Day One Speakers
Ms Beverly Hicks
Neonatal Developmental Specialist
University College London Hospital and UK NIDCAP Training Centre
Ms Beverly Hicks trained as an Occupational Therapist in Zimbabwe and began her career in paediatric neurorehabilitation and special school settings. After moving to the UK, she worked in acute paediatrics, including tertiary cardiothoracic services, where she first learned about NIDCAP and developmental care. From 2005 to 2019, she was Lead Neonatal and Paediatric Occupational Therapist at St Mary’s Paddington (later Imperial). She became a certified NIDCAP Professional in 2010 and an APIB Professional in 2011.
Since moving to University College London Hospital four years ago, she has been working as a Developmental Specialist and is about to complete certification as the next UK NIDCAP Trainer. She co-chairs the BAPM Framework on Infant and Family Centred Developmental Care and has contributed to the BAPM Framework for Pain Management. She is also a senior faculty member of the Family and Infant Neurodevelopmental Education (FINE) programme and is passionate about multidisciplinary team learning.
Professor Alicia Spittle
Physiotherapist and Clinician Researcher
Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Australia
Professor Alicia Spittle is a physiotherapist, clinician researcher, and NHMRC Investigator Grant recipient at the Melbourne School of Health Sciences. She is Chief Investigator on the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Newborn Medicine and CP-DRIVE and leads multiple grants on early detection and early intervention for infants at high risk of neurodevelopmental impairment, including infants born preterm and/or with cerebral palsy.
She has secured over $30 million in grant funding and has authored more than 230 publications. In 2020, she was recognised as the top Australian researcher in paediatric medicine by The Australian. Her awards include the Melbourne School of Health Sciences Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision Award, Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship, Australia Physiotherapy Association COVID-Hero Award, American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Best Paper Awards, USA National Association of Neonatal Therapists Excellence in Research Award, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Rising Star Award.
Professor Spittle is a Board Member and Co-President (2022–2026) of the Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, a founding member of WiSPP (Women in Science Parkville Precinct), and a former board member of EBNeo. She is an executive member of the NHMRC’s CRE in Newborn Medicine and co-chairs the Policy & Practice Translation Committee. In addition to her research roles, she works clinically in the neonatal intensive care unit and follow-up clinic at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, and holds a research appointment at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Professor Shalini Ojha
Professor of Neonatal Medicine
University of Nottingham
Professor Shalini Ojha is Professor of Neonatal Medicine at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton.
Mrs Nicoll Catherine Bell
Speech and Language Therapist
St George’s Hospital
Mrs Nicoll Catherine Bell is a Speech and Language Therapist working in the neonatal unit at St George’s Hospital, London. Her areas of interest include oral feeding on non-invasive respiratory support and the use of fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of the swallow. She is currently undertaking a lactation consulting diploma.
Dr Cheryl Battersby
Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist
Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Dr Cheryl Battersby is an NIHR Clinician Scientist and Clinical Associate Professor at Imperial College London, and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She leads the NIHR-funded NeoWONDER programme, linking neonatal data within the National Neonatal Research Database to national health and education records to improve lifelong outcomes for preterm infants.
Her research focuses on using population data to inform improvements in the care of babies born extremely premature and/or with complex or palliative care needs. She is the BAPM Honorary Secretary, Chair of the BAPM Nanopreterm Specialist Interest Group, Chair of the Haemodynamics Framework, and a working group member for the BAPM extreme preterm and palliative care frameworks. National leadership roles include serving as a panel member of the NIHR Team Science Awards and as a committee member of the NHS Research Advisory Group. In 2021, she received the RCPCH Simon Newell Early Independent Researcher Award. She is co-founder and consultant lead for NeoTRIPS, a BAPM-affiliated initiative providing resident doctors with research and quality improvement experience and training.
Professor Richard Sindelar
Professor of Neonatology; Senior Consultant in Neonatology
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University
Professor Richard Sindelar is Professor of Neonatology at Uppsala University and Senior Consultant in Neonatology at Uppsala University Children’s Hospital, Sweden. He leads the National Centre for Children with Phrenic Nerve Stimulators and the Multidisciplinary Centre for Severe BPD, which is part of the international BPD Collaborative. He has served as a Board Member of the BPD Collaborative Executive Board, Chair of the International BPD Collaborative Committee, Board Member of the ESPR Section for Neonatal Pulmonology, and President for Neonatal Pulmonology within the Swedish Neonatal Society.
Widely recognised as an invited speaker at international neonatal and paediatric conferences, Professor Sindelar has also served as invited guest editor and reviewer for journals including Pediatric Research, Seminars in Perinatology, and the Journal of Perinatology. His research focuses on regulation of breathing and patient-triggered ventilation, lung inflammation and bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and the care of extremely preterm infants, with interests spanning ventilation and lung mechanics, lung development, inflammation, patent ductus arteriosus, pain/stress, and necrotising enterocolitis.
