Prof Raj Thakkar

PCCS President and CKD representative

As President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, Prof Raj Thakkar will serve a three-year term, representing the Society and guiding it in line with its aim and governance.

Working closely with the Board of Directors, Secretariat, and other key officers, the President leads strategic planning, chairs major meetings and conferences, and oversees succession and recruitment processes.

Externally, the President represents PCCS at national events and contributes to key healthcare initiatives, including NICE stakeholder engagement. 

Beverley Bostock

PCCS President Elect, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Mann Cottage Surgery and Editor in Chief, Practice Nurse Journal

Beverley is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in long-term conditions. She is currently President-Elect of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society.  She has a special interest in cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease and lipid management along with common comorbidities such as metabolic liver disease, asthma and COPD. She is Editor-in-Chief of Practice Nurse Journal and has been a Queen’s Nurse since 2015. In a previous role she developed and delivered accredited modules in cardiovascular disease, heart failure and diabetes in collaboration with the Open University. As well as holding an MA in Medical Ethics and Law and an MSc in Respiratory Care, Bev has a Postgraduate Diploma in Diabetes from the University of Warwick. Bev has had an extensive range of articles published in various journals on the management of long-term conditions and is a regular speaker at national conferences.

Helen Williams

National Clinical Director for CVD Prevention, NHSE and Consultant Pharmacist for CVD, SE London ICB and UCL Partners

Helen is the National Clinical Director for CVD Prevention at NHS England and is working on delivery of the national CVD ambitions for AF, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol in the NHS Long Term Plan. Helen has worked as a CVD specialist for more than 25 years across all care settings. She was clinical adviser to the national AF programme and developed the pharmacist-led virtual clinic model to optimise uptake of anticoagulation in AF, which has now been spread nationally. Helen has recently been appointed as one of the long term conditions lead for South East London Integrated Care System and is also working at UCLPartners on the implementation of proactive care frameworks for long-term conditions to support primary care in the post COVID-19 environment.

Dr Miriam Pikkematt

Associate Professor (Docent) in General Practice, Lund University, and General Practitioner, Region Skåne, Sweden

Miriam Pikkemaat, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor (Docent) in General Practice at Lund University and a General Practitioner in Region Skåne, Sweden. Her research focuses on cardiovascular prevention, hypertension, diabetes, and sustainable models of care in primary care. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Australia, she established the SHIP-CARE (Sustainable Hypertension Management in Primary Care) study, a cluster-randomised trial evaluating a risk-stratified, nurse-led model for hypertension management in Swedish primary care. She also conducts research on diabetes, cardiovascular risk prediction, single-pill combinations, health services research, and implementation of evidence-based care. She has received competitive funding from the Swedish Research Council, Forte, ALF and several research foundations.

Dr Emily Turner

Lead GP Practice Pharmacist (specialist interest in cardio-renal), Aire Valley Surgery and Guiseley and Yeadon Medical Practice’

Ms Emily Turner, Lead GP Pharmacist with a Special Interest in Cardio-Renal Disease, Aire Valley Surgery, Leeds, and Founder of PREVENTIVE Health Consulting

Emily is a GP practice pharmacist with a specialist interest in cardiovascular disease prevention and cardio-renal medicine. She has extensive experience across primary and secondary care, leading initiatives to improve cardiovascular health. A passionate educator, Emily has developed and delivered training for healthcare professionals at local, regional, and national levels, supporting the implementation of best practice and policy into clinical care. As a former ICB clinical lead for CVD prevention and continuing through her consultancy work, she works at regional and national levels to improve population health in cardio-renal disease and is a strong advocate for mentoring and diversity in leadership through her role as co-lead of the ENIGMA mentoring scheme.

Dr Xenophon Kassianides

GP with extended role in CVRM Medicine and Honorary Lecturer - NHS Humber Health Partnership and the Hull York Medical School

Xenophon is a General Practitioner with extended role in Cardiovascular-Renal-Metabolic (CVRM) Medicine, working at the East Riding of Yorkshire. He holds an MD(res) from the Hull York Medical School and has completed postgraduate studies in Clinical Practice, Management, and Education with the University of Lancashire. He is a Member of both the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of General Practitioners. Xenophon's clinical and research focus is on CVRM conditions, with a particular interest in integrated care and disease prevention, and has been the recipient of competitive grant funding.  Passionate about academic medicine, Xenophon  has an extensive publication record and has taught widely, holding lecturer positions with several UK medical schools. He continues to contribute actively to education as an Honorary Lecturer at the Hull York Medical School and as a peer reviewer for leading scientific journals.

