Dr Graham Thomas

GP with Special Interest Cardiology and Echocardiography, North Wales and Powys, GP Partner Corwen

Graham qualified as a GP in 1999. He has worked as a GP with Extended Role in Cardiology since 2006 and in Echocardiography since 2009. He has been the clinical lead for Community Cardiology in North Wales and latterly also in Powys - until the present time. His day job is being a GP Partner in Meddygfa Deulu Corwen, South Denbighshire - a mixed, rural practice of 4,000+ patients.

In 2022 Graham was allowed to undertake a 6 month sabbatical which included 2 months working in Lesotho, Southern Africa where he has supported health and community projects since 2001. This also provided the opportunity to help initiate and develop the Community Cardiology Service in Powys.

He is the Wales Cardiovascular Network GP Lead.

Graham enjoys family life and various outdoor sports around his home in Bala - as well as being a chapel elder.

Dr Adrian Raybould

Consultant Cardiologist, Glangwilli Hospital, Carmarthen

I am consultant Cardiologist based in Glangwilli Hospital, Carmarthen. I qualified MBBS at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in 1993 having undertaken an intercalated BSC in Pathology. After House posts in London I spent 3 years in Swindon as an SHO and after initial GP training returned to medicine joining the cardiology training programme in Wales in 1997. Having worked in many of the hospitals in South Wales and a period of research in Sheffield and Manchester I was appointed as a consultant cardiologist to Carmarthenshire NHS trust in 2004. Having spent most of my career jointly appointed to Swansea, Morriston Hospital undertaking coronary intervention since COVID I have directed my energies to coordinating outpatient activities trying to achieve reasoanable access times.

I live in the  Bynnau Brycheiniog  (Brecon Beacons) in a hamlet near Y Mynydd Du called LLanddeusant. I live on a smallholding with my wife Helen Wallis, also a cardiologist specialising in Adult Congenital Heart Disease, 2 children- Anwen (18) and Thomas (18), 3 sheep, a Shetland pony and our dog Tilly.

Hassan Al-Kaabi

Health and Care Lead, BHF Cymru

Hassan Al-Kaabi is the Health and Care Lead for BHF Cymru. The largest funder of cardiac research in the UK. He works closely with cardiologists, researchers and the cardiology MDT, both influencing NHS systems in Wales and providing insight for the BHF. He is also the current serving Chair of the All Wales Cardiac Rehabilitation Forum, and worked as an Exercise Physiologist in ABUHB for 6 years. Hassan is a proud Cardiffian, and has represented Wales in football in his younger days.

Prof Raj Thakkar

PCCS President and CKD representative, Primary care cardiovascular society, GP Primary care cardiology lead, Oxford HIN Honorary Visiting Professor, Cardiff University Medical School, National EAGs for lipids and HF/HVD, NHSE National primary care workstream co-lead - cardiac transformation programme, NHSE UK Clinical Director, Healthy.io and Board observer, British Society of Heart Failure

Raj trained at University College London where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and completed his medical degree in 1999. He went on to a GP training programme in the Oxford deanery during which time he completed postgraduate membership exams of both the Royal College of General Practitioners and Physicians. Raj went on to win the national GP enterprise award in his division. He also completed an enhanced GP registrar post in cardiology.  

Raj’s varied roles have included working as a GP partner since 2004, Clinical Commissioning Director in planned care, Cardiac Lead for Thames Valley Strategic Clinical Network, primary care cardiology lead for the Oxford Health Innovation Network (HIN) and atrial fibrillation champion for NHSIQ Thames Valley. He is also on the national expert advisory group for heart failure and valve disease and is currently the national primary care workstream co-lead for the cardiac transformation programme (NHSE). Raj sits on the editorial board for the British Journal of Cardiology.  

Raj has worked as a presenter on BBC Radio and is a medical writer, lecturer, speaker, and advisor. He has written and published over 200 articles and several books including the MIMS consultation guide which won the BMA book of the year award in the category of medicine in 2012. He has achieved two atrial fibrillation pioneer awards, was a national finalist for GP of the year in 2017 and a national HSJ finalist, 2019 for his work in atrial fibrillation. 

