Meet the team

Jonathan Cusack is our Clinical Director for Women's and Children's and a consultant neonatologist. He is one of seven clinical directors responsible for clinical leadership for University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust. He has expertise in neonatal education, resuscitation and neonatal simulation training.

He is the co-founder of the Advanced Resuscitation of the Newborn (ARNI) course and a member of the Resuscitation Council UK newborn subcommittee. He is an invited course director for international newborn life support courses. He has extensive medico-legal experience, leads our neonatologist performed echocardiography programme, and actively contributes towards research  and development. He is honorary senior lecturer at the University of Leicester, College of Life sciences.

Tilly Pillay is our Clinical Lead for Neonatal Services. She is Professor of Neonatology with the University of Wolverhampton, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Honorary Senior Lecturer at University of Leicester, College of Life Sciences, and Honorary Lecturer at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Research and Development Division. 

A consultant neonatologist since 1996, she trained in South Africa at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine and College of Medicine SA, and University of Oxford. Her research interests include neonatal immunology and infections, health service delivery, quality improvement, health inequalities and neonatal public health engagement. She has experience in clinical management, and of working with NICE, BAPM, and CHIVA. She co-leads on Family Integrated Care, leads neonatal fetal medicine liaison and neonatal health equality, and directs a regional parent education programme (STORK) aimed at preventative neonatal health care around reducing risks for infant mortality.

Professor Elaine Boyle is our lead academic. She is a consultant neonatologist and a Professor with the University of Leicester.

Her research interests include neonatal pain, early respiratory disease and the management of late and moderate preterm infants.

Dr Andrew Currie is Head of Service for CenTre, The East Midlands Regional Neonatal Transport Service. A consultant neonatologist since 1998, he has trained in Southampton, UK  and worked abroad in Sydney, Australia. His research interests include pro-inflammatory cytokines in Chronic Lung Disease of Prematurity. He has several research publications and presentations at international scientific meetings, and has contributed to textbooks in Neonatal Medicine, Obstetrics, a medical dictionary and development of national Department of Health documents. 

His current main interests are neonatal transport medicine and neonatal echocardiography. Dr Currie has experience in clinical management as Royal College Tutor, previous head of neonatal services, and Clinical Director of UHL's Musculoskeletal and Specialised Surgical Services. He is a member of the National Neonatal Transport Group and an assessor for the RCPCH.

Deepa Panjwani is our lead consultant neonatologist for neonatal nutrition. She is Training Programme Director for ST4-ST8 East Midlands Deanery (South) and the south-based (Leicester) lead for the CenTre transport service.

She is also a Newborn Life Support Course Director, an advanced life support instructor on the ARNI course, and co- leads in-house neonatal simulation. She is a member of the recruitment board for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She has experience with BAPM and NICE working groups.

Dr Jane Gill is a consultant neonatologist.

She is in charge of the East Midlands Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (EMNODN) and has a role in coordinating the care delivered to babies from around our region.

Dr Sumit Mittal is our lead for Chronic Lung disease.

He manages our babies with the most complex lung problems, including those discharged home in oxygen.

He is our lead for clinical guidelines.

Venkatesh Kairamkonda is UHL's deputy chief medical information officer. He is clinical lead for digitisation of neonatal service, data, perinatal risk group, and our audit and quality improvement programme. He is a UHL consultant appraiser and Trust Mentor. A consultant neonatologist since 2002, he has trained in India (Topiwala National Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital), Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool, Harvard, Edinburgh and Imperial College. 

His neonatal research interests have included the role of “Amylin” in feed intolerance and infants of diabetic mothers, infection, pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, hyperglycemia, and ambulatory lung function test in chronic lung disease. He was honorary lecturer at University of Leicester, College of Life Sciences until 2023.

Dr Joe Fawke is involved in medical staff education. He is a Head of School for Paediatrics for Health Education East Midlands. He is the UK national lead for neonatal Resuscitation courses run by the Resuscitation Council UK.

He has an interest in simulation based education and has had a role in the development of national NICE guidelines.

Dr Kamini Yadav is a consultant neonatologist with an interest in the management of babies born to mothers with diabetes. She is the consultant lead for Clinical Governance.

Dr Robin Miralles is our lead for Neurodevelopment follow up.

He has expertise in neonatal neurology particularly in managing babies who are receiving cooling treatment. He runs our neonatal follow up program for our highest risk babies.

Joanna Behrsin  is our current deputy head of our neonatal service, lead neonatologist for Saving Babies Lives and Perinatal Optimisation, and lead for our neonatal services workforce expansion process. 

She is also the National Neonatal Audit Programme (NNAP) Clinical Lead for Leicester Neonatal Services. She sits on the national maternity and neonatal programme stakeholder panel as a frontline representative. Her interests include service development, quality improvement, medical education and simulation and instructs on NLS and ARNI. She is also a Mary Seacole graduate (2015).

Dr Fiona Wood is a consultant neonatologist. She has a research interest in Neonatal Resuscitation and is the consultant lead for our junior doctor rotas.

Dr Muhammad Ali is a consultant neonatologist. He is the lead for departmental induction, education and teaching programmes. He has an interest in neonatal cardiology and simulation.

Joanna Preece joined our UHL Neonatal service in February 2022 from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. She was Clinical lead in her previous Trust from 2016 to 2022, Neonatal Network Locality lead for the Humber, Coast & Vale area of Yorkshire. She was also lead for the Yorkshire & Humber Neonatal ODN Mortality Review. 

A consultant neonatologist since 2006, she trained at the University of Leeds. Her special interests in Leicester have continued her work in Perinatal Mortality Review, development of Transitional Care and perinatal optimisation of the preterm infants. She has always had a passion for the role of the Neonatal Networks and took up the role of Guidelines Lead for the East Midlands Neonatal ODN in 2023. https://www.emnodn.nhs.uk/

Ben Baucells Boix joined our service following completing his training at Sant Joan de Deu Children's Hospital in Barcelona, including spending time training in Australia. 

He currently shares his activity between the Neonatal services in Leicester and the CenTre neonatal transport team. He is our Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) lead for Neonatal Services, and has a special interest in Family Integrated Care. His area of research includes the use of probiotics in the premature infant, the study of neonatal haemodynamics and outcomes, and the application of POCUS on the neonatal unit and in transport services. 

Katherine Millard is RCPCH College Tutor for our service.  She trained in the East Midlands and Melbourne, Australia before joining our consultant team in 2022.

She leads our unit medical education programme and oversees resident doctor rotas and workforce planning.  She is a course director for the Newborn Life Support course, instructs on the Advanced Resuscitation of the Newborn course, and co-leads on in-house neonatal simulation.  She also works as a Transport Consultant for CenTre Neonatal Transport. Currently she is the local PI for the BASE trial, and has a developing interest in POCUS and neonatologist-performed echocardiography.   

Sr Davina Bhardwaj is our Operational Matron for  UHL Neonatal Services at UHL NHS Trust.

After leading Cot Side Teaching on the Neonatal Unit, she remains passionate that education for staff is of the utmost importance for the delivery of the highest standards of nursing care.

Sr Rina Chauhan is our Matron for Quality Improvement for UHL Neonatal Services. She works closely with our Governance team to deliver on the NHSE 3 year maternity and neonatal improvement plan and for embedding the new PSIRF format within our services.

Sr  Elsie Kumar is our Matron for Recruitment, Retention and Pastoral Care for UHL neonatal services. She works closely with our nursing establishment, promoting well- being and providing pastoral support for all.

Natalie Dalgetty is our General Manager. She is the lead manager responsible for the day to day running of the unit.