Brings together MSK professionals to reach our common goal

Arash joined Orthopaedic Research UK in 2008 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2016. Over the years he has been instrumental in the strategic development and rebranding of the organisation, with a focus on improving governance and expanding the research and education programmes within the charity.

He is an agile leader by nature and has a strong desire to develop strategic partnerships within the MSK community to accelerate innovation and maximise impact in society. Arash has a PhD in Medical Engineering, MBA in Management and is a trustee at the British Orthopaedic Research Society (BORS).

I qualified as a physiotherapist at Kings’ College Hospital in 1985. After completing my PhD at University College London and Kings College London I held appointments of was Lecturer, Reader and Professor at Kings College London between 1990-2010. In 2010 I moved to the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at St George’s University of London

I was a Clinical Advisor to Arthritis Research UK (2002-2008), Chair of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Research and Clinical Effectiveness (2001-2004) and have contributed to several national working groups, clinical guideline committee and conferences. Since 2013 I have been seconded to the Health Innovation Network (South London’s Academic Health Science Network) as Clinical Director for the Musculoskeletal Programme, promoting best practice for people with musculoskeletal conditions. In 2017 was awarded an NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellowship.

A major part of my work was the development and evaluation of ESCAPE-pain – a rehabilitation programme to help people with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis (www.escape-pain.org). The programme has won recognition from many health and wellbeing agencies including the NHS England, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Public Health England, Arthritis Research UK. It is currently being rolled out across the UK, and is now being delivered in over 294 clinical and community centres across the UK. ESCAPE-pain won the 2020 Health Services Journal Musculoskeletal Programme of the Year.

I have (co-)authored more than 80 papers.

Robin joined ORUK in 2021 as its Data Protection Officer. Previously trained as a lawyer in the public sector, Robin now specialises in data protection, data privacy and information governance. Robin is employed by a consultancy firm, Information Governance Services (IGS). Robin and IGS pride themselves on providing personal and professional services to their clients and helping them align their aspirations and ideas in line with data protection law. Robin greatly enjoys working with charities and is excited to work with ORUK and provide them with the necessary data protection advice and guidance required.

Eric is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.  Eric oversees the Finance, investment and operation matters of the Charity.  Prior to joining ORUK, Eric was a senior executive of prestige international professional bodies looking after their finance, events, operations and policy advocacy matters.  Eric also has substantial working experience in operations and finance as a senior executive with multi-national corporations.

Ruth is responsible for the management, strategic direction, and growth of the ORUK Education Department.

She provides strategic leadership in developing and implementing strategies and plans to achieve sustainable growth.

Since joining ORUK in November 2015, she has developed an ever-expanding programme of educational events that meet the professional training and CPD requirements of healthcare professionals working within the musculoskeletal (MSK) field.

Ruth has worked in the events industry for over 16 years, previously working for both the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and the British Institute of Radiology (BIR).

She is passionate about making a meaningful difference to the lives of patients, and regularly takes part in our charity challenge events which raise money to support orthopaedic research.

Debbie is passionate about keeping people at the heart of what we do as an organisation and works with a fantastically supportive and friendly group of people in a vibrant and energetic environment.

During her early career, she had several roles in the healthcare and education sector, with commercial and not-for-profit organisations.

Debbie works closely with the Board of Trustees ensuring that all governance and services are not only effective, but value for money. She has had an association with the Charity for over 20 years initially working with the founding surgeon, Mr Furlong, and has undertaken various roles within ORUK; witnessing the Charity’s vision and values grow from strength to strength believing strongly that changes are best delivered in partnership.

Toby has worked in digital since the late nineties. He started his career as a journalist for The Times, and since then he has headed digital departments for numerous companies including Sky, Trafalgar Tours, and Invensys plc. He has also held the role of Head of Digital for (Beta) Creative Agency and Interel Public Affairs Consultancy. He has previously won awards from Cannes Lions, The DMA, and the Investor Relations Society for his work.

