Our Speakers

As Chief Nursing Officer for England, Duncan is the most senior advisor on nursing matters to the government and an Executive Director at NHS England.

Duncan has spent his entire nursing career in the NHS and has held a variety of leadership and executive roles, and prior to being appointed as CNO for England, Duncan was Deputy CNO for England. 

Duncan is passionate about improving patient care and experience, improving the population’s health, growing, developing and nurturing the workforce, and inspiring the next generation of nursing and midwifery professionals and leaders. As Chief Nursing Officer for England, Duncan is the most senior advisor on nursing matters to the government and an Executive Director at NHS England.

Duncan has spent his entire nursing career in the NHS and has held a variety of leadership and executive roles, and prior to being appointed as CNO for England, Duncan was Deputy CNO for England. 

Karen qualified as a Nurse in 1986 and then as a Midwife in 1988 in Cardiff. 

Karen joined Welsh Government in November 2016. In her role as the first Chief Midwifery officer for Wales, she currently leads policy on Maternity, Neonatal care and Breastfeeding, having previously also led Early years health policy, including Health Visiting and School nursing provision. 

Recently, the Welsh Government has invested in a separate Children's policy team led by Janine Hale as part of a wider Women, Children and Maternity / Neonatal Division establishing a life course approach to policy development.

Justine commenced her midwifery training in 1993 at the Eastern College of Nursing and Midwifery Glasgow. She has worked in the Queen Mother’s Hospital in Glasgow, the Simpsons Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh and both NHS Tayside and NHS Lothian. Justine sat on the Nursing and Midwifery Council as Registrant member for Scotland and Midwifery.

She has had a variety of roles, starting as a rotational midwife at band D. She spent most of her clinical career in the intrapartum setting and then moved into community midwifery and management  before senior roles including Consultant Midwife, Head of Midwifery and Associate Midwifery and Nurse Director. Prior to taking up her current post, Justine was the Director of Midwifery for NHS Lothian. Justine is currently Honorary Professor at Edinburgh Napier University. She has partnered in research on home birth services and continuity of carer.

Justine maintains her clinical midwifery practice, she is passionate about high quality compassionate  midwifery and maternity care for women and their families, women's health and pre-birth and early years in health care delivery.

Sonia qualified as a Registered General Nurse in September 1992. On qualifying she staffed for a short time in Ophthalmology before moving to Gynaecology in 1993. During her time there she embarked on part-time study for a BSc (Hons) in Health Studies, via the University of Manchester & RCN, completing in 1999. 

In 2000, she commenced her Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) postgraduate study at the University of Ulster and has worked as a Health Visitor in various capacities until 2020. 

In December 2020, she moved to the role of leading the Covid Vaccination team within the Northern Trust until she transferred to a secondment at the Department of Health in April 2023 as Nursing Officer for Public Health. She has started studying for a master’s in health Promotion & Public Health at Ulster University in September which she anticipates to complete by 2025.

Appointed Chief Midwifery Officer, Department of Health for NI in January 2024, Caroline is a registered midwife with 30 years’ experience working in a variety of roles across HSC Trusts hospital and community settings in NI. Caroline has gained operational and managerial experience over that period, with her focus being on improving the safety and quality of maternity services along with championing women’s health issues.

Caroline works alongside the Chief Nursing Officer Group and departmental policy colleagues in NI, to provide professional advice and guidance on all matters relating to midwifery, women’s health, neonatal and children’s nursing across all sectors.

Clo is the co-founder of Five X More, an organisation dedicated to improving Black maternal health outcomes in the UK.

Clo was an Expert by Experience for NHS England, contributing to the Ockenden review and the development of the Maternity and Neonatal Independent Senior Advocate role. She was also the chair of the Maternity Voices Partnership at St Thomas’ Hospital for five years, working to ensure that women’s voices shape maternity services.

In addition, Clo founded Prosperitys, a maternal well-being social enterprise supporting parents’ mental health, with a focus on early intervention, perinatal mental health awareness, and reducing social isolation.

Alison Morton joined the Institute as Director of Policy and Quality in 2019 to strengthen its work in Policy, delivering ‘Health Visiting in England: A Vision for the Future’ – iHV’s evidence-based blueprint to rebuild health visiting services. Alison’s contribution to health visiting was recognised through her award as one of the first five Fellows of the iHV in 2014.

Alison has an extensive background in health visiting, having held senior roles across national policy, 0-19 public health operational delivery and quality improvement, alongside teaching and research. In her previous roles, Alison worked as a Professional Advisor for Health Visiting in the Chief Nursing Directorate at the Department of Health from 2014 and then as the Best Start in Life Programme Manager at Public Health England (PHE).

Alison’s overriding ambition throughout her career has always been to ensure that every child truly does have the best start in life.

