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We are thrilled to announce the fifteen new members who have joined our��Health Data Research UK (51������) Public Advisory Board. 51������’s Public Advisory Board plays a vital role in ensuring that patients and the public remain at the heart of the organisation’s work.

51������ first established the Board in 2019 to provide strategic advice and independent insight, helping shape the organisation’s approach to patient and public involvement and engagement. Board members work closely with 51������ to support meaningful dialogue, strengthen public confidence, and demonstrate the value of using health data safely, securely and responsibly for research that delivers real benefits.

The new members bring a wide range of expertise, experiences and perspectives that will help 51������ continue to build trust and ensure its work reflects the needs and priorities of patients and the public.

Cassie Smith, Director of Legal, Trust and Ethics at 51������, said:

“I am thrilled to welcome our new Public Advisory Board to 51������. The breadth and depth of lived and professional experience they bring is genuinely exceptional, spanning communities, conditions, and perspectives that will be vital in shaping how we govern and use health data responsibly. This is a landmark moment for 51������, and I cannot wait to see the difference they will make.”

Meet the new 51������ Public Advisory Board members

Anna Grey is an Impact Strategy Consultant and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist with a career exploring and advising on effective ways to tackle health and social inequalities. Her experience ranges from strategic research to inform the development of mass media health campaigns, through to capacity building support for small frontline charities working on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for underserved communities.

Caroline Brocklehurst is passionate about improving patients’ health and life outcomes and increasing patient voice within health and research. She has been an active patient representative since 2021, channeling her lived and professional experiences into championing constructive change in Health for fellow patients.

Irene Poku is a member of the public, a Public Reviewer, and an active contributor to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) at the University of Oxford. As a patient and public advocate, she has worked closely with key stakeholders across the NHS Outpatient Transformation Programme, the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility, and charitable organisations to surface insights on patient experience, health inequalities, and system pressures.

Jillian Beggs is an experienced public contributor to health data research across the UK. During the pandemic Jillian supported Co-Connect, the COVID-Curated and Open Analysis and Research platform. Co-Connect was a UK-wide research programme supporting researchers to find and access COVID-19 data at pace, whilst ensuring people’s information is kept private and secure.

���Dz��ԲԱ� L���Dz�� is a patient and public involvement contributor with experience across national health research, governance, and public engagement programmes. She is Vice-Chair of the Consortium Public Advisory Group for the CRIISP Chronic Pain Research Initiative, supporting lived experience involvement in strategic research discussions and decision-making.

Joy Mbaulu is a public contributor involved in health data research and public involvement across several organisations. As well as being a Health Data Research UK Public Advisory Board Member, Joy is the Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Research��BioResource��National Participant Advisory Group. In this role she contributes to the Improving Black Health Outcomes programme, which aims to increase representation of Black communities in health research.

Lauryn Walker currently works as a Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment Associate, where she supports the screening, recruitment, and retention of participants in clinical research studies. In this role, she plays a key part in ensuring trials meet and exceed enrolment targets by engaging patients and facilitating informed participation, while leading community outreach to improve ethnic minority representation.

Michael McTernan is a mental health advocate and lived experience expert for DATAMIND and the Mental Health Platform, where he helps shape more inclusive and effective mental health research.��He is also an expert in digital health and��AI, and��has worked with the NHS to make mental health support more accessible, engaging, and transformative.

Michelle Gardener is a public advisor, board-level contributor and former non-executive director in social care, with a professional background spanning law, National Health Service independent complaints, advocacy, quality assurance, governance, communications and service improvement. She is recognised for bringing public-interest scrutiny, governance insight and a focus on accountability, inclusion and public benefit across complex multidisciplinary settings.

Niks Kolosnicins is a member of the public with a strong interest in how data can be used responsibly to improve population health through innovative research.  He is particularly interested in prevention relating to addiction and mental health.

Raj Mehta is an experienced public contributor and advocate for inclusive health and social care, with extensive involvement across applied research, rapid evaluation, and university led programmes spanning education, health, and social care.

Sienna-Mae Yates began her role as a Public Advisory Board member at Health Data Research UK in April 2026. She is an experienced public contributor working across health, care, and research, with a strong focus on patient and public involvement, data governance, and building public trust in the use of health data.

Syrah Saeed is a trainee clinical scientist in clinical informatics on the NHS Scientist Training Programme. She previously completed her BSc in Medical Biochemistry and MSc in Public Health. Her academic and professional experience combined with her personal experience of the healthcare system has highlighted to her the impact of some of the health research gaps that exist, particularly in women’s health.

Victoria Houghton has academic, professional and personal experience of the UK healthcare system and is dedicated to championing the voice of the patient across all therapeutic areas. She holds an MA in Medical Ethics and Law from King’s College, London and a BA in Human Sciences from Oxford University.

Warren Sims is a lay member and public contributor across clinical trials, research governance, and AI oversight. His focus is independent scrutiny of trial design and whether the frameworks guiding AI and health data stand up in practice.

Thank you to our outgoing members

We would like to say a huge thank you and fond farewell to our previous Public Advisory Board, now that they come to the end of their terms. Colin Godbold, Aisha Kekere-Ekun, Alan Holcroft, Mandy Rudczenko, Jan Speechley, Roger Gibb, Sarah Markham, Tony Plant and Sonia Patton have been instrumental in supporting 51������’s work.

Their enthusiasm, support and contributions have been particularly vital in:

• Developing 51������’s Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) strategy
• Helping to shape 51������’s wider strategy, such as 51������’s Industry, International, Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy
• Speaking at, contributing to and attending events, such as the 51������ Conference, House of Lords and parliament visit in November 2025
• Planning 51������’s first Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement celebration event
• Behind-the-scenes support in improving 51������’s internal projects and processes

51������ want to take this opportunity to thank the previous members For their contributions and wish them all the best. We hope to continue working with them in the future.

Find out more about public involvement at 51������

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