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 Post Graduate 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.

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 Chris Arden

GPSI Cardiology, Editor-in-Chief for PCCJ, Winchester, Hampshire

Chris Arden is a GP near Winchester, Hampshire. He also works in community cardiac clinics in Southampton and Winchester as a GPSI in cardiology, assessing patients with suspected heart failure, atrial fibrillation, palpitations, hypertension and valvular heart disease.

The community cardiac service provides echocardiography, ambulatory ECG, blood pressure and event recorder monitoring; receiving consultant mentorship support from secondary care and working in partnership with specialist heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation nursing colleagues.

He does a weekly stress echo clinic at Southampton General Hospital and has BSE accreditation in echocardiography.

Chris Arden is Editor in Chief of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Journal, a member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, British Society of Echocardiography, British Society of Heart Failure and British Heart Valve Society. He is on the editorial board of the British Journal of Cardiology.

Prof Derek Connolly

Consultant Cardiologist and Director of R&D at Birmingham City Hospital

Derek is a Consultant Cardiologist at Birmingham City 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. 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.

Dr Lucy Pollock

Consultant Geriatrician, Author

I’m a consultant geriatrician. I love high quality patient-centered care of older people. I enjoy meeting and teaching resident doctors, students, GPs and AHPs, and watching these colleagues learn what it is about geriatric medicine that is so irresistible.

I trained at Cambridge, Barts and in other London hospitals before moving to Somerset in 1997.

The Book About Getting Older (2021) and The Golden Rule (2024) are both published by Penguin Random House.  @lucypollock | Linktree

Emily Turner

Lead Pharmacist, Aire Valley Surgery. Founder, PREVENTIVE health

Emily Turner is the Lead GP Practice Pharmacist for a large practice in Leeds, with a special interest in cardio-renal disease. She has also held the role of West Yorkshire Clinical Lead for CVD Prevention, collaborating across the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership to enhance cardiovascular health outcomes. In this capacity, Emily has demonstrated extensive evidence in addressing and reducing health inequalities throughout the system.

On a national level, Emily contributes as a member of the England CVDPREVENT Audit Clinical Panel, the National Atrial Fibrillation Expert Advisory Group, and as a Clinical Educator for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. As an accomplished speaker, she offers valuable expertise and practical guidance to clinicians working in primary care.

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 Aled Williams MBBCh MRCP (Uk) PhD

Consultant Nephrologist in Morriston Hospital, Swansea

Dr Williams is a Consultant Nephrologist in Morriston Hospital, Swansea. He qualified as a consultant in 2021 having trained in Wales throughout career and completed a PhD in Peritoneal Dialysis in 2018.

Specialist Interests: Interventional Nephrology, vascular access for dialysis patients, diabetes management in renal patients and clinical research.

Affiliations: UK Kidney Association, Vascular Access Society of Britain & Ireland (VASBI), American Society Nephrology (ASN), Royal College of Physicians (RCP)