Health and Housing Conference

Mark Axcell

Chief Executive of the Black County Integrated Care Board.
I am looking forward to working with partners to build upon the great progress that has already been made in improving the health and wellbeing of our communities. Together we can make a real difference in reducing health inequalities and delivering the best possible services to people in the Black Country.

Taps Mtemachani

Director of Transformation and Partnership of the Black Country Integrated Care Board.
Taps takes the executive lead for the ICB on population health management, addressing inequalities and system reform including the development of the Integrated Care Partnership. As well as developing the strategic approaches, processes, and infrastructure to address disparities and inequalities that exist across our population, a significant part of Taps’s role is building relationships and effective partnerships within and beyond the Black Country.

Katriona O'Sullivan

Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan is a celebrated psychologist, lecturer, and author with a compelling life story and a passion for advocating for early interventions in the lives of children growing up in poverty. Currently a lecturer in Psychology at Maynooth University, Katriona's research focuses on educational disadvantage, equity, and the impact of poverty on childhood development. Her personal and professional experiences uniquely position her as a leading voice in understanding the transformative power of early support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Connie Jennings

As the Director of Stronger Communities at whg, Connie's core focus is to address the root causes of
inequality and improve health
outcomes for social housing
communities. The majority of her team are whg customers, bringing their insights and lived experience into whg's work to help others. Connie is a champion of partnership working, as way to reduce
health inequalities and ensure that people who live in social housing have equitable access to services.

Andrew Van Doorn

Chief Executive of Housing Associations Charitable Trust. Andrew has worked for HACT for 20 years and in housing, homelessness, supported housing, community development and wider social policy and practice for over 30 years.  He is a Non-Executive Director at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. Andrew was awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours List 2023 for services to housing.

Sir David Nicholson

Chair of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust. Sir David’s career in NHS management has spanned more than 40 years. Since his retirement from the NHS in 2014, he has taken on a number of international roles providing advice and guidance to governments and organisations focused on improving population health and universal healthcare coverage.

Sarah Parsons

Health & Research Lead at HACT. Sarah has dedicated over 40 years to healthcare; originally as a clinician, latterly working across a busy NHS Trust as an Acute/Emergency Nurse Practitioner. Since joining HACT in August 2021 as Health and Research Lead, Sarah works alongside housing associations, local authorities, the NHS and other health & wellbeing organisations to address health inequality in social housing communities, whilst also conducting evaluation and research projects across the wider organisation.

Viv Marsh

Registered Nurse, Queen’s Nurse Clinical Lead for Children’s Asthma Transformation, Black Country ICB. As the Clinical Lead for Children’s Asthma Transformation Viv is responsible for implementing the national bundle of asthma care in the Black Country. An exciting program of work has commenced, and our aim is to deliver feasible and sustainable improvements in outcomes for all Children and Young People with asthma in the Black Country.

 

Patrick Vernon OBE

Professor Patrick Vernon OBE, is the Chair of the Birmingham and Solihull NHS Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB). Patrick initially took up the role on an interim basis in January 2023 and was appointed as permanent Chair in January 2024. Patrick was the first Non-Executive Director to be appointed at the BSol ICB and was appointed to specifically lead inequalities (in fact he was the first NED lead for inequalities to be appointed in the country). He received an Order of the British Empire in 2012 for his work on tackling health inequalities and ethnic minority communities. In 2019, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award for campaigning and advocacy work by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation.