Our Speakers

Ben Lewing leads Making Evidence Work, a small community interest company with a big mission to unlock 'real world evidence' to improve children's lives. His professional journey stretches from children's homes in Birmingham to national policy influencing on evidence-use, via commissioning local authority and NHS prevention and early intervention services. He spent a decade at the Early Intervention Foundation and Foundations, supporting local leaders to use diverse forms of evidence. He is the architect of Changemakers and the Early Years Transformation Academy, created the Evidence Pie and is the author of '10 insights: Leading & delivering early childhood services'. 

Clare is the Director of Better Start. She has a master’s degree in social work and is also an honorary member of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. Clare has also been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship in the field of early intervention and prevention.

Before joining Better Start, Clare led a career working as a social worker, team manager for Children’s Services specialising in sexual abuse services and a Senior Development Manager for the NSPCC.

Christina Brown, Founder/CEO of Motivational Mums Club, an award-winning organisation dedicated to improving maternal mental health outcomes for Black mothers. Through culturally responsive peer support, advocacy, education and professional training, Chrissy works alongside NHS Trusts, local authorities, government and many more to tackle health inequalities and improve access to support. Motivational Mums Club has supported over 7,000 mothers and trained more than 5,000 healthcare professionals.

Her annual campaign 'How Are You, Today?' encourages open conversations, challenges stigma and amplifies the experiences of Black mothers. The campaign has reached over 1 million people across social media platforms.

Professor Lucilla Poston, CBE is Professor of Maternal & Fetal Health at King’s College London. Her research spans maternal nutrition, obesity and gestational diabetes with a focus on the life course of health for mother and the child. Research approaches include child electronic health record data linkages including health visitor data.

Professor Poston is President of the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG), a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an NIHR Senior Investigator, Emeritus.

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.

With a 40-year career in healthcare, Vicky has held a wide variety of strategic posts in public health, community and higher education settings. Working with the iHV, Vicky leads a wide portfolio of projects, training and collaborative research to enhance health visiting practice.

Areas of Expertise:

Subject expertise in professional practice of health visiting including – public health research and sector-led improvement in health visiting. Extensive practical and theoretical expertise in change management and leadership. Expertise in the development and delivery of training and education to support CPD of health visitors and the wider workforce.

Dr Michelle Moseley is a Registered Nurse (Adult and Child), Health Visitor, Nurse Educator, and PhD‑qualified researcher with extensive experience in clinical practice, safeguarding leadership, higher education, professional policy and national programme development. Beginning her career in paediatric nursing, she later focused on early childhood development and safeguarding within health visiting. Through her roles at Cardiff University and the Royal College of Nursing, Michelle has influenced education and national policy. Her PhD explored safeguarding supervision for health visitors. Currently Director of Learning and Development at the Institute of Health Visiting, Michelle is passionate about improving outcomes for children and families.

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.

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul is Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician. Her work focuses on reducing health inequalities through community‑centred, participatory and creative approaches that amplify the voices of underserved families. She has held major leadership roles nationally and internationally, including GOSH Biomedical research Centre PPIE Lead and NIHR RDN Strategic Specialty Lead (Children). Monica is widely recognised for her contributions to child health, equity and public engagement, and for championing inclusive, culturally responsive models of care.

Professor John Unsworth is a Professorial Chair in Community Nursing Workforce and Policy with over 37 years of nursing experience. A specialist practitioner in District Nursing and one of the UK's first nurse consultants, he has held senior roles across the NHS, including Nurse Director and Board Nurse for NHS Northumberland CCG. A National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, John holds fellowships from the Royal College of Nursing and the American Academy of Nursing. Awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to community nursing, he chairs the Queen's Institute of Community Nursing.

Shereen Fisher brings both compassion and leadership to her role as Director of the UNICEF UK's Baby Friendly Initiative. With a career rooted in championing infant feeding support, including ten years as Chief Executive of the Breastfeeding Network, she is a committed advocate for families, health professionals, and the systems that support them. Her strategic leadership of the programme is grounded in evidence-based care and informed by national policy work, including contributions to the MHRA’s Safer Medicines in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Consortium and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence maternal and child nutrition guideline review recently undertaken. 

