Our governance

UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC)

The chair, vice chair and members of the committee are listed on the UK NSC home page. Other people who may attend UK NSC and expert group meetings are listed below.

The UK NSC register of interests lists any private interests of committee and expert group members that may conflict, or be perceived to conflict, with their duties on the committee.

Officials

Secretariat

  • Professor Anne Mackie (UK NSC screening policy lead and Deputy Director of Prevention Services, DHSC)
  • Mr John Marshall (Evidence lead, UK NSC)
  • Ms Zeenat Mauthoor (Secretariat Expert Committee and DHSC Policy Liaison Manager, UK NSC)

Four country representatives

  • Dr Carol Beattie (Senior Medical Officer, Northern Ireland)
  • Nimisha De Souza (Screening Policy Manager, Health Protection Policy, DHSC)
  • Dr Heather Payne (Consultant Paediatrician, Senior Medical Officer for Maternal and Child Health, Welsh Government)
  • Joanna Swanson (Head of Health Protection Division, Scottish Government) Officials are designated representatives of:

Observers

  • Dr Lisa Douet (Senior Research Advisor, National Co-ordinating Centre for HTA)
  • Prof Niall O’Higgins (Chair of the National Screening Advisory Committee, Republic of Ireland)
  • Prof Hugo van Woerde (Isle of Man)
  • Prof Peter Bradley (Government of Jersey)
  • Nicola Brink (State of Guernsey)
  • Roberta James (Programme lead, SIGN)
  • Dr Sarah Byron (CHTE Programme Director, NICE)
  • Martin Allaby (Consultant in Public Health and Evidence-based Healthcare, NICE)
  • Deborah Tomalin (Director of Public Health Commissioning and Operations, NHS England)
  • Professor Steve Powis (National Director, NHS England)
  • Dr Meng Khaw (Public Health Director, Public Health Wales)
  • Gareth Brown (Director of Screening, NHS National Services Scotland)
  • Dr Tracy Owen (Consultant in Public Health Public, Health Agency Northern Ireland)
  • Professor Zosia Miedzybrodzka (Clinical Lead of the Scottish Genomics Network)

Expert groups

The fetal, maternal and child health (FMCH) group and the adult reference group (ARG) scrutinise the developing evidence reviews and provide input to those from their relevant areas of expertise (including clinical, user, academic, economic and ethical). This makes sure they are high quality and credible so the UK NSC can base their formal recommendations on the best evidence and thinking. The expert groups are increasingly involved in advising on innovation, research proposals, horizon scanning and stakeholder engagement.

See FMCH terms of reference and ARG terms of reference.

FMCH group

Members are:

  • Dr Sharon Hillier (Director of the Screening Division, Public Health Wales)
  • Professor Helen Bedford (Professor of Child Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health)
  • Professor Felicity Boardman (Professor of Social Science in Medicine at Warwick Medical School and affiliate social scientist at the Wellcome Genome Campus)
  • Dr James Bonham (lab expert, President of the International Society of Neonatal Screening)
  • Dr Philippa Brice (patient and public voice (PPV))
  • Ms Jane Fisher (PPV)
  • Mrs Hilary Goodman (midwife)
  • Dr Kathryn Johnson (Paediatrician, clinical lead for the National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service)
  • Prof Asma Khalil (Consultant in Obstetrics and Fetal Maternal Medicine Subspecialist, St Georges Hospital)
  • Dr Robin Lachmann (Consultant in Metabolic Medicine, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Bertie Leigh (medicolegal expert)
  • Dr Peter McEwan (Consultant Neonatologist, Poole Hospital)
  • Joanne Preston (Health Visitor, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust)
  • Dr Oliver Rivero-Arias (Senior Health Economist at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health and Associate Professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford)
  • Dr Martina Rodie (expert in rare diseases, Consultant Neonatologist – Royal Hospital for Children; Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Glasgow)
  • Dr Bernd Schwahn (Geneticist, Consultant in Paediatric Metabolic Medicine)
  • Professor Basky Thilaganathan (Consultant Obstetrician, St Georges Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Prof Rachael Wood (Epidemiologist, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Public Health Scotland)

ARG

Members are:

  • Dr Ros Given-Wilson, Chair (Consultant Radiologist, St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Claire Bailey (Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist in Breast Screening, south west London)
  • Dr Sunil Bhanot (GP)
  • Dr Georgia Black (Social Scientist, Queen Mary University of London)
  • Heidi Douglas (Public Health Consultant, NHS Tayside)
  • Professor Stephen Duffy (Professor of Cancer Screening at Queen Mary University London)
  • Professor Gareth Evans (chair of medical genetics and cancer epidemiology at the University of Manchester)
  • Professor Allan Hackshaw (Deputy Director Cancer Research UK, UCL Cancer Trails Centre, University College London)
  • Professor Steve Halligan (Professor of Gastrointestinal Radiology, University College London)
  • John Hitchman (PPV)
  • Christopher Hughes (legal expert)
  • Rebecca Maclean (Public Health Consultant)
  • Dr Jim McMorran (GP)
  • Prof Sarah Pinder (Pathologist, Professor of Breast Pathology, King’s College London)
  • Maggie Powell (PPV)
  • Dr Katie Robb (Social Scientist)
  • Dr Chris Stinton (Systematic review expert)
  • Lynda Williams (PPV)
  • Professor Allan Wilson (Cytopathologist)
  • Dr Stuart Wright (Health economist and modeller)

Research and methodology group (RMG)

The RMG aims to keep up to date with ongoing research related to screening, identify UK NSC research requirements and advise on mechanisms to address them.

Members are:

  • Prof Sian Taylor-Phillips, Chair (Professor of Population Health, University of Warwick)
  • Dr Ania Bobrowska (UK Head of Literature Reviews and Synthesis, Costello Medical)
  • Prof Karla Hemming (Professor of Biostatistics, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham)
  • Prof Katherine Payne (Professor of Health Economics, The University of Manchester)
  • Dr Jo Waller (Reader in Cancer Behavioural Science, King’s College London)
  • Dr Adam Brentnall (Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics, Queen Mary University of London)
  • Prof Joan Morris (Professor of Medical Statistics, St George’s University of London)

Artificial intelligence (AI) task group

This group, part of the ARG group, advises the UK NSC on specific issues relating to the use of AI in screening. This group’s parent body is the adult reference group. The AI task group is time limited and output focused.

Members are:

  • Professor Steve Halligan, Chair (Professor of Gastrointestinal Radiology, University College London)
  • Professor Alastair Denniston (Consultant Ophthalmologist, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Dr Kevin Dunbar (Regional Head of Screening QA)
  • Dr Peter Garrett (PPV)
  • Dr Rosalind Given-Wilson (Consultant Radiologist, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Dr Ben Glocker (Reader in Machine Learning for Imaging, Imperial College London)
  • Professor Chris Hyde (Professor of Public Health and Clinical Epidemiology Exeter Test Group and PenTAG, University of Exeter)
  • Professor Anne Mackie
  • Professor Anne-Marie Slowther (Professor of Clinical Ethics, Warwick Medical School)
  • Professor Bob Steele (Director of Centre for Research into Cancer Prevention and Screening, University of Dundee)
  • Professor Sian Taylor-Phillips (Professor of Screening and Test Evaluation, University of Warwick)
  • Dr Louise Wilkinson (Consultant Radiologist, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
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