Geinor Bean
Geinor is a Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing at the School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University, and leads the Master’s in Advanced Clinical Practice programme. As a Registered Nurse (Adult Nursing), she previously worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in pain management before transitioning into academia.
She teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, and is passionate about embedding pain management education into healthcare curricula at all levels. She also has a specialist interest in Advanced Clinical Practice, and is the module lead for the Advanced Clinical Practice portfolio dissertation, which spans two master’s programmes.
Geinor is the deputy chair of the Wales Advanced Practice Educators Network, where she collaborates with advanced practice educators across Higher Education Institutions within Wales and the United Kingdom.
Professor Michael Brown
Michael is Professor of Nursing and Deputy Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast. A Registered Nurse Intellectual Disabilities and Registered General Nurse, he has worked extensively in specialist health services for people with intellectual disabilities.
An educator and researcher, he has published over 150 papers, chapters and reports in the academic literature. He led the research team who undertook the study across the UK and Ireland about the relationships and sexuality education needs of children and young people with intellectual disabilities. He is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing.
Greg Dix
Greg is the Executive Nurse Director of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. Prior to this he was the Chief Nurse at the University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust. With qualifications in academic nursing, teaching and medical law, Greg has clinical, managerial and educational experience both in the UK and New Zealand. He also holds a specialist interest in the legal aspects of nursing and midwifery practice.
Catherine Gamble
Catherine Gamble is a nurse and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN), Burdett Nursing Trust Hero, Eileen Skellern Laureate and RCN Mental Health Nurse of the Year. Her team-based excellence has also earned accolades from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In 2023, her enduring contributions to the profession were honoured with inclusion in the Nursing Times NHS 75 Impact List.
With clinical expertise in working with families and individuals experiencing psychosis, Catherine has pioneered psychosocial approaches that she teaches both nationally and internationally. Her career spans senior roles across NHS psychiatric services, including serving as the RCN Professional Lead for Mental Health and as a Associate Director of Nursing for Education and Research. A passionate advocate for coproduction and evidence-based practice, Catherine champions the use of psychosocial interventions by mental health nurses. Her commitment is reflected in the 3rd edition of Working with Serious Mental Illness: A Manual for Clinical Practice, co-authored with Brennan, which continues to shape clinical education and practice.
Beyond her professional roles, Catherine serves as a trustee for the Cicely Northcote Trust and the Salt of the Earth Community Foundation, further demonstrating her dedication to community wellbeing and mental health advocacy.
Chloe Jackson
Chloe qualified as a midwife in 2022 and has recently been promoted to a band 7 Family Nurse, within the Family Nurse Partnership.
During her career she has won an award for outstanding care and worked as a safeguarding midwife for a secondment post.
Samuel Jude
Sam is an accomplished nurse leader with a diverse background spanning acute physical health and mental health services. After qualifying in 2013, he spent two years in bedside and clinical nursing in India before relocating to the UK in 2016. He is the Community Team Manager, Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team (CRHT), Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and Executive Regional Lead (East of England), British Indian Nurses Association (BINA).
His leadership in quality improvement and culture change during his time at Queen Elizabeth Hospital earned national recognition, including being a finalist for the RCN and Nursing Times Awards in 2023, and winning the Trust Staff Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
In 2024, Sam transitioned into mental health, joining the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust as a Community Team Manager for the CRHT team. His contributions to inclusive leadership and his work with BINA were further recognised through the BINA Global Award for Outstanding Contribution to BINA. As the Executive Regional Lead for the East of England at BINA, Sam provides extensive coaching, mentoring and pastoral support to nurses at regional and national levels. Passionate about compassionate leadership, equality and service improvement, he is dedicated to shaping safe, kind and effective mental health care for individuals and communities.
Moya Kirmond
Moya qualified as an adult nurse in 2014 with a postgraduate diploma from King’s College London. She worked on the major trauma unit at King’s College Hospital for three years before working as a clinical research nurse at St Mary’s Hospital. In 2017, with a grant from the RCN Foundation, she completed her MSc dissertation exploring end-of-life care for trauma patients, and received one of our Impact Awards in recognition of her work. Currently, Moya lives in Bristol and works as a neuro-oncology clinical nurse specialist.
Jenita Loheswaran
Jenita qualified as a nurse in 2024, during which time she received an education grant from the RCN Foundation which supported her towards her BSc Adult Nursing course at the University of Plymouth. She currently works on the Cardiac Investigations Unit at the Royal Cornwall Hospital NHS Trust, and has since pursued an MSc degree in Advanced Professional Practice.
