years as the Research Manager for the National Trust, during which time she was also involved in database management, reporting and analysis, data protection and due diligence. Sacha is an active advocate for fundraising and prospect research and was previously the Chair of the Researchers in Fundraising group and is currently volunteering for the best practice guidebook and also serves as a committee member for PyroTalks CIC.
Sacha is passionate about ensuring charities are efficient, innovative and engage their supporters in ways that interest and excite them, putting supporters at the heart of what we do. Before she worked in fundraising, Sacha was frontline helpline worker for the National Domestic Violence Helpline and a Senior Publishing Administrator for the Institute of Physics Publishing.
Outside of work, Sacha has many interests, including bellydance, playing the piano, drumming, poetry, rescue basset hounds, walking in nature and entertaining a 3 year-old daughter. She currently lives just outside Bristol, having moved here to study history, but originally hails from North London/Herts and still has family in the area.
Ian Mitchell
Marketing Analysis Manager
Ian’s job is to help our Fundraising and Marketing teams to better understand our supporters and our marketing activities, so that we offer the best possible experience to every supporter. Having spent 24 successful years in the corporate world using data to help big companies grow, he joined us in 2020 with the ambition to use data to help our charity grow.
At last count, Ian has one wife, two kids, four cats, and has run six marathons.
Hannah Mason
Senior Direct Marketing Manager
Hannah joined London’s Air Ambulance in 2019, having previously worked at Alzheimer’s Research UK and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. She’s passionate about all things marketing and fundraising and is responsible for managing a number of our regular giving programmes including DRTV, digital, raffle and is also responsible for implementing a new journey for our fantastic supporters.
Lydia Raine
Direct Marketing Officer (Appeals)
Eddy Francis
Direct Marketing Manager (Face to Face)
Eddy helps manage the Face to Face fundraising department of London's Air Ambulance Charity. This involves working with the agency partners that the charity uses to bring in regular donors. These donors are signed up either through Direct Debits or as Lottery players. He spends much of his time helping improve fundraiser compliance and quality, as well as improving internal processes. He comes from Marie Curie, where he spent five years in a similar role. Before this, he worked as a manager of a homeless day centre.
Eddy is a keen cricketer and bowls left arm leggies.
Matt Smith
Senior Supporter Engagement Manager
Matt joined London’s Air Ambulance in July 2018 as our legacy manager. He is a passionate advocate of gifts in wills fundraising, having previously worked for RNIB and the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Outside of work Matt plays the Ukulele, sings and can often be found at the opera.
Jennifer Woolford
Fundraising Compliance Specialist
Jennifer Woolford is responsible for ensuring that our fundraising is undertaken while compliant with the Fundraising Regulator, Charity Commission, PECR, ICO and many more.
Having worked in compliance for over 20 years, Jennifer brings experience from a variety of sectors and organisations including TalkTalk, Care UK, Sue Ryder, St Mungo’s to name but a few. Working closely with London’s Air Ambulance Charity individual giving team, Jennifer is here to ensure that our fundraising compliance mirrors the super compliance of our operational teams.
Danielle Wing
Project 2025 Support
Dani joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in December 2018 as part of the Individual Giving Team. As Fundraising Compliance and Training Officer, she designs, develops and delivers our fundraiser training programmes and ensures best practice through agency training reviews and fundraiser performance assessments.
Dani holds a degree in Philosophy from University of East Anglia and previously worked as a Community Fundraising Intern for Barts Charity.
Will Burton
Fundraising Compliance & Training Coordinator
Will joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in September 2021 as part of the DMSE team. As fundraising compliance and training coordinator he is responsible for developing and delivering fundraising compliance across the charity and ensuring compliance within London's Air Ambulance Charity’s third party suppliers.
Prior to joining the charity, Will worked for the Liberal Democrat Party at their Westminster HQ, dealing with party donations and compliance particularly in respect of campaign spending during the last General Election. More recently, Will worked as a Golf Administrator at a member’s golf club.
Rhiannon Evans
Education and Outreach Manager
Rhiannon joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in October 2017 as Learning & Outreach Manager with the aim of building our engagement with schools across London. She visits primary and secondary schools across London to tell pupils about the lifesaving work of our charity and the various roles in the team. Rhiannon has been working in the charity sector for sixteen years and has experience of working with schools and colleges.
