We are marking International Women’s Day by sharing stories from just some of the women who work at our hospitals, who lead by example, who inspire others to achieve more and who enable colleagues to reach their potential.
Together, they deliver and support ground-breaking research, drive better service quality, and provide specialist, world-leading care to our patients. Read some of their stories below. #IWD2025 #AccelerateAction
Clinical services
Women in our hospitals are at the forefront of delivering clinical services through a range of roles:
Alison PottIe, consultant nurse for cardiology
Alison PottIe, consultant nurse for cardiology, has set up a variety of nurse-led services at Harefield Hospital. Find out how Alison has challenged the traditional ‘medical model’ of care delivery.
Gemma Stanford, specialist physiotherapist
Gemma provides physiotherapy for adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) at Royal Brompton Hospital. Here, Gemma speaks about her role as chair of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society's Physiotherapy Specialist Interest Group and her research work.
Ras Kahai, a specialist respiratory dietitian
Ras says that nearly a third of patients coming into hospital are at risk of malnutrition. In her blog, she takes us through her typical day as a dietitian, and how dietitians play a pivotal role in getting patients back to health.
Anna Krawczyk, healthcare assistant
Anna became a healthcare assistant to help others, and form meaningful connections with patients and colleagues. Anna works in Royal Brompton's Squire Centre, a day case unit for cardiac procedures.
Sylwia Katarzyniak-Best, clinical perfusionist
Sylwia works in the heart of the operating room, where she is responsible for managing the cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Sylwia also works with the organ retrieval team, helping to keep donor hearts beating and healthy as they are being transported.
Nyachin Nyoat, paediatric nurse
Nyachin offers an insight into working on a busy high dependency unit at Royal Brompton Hospital, and why she is proud to be a black senior nurse in the NHS. In addition to her role as a nurse, Nya also co-chairs our hospitals' Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Staff Network.
Ruth Chester, echo services lead
Ruth describes her team as "the engine room of cardiology." Based at Harefield, Ruth and her team help diagnose cardiac conditions through a combination of specialist knowledge and equipment which, she says, often means they can "diagnose conditions when others can't."
Suzy Browne, transcatheter mitral and tricuspid clinical nurse specialist
Suzy supports patients undergoing minimally invasive heart procedures. Suzy says she “loves nursing and supporting people at extremely challenging points in their lives - it’s a privilege that I do not take for granted.”
Research
Every day, women across our hospitals undertake pioneering and world-class research in heart and lung disease:
Dr Sam Irving, Dr Haifa Lyster and Dr Sarah Collins
Dr Sam Irving, chief paediatric respiratory research physiologist, Dr Haifa Lyster, consultant pharmacist in transplantation and Harefield clinical research facility lead, and Dr Sarah Collins, cystic fibrosis specialist dietitian, were awarded funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research to carry out crucial research.
Laura Henderson, research development manager
Laura received national recognition at the Hidden REF 2024 competition for the pivotal role she plays in enabling high-quality research amongst our teams. The award recognises often underrepresented roles and contributions in research.
Dr Upasana Tayal, consultant cardiologist and clinical senior lecturer at Imperial College London
Dr Upasana Tayal recently led a study that confirmed dilated cardiomyopathy is more common in men than women. The study also found that the disparity could be attributed to underdiagnosis of the condition in women and an increased risk of the condition in men.
Dr Deborah Morris-Rosendahl, consultant clinical scientist and head of the Clinical Genetics and Genomics Laboratory
Dr Deborah Morris-Rosendah is leading a study which aims to develop and validate a new type of genetic testing for pulmonary fibrosis. It is hoped the findings will enable earlier detection and improve understanding of the disease.
Professor Jane Davies, respiratory consultant
Professor Jane Davies is leading an exciting clinical trial which aims to find a treatment for the subset of patients who do not benefit from the recent treatment advancements in cystic fibrosis.
Professor Elizabeth Renzoni, respiratory consultant
Professor Elizabeth Renzoni and her team recently won funding for a project which aims to use AI to predict outcome in a type of lung disease known as systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).
Support Services
Yolande Smuts-Gardner, deputy catering manager
Yolande leads a team of 70 to provide award-winning, fresh food to staff and patients. Yolande says that she is blessed to work with some really fantastic people from all over the world, all of whom share a strong “'can do' attitude”.
Jenny Murphy, inherited cardiac conditions administration manager
Jenny decided to move into healthcare after seeing the excellent care members of her family received from the NHS. Jenny organises clinics, patient letters and so much more.
Jenna Galloway, cystic fibrosis digital and registry co-ordinator
Jenna helps improve patient care by ensuring our busy adult CF clinics run smoothly, supporting patients to use digital health equipment, and contributing to CF research.
Visit our careers page to find out more about the range of roles and opportunities we offer across our organisation.