"What I lack in years of experience, I certainly make up for in enthusiasm and passion for nursing and feel strongly about empowering other members of the nursing community to pursue their goals and dreams, much like the RCN Foundation supported me in achieving my own."
Shauna Marshall
Shauna has worked as a healthcare assistant for the last ten years and has a Level 3 qualification in health and social care. She has previously received support from the RCN Foundation and looks forward to participating in the Stakeholder Forum, offering her input and learning.
Karen Mcalpine
Karen has been a midwife for 35 years. She trained in Glasgow in 1990 where she worked as a midwife for five years. She then travelled to Jersey where she worked as a midwife for four years years before returning to Scotland.
Karen has spent the majority of her midwifery career in remote and rural communities until she joined NHS Education for Scotland in August 2021 as Senior Educator for Scottish Multi-professional Maternity Development Programme at NES. In this role she has operational lead responsibility, providing maternity and neonatal education for the workforce across Scotland.
Pauline McIntyre
Pauline is a nurse with over 30 years experience and a proud Queen’s Nurse.
Throughout her career, one thing has remained constant - that patients and their families will always be at the heart of everything.
Benash Nazmeen
Benash is an Assistant Professor of Midwifery at the University of Bradford, a Non-Executive Director at Birthrate Plus and Co-Founder of the Association of South Asian Midwives (ASAM CIC). Her work bridges academia, practice and policy to advance equity and safety in health care.As a stakeholder of the RCN Foundation, Benash supports its commitment to strengthening the nursing and midwifery workforce through hardship relief, education and research. She brings a particular focus on inclusive leadership, workforce wellbeing and culturally competent practice, ensuring that the Foundation’s impact reaches the most diverse corners of the profession.
Emily Palmer
Emily is a nurse and healthcare manager with experience across clinical practice, operational delivery and strategic improvement within the healthcare sector. She has worked in integrated care, hospital operations and national programmes, bringing a strong patient-centred perspective informed by her nursing experience. Her work focuses on improving patient experience, strengthening service quality and supporting inclusive, compassionate care. Emily has a particular interest in system-wide collaboration and is committed to shaping equitable services that reflect the needs of patients, staff and communities.
Professor Claire Pryor
Claire Pryor is a professor in adult social care nursing and the RCN Foundation Chair in Adult Social Care Nursing.
Her career has encompassed working as a nursing assistant in a care home, a staff nurse in medical assessment and critical care units, in the community as a junior sister in intermediate care and as a nurse practitioner for older people in mental health settings. Following her move into education, she has been a lecturer, senior lecturer, assistant professor and now professor. Her focus is on social care nursing, frailty, advancing nursing practice and non-medical prescribing.
Alice Skull
Alice has been a nurse educator at Anglia Ruskin University for over 20 years and is a registered Adult Field Nurse with a clinical background in cardiac nursing qualifying in 1996.
Alice was part of the team that developed one of the first nursing apprenticeships in the region at ARU in 2017, and more recently the midwifery apprenticeship in 2024. She holds a strategic role overseeing continuing professional development courses and apprenticeship deliveries as Deputy Head of School in the school of Midwifery and Community Health. Alice is currently undertaking her Professional Doctorate Health and Social Care focusing on the understanding of professional identity for nursing apprentices.
Sian Thomas
Sian is currently the Programme Oversight Chair for a national digital programme across NHS Wales – Digitalisation of Nursing Documentation Project (Paediatrics).
She was previously a Consultant Nurse Child Health and within that leadership role, influenced the strategic development of clinical practice, research and education. She has completed a Florence Nightingale Foundation Digital Leadership Scholarship and is FNF Digital Alumni Champion. Sian is also a Trustee for Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice.
Anna Young
Anna is the Primary Care Training Programme Director and Learning & Development Lead for the Northeast and Yorkshire regional faculty of advancing practice at NHS England. She has extensive experience spanning clinical practice, strategic leadership, education and research and was honoured as a Queen’s Nurse in 2023.
Anna has contributed to policy development, co-creating frameworks for non-medical prescribing and advancing practice, and has played a pivotal role in embedding research into clinical settings. She is also a speaker at national and international conferences, and has published on nursing leadership, research and professional development.
Holding a BA (Hons) in Nursing Studies, a Master’s in Advancing Practice (Primary Care), Anna is currently pursuing a Level 5 Coaching Apprenticeship.