Simon Pitts
Senior Community Fundraising Manager
Simon joined London’s Air Ambulance in May 2020 and is responsible for increasing engagement and support from individuals, organisations, small businesses and schools throughout London and surrounding areas. Previously Simon spent six years working for several NHS Charities, which included leading a high profile trauma research appeal backed by the Sunday Mirror and rap star Professor Green. Outside work Simon is a Trustee for an Essex based charity delivering high quality support to adults with complex learning difficulties
Alison McGuinness
Community Fundraising Manager
Having joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in 2013, Alison is our Community Fundraising Manager, leading on retail partnerships and golf club relationships across the whole of London and managing community fundraising relationships in South West, West and North West London. She not only supports individuals, groups, schools and local businesses fundraising in the community but also plans, develops and delivers new fundraising events and initiatives, from raffles and fun runs to carol concerts and 60s nights.
Alison is passionate about the power of community engagement and in creating an excellent supporter experience for every Londoner who fundraises for us and, having previously given time as a volunteer herself, is proud to support our dedicated team of community fundraising volunteers, without whom we simply couldn’t do our fundraising work.
Away from work, Alison is a busy mum of 3, and servant to Reggie the Cat, who enjoys planning fun things to do with her extended family. She loves walking for exercise and recently completed the Thamespath Challenge to fundraise in aid of London’s Air Ambulance.
Yvonne Harvey
Retail Manager
Yvonne is responsible for managing our Retail operations at London's Air Ambulance Charity. She manages the shop at the Royal London Hospital, develops new products for sale and recruits, trains and provides support to our retail volunteers. Yvonne joined the charity in November 2016 and has 30 years of experience working in the charity sector.
Olivia Moore
Community Engagement Officer
Olivia joined London’s Air Ambulance in March 2020 in the Community Fundraising team helping the area fundraisers. She now works in the new product development side of fundraising and is currently developing our in memory & in celebration giving which includes new online platforms.
Olivia graduated with a degree in International Relations with American Studies and even spent a year living in the US. She has volunteered with CoppaFeel! and a medical aid charity and previously worked in a start-up who provided career advice to young people.
Sophie Allen
Senior Challenge Events Manager
Responsible for leading on the marketing, logistics and delivery of specific events, Sophie supports teams of participants in both their event preparations and their fundraising.
Sophie joined the London’s Air Ambulance Events Team in December 2018 previously having worked for Girlguiding UK, Parkinson’s UK and Blesma, The Limbless Veterans.
Molly Watson
Events Officer
Molly is responsible for leading on the marketing, logistics and delivery of specific events, she supports teams of participants in both their event preparations and their fundraising.
Molly joined the London’s Air Ambulance Events Team in January 2020 previously having worked for The Hamelin Trust, Blesma, The Limbless Veterans and Fight for Sight
Caitlin Owen
Events Coordinator
Caitlin joined London’s Air Ambulance Charity in March 2022 as an Events Coordinator. She has a degree in Event Management and has experience working as an events assistant for Cancer Research – working on events such as Race for Life and Pretty Muddy.
Jo Pugh
Special Events Manager
Jo is responsible for planning and delivering our programme of special events including our gala ball, golf day, cultivation events and annual receptions.
Jo joined the team at London's Air Ambulance on October 2019 having previously working for CLIC Sargent for seven years.
Alexandra Sutherland
Head of Communications
Alexandra oversees the Marketing and Communications team, looking after the press, public affairs, digital, brand and marketing functions. She has a background in campaigns and the political sector, and has previously run an MP’s office in Westminster, worked on two General Election campaigns and the 2016 London Mayoral campaign.
Eva Petrova
Content and Digital Marketing Manager
Before joining London's Air Ambulance, Eva specialised in consumer PR at Edelman, Prague, where she undertook product and corporate communication for international brands. Eva established herself as an independent marketing consultant in London in 2011 after she finished her Masters in Media.
Tara Nolan
Brand and Content Manager
Tara manages our patients' stories and the latest online news from the charity. She is also in charge of making sure all creative assets produced effectively portray London's Air Ambulance Charity's brand. Tara's background is content focused, with experience in both the charity and B2B sectors, and a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
Andy Frain
Media and Public Affairs Manager
Andy became part of the team at London’s Air Ambulance Charity in 2022 and oversees the charity’s engagement with political stakeholders and the media. He joined the charity after a spell working in campaigns and public affairs for the Charities Aid Foundation following several years as a political consultant.
Jessica Hodson
Digital Communications Officer
Jessica joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in May 2021 as the Digital Communications Officer. Her role involves managing the Charity's social media channels from planning, content creation, copywriting to execution.
Jessica has a degree in Marketing and Advertising, and previously worked for Contiki and VisitBritain in their social media teams.