Toni Martin is a Health Visitor with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust’s Growing Little Minds Specialist Health Visiting Service, working across West Hampshire. Toni is a qualified Adult Nurse (1991), Paediatric Nurse (1996), and Health Visitor (BSc Hons, 2002), she has over 30 years’ experience in neonatal, child, and community health. Toni took a career break in 2016 and returned to practice in 2022, working in Child and  Adolescence Mental Health services before re-joining Health Visiting in 2025. She is passionate about early intervention, infant mental health, and supporting families through compassionate, family-centred care.

Anne-Marie is a Health Visitor working in the New Forest, Hampshire and a member of the IHV Health Visitor Advisory Forum. Anne-Marie is neurodivergent and identified and diagnosed later in life following her daughter's diagnosis.

She has previously worked in an academic library before the care she received from her own Health Visitor encouraged her to complete a PGDip in Childrens Nursing. In 2015 Anne-Marie completed the PGDip HV SCPHN and worked in an inner city locality, before completing the Transfer Field of Practice in 2019 to qualify across the 0-19 service.   

My particular interests are supporting parents to navigate parenthood as a neurodivergent, child sleep and teen parents.

Dr Alain Gregoire is a Consultant Specialist Perinatal Psychiatrist and Honorary Fellow of IHV. He has contributed to the development of policy, guidance and clinical services in the UK and internationally. He has supported the development of alliances in over 25 countries.

He is Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), President of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance and Chair of the Global Alliance for Maternal Mental Health. He is advisor to government panels, charities and foundations, including the Princess of Wales’s Centre for Early Childhood. Alain has worked extensively in radio, television and film.

Eileen is a Mental Health Nurse with experience across a wide range of settings including in-patients, Mother & Baby Unit and community settings. Qualifying as a Health Visitor in 2015, Eileen worked as a Specialist Health Visitor in Parent & Infant Mental Health for six years and is also a qualified Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) practitioner, Circle of Security Parenting facilitator and one of the UK’s first ADBB certified referents. She also worked as a Principal Investigator on the NIHR-funded Surviving Crying study. Eileen leads on the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health agenda for the iHV and is involved in training, projects, innovations and research that contribute to supporting the Health Visiting workforce in delivering high-quality PIMH care for families. 

With over 25 years of nursing experience, including 15 years as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, Claire has held a Consultant Nurse role since 2022. Claire holds an MSc in Public Health and was awarded the Mona Grey Postgraduate Research Award by Ulster University in 2024. As a Quality Coach and published researcher in homeless health, she has a particular interest in addressing health inequalities and improving outcomes for vulnerable populations. Her role focuses on professional leadership, expert practice, research and education, leading population health initiatives across the life course, from infant mental health to frailty and falls prevention.

Hilary Kennedy is a Psychologist who created and leads on Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) in the UK and is the joint CEO of AVIGuk,.She is a freelance VIG trainer developing new VIG training methods, leads VIG training in perinatal teams throughout the UK and is involved in international VIG developments in Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Italy, Tanzania, Ecuador and Mexico.

She has co-edited two books on VIG with Miriam Landor and Liz Todd in 2011 and 2015 and writes many articles and has contributed chapters to 3 recent books on Innovative Research in Infant Wellbeing, Family Justice and Neglect.

Nikki Freeman is Health Visitor Clinical Lead for SEND at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust and SEND Expert Advisor for the iHV. She is passionate about improving outcomes for babies and children with SEND, supporting families, reducing health inequalities, and championing inclusive practice. Nikki has presented at RCN Congress, spoken in Parliament on issues affecting babies, children and families, and serves on the Royal College of Nursing Eastern Regional Board. She has been invited to join a Department of Health and Social Care Clinical Advisory Group. Through local and national leadership roles, Nikki influences practice, policy and service development.

Hannah Blanton is a poet and mum of two, writing on the topic of early motherhood. She started sharing her poetry on social media in 2025 and quickly found a growing community of other mums who resonated with her words and experiences of early motherhood. She recently self-published her debut collection, Somewhere Between, which she wrote while on maternity leave with her second baby.