Meet the team

Dr Helen Johnson - Deputy Dean

Dr Helen Johnson is the Deputy Dean for the East of England NHSE WTE, with an overarching remit of a number of postgraduate schools, a multiprofessional portfolio supporting foundation and the Norfolk and Waveney ICB. She is also an enthusiastic lead for the national enhance programme for foundation – built on the future doctor work. She graduated from St Mary’s in London, before training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Yorkshire with a special interest in Urogynaecology. She took a consultant post at NWAFT in urogynaecology with obstetrics. Education being a lasting passion, she jointly progressed in foundation and O and G, before determining foundation was the most interesting space and becoming FSD. She has a Masters in Medical Education

Dr Zilley Khan - Multiprofessional Training Programme Director​

Dr Khan has been working within the NHS for almost 20 years now. She is passionate about multi professional education and training and strives to provide an excellent safe environment in which to develop our next generation of healthcare professionals.

“I have been the Regional Teaching Foundation Training Programme Director for a few years now and have successfully launched and ran the East of England Foundation Hubs programme.  I am delighted to be recently appointed as the Multi professional Foundation Training Programme Director for the East of England region.  I think it’s simple, we work together as a multi professional team so it makes sense that we also train together to provide excellent care to our patients.  For more information please do follow me on twitter or Linkedin ”

Dr Maria Christou - Multiprofessional Foundation Training Education Lead 

Maria recently joined the HEE east of England pharmacy team after an extensive career at the University of East Anglia (UEA) School of Pharmacy. Her main remit is to support and promote multiprofessional education, under the umbrella of the new East of England Multiprofessional Foundation School (MPS). 

Maria has  had a long-term interest in multiprofessional healthcare education and the many benefits it can provide for both learners and patients.  

“The MPS provides unique and exciting opportunities for trainee pharmacists to achieve many of the professional learning outcomes set by the GPhC, in ‘safe’ multiprofessional learning environments. This is very timely for foundation pharmacy programmes, since newly registered pharmacists are expected to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams. 

The innovative learning approaches provided by the new school (including High Fidelity and Virtual Reality simulations) are very creative and will foster a shared learning culture amongst foundation learners from different disciplines.  . This will in turn help develop multiprofessional healthcare teams who can communicate effectively and share resources for the benefit of patients.” 

Dr Charleen Liu - Simulation Lead

Charleen is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine, and have keen interest in medical education and simulation training. 

"After my role as Simulation Lead at the medical Foundation School in East of England, I am very excited to join our newly established Multiprofessional Foundation School, as I strongly believe multiprofessional learning is the key to provide high standards of care for patients. 

I look forward to developing more innovative simulation training courses for our multiprofessional trainees who are working together in real-life; to learn clinical and non-technical skills; and to learn from and about each other’s roles and experiences."

Dr Thirza Pieters - Evaluation Lead

I am very excited to be part of the new multiprofessional foundation school to work with clinicians and educators from diverse backgrounds. 

I have a strong affinity for multiprofessional working, both as an educator and a clinician. I believe that multiprofessional education will not only improve patient care but will also positively affect staff satisfaction. Working across boundaries is what I do as a Liaison Psychiatrist, and I see the effects of silo working in clinical practice.

I am looking forward to developing effective approaches to embed multiprofessional learning very early on in the clinical career pathway 

Mark Bullock – Project Manager 

Mark has worked for HEE in various roles across the past 15 years.  

“Foundation training has played an enormous part in my career and to be able to explore this further with a view to multiprofessional working across other disciplines is exciting. Not only does multiprofessional working fit with the essential culture of the NHS, it provides us with a platform to introduce innovative and unique models to bring Medical Foundation, Foundation Pharmacy, Dentistry and Physician Associates together.  . This could then set the scene for further integration of multiprofessional ways of working, extending to other specialties. “ 

Emily Downes - Project Manager for Enhance

Ashley Byford – Project Officer for Enhance

“I have an innovative approach. I have a clinical background, so I recognise the value of putting the patient at the centre of what we do whilst working closely with our multiprofessional colleagues in both primary and secondary care to maximise and achieve the best outcomes for patients. As healthcare professionals we do not always get it quite right, but with this new approach to training and development we believe we can drive a change in mindset, break down barriers, work collaboratively and better understand and support our communities.”