Dr Steve Abman
Professor of Paediatrics – Pulmonary Medicine
University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado, USA
Dr Steve Abman is Professor of Paediatrics and Director of the Paediatric Heart Lung Center at the University of Colorado and Children’s Hospital Colorado. His translational research and clinical work centre on neonatal lung injury, lung vascular development, pulmonary hypertension, and chronic lung disease in the newborn (bronchopulmonary dysplasia). He has held continuous NIH funding for research and training throughout his career.
Dr Abman founded and previously directed the Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Network and co-founded the international BPD Collaborative, where he serves as Executive Vice-Chair. He is a co-leader of the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute (PVRI) Pediatric Task Force and the PVRI Innovative Drug Design Initiative Pediatric Workstream, and is a past President of the American Pediatric Society. His work has been recognised with multiple honours, including the AAP Outstanding Investigator Award, the ATS Distinguished Achievement Award, the SPR Maureen Andrew Mentorship Award, and the APS/SPR Mary Ellen Avery Award.
Professor Matthew Rysavy
Assistant Professor, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, USA
Professor Matthew Rysavy is Assistant Professor of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at McGovern Medical School, UTHealth Houston, and a faculty member at the Institute for Clinical Research and Learning Health Care.
Dr Tim Watts
Consultant Neonatologist
Evelina London Children’s Hospital
Dr Tim Watts is a Consultant Neonatologist at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. He co-chairs the working group that developed the BAPM Framework for Practice on transition from neonatal to paediatric care for babies with long-term or complex healthcare needs. He also serves as a Neonatal Clinical Advisor for Maternity & Neonatal Safety Investigations and is a committee member on the Maternity Committee of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). He is Clinical Lead for the South London sector of the London Neonatal Network and Neonatal Lead for the South East London Local Maternity & Neonatal System.
Ms Abbie Mason-Woods
Parent Representative
Ms Abbie Mason-Woods participates as a parent representative, bringing lived experience and the family perspective to support infant- and family-centred care.
Ms Helen Robinson
Lead Physiotherapist
South West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Ms Helen Robinson is Lead Physiotherapist for the South West Neonatal Operational Delivery Network at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust.
Day Two speakers
Dr Louise Leven
Consultant Neonatologist and BAPM Safety Lead
Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow & BAPM
Dr Louise Leven trained in neonatal medicine in Glasgow and Melbourne and has been a consultant neonatologist at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow for 12 years. Her clinical interests include neurodevelopmental follow-up and she also holds the role of Clinical Lead for Organ Donation within her unit.
She has a longstanding commitment to patient safety and quality improvement, underpinned by her completion of the Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship in 2022. That same year, she was appointed as the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) Safety Lead, a role she has enjoyed very much. Dr Leven has led quality improvement work focused on reducing unplanned extubation in neonatal care and currently chairs the BAPM framework on the use of central venous access devices in neonates group. Dr Leven’s work reflects a sustained focus on improving outcomes for neonates through evidence-based practice, collaborative leadership, and system-level change.
Dr Katie McKinnon
Neonatal Registrar & Research Fellow
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Dr Katie McKinnon is a neonatal subspeciality trainee in London and recently completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh investigating the effects of preterm birth and socioeconomic status on brain development. She is passionate about health inequalities and neonatal neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Dr Rachael Fleming
ST8 Neonates
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Dr Rachael Fleming is an ST8 neonatal grid trainee currently working at the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, and with the ScotSTAR neonatal transport team. Alongside her experience in retrieval in Scotland, she has also worked in neonatal retrieval in Australia. Her interests include retrieval and family integrated care, particularly the overlap of these two areas. Her recent work has focused on the parent experience of transition. She is part of the Scottish Perinatal Network FICare working group, chaired the SPN neonatal orientation/transition short life working group in developing resources to support parents during transition, and is a member of the BAPM Neonatal to Paediatric Transition Framework working group.
Thomas Wyllie
Specialist Clinical Pharmacist in Neonatology and Metabolic Disease
Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, Wales, UK
Thomas Wyllie is a specialist pharmacist for neonatology and metabolic disease based in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. After training in Nottingham, he moved back to his native Wales in 2010 and has led the pharmacy service for the Cardiff regional neonatal unit since 2016. His interests include parenteral nutrition and prescribing safety, particularly focusing on human factors in prescribing. Tom is also the paediatric pharmacist for the All Wales Inherited Metabolic Disease Service and is a contributing editor of the British Inherited Metabolic Disease Group (BIMDG) formulary.
Tom has several roles within the neonatal and paediatric pharmacy group (NPPG): as a committee member in the neonatology specialist interest group, chair of the regional group for Wales and representative for Wales on the NPPG committee. He has a postgraduate certificate in neonatology and was credentialed at consultant pharmacist level in 2022.
