External Advisory Group

CHAIR Baroness Helene Hayman Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979. Served on the ethics committees of the Royal College of Gynaecologists from 1982 to 1997, and of the University College London and University College Hospital from 1987 to 1997. From 1992 to 1997, she was a member of the Council of University College, London, and chair of Whittington Hospital NHS Trust. In 1996 Helen Hayman was made a life peer and served as a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Health, before being appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1999.

Sarah Brown, Co-Founder of the Maternal Mortality Campaign, Global Patron of White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood.  Founding Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education, Founder and President of the international children’s charity PiggyBankKids.  Her contribution has been recognised with the Vision and Impact Award from the Global Business Coalition for Health, an Honorary Fellowship from Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Recognition Award from the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

 Janet Chapin Senior Director of Global Women's Health & Special Issues in Women's Health at the American College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists.

Dr France DonnaySenior Programme Officer for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Donnay practiced obstetrics and gynaecology in public and private hospitals as well as family planning clinics in Brussels for 15 years. Because of her interest in maternal health in developing countries, she also worked as a consultant to the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Professor Jim Dornan Professor in Maternal and Foetal Medicine, Queens Univeristy Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast. Former Senior Vice President of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.  Research interests include assessment of feotal wellbeing, prenatal screening and diagnosis.

Ann Hoskins is Director of Children, Young People and Maternity for NHS North West/Interim Regional Director of Public Health.  She was previously Director of Public Health for Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority, Manchester and Wirral Health Authorities.  She has extensive experience of working in developing countries working on maternal and child primary health care.  She has a keen interest in both developing and ensuring implementation of evidence based practice and tackling health inequalities. Dr Hoskins is a trustee of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and was a member of the Public Health Intervention Advisory Committee and the QOF Indicator Advisory Committee of NICE.

Professor Dame Tina Lavender Professor of Midwifery at University of Manchester and Consultant Midwife at Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Dame Lavender is an Honorary fellow at the Royal College of Midwives.  She is an experienced researcher with a number of research interests that focus on women's expectations, experiences and outcomes. Much of her work is International, through partnerships with groups such as the African Midwives Research Network.  Tina is a member of the National Clinical FGM group, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and the Cochrane Collaboration.

Professor Gwyneth Lewis OBE Director of International Maternal Health Research, Institute of Women’s Health, University College London. She was also the former Director for International Maternal Health at the Department of Health for England.  She is a Fellow of both the Royal College and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and also of the Faculty of Public Health at the Royal College of Physicians.

Joy Marini Director of Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson USA.  Joy is responsible for Johnson & Johnson’s international programmes on maternal and infant health, gender-based violence and gender inequality, and economic empowerment of women.  Joy earned her MS Physician Assistant from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1997. She received an MBA from Rider University.

Professor Matthews Mathai is the Coordinator of the Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation Team in WHO's Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health. In his former position at WHO, he worked in Making Pregnancy Safer contributing to the development, update and implementation of WHO's Integrated Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth (IMPAC) guidelines and tools.

Professor Jim Neilson Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and joint Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group at the University of Liverpool. He is also Honorary Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist to the Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Herbert Peterson Kenan Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina.  Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Research Evidence for Sexual and Reproductive Health. His major research interests are at the interface of clinical medicine and public health, and have focused on reproductive health.

David H Richmond President, RCOG 2013-2016. David was previously Vice President (Clinical Quality) and during his tenure published High Quality Women’s Health – a proposal for developing a life-course approach to healthcare combined with implementing networks for care. He championed the production of the first RCOG Maternity Clinical Indicators Report for England which he anticipates will act as a template for further national reports to include all aspects of clinical performance. His main interests lie in all aspects of education, training, clinical quality and safety and the implementation of national guidance. 

Denis Robson Director of African Affairs, Johnson & Johnson Medical UK, with an emphasis on Health Workforce Capacity Building. He also serves on the UK CSR committee of Johnson & Johnson representing international interests. He is an Honorary Fellow of both surgical colleges in Africa, the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).

Mary Ellen Stanton Senior Maternal Health Advisor to the United States Agency for International Development, Bureau for Global Health.   Ms Stanton is a certified nurse midwife.  She has worked in the Americas, Asia, and Africa and has experience in needs and resource assessment, policy development, programme and project design, training, association development, education programme accreditation, and evaluation.

Frances Day Strirk President International Confederation of Midwives.  Former Directors of Learning, Research and Practise for Royal College of Midwives. Board member of the WHO Global Health Workforce Alliance. Trained midwife with over 30 years experience.

Professor Victor Tabbush Professor Emeritus at UCLA Anderson School of Management, USA.   Professor Tabbush specialises in healthcare economics and in healthcare leadership and management capacity building.  He is programme director and founder of the UCLA Management Development Institute that builds management and leadership capacity of health systems in sub Saharan Africa and of the Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive programme that serves US community clinics and AIDs service organisations.

Andre Winter is currently a Fund Manager and previous Corporate Finance Director with over thirty years experience of the issues facing growing businesses, and their financing.  Investment experience ranges from smaller company venture capital investment through to significant equity holdings in public companies quoted on London’s junior stock market, AIM.   In all cases, a strong inclination towards long-term investment in worthwhile businesses supported by active engagement with the management teams concerned.  Wider interests include the constructive role that capitalism and science can play in furthering economic and social development.