Professor Mike Reed is a full-time trauma and hip and knee joint replacement surgeon. He trained in the North of England and did fellowships in New Zealand. He was previously a co-author of the trauma and orthopaedic curriculum led orthopaedic elogbook, with over 50M ops logged in all specialties. He was training programme director for Northern (67 trainees), and he chaired the education committee for the British Orthopaedic Association. At a Trust level Prof Reed has run improvement programmes in hip fracture care, infection prevention and enhanced recovery for the 2700 hip and knee replacements patients who have this surgery in the Trust each year. He is Head of Department, working with a team of 30 talented colleagues. He was President of the British Orthopaedic Directors 2020-2022, and sits on Orthopaedic Committee of the British Orthopaedic Association.

His research focuses on clinical outcomes and infection prevention, diagnosis and management and academically he works mainly with the University of York. More recently he leads the openPredictor programme for risk prediction in surgery and he Chairs the openOutcomes project.

Professor Reed is on the steering committee and executive of the National Joint Registry and Chairs the Annual Report.

Jenny is a Non-Executive Director with Medway NHS Foundation Trust. She sits on boards and committees for The Design Museum, Imperial College London’s Venture Mentoring Service, the Egypt Exploration Society; and on the global advisory board for Business of Data. She is a mentor on Imperial College’s Imperial Venture Mentoring Scheme and the Engineering Faculty’s Imperial Technology Experts Service; and an advisor to various start-ups in the FinTech, MedTech and social impact space.

Originally from Singapore, after graduating from the London School of Economics, Jenny embarked on a 20-year career in Investment Banking. Starting in Equities, she has worked across client relationship management, infrastructure, software engineering, program management, big data and AI. Her most recent role was as Credit Suisse’s Global Head of Electronic Communications Surveillance, running a global regulatory compliance platform that detects potential malicious behaviour; leveraging natural language processing and deep learning to cognitively learn human context; identify patterns to create behavioural models; and detect anomalous signals.

Jenny actively promotes education in STEM, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. She is also a recipient of the Tech Star award at the “Women in Banking and Finance Annual Awards for Achievement”.

Dr Cat Ball is Assistant Director for Research and Innovation at the Scottish Funding Council, Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority and the body that funds excellent research and supports knowledge exchange in universities in Scotland. Her previous roles include Head of Policy at the Association of Medical Research Charities, the UK’s membership body for health and medical research charities, and research policy roles in the House of Lords, the Department of Health & Social Care and within Learned Societies.

Neil Rushton is Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedics in the University of Cambridge and Emeritus Fellow of Magdalene College. He trained at The Middlesex Hospital and became a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1975. He was awarded a Hunterian Professorship (RCS) for his work on the failure of joint replacements. He is also a Watson Jones medallist. He founded the Orthopaedic Research Unit in Cambridge that specialised in the tissue response to implanted material and tissue repair. He was first to recognise the role of polyethylene wear products in the failure of joint replacements and the first to use radionuclide scanning in the investigation of hip joint failure. He has more than 200 peer reviewed papers. He has supervised more than 30 PhD students and many MD students.

He has been a trustee (Wishbone) or chairman (Joint Action) of a number of orthopaedic charities. He was President of The European Orthopaedic Research Society and has been on the scientific advisory panels of a number of grant awarding bodies and orthopaedic manufacturers.

He is a  Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and was awarded The Chapman Medal for his development of a successful, CE marked, hip prosthesis that matched the modulus of bone.

He has given many invited lectures and has been active in TV and instructional videos.

Sarah Harkness has a background in corporate finance and investment banking, having spent fifteen years at NatWest Investment Bank and then four years as a Partner in Arthur Andersen. She has held a variety of Non-executive Director and Trustee roles in public and private companies primarily in the health and education sectors, including six years as a non-executive director of JRI Orthopaedics. Most recently she served as a non-executive director on the Board of NHS Improvement and as Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the Audit Committee of the University of Sheffield. She is currently a trustee of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and a School Governor.

Adrian Downing advises private, public and charitable healthcare organisations in achieving their growth potential. Over the last twenty-five years he has worked with businesses ranging in size from 2 to 25,000 employees, across multiple industries, helping them to develop and deliver their commercial strategies and resolve operational issues.

He has held a number of commercial Executive and Non-Executive positions in healthcare including Nuffield Health and Benenden Hospital. He is a mentor on the NHS Innovation Accelerator programme and a Non Executive at Toolshed, supporting adolescents gain basic education and construction skills.

Adrian joined the Board of Trustees in November 2019.