Christian Chadwick
Neonatal Pharmacist
Kent Surrey & Sussex Neonatal ODN
Dr Jayanta Banerjee
Consultant Neonatologist
Imperial College London, UK
Dr Jayanta Banerjee, MD (Res), FRCPCH, is a Consultant Neonatologist at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust and an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London. He is the theme lead for the Origins of Child Health and Disease within the Centre for Child Health at Imperial College.
His research interests include neonatal haemodynamics and tissue oxygenation measurements, and he was awarded an MD (Research) in this field from Queen Mary University of London. Dr Banerjee has led innovative service development projects within the NHS, such as family integrated care programmes and the development of a mobile application for parents and carers.
He is actively involved in teaching and training related to neonatal haemodynamics and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in neonates and is a faculty member for paediatric and neonatal echocardiography courses. He serves as secretary for the NeoFOCUS-UK BAPM SIG. His current research focuses on using non-invasive technology to measure neonatal haemodynamics and tissue oxygenation, with the aim of predicting brain injury and necrotising enterocolitis, as well as understanding the long-term cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes of prematurity, particularly in growth-restricted infants.
Dr Cora Doherty
Consultant Neonatologist
University Hospital of Wales
Mrs Michele Upton
Patient Safety Lead
Maternity and Newborn, NHS England
Mrs Michele Upton is a retired registered nurse and midwife who has dedicated her career to enhancing maternity and neonatal safety within the NHS. Most notably, she led the Atain programme (“Avoiding Term Admissions Into Neonatal units”), aimed at reducing unnecessary term baby admissions to neonatal care. Michele’s blend of clinical understanding, strategic leadership, and safety-driven innovation has given her a voice and influence in perinatal safety and quality improvement across the NHS.
Dr Nicola Robertson
Professor of Perinatal Neuroscience & Honorary Consultant Neonatologist
University College Hospital, London, UK
Professor Nicola (Nikki) Robertson is Professor of Perinatal Neuroscience and Consultant Neonatologist at UCLH. She has focused on neonatal brain injury and neuroprotection for the past 25 years. Nikki leads a preclinical laboratory that assesses the safety and efficacy of novel neuroprotective therapies for HIE. She is Chief Investigator of the ACUMEN phase I trial, which is assessing the safety and best dose of a new intravenous formulation of Melatonin that has shown consistent safety and benefit in preclinical studies.
Mr Kristian Aquilina
Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon
Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Mr Kristian Aquilina is a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where he is the neurosurgical lead for neuro-oncology. He graduated from the University of Malta in 1995 and completed his neurosurgical training in the UK. He was appointed consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, in 2010, and subsequently at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2012.
During his training, Mr Aquilina completed a clinical fellowship in paediatric neurosurgery, with a focus on paediatric neuro-oncology, at St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in the United States. He also spent time at the Center for Cerebral Palsy in St Louis, Missouri, where he learnt the single-level selective dorsal rhizotomy procedure and subsequently introduced it to the UK. He is Chief Investigator of the ENLIVEN-UK study, an NIHR-funded multicentre randomised trial evaluating the role of endoscopic lavage in intraventricular haemorrhage and hydrocephalus related to prematurity. He also has research interests in drug delivery to the brain and gene therapy for neurological disorders.
Oral Abstract Presenters
1. Rachel Evans, Advanced Practitioner Neonatal SLT, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
2. Dr Ann Hickey, Consultant Neonatologist, Children's Health Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
3. Hannah Cashin, Highly Specialist Neonatal Dietitian, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
4. Claire Marcroft, Clinical Specialist Neonatal Physiotherapist, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
5. Dr Nazik Elamin, Senior Clinical Fellow, East and North Hertfordshire
6. Dr Bhanu Papneja, Junior Clinical Fellow, Royal Oldham Hospital, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
7. Dr Pushpashree Krishnamurthy, Clinical Fellow NICU, Musgrove Park Hospital
8. Dr Neha Chaudhary, Neonatal Trainee Registrar, Cambridge University Hospital
Professor Jan Deprest
Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
University Hospitals Leuven
Professor Jan Deprest is Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven, where he leads the fetal and gynaecological surgery programmes. He has been instrumental in transforming traditional open fetal surgery into fetoscopic procedures, conducting pioneering work that bridges clinical practice and translational research.
The Leuven fetal surgery programme, one of the largest in Europe, offers a comprehensive range of fetal therapies including transfusions, shunt insertions, fetoscopic interventions for twin complications, fetoscopic endoluminal tracheal occlusion, spina bifida repair, EXIT procedures, and fetal cardiology interventions. His leadership has fostered collaborations with leading international centres and established joint doctoral programmes across Europe and the UK.
Professor Deprest has authored over 800 peer-reviewed publications and received multiple prestigious awards, including the Ian Donald Gold Medal from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and election to the US National Academy of Sciences (Medicine). He has actively engaged with patient advocacy groups, particularly those supporting families affected by congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
His career reflects a commitment to advancing fetoscopic surgery, mentoring the next generation of clinician-scientists, and shaping the future of fetal medicine worldwide.