Libby Hogger
Designer
Having always been creative and passionate about design, I knew this was the direction I wanted my career to go in. Over the past eight years, I have been a graphic designer for several design agencies where I worked on many different projects for charities, local businesses, as well as worldwide companies like Ford. This has led me to develop a broad knowledge of branding, digital design, and print production, which I can now showcase at London’s Air Ambulance Charity - a charity close to my family’s heart. Having a close connection to the Charity, drives and motivates me even more to create engaging and eye-catching print and digital content for teams across the Charity and the frontline service.
Claire Lake
Finance Officer
Claire has worked in finance for many years, gaining a wealth of experience in a variety of sectors, before joining our finance team in July 2021.
Outside of work, she loves grabbing her kindle and cuddling up with her rescue cats; currently owned by three of them, and she’s lost track of how many gigs and festivals she’s been to.
Fatima Ali
Finance Officer
Having worked within the finance team at Prostate Cancer UK, Fatima has significant charity experience which she hopes to build upon and develop with the London's Air Ambulance Charity. She joined the Charity in April 2022 and is currently progressing towards becoming a fully qualified accountant. Outside of work, Fatima likes to experiment with cooking recipes from different types of cuisines and has started to enjoy cycling around the quieter(!) parts of London.
Tricia Johnstone
Deputy Director, Finance
Tricia joined us in May 2017 to manage the finance function of the organisation. She has long and extensive finance experience with a wide variety of charities, most recently as Head of Finance at the Museums Association. Tricia is a chartered accountant (ACCA). She grew up in the wilds of Donegal in Ireland and still likes to get out to the countryside whenever the opportunity arises.
Tharik Talukdhar
Finance Business Partner
Tharik joined London's Air Ambulance in July 2015 from KPMG LLP where he worked as a management consultant within their public sector financial management advisory practice. Prior to this, he worked as a management accountant at London School of Pharmacy and University College London. Tharik holds an undergraduate degree in actuarial science from Cass Business School and is a qualified chartered management accountant registered with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Karina Makna
Finance Manager
Originally from Latvia, Karina joined London's Air Ambulance in November 2017. Having completed her accountancy degree in Riga, Karina has previously provided short support as an AP assistant in the Wellcome Trust. Karina assists the finance team in income recording and analysis, maintaining the sales ledger and bank and cash management. Karina is currently studying ACCA and sees herself as a qualified accountant in the future.
Jade Stapleton
Head of People
Jade is responsible for people and organisational development at London’s Air Ambulance. Her remit includes everything from recruitment to the contracts and policies that underpin our work. She also leads on developing our people and culture, working with everyone across the organisation to create an environment that supports our values and encourages behaviours that make us a great place to work.
Jade’s previous HR roles were in youth and digital services in the charity sector, where she developed a passion for organisational evolution and people development. She lives in East London with her Lurcher, Dogmatix, and likes good coffee.
Zofia Zaoralova
Senior People Officer
Zofia joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in May 2019. As HR officer, she supports the HR business partner in a number of areas, including administrative work, recruitment, induction and retention and our internal intranet. Prior to working at London's Air Ambulance, Zofia previously worked in commercial organisations and completed a masters degree in Ethnology in Slovakia, where she is originally from.
Zofia is passionate about working for an organisation that makes a difference and in her spare time enjoys strolling around London, discovering hidden gems and travelling.
Frank Chege
Patient Liaison Nurse
Frank brings a wealth of clinical experience to the role of patient liaison nurse Frank qualified as an adult nurse in 2003 and went straight into a career in the emergency department of Basildon and Thurrock Foundation NHS Trust. He started working as a staff nurse at the emergency department of The Royal London Hospital, home to the London’s Air Ambulance’s helipad, in 2007 and became a senior charge nurse in 2011. Frank has been involved with London’s Air Ambulance prior to his appointment, not just working alongside the charity at The Royal London Hospital but also attending the London’s Air Ambulance clinical governance days and pre-hospital care courses. If you have been helped by London’s Air Ambulance and would like to get in touch, please email [email protected].
Dr Gareth Grier
Institute Director and Education Lead
Gareth is a consultant and lead clinician with London’s Air Ambulance, and a consultant in emergency medicine and pre-hospital Care at Barts Health NHS Trust.
As clinical director and education lead at The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care at London’s Air Ambulance, Gareth works closely with the clinical leadership of both The Institute and London’s Air Ambulance to define The Institute’s overall medical strategy. He also defines and leads The Institute’s education strategy. He has published on the use of hi-fidelity scenario training in pre-hospital medical education, and studied medicine at University of Wales College of Medicine.
