Board of Trustees
The Network has a Board of Trustees who are nominated and elected by the membership. The Board of Trustees has responsibility for the proper conduct of the Network’s affairs and takes a lead on developing guidance for clinical ethics services.
Members of the Board also take on particular roles as Officers, who have responsibility for particular aspects of the Board’s work. The list of trustees follows and you can read more about each individual board member by clicking on their name.
Carey Baff, Secretary
Back in the 1970s, Carey obtained a BA in History from the University of Sussex and an MA in Social Work from Nottingham University. She worked as a social worker and social work manager, primarily in child safeguarding, for over 40 years, before taking retirement in 2018. She has been a member of the Ethics Advisory Group of the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital since 2005, initially as a social work representative, and latterly as a lay member. She has been a vice chair of the group since 2013. Aside from this, Carey enjoys her post-work life as a volunteer in a variety of organisations, walking with her dogs, and working on her allotment.
Mark Quinn Bratton, Trustee
Mark Bratton was born and brought up in Beirut, Lebanon and educated in England. He has undergraduate degrees (or their equivalent) in history, law and theology, and graduate degrees in medical ethics and law. His PhD, under the supervision of Anne Slowther at Warwick University, explored judicial understandings of autonomy in ethically-contentious medical law cases. Following a short career as a barrister, which included a stint as a project research assistant at the Law Commission, Mark trained as an Anglican priest, serving in university and parish settings. He is currently Rector of St John Baptist Berkswell, near Coventry. He has represented the Diocese of Coventry on General Synod (the Church of England’s ‘parliament’) twice and led a project exploring the ethical, legal, scientific and theological dimensions of advances in human genome science (see God, Ethics and the Human Genome, CHP, 2009). He is a regular reviewer for the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Mark has served on several ethics committees, including the Warwick University Health and Social Sciences Ethics Committee, the Warwick University Animal Welfare Board, and the Coventry Research Ethics Committee. He is currently Vice-Chair of the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Ethics Forum. Mark has a special interest in the relationship between religion, ethics and law.
John Bridson, Trustee
John Bridson was educated in Philosophy and Theology (Heythrop College, University of London) and in the Ethics of Healthcare (University of Liverpool). He is a Clinical Ethicist at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with extensive experience of advising NHS clinicians and multidisciplinary teams on the ethical challenges arising from clinical practice. He has a particular interest in establishing and sustaining robust clinical ethics support mechanisms in NHS organisations. John has also chaired the Organ and Tissue Donation Committee and is a long-standing member of Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committees.
Rami El-Shirbiny, Treasurer
Rami El-Shirbiny has worked in psychiatry for over 20 years, and have been a Consultant in Forensic Psychiatry for 15 of these. For the last few years, he has held an additional role as a Medical Member on Mental Health Tribunals. Rami has been interested in clinical ethics throughout his career in healthcare, and has been a member of the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust clinical ethics committee for several years, chairing it for the last five. His clinical roles often require a careful balancing of the rights and responsibilities of individuals and society, usually in the context of risk, and the need to exercise proportionality and to take competing factors into account. This has naturally led into an interest in clinical ethics, with a particular expertise in mental health.
Richard Huxtable, Chair
Richard Huxtable is Professor of Medical Ethics and Law and Director of the Centre for Ethics in Medicine, in the Medical School at the University of Bristol, UK. He was trained in Law (University of Nottingham) and has a Master’s degree in socio-legal studies (University of Sheffield) and a PhD in Law and Medical Ethics (University of Bristol). In addition to leading teaching and training in medical law and ethics, Richard undertakes research on end-of-life decision-making, surgical ethics and clinical ethics. His research has been funded by (amongst others) the NIHR and the Wellcome Trust. He has published widely in legal, bioethical and medical journals, and his books include All That Matters: Euthanasia (2013, Hodder), and Law, Ethics and Compromise at the Limits of Life: To Treat or Not to Treat? (2012, Routledge). A founder member of Bristol’s Clinical Ethics Advisory Group, Richard has served on various local, regional and national ethics committees, including those of the BMA and the Royal College of General Practitioners. He is also a member of the Research Committee of the Institute of Medical Ethics.
Kiran Jani, Trustee
Kiran Jani is a consultant anaesthetist. He received postgraduate training in Birmingham, London and Cambridge and research experience at the University of Calgary, Canada. Kiran has a long-standing interest in clinical ethics, and is a founder member and chair of the East and North Herts NHS Trust Clinical Ethics Group. Kiran is also a founder member of the Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia, and he has presented at meetings of the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Harleen Kaur Johal, Communications Officer
Harleen Kaur Johal is a junior doctor and PhD Candidate at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine at the University of Bristol, UK. She graduated with a distinction in her undergraduate medical degree from the University of Southampton, where she also completed an intercalated Masters in Medical Sciences degree with a focus on healthcare ethics and law. Her PhD research explores conflict resolution in the adult intensive care unit, and is supported by the Wellcome Trust. Harleen has served as a core member of the Great Western Hospital Clinical Ethics Advisory Group since it was founded in 2020, and also serves on the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire regional ethics advisory group. She has been a Co-Secretary of the Institute for Medical Ethics Postgraduate Student Committee since 2020, and also enjoys teaching medical ethics in both undergraduate and postgraduate settings.
Anne MacNiven, Trustee
Anne MacNiven is a Registered Sick Children’s Nurse. She works as a Matron for Cardiorespiratory services in Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (GOSH). Anne trained in Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital (1988-1991) and moved to London shortly after qualifying. She has a BSc (Hons) in Professional Practice (Children’s Nursing) from South Bank University and an MA in Medical Ethics and Law from Keele University. Anne is one of the clinical leads of the GOSH Clinical Ethics Committee with a focus on ethics as a mode of staff support. She regularly participates in the rapid response case conferences, which are generated from the complex case load seen at GOSH. She is a member of the Child Health Ethics and Law Group (CHELSIG), with a special interest in children’s rights and parental obligations and compassionate and innovative therapies. Anne is also involved in the Paediatric Bioethics Centre at GOSH where she has run “Ethics at the coal face” drop-in sessions for a variety of staff groups. These sessions seek to reduce moral distress in frontline staff.
Raj Mohindra, Trustee
Raj Mohindra has been a consultant cardiologist practising general cardiology with an interest in imaging and heart failure for over 15 years. He graduated in Medicine and Law from St John’s College, Cambridge in 1990, was called to the Bar in 1991 and completed his undergraduate medical training in 1994 at Lady Margaret Hal, Oxford. He obtained his Masters in Medical Law and Ethics from King’s College, London in 1999 and his FRCP in 2011.
He has been a member of the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Clinical Ethics Advisory Group since 2009 and was appointed Chair in 2016. He became a member of the Board of the UKCEN in 2014; after being treasurer, he was appointed Chair between 2018 and 2021, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a member of the RCP committee for ethics in medicine between 2018–2022.
Raj has published in the domains of medicine, medical law and ethics. His interests include medical futility, medical law, institutional ethics and practical ethics, particularly the difference between episteme and phronesis.