Jenny is a Non-Executive Director with Medway NHS Foundation Trust. She sits on boards and committees for The Design Museum, Imperial College London’s Venture Mentoring Service, the Egypt Exploration Society; and on the global advisory board for Business of Data. She is a mentor on Imperial College’s Imperial Venture Mentoring Scheme and the Engineering Faculty’s Imperial Technology Experts Service; and an advisor to various start-ups in the FinTech, MedTech and social impact space.

Originally from Singapore, after graduating from the London School of Economics, Jenny embarked on a 20-year career in Investment Banking. Starting in Equities, she has worked across client relationship management, infrastructure, software engineering, program management, big data and AI. Her most recent role was as Credit Suisse’s Global Head of Electronic Communications Surveillance, running a global regulatory compliance platform that detects potential malicious behaviour; leveraging natural language processing and deep learning to cognitively learn human context; identify patterns to create behavioural models; and detect anomalous signals.

Jenny actively promotes education in STEM, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. She is also a recipient of the Tech Star award at the “Women in Banking and Finance Annual Awards for Achievement”.

Peter Harrison is former Managing Director, Siemens Healthineers with responsibility for business in the UK and Ireland.

He is the current chair of AXREM, (the Association of Healthcare Technology Providers for Imaging, Radiotherapy and Care), and served a previous term as chair in 2007-8.  He was a trustee of the British Institute of Radiology and Orthopaedic Research UK and has previously served as the Industry Representative on the Clinical Radiology Faculty Board of the Royal College of Radiologists.  Peter has also served as a Non-Executive Board member of an NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust.

Sarah Harkness has a background in corporate finance and investment banking, having spent fifteen years at NatWest Investment Bank and then four years as a Partner in Arthur Andersen. She has held a variety of Non-executive Director and Trustee roles in public and private companies primarily in the health and education sectors, including six years as a non-executive director of JRI Orthopaedics. Most recently she served as a non-executive director on the Board of NHS Improvement and as Pro-Chancellor and Chair of the Audit Committee of the University of Sheffield. She is currently a trustee of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and a School Governor.

Neil Rushton is Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedics in the University of Cambridge and Emeritus Fellow of Magdalene College. He trained at The Middlesex Hospital and became a Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1975. He was awarded a Hunterian Professorship (RCS) for his work on the failure of joint replacements. He is also a Watson Jones medallist. He founded the Orthopaedic Research Unit in Cambridge that specialised in the tissue response to implanted material and tissue repair. He was first to recognise the role of polyethylene wear products in the failure of joint replacements and the first to use radionuclide scanning in the investigation of hip joint failure. He has more than 200 peer reviewed papers. He has supervised more than 30 PhD students and many MD students.

He has been a trustee (Wishbone) or chairman (Joint Action) of a number of orthopaedic charities. He was President of The European Orthopaedic Research Society and has been on the scientific advisory panels of a number of grant awarding bodies and orthopaedic manufacturers.

He is a  Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and was awarded The Chapman Medal for his development of a successful, CE marked, hip prosthesis that matched the modulus of bone.

He has given many invited lectures and has been active in TV and instructional videos.

My research looks to understand the development, regulation and pathology of the musculoskeletal system, with a particular focus on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.

I currently sit on the Veterinary Advisory Committee for the Horserace Betting Levy Board, and the Research Grant Assessment Panel for the Royal Osteoporosis Society. I am on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Endocrinology, the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology,  and Frontiers in Endocrinology, Bone Research. I regularly review papers for a number of internationally recognised journals and have reviewed grants for a number of funding bodies including the MRC, BBSRC, & the Rosetrees Trust. I am currently the ECR Ambassador for the University of Brighton. 

Catriona is an applied health researcher based in York Trials Unit. She has a long-standing interest in the evaluation of complex interventions, most recently evaluation of surgical interventions. She has worked in health technology assessment since 2002 and has undertaken health technology assessments of pharmacological, behavioural, surgical and policy interventions. She has experience in leading systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, feasibility studies and mixed methods studies.

She is the Academic Lead for the North and East Yorkshire spoke of the Research Design Service Yorkshire and Humber (RDS-YH).

My long-term vision is to innovate upper-limb prosthetic solutions that users would find fit for purpose. Specifically, I aim to approximate natural hand function and reduce the rate of prosthesis abandonment.

