Executive Directors

David was appointed as Chief Medical Officer from 2 May 2023 having previously carried out the interim role from 1 July 2022.  

David joined ELFT in 2006 as a Specialist Registrar. In 2010 he was appointed as Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry, working in a sector general adult Consultant post in Newham where he also served as an Associate Clinical Director for a period of two years.

In 2014 David was appointed as Clinical Director in City & Hackney where he also worked as a Consultant in Primary Care Liaison Psychiatry.  In 2018 he was appointed as the Medical Director for ELFT’s London Mental Health Services and continued in a limited clinical role in Primary Care Liaison.  

In 2022 he was appointed as Responsible Person for the Use of Force Act.  His role is to ensure that the organisation complies with the requirements of the Use of Force Act.  Clinical Directors are nominated leads for the Use of Force Act and carry out the Responsible Person’s functions that are delegated to them.

Tanya joined the Trust in 2016 as the Associate Director of Human Resources and was appointed as the Trust’s interim Director of Human Resources in May 2018, until her substantive appointment in July 2018.  

Tanya has Human Resource management experience spanning over 25 years within a number of public sector organisations; a significant period of which has been spent in middle and senior management positions, managing multi-disciplinary teams.

Tanya has worked in a primary care Trust and three acute care NHS Trusts, as well as working in two London local authorities and further education colleges. Her experience also includes lecturing on undergraduate programmes and working as a management consultant with PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC).

Tanya is also currently the co-Chair of the London HR Directors network on behalf on NHS Employers.  In October 2022, Tanya was recognised in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Top 50 most influential Black, Asian Minority Ethnic leaders in the NHS in 2022.

Tanya has a Postgraduate diploma in HR Management, an MA in Strategic HR Management, and a certificate in Organisational Development. She is also a Chartered Fellow Member of the Charted Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).

Kevin joined the East London NHS Foundation Trust in August 2023 as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), having previously been the CFO and Deputy Chief Executive at the Whittington Health NHS Trust.

Having professionally trained in the South West and worked in industry and commerce for 10 years he began his NHS career in 2008 at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

Since 2011 Kevin has operated at Deputy or Director level across a variety of NHS organisations whose services covered Ambulance, Community, Mental Health and Acute provision, allowing him to gain a breadth of NHS provider services knowledge.

Kevin is a supporter of Quality Improvement initiatives to drive financial improvement and promotes system collaboration to maximise patient outcomes and experience . He also has a passion for staff development and encourages his teams to maximise the potential of learning opportunities.

Qualifications: FCCA

Philippa joined the Trust in July 2020 as Chief Digital Officer. She was previously the Chief Digital Information Officer for Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and has been an Executive Director of Operations & Transformation in two acute Trusts prior to this.

Philippa has worked in a variety of senior strategic and operational roles and in a range of settings including A&E and estates.  She has a background in radiology, and has conducted research into neurology, pathology and paediatrics at King’s College Medical School.

Philippa’s passion is digital transformation, to learn what good looks like from all sectors, and she led a team that partnered with a F1 racing company to learn about the value of analytics in the diagnosis of problems, and to share with them the knowledge to manage a fully mobile delivery platform. She has also partnered with a HIMSS level 7 hospital in Cascais in Portugal which is a world leader in digitally informed healthcare.

Philippa’s qualifications include BSc (Hons), MBA and is an NHS Digital Academy Leadership Graduate.

Richard joined the Trust as Director of Integrated Care in June 2015 and joined the Trust Board in 2017. He was appointed as Deputy CEO at the Trust in July 2022.

Richard was previously Director of Mental Health and Joint Commissioning at NHS Tower Hamlets CCG where he worked as part of the East London Mental Health Consortium commissioning mental health services across east London. Prior to that, Richard worked in a variety of commissioning and provider leadership roles, including General Manager and CMHT Manager roles in the Trust.

Richard is a qualified social worker and has worked in acute hospital social work, mental health social work and as an Approved Social Worker.

Richard’s qualifications include BA(Hons) in English Literature, Diploma in Social Work, MA in Social Work, Masters in Public Administration.

Claire was appointed Chief Nurse on 26 July 2024, having formally been the Interim Chief Nurse since 21 August 2023.

Prior to that, she was Director of Nursing for Luton and Bedfordshire. Claire trained as a mental health nurse at St Bartholomews Hospital (now Barts Health Trust).

Apart from a year of travelling, Claire has developed and honed her skills in ELFT as a staff nurse in City and Hackney, a MAPPA trainer, specialising in child and adolescent mental health care.

She was a CAMHS service manager and Lead Nurse in Newham before becoming Director of Nursing where she was responsible for adults and CAMHS services.

She is the Trust lead for Safeguarding adults and children, and is active in the ELFT Ability Staff Network, working to reduce barriers for staff and service users with a disability. 

Edwin was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in June 2021 having formerly been appointed as Director of Operations in January 2020 and Interim Chief Operating Officer in October 2020. He was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive in November 2023.

Edwin is a mental health nurse by background. He has held various nursing and management roles in a range of settings including Forensic Mental Health Services and Adult Mental Health Services.

Edwin was the Borough Lead Nurse and Associate Clinical Director for Newham adult mental health services between 2009 and 2015 before taking up the Borough Director position for Tower Hamlets in 2016.

Edwin holds a Registered Nurse qualification RMN, MPA and the Nye Bevan Healthcare Leadership Programme award.

Amar has been the Chief Quality Officer at the Trust since 2017 and is a consultant forensic psychiatrist. He has led the approach to quality at ELFT for over a decade. Amar’s portfolio includes quality, performance, strategy, planning and business intelligence.

He also works at NHS England, as the first National Clinical Director for Improvement, leading the application of improvement across the health and care system in England.

Amar is the National Improvement Lead for Mental Health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, leading a number of national improvement collaboratives on topics such as culture of care, mental health equality and workforce well-being. He is Chair of the QI faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, honorary professor at the University of York, and honorary visiting professor at City University, London.

Amar is a member of the Health Foundation Q board, a member of the reference group for the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, a Council member for the Healthcare Costing for Value Institute, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He is an improvement advisor and faculty member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, teaching and guiding improvers and healthcare systems across the world.

Amar’s qualifications include BA, MMBS, MRCPsych, MA (Hons), LLM, MBA and PGCMedEd.