Felicity Gillespie is the Chief Executive of Kindred², a private foundation focused on improving the quality of early childhood development. 

Felicity has been an Advisor to the UK Department for Education since 2011 and the lead specialist Academy Governance Advisor for six years. A board member of Ofsted, previous roles include establishing the Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator and The National Teaching Awards 

A former Associate of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and of the National College of School Leadership, Felicity speaks on the British education system at conferences and seminars in the USA, Middle East and UK.

Sally is Associate Director at The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. The Centre exists to catalyse and inspire action in early childhood, in order to create a happier, healthier and more nurturing society.

Prior to this role, Sally was a Senior Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge and Deputy CEO at the Parent-Infant Foundation.

Sally has had a varied career in charities, national & local governments, developing and implementing interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning for policy change.

Clea is also currently the Chair of the Maternity and Neonatal Programme Stakeholder Council; Chair of the National Bereavement Care Pathway; Co-Chair of the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group; and Chair of the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance.  With growing public awareness of the issues surrounding baby death and pregnancy loss, and a national commitment to reduce the number of babies dying, she passionately believes that now is the moment to make a difference for parents today and in the future.

Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatrician, public health researcher and broadcaster whose work bridges medicine and social justice. A leading voice on child health inequality, she founded WHAM – the Wellbeing and Health Action Movement, a grassroots network helping clinicians act on the social determinants of health. Her acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series 'Three Ages of Child' explores how early experiences shape lifelong wellbeing. Currently completing a PhD at King’s College London, Guddi challenges how health systems think about care — urging professionals to move beyond the clinic and create the conditions for every child to thrive.

Professor Sam Wass (www.profsamwass.com) is an early years neuroscientist who studied at Oxford, London and Cambridge. He leads ISEY (www.isey.org) in East London, studying how early environments affect learning and stress. His research spans typical and atypical development, including ADHD, Autism and anxiety. He has published over 100 academic articles and a book. Sam frequently appears in the media as an expert in child development, advising UK government departments, charities like Save the Children, and brands including Kinder, LEGO and Disney+. He featured in five series of Channel 4’s The Secret Life of 4- and 5-Year-Olds.

Maura has worked as a nurse, health visitor, parenting practitioner and service leader during her career in the NHS and local government. She worked to implement leadership changes in a local Sure Start programme and this is where her passion for getting it right from the start was ignited; she recognised the potential to enhance service delivery and the experience for babies, children and families through integrated and collaborative service delivery. Working with Nesta, "A Fairer Start Local programme" gave an opportunity to drive change with strong, evidence based design and implementation strategies.

Karen is an iHV Fellow, former Trustee, and now lead for Education and Workforce at the iHV. 

Her health visiting career spans 30+years working in practice, education and research. She is a former SCPHN course leader at the University of Central Lancashire where she still holds an Associate Fellow position. 

She completed her PhD in at King’s College, London, and has delivered research studies on parenting and family support, child health and workforce retention. She has authored a number of journal papers, book chapters and e-learn training resources for health visitors and other home visitors.

Caroline is the Clinical Lead for the Digital Health Transformation Service leading the scale and spread of innovation nationally, working with NHS and healthcare organisations and services to safely deliver care in innovative way. Caroline began working on the ChatHealth messaging project in 2012 and went on to launch ChatHealth across the School Nursing service in Leicestershire in 2014 and subsequently across the UK. In 2021, Caroline completed a fellowship with the NHS Innovation Accelerator and also undertook the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme. Caroline is passionate about clinical safety, sharing of best practice and ensuring that service users can access healthcare in a way that suits them.  Caroline qualified as a Children’s Nurse in 2007 from Sheffield Hallam University. She worked within the acute care setting up until 2011, and then began work in community services across both School Nursing and Children’s Community Nursing.  In 2014 Caroline was awarded the title of Queens Nurse for her work in innovation within the NHS

I’m a mum to two young boys, and they inspire my ongoing commitment and involvement to strive for change in child development. I’m also involved in maternity research with The Essential Baby Company and work part-time as a Clinical Research Practitioner at my local Breast Institute. I’m passionate about research, particularly in the areas of childhood development and women’s health.

I’m a dad to two lively boys and have been involved in child development research since my eldest was born six years ago. For the past 15 years, I’ve worked in residential care, supporting neurodivergent young people.

Toni Estevez is a well seasoned professional, with a wealth of experience in community engagement and leadership, with over 20 years of expertise, highlighting her unwavering dedication to making a positive impact for others. Toni is a mother of 7. Previously a community engagement consultant leveraging her London origins, now flourishing the the West Midlands, which showcases her commitment to personal and professional growth. currently working for a leading international Bank.

7 year re-elected Parent governor for a private school and Ambassador for Shelter. Toni continues to highlight issues affecting society and making positive change, which benefits the most vulnerable.