My clinical and research expertise is in cartilage assessment, stem cell regenerative medicine, early arthritis and joint preserving surgery and advanced bespoke joint replacement. I completed Orthopaedic Training in London, and advanced fellowships in Knee and Hip Surgery in Sydney and London. I worked as a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon and a Clinician Scientist in Edinburgh for eight years prior to moving to Manchester to become Academic Head of the Department of Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery.

In 2010 I was selected to represent the UK on the prestigious ABC Fellowship, where I toured the top centres in Canada and America for an educational exchange. Other awards include NRS Clinician Scientist Award, BASK Travelling Fellowship Award, Best paper at the British Orthopaedic Research Society, Presidents Prize Paper at the Royal Society of Medicine, The William Little Medal (twice) and I have been peer-selected as one of the top 15 cartilage repair surgeons in the world to attend research summits on advancing the science and surgery of cartilage repair. I was Orthopaedic Tutor of the Year twice at Edinburgh University.

I have been recognised as a leader in the field with Senior Fellowship status of the International Cartilage Repair Society.

I currently serve on the Executive of The British Association for Surgery of the Knee as Treasurer, The Board of the ICRS and Chair the International Cartilage Repair Society Registry and The British Orthopaedic Association Research Committee. I am a Clinician Advisor to NICE and review grant awards and research manuscripts for 15 different institutions.

I have published over 100 scientific research papers and books, including authorship in the latest edition of Grays Anatomy. I have supervised many higher degree students.

I prioritise the best evidence-based care of my patients with the latest research-proven treatments.

Henrietta is the Head of Education Portfolio focusing on Blended Learning and the Educator Workforce at NHS England. She was previously the Topol Technology Review Project Lead and a Clinical Nursing Fellow (Research and Evaluation) at NHS England/ Improvement.  She is a Registered Mental Health Nurse, a Darzi Fellow Alumnus, and an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur and has recently completed an Executive MBA programme. Henrietta sits on the Methodist Independent Schools Trust Board and the External Advisory Board for the Digital Media Lab, Imperial College London. Henrietta has contributed to the development and publication of a variety of materials, including peer reviewed articles, three book chapters, and policy and guidance documents in digital, healthcare education, mental health and service delivery.

Jenny is a Non-Executive Director with Medway NHS Foundation Trust. She sits on boards and committees for The Design Museum, Imperial College London’s Venture Mentoring Service, the Egypt Exploration Society; and on the global advisory board for Business of Data. She is a mentor on Imperial College’s Imperial Venture Mentoring Scheme and the Engineering Faculty’s Imperial Technology Experts Service; and an advisor to various start-ups in the FinTech, MedTech and social impact space.

Originally from Singapore, after graduating from the London School of Economics, Jenny embarked on a 20-year career in Investment Banking. Starting in Equities, she has worked across client relationship management, infrastructure, software engineering, program management, big data and AI. Her most recent role was as Credit Suisse’s Global Head of Electronic Communications Surveillance, running a global regulatory compliance platform that detects potential malicious behaviour; leveraging natural language processing and deep learning to cognitively learn human context; identify patterns to create behavioural models; and detect anomalous signals.

Jenny actively promotes education in STEM, gender equality, diversity and inclusion. She is also a recipient of the Tech Star award at the “Women in Banking and Finance Annual Awards for Achievement”.

Dr Cat Ball is Assistant Director for Research and Innovation at the Scottish Funding Council, Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority and the body that funds excellent research and supports knowledge exchange in universities in Scotland. Her previous roles include Head of Policy at the Association of Medical Research Charities, the UK’s membership body for health and medical research charities, and research policy roles in the House of Lords, the Department of Health & Social Care and within Learned Societies.

Adrian Downing advises private, public and charitable healthcare organisations in achieving their growth potential. Over the last twenty-five years he has worked with businesses ranging in size from 2 to 25,000 employees, across multiple industries, helping them to develop and deliver their commercial strategies and resolve operational issues.

He has held a number of commercial Executive and Non-Executive positions in healthcare including Nuffield Health and Benenden Hospital. He is a mentor on the NHS Innovation Accelerator programme and a Non Executive at Toolshed, supporting adolescents gain basic education and construction skills.

Adrian joined the Board of Trustees in November 2019.