Dr Jonathan Goodfellow

National Clinical Lead, Wales Cardiac Network

Jonathan was born in Pontypridd and was educated at Pontypridd Boys Grammar and Coed-y-lan Comprehensive school. He trained at the Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital qualifying in 1985. His cardiology training was in Bristol and Bath before returning to Cardiff to do research, then as Senior Registrar. In 1999 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Cardiology at the Wales Heart Research Institute, and also as part-time NHS cardiologist in Bridgend.

In 2005 he became a full-time NHS consultant in Bridgend. He was lead cardiologist between 2005-15 during which time the department expanded significantly to provide a comprehensive echo service, pacing service and diagnostic cardiac catheter lab. In 2008 he was part of the team that won a NHS Wales award for innovations in cardiology out-patient services. He became Medical Director at Princess of Wales Hospital from 2015 to 2018.

He is the immediate past-President of both the Welsh Cardiovascular Society and the Society of Physicians in Wales. He has worked in the Wales Cardiac Network since the end of 2018.

Dr Vasim Farooq

Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff

Julie Starling

Clinical Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Programme Manager for Wales.

Julie qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1993. Julie’s career in cardiology was ignited in 1996 when she moved to New Zealand to work in the cardiology unit of a tertiary centre in Waikato. Returning to the UK in 2000, as a Junior Sister on a cardiology ward at Wythenshawe Hospital, provided opportunity for Julie to further enhance her skills.

After the sudden death of a much-loved family friend, Julie trained as an Advanced Arrhythmia Nurse Specialist. She embedded her knowledge and skills for a year in Wythenshawe, before moving to North Wales to develop and establish a new Arrhythmia Service within Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. Julie gained a Diploma in Electrocardiography and also studied Advanced Arrhythmia Management at Teesside University.

Working collaboratively with both NHS and third sector, Julie also secured funding for a North Wales Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) project to improve survival from OHCA and volunteered her time to make this project a success. This project provided access to hundreds of defibrillators across North Wales as well as teaching people how to respond to a cardiac arrest.

Lessons learnt from the North Wales project and her 28 years of Cardiology knowledge is now helping to guide and drive her work as the Clinical Lead for Save a Life Cymru, an NHS programme funded by Welsh Government to increase survival from an OHCA by promoting early CPR and defibrillation in the community.

Working closely with colleagues within the four nations her work is now also helping to guide the work of others.

Julie loves the outdoors; she lives in North Wales is a keen mountaineer and loves spending time with her family mountain biking and sea kayaking. Always up for a challenge, Julie has previously combined her passion for the outdoors and cardiology, to deliver CPR training on the top of Snowdon!

Amrita Jesurasa

Consultant in Public Health, National Lead for Prevention in Clinical Settings, Public Health Wales

Amrita trained at Imperial College London and completed her medical degree in 2005, having undertaken an intercalated BSc in cardiovascular science. Amrita initially trained in paediatrics, before beginning training in public health in Yorkshire & Humber, during which time Amrita was also an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield. Amrita was appointed to her current substantive post in Public Health Wales in 2020, where her portfolio focuses on addressing the behavioural and clinical risk factors that contribute most to the burden of disease in Wales. Within this portfolio, Amrita leads a number of programmes, including the All Wales Diabetes Prevention Programme and programmes of work on cardiovascular disease prevention, obesity prevention, social prescribing, and the development of a ‘Prevention-Based Health & Care Framework’ to embed a coordinated approach to prevention in the health and care system in Wales.

In 2021, Amrita also successfully applied for and commenced a NICE Fellowship, which complimented her consultant portfolio, as it looked at ways to implement NICE guidelines related to prevention, through influencing contractual, strategic and operational levers. Having attended Harvard Business School’s Value-Based Healthcare Intensive Seminar in January 2023, Amrita is also looking at ways that this approach can support embedding prevention in the health and care system.