Prof Raj Thakkar

PCCS President and CKD representative

As President of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, Prof Raj Thakkar will serve a two-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. 

Prof Derek Connolly

Consultant Cardiologist at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, Vice Chancellor's Professor of Fellow in healthcare research at Aston University Birmingham

Derek is a Consultant cardiologist at the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital  Birmingham UK and holds a honorary academic positions at both the University of Birmingham Institute of cardiovascular sciences and at Aston University medical School. Additionally, Derek is vice chancellor's professor of Fellow in healthcare research at Aston University Birmingham.

Derek trained in Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and San Diego where he was a Carnegie Scholar. Derek has a first class degree in Pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh where he was the Brunton medallist and Keasbey Bursary holder. Derek’s PhD in molecular cardiology is from the University of Cambridge. Derek is the Chief or Primary Investigator of multiple large trials in Cardiovascular medicine. Derek developed one of the UKs first primary angioplasty programmes, and one of the UKs largest cardiac CT programmes. He has been a council member of the PCCS since it's refoundation.

Beverley Bostock

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

Bev 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 PgDip 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.

Dr Sundhya Raman

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

Dr Sundhya Raman is a medical doctor (Guys, Kings and St Thomas’s, 2007) with a BSc in Pharmacology & Physiology, a PhD (DPhil) in Genetics/Epigenetics is qualified in Lifestyle Medicine with the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine and the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

She began her career as a clinical scientist, and aside from her DPhil at Oxford she worked in labs around the world including at Yale, University of Sydney and at the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases, London.

Dr Raman is the founder and director of a lifestyle medicine health consultancy (My Wellness Doctor) which provides advice and support to educate and empower individuals to prevent illness, reverse disease, and optimise mental and physical wellbeing using evidence-based lifestyle modalities.

She has created a programme using lifestyle change to lower cholesterol in a primary care setting, and is the lead for virtual group consultations for diabetes at Plant Based Health Online.

Dr Raman regularly presents talks and teaching on lifestyle medicine and healthy ageing to both medical professionals (GP registrars, medical students, MIMs Learning Live, PCN training events) as well as to the lay public, including a focus on specific risks and solutions for BAME groups. She authored the diet section for JBS4 and co-authored the section on physical activity. She contributes to media publications on lifestyle advice to prevent chronic disease.

Prof Janaka Karalliedde

Professor of Diabetes, School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Metabolic Sciences, King's College London, Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital London

Janaka graduated with a distinction in medicine from the University of London and was awarded UK Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellowship and PhD by the University of London for research on the pathophysiology and treatment of cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. 

He is an active clinician working with more than 20 years of experience and specialist expertise managing patients with kidney and cardio-vascular complications related to diabetes at Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital. He has established community based clinics in London working with primary care colleagues focussed on early identification and treatment to reduce cardiovascular and kidney complications.

Janaka is a clinician scientist with a research focus on the pathophysiology and treatment of cardio-renal complications in people with diabetes. He speaks frequently at national and international meetings and has published more than 100 articles on cardio-renal disease. He has led on UK Kidney Association (UKKA) and Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) diabetic kidney disease guidelines and is the co-chair of this working group.

Janaka has also led an award winning programme of work on risk stratification and clinical prioritisation [Health Service Journal award (2023), Quality in Care diabetes award (2024), Royal College of Physician excellence in patient care awards (top three 2025)] that enables early identification and clinical prioritisation of people with modifiable risk that is now embedded in routine care.

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.

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 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.

Prof John Deanfield

Professor of Cardiology, Director, National Centre for Cardiovascular Prevention and Outcomes, University College London

John Deanfield CBE is Professor of Cardiology at University College London (UCL) and Director of National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research (NICOR) which incorporates the national databases for cardiovascular outcomes.

Deanfield undertook his training at Churchill College, Cambridge, the Middlesex, Hammersmith and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, London. His principal interests are vascular medicine, opportunities for lifetime management of cardiovascular risk and large scale cardiovascular outcomes research. He has been at the forefront in describing the impact of obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and other risk factors on health in later life, through coordination of multiple large longitudinal cardiovascular studies in population throughout lifetime.

He Chaired the Joint British Societies (JBS3) National Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (2014) and led the development of the public facing Heart Age Tool (2015). He was awarded the British Cardiac Society McKenzie Award, the John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Decades of Service Award in 2017 and was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2021. He Chaired the UK’s National Health Check Programme Review (2021) and is currently Chairing the development of the new JBS4 Consensus Guidelines. In 2023, Deanfield was appointed as the UK’s first ever Government Champion for Personalised Prevention to develop a set of evidence-based recommendations for a modern, personalised cardiovascular disease prevention service.

Professor Deanfield serves on many international advisory boards and is a member of the editorial boards of several major CV journals. He has published numerous articles in leading medical and scientific journals. Papers published: >553 Citations: >181K H index: 151.

Prof James Burton

Professor of Renal Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Leicester & Honorary Consultant Nephrologist

James Burton is Professor of Renal Medicine and Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the University of Leicester as well as an Honorary Consultant Nephrologist. He is the Clinical Vice President of the UK Kidney Association and through both the UKKA and KDIGO, is involved in clinical guideline development for patients with kidney disease. He sits on a number of UK Kidney Research Consortium Clinical Study Groups and is a member of the UK Renal Trials Network.

His research portfolio includes mechanisms behind the development of uraemic cardiovascular disease through to interventional clinical trials to improve patient outcomes; his clinical work with dialysis patients has been shortlisted for three NHS Innovation awards.