Dr Jim Moore

Past President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, GP, GPSI Cardiology, Gloucestershire

Dr Moore is a GP in Gloucestershire with a special interest in Cardiovascular Medicine and Past President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, spearheading significant changes in this organisation. He lectures extensively across the UK.

He has been heavily involved in National CVD advisory groups, guidelines and working parties. He was a member of the NICE Chronic Heart Failure in Adults Guideline committee (2016-2018) and was a board member of British Society for Heart Failure.

Dr Moore has provided cardiovascular clinical support to local commissioning organisations for over two decades and to Cardiac Networks in the South-West. He is currently Clinical Co-Lead (Primary Care) for the West of England Integrated Cardiac Clinical Network.

Dr Moore is the National Clinical Co- Lead (Primary Care) for the National Cardiac Transformation Programme which has included working closely on NHSE initiatives such as Managing Heart Failure @Home and more recently chaired a group that developed the National (NHSE) guidance for the Virtual Ward care for people with heart failure.

He has been involved in the establishment and subsequent development of the community-based Gloucestershire Heart Failure service since its inception in 2003 where he continues to work as a GPSI.

Faye Windsor

Heart Failure Specialist Pharmacist

Faye has been working as a heart failure specialist pharmacist since 2020, seeing patients in the acute hospital and community sectors. She has been working in the role at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust since 2023. 

John Weinman

is Emeritus Professor of Psychology applied to Medicines, and Co-Director of the Centre for Adherence Research & Education at King’s College London

John Weinman is Emeritus Professor of Psychology applied to Medicines, and Co-Director of the Centre for Adherence Research & Education at King’s College London. His research focuses on factors influencing patient self-management, and on improving adherence to treatment. He has been instrumental in developing Health Psychology within the UK and Europe, and was founding editor of Psychology & Health: an international journal. He was awarded a lifetime achievement award and Honorary Fellowship by the British Psychological Society. He is a Fellow of the European Health Psychology Society, American Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, Academy of Social Sciences and King’s College London.

Vicky Ruszala

MRPharmS MFRPSII

Vicky Ruszala is a specialist pharmacist in cardiology and heart failure at North Bristol NHS Trust. She works in a specialist capacity, trying to improve inpatient experience for those with heart failure, diabetes and renal disease and reducing errors in multi-morbidity care.  She is passionate about the role of pharmacists in providing care in long-term conditions.

She has 12 years of experience working in diabetes and has completed multiple secondments in secondary care and primary care across two ICBs. She worked for both as a specialist pharmacist in the integrated diabetes services, contributing to strategic changes in the systemic management of diabetes. In her current cardiology role she is leading on improving holistic CVRM care in primary care and taking part in the redesign of the BNSSG Heart Failure Integrated pathway.

She has held specialist national roles including chair of the UKCPA Diabetes Group committee, pharmacist lead of the endocrinology Clinical Reference Group for NHS England was part of the guideline development group for the original NICE Type 1 diabetes guideline. Currently she works as part of the British Society of Heart Failure education committee and is working on national projects to enhance heart failure education.

Dr Sundhya Raman

PCCS Lifestyle Medicine Representative, BSc (hons) MBBS DPhil (Oxon) Dipl IBLM/BSLM

Dr Sundhya Raman is a medical doctor (MBBS, GKT, London) with a degree in Pharmacology & Physiology, a PhD (D.Phil) in Genetics & Epigenetics from Oxford University and is qualified in Lifestyle Medicine with the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine & British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

Dr Raman is the Lifestyle Medicine Lead at the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society and founder of My Wellness Doctor, a lifestyle medicine consultancy.  She has contributed to education and guidelines on cardiometabolic disease prevention, and she developed and ran a successful lifestyle-based cholesterol-lowering programme in primary care.  Dr Raman regularly speaks on healthy ageing, cardiovascular risk and metabolic health for healthcare, public and corporate audiences.

Dr Raman teaches a module on lifestyle medicine and planetary health at several medical schools, and her advice has been featured on national radio and news.