Bryony Dunne
Head of Institute Delivery
Bryony is responsible for supporting all activities relating to the running of The Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. Bryony brings with her a wealth of third sector experience in the health and international development sectors, mainly focusing on fundraising, project management and strategy development. Bryony’s most recent post was as development manager at Walkabout Foundation.
Dr Mike Christian
Research & Clinical Effectiveness Lead/HEMS Doctor
Senior Research Fellow & Clinical Effectiveness Lead/HEMS Doctor Mike is an intensive care consultant from Canada and senior healthcare sector leader with nearly 30 years of experience. His specialisms include critical care, infectious diseases, military, aviation and pre-hospital medicine. Mike has been appointed to join the senior team for a period of three years to lead on the delivery of key objectives within London Air Ambulance's research strategy and clinical effectiveness in addition to his clinical duties as a doctor with the team.
Sobia Bonder
Senior Data Development Officer
"I have worked for CFP Lotteries & Raffles for 10 years as a Data Analyst, where I worked with a number of charities - Breast Cancer Now, Cats Protection, Red Cross, NSPCC to name a few - helping them to improve & increase their raffles. I've been at London's Air Ambulance since Oct 2020 (with a 6 week gap, but returned!)
I’m exceptionally passionate about travelling, currently deciding on where to go for my 50th country (the list is endless!). I also volunteer at a local homeless shelter & I love eating cake!"
Leanne Burrell
CRM Business Analyst
Leanne joined London's Air Ambulance Charity in January 2021 as a Business Analyst to help implement a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
Leanne is the key point of contact between the business and the project engaging all teams at all levels across the Charity. Leanne conducts research and analyses data and business processes, looking at what requirements we need for the future.
She loves what she does and will help towards making a real difference to the success of London's Air Ambulance Charity when we go live with our new CRM.
Leanne previously worked in the housing sector for 17 years and successfully helped implement two Microsoft dynamics projects from start to finish for one of the largest housing associations in the country.
Outside of work, she loves long walks with her very boisterous Labrador which gives her plenty of thinking time to reflect and plan the day ahead!
Colin Grove
Head of Data
Shai Sheli
ThankQ Project Manager
Jack Pettitt
Database Officer
Jack joined London's Air Ambulance as the Database Officer in March 2020 having previously worked at Anthony Nolan for three years. Prior to Anthony Nolan, Jack was Head of Customer Care for a food tech start up and a Deputy Floor Manager of Lilywhites. Jack has an MA(hons) Economics from Heriot-Watt University and in his free time enjoys playing cricket, walking and cooking.
Matt Reid
Data Coordinator
Matt joined London's Air Ambulance as the Data Coordinator in July 2020 having previously worked for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity for 5 years as an Income Officer, although Matt has worked all over the charity sector in a number of different roles during his career. Matt is largely responsible for the data administration and running of the charity’s Lottery in addition to general data admin.
Donate
Without the support of the community it would not be possible to continue our life saving work. Your donation today could save the life of a loved one tomorrow.
Our Patron
We are proud to have His Royal Highness, The Duke of Cambridge, as Patron of London’s Air Ambulance Charity. He became our Patron in March 2020, find out more here.
Our Ambassadors
We are proud and delighted to be supported by some special people who move us forward and help spread our vital work throughout the capital.
Our Ambassadors add value to London's Air Ambulance Charity by:
- Helping to raise valuable funds
- Making an individual financial contribution
- Opening up networks and attracting new supporters
- Being named on literature / publicity material (where appropriate)
- Generating media coverage about the charity or its work
- Hosting or attending fundraising or other events
- Generating awareness of the charity’s achievements and campaigns
- Contributing to the public image of the organisation.
Our current Ambassadors are:
Lord Maxwell Beaverbrook
Ward Hamilton
Bernardo Hartogs
Mike Hussey
Dr Hilary Jones
Julia Leal
Sir Harry Solomon
Paul White
Dr Alastair Wilson OBE
Juliet Solomon
Richard Harris
Sir George Iacobescu CBE
We are grateful to them for their continued contribution to our vital work.
Careers
Exceptional care requires exceptional people. Whether it’s our pilots, fire crew or charity staff, every member of our team provides critical support to keep our life-saving service running.
Education
London’s Air Ambulance has produced materials covering all aspects of the charity's life-saving work, from helicopter engineering and medical biology to charity finance, to help students go beyond the classroom in their studies.
London’s Air Ambulance Charity is supported by Convene who provide us with a digital board portal to allows us to have secure paperless Board and Committee meetings.