Meet the Speakers
(Subject to change)
Andrea Cortés
With over 15 years of experience driving transformational change across aerospace and healthcare, Andrea is passionate about solving complex challenges and inspiring teams to deliver meaningful improvements. As Deputy Director for Quality Improvement at King's College Hospital, Andrea leads initiatives that balance process efficiency with creating real value for patients and organisations. Her journey, from 10 years at Boeing to healthcare leadership, demonstrates the universal power of Lean principles, the Model for Improvement, and Lean Six Sigma.
Having worked across Mexico, the USA, and the UK, Andrea brings a global perspective and a deep commitment to inclusive leadership. My recent work includes a published case study on improving therapy services through patient-staff collaboration and a LinkedIn series on lessons from manufacturing to healthcare to embed a culture of improvement. Andrea believes healthcare leaders must embrace Quality Improvement to build sustainable systems that deliver better outcomes for all because excellence is not just a goal, but a continuous journey.
Peter Lachman
Peter Lachman was Chief Executive Officer of ISQua from May 2016 to April 2021. He now works across different countries. In Ireland he delivers programmes to develop clinical leaders in quality improvement at the RCPI. In Africa he works on patient safety and quality programmes in Sudan Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique. He is the Director of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation Global Patient Safety Fellowship programme.
He was a Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellow at IHI in 2005-2006 and was the Deputy Medical Director with the lead for Patient Safety at Great Ormond Street Hospital 2006-2016. He was also a Consultant Paediatrician at the Royal Free Hospital in London specialising in the challenge of long term conditions for children.
Martin Kiernan
Martin has worked in infection prevention and control for 32 years in a variety of settings. He is a Visiting Professor at the Richard Wells Research Centre at the University of West London, Conjoint Fellow at the University of Newcastle and Avondale Universities (New South Wales, Australia). Before this he was Nurse Consultant and Deputy Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust in the North-West of England.
Martin is a former member of the Department of Health (England) advisory committee on Antimicrobial Resistance, Prescribing and Healthcare-Associated Infection (ARPHAI), was scientific secretary of the Healthcare Infection Society International Conferences in 2014, 2016 and 2018 and is a past president of the Infection Prevention Society. His research interests focus on environmental hygiene, surveillance and urinary catheter-associated infections. He has presented at many international conferences, has published over 70 papers and articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Judy Walker
Judy Walker started her career in paediatrics and is now an AAR Conductor and trainer. She was part of the team at University College London Hospitals who first introduced the use of After Action Review (AAR) into the NHS from the military in 2008. The AAR was adopted as a key Learning Response Tool for patient safety by NHS England in 2022 and is now being widely used to facilitate collaborative learning. Judy has spoken, written and published regularly on the topic and has trained over a 1000 people to conduct productive and psychologically safe AARs.
Josephine Hegarty
Professor Josephine Hegarty is the Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland. Professor Hegarty trained as a general nurse in Cork University Hospital and attained her BSc, MSc in nurse education and PhD at University College Cork. Thereafter she has worked as a lecturer and researcher within the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork. During her clinical career Josephine has worked in Cork University Hospital, Ireland; Central Middlesex Hospital, London and the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, Ireland. Professor Hegarty is Chair in Nursing at University College Cork. She leads the Enhancing Cancer Awareness and Survivorship (ECASP) group supporting individuals and their families on the cancer survivorship trajectory.
Dinah Gould
Professor Dinah Gould is a registered nurse with a first degree in bioscience and a background in infection prevention and control. Since 2019 Dinah has undertaken freelance research and consultancy, leading projects related to the isolation of patients with infection, mitigating the effects of skin damage caused by frequent hand hygiene and reducing the risks of infection when procedures requiring asepsis are undertaken.
Dinah has expertise on how evidence to support healthcare is created and implemented and the methods used to analyse and synthesise information to formulate clinical guidelines. She belongs to the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group (EPOC) and the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group for Hand Hygiene. Dinah holds an honorary chair at City, University of London and is a consultant to the Royal College of Nursing. She teaches infection prevention and the principles of evidence-based practice in various universities in Greater London and for the Royal College of Nursing and in 2024 was an expert witness to the Covid Inquiry.
Teresa Inkster
Teresa is a Consultant Microbiologist and Infection Control Doctor with ARHAI Scotland , Tutor on University of Highlands and Islands MSc Infection control course . Areas of interest include outbreak management and the built environment.
Akan Otu
Dr Akan Otu is an Infectious Disease and Medical Microbiology Consultant working at the Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust. He has a keen interest in using simulation training to promote the uptake of infection prevention and control measures within hospital settings. This stems from his previous role as an Associate Simulation Fellow at the Hull Institute of Learning and Simulation. Akan is also a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health (by distinction) and continues to support research and development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
He has contributed to the design and deployment of innovative digital health platforms for training of frontline health workers on Ebola virus disease, COVID-19, and sepsis in LMICs. He works part-time with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) supporting the Healthcare Associated infections (HCAI), Fungal, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), Antimicrobial Usage (AMU) and Sepsis Division.