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Hi! Carol Mayl here. When I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, I decided to treat myself with kindness and care by taking control of the situation. I didn’t go on a diet or make radical changes. Instead, I took it step by step, and along the way, I lost 35kg and achieved what I thought was impossible — remission! Now, I find myself enjoying running—another thing I once thought was impossible. My story is one of an ordinary person making small, incremental changes, proving that if I can do it, so can you!

Roy Taylor qualified in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and is Professor of Medicine at Newcastle University. He founded the Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre in 2006 to develop innovative research techniques. Using these new methods, he showed that his 2008 Twin Cycle Hypothesis of the aetiology of type 2 diabetes could be proven in clinical practice. Type 2 diabetes is a reversible condition of excess fat within liver and pancreas. This has led to widespread practical application including in the NHS with the national ‘NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission’ programme. Between 1985 and 2002 he developed and validated the method of screening for diabetic retinopathy and established the profession of retinal screeners with recognised training and qualification.

He has published books in lay language explaining type 2 diabetes (eg ‘Life Without Diabetes’) and books on retinal screening (eg ‘Handbook of Retinal Screening in Diabetes). He was awarded an MBE in 2023. His work has been recognised by the 2012 Banting lecture of Diabetes UK. The 2024 International Rank Nutrition Prize and the 2024 Claude Bernard Prize lecture of EASD.

Catherine has worked in Primary care as a practice nurse for 19 years and for the last 18 months has been supporting GP practices as a diabetes specialist nurse.  She is passionate about helping people living with diabetes to improve their health and well being.

Hi Everyone,

My name is Georgia and I am the Deputy Operational Manager for the Healthy You Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Contract. I have a Bachelors Degree in Science specialising within Dance and Fitness, alongside a range of exercise qualifications assisting children, adults and the elderly population.

I first joined Healthy You in 2021 as a Physical Activity specialist supporting a range of individuals with their weight loss goals through group exercise sessions and providing 1:1 plans for those requesting more personalised support. Within 2022, I then progressed within the company as weight management coordinator managing a team of 10+ individuals with the expertise in the line of nutrition or physical activity/exercise. Within this role, I would structure programmes to support the local public and targeting particular audiences in specilised programmes such as learning disabilities, pre/post natal and mental health.

After some time within this position, I then progressed within my current role which oversees the FALLS prevention service, Tier 2 weight management and I also assist with Tier 3 weight management operations. Our services are much in demand and keep the team and I very busy. However, its always wonderful to see the amazing yet positive outcomes our services users receive from the expertise of the entire team.

Alongside this position, I am also apart of a working group to update and develop new content for our teams across the entire organisation to share with their service users. Content can range from fact sheets, workbooks, professional exercise/nutritional recordings etc. Its great to be apart of this working group and always finding new methods to support those within our care.

I strive to continue implementing positive strategies to enhance the services I oversee and will always take the time to support with individual cases to make the most out of the service users experiences and opportunities whilst they are within our care.

I much look forward to meeting you all soon and sharing my expertise/knowledge to assist yet support you on your weight management journey.

Hi all!

My name is Gemma, and I am a nutritionist for Everyone Health’s Weight Management Programmes for Adults and Children. I have a degree in Human Nutrition and a master’s degree in Sport and Exercise Nutrition. I am also accredited with the Association for Nutrition and the British Dietetic Association’s Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register. I joined the Healthy You Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Adult Weight Management team in February 2022 and transferred down to Bracknell in September 2022.

I have taught the fundamentals of nutrition from what a healthy plate looks like to skills to help support behaviour changes and food choice to a more varied and balanced healthy diet. I have also taught parental and pre/post-natal nutrition to help encourage families to eat more healthier together. This support me in my delivery of the children’s healthy school programme during my time with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Bracknell Forest during 2022 and 2023 to 2024. In October 2022 I was appointed to be the Weight Management Co-ordinator for both of the Adult and Child Weight Management teams and continue support the teams the best I can. I have also had experience working at multiple events engagement members of the public to help raise awareness of the service Everyone Health provides.

I really enjoy my job as it is shows that even the smallest changes can make a difference. I have always found nutrition interesting as I love cooking and baking. Food is such an important part of our lives and can bring people together. Nutrition is one of the most beneficial ways to help improve health – but it is knowing where to start! That’s why I began my nutrition journey to help individuals with an area of our lives that we can find confusing, and we sometimes neglect.

By joining an Everyone Health Weight Management Programme, not only will you get support with nutrition and physical activity, but it also helps you to connect with others making the same journey too.

Emma grew up in London and completed her undergraduate Psychology degree at the university of Hull and then returned to London and worked in a number of roles with people with Learning Disabilities, Older people with Dementia and in Community Adult Mental Health throughout the early 1990s.

After completing her doctorate at the University of Exeter in 1998, she spent the next 20 years working in Children and Family services with a specialism of working with children and young people with Additional Needs and with behaviour change in general. Emma has been working in Weight Management at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset for over six years and for the last 4 years has also worked alongside those having Bariatric Surgery.

She is a peer reviewer for the journal Obesity and has had an active role representing Psychology at national conferences on Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery.

Alex is a consultant in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Lipids in Somerset. He has been the Clinical Lead for Diabetes and Endocrinology at Yeovil District Hospital since 2007, a role in which he strives to ensure that the specialist care delivered is of the highest quality.

He is a core member of the diverse stakeholder team who designed and are continuing to implement an integrated Diabetes Service for Somerset; aiming to put diabetes knowledge closer to people with diabetes, their family and carers as well as improving diabetes expertise amongst all healthcare professionals. This passion for sharing of knowledge has led him to work with the MyWay Digital Health team to deliver the highest quality education and learning.

Charles is a member of the Herts Valley clinical commissioning group diabetes clinical forum. He is a Life and Medical Sciences visiting lecturer at Hertfordshire University, and provides primary care practice based experience training to the school of pharmacy undergraduate students. He also provides diabetes specialist training to postgraduate healthcare professionals such as doctors, pharmacists and nurses etc. Charles is also an Associate of Education for Health UK

Charles is also an existing member of the UK diabetes expert panel IDEAL.

In his Consultant Pharmacist primary care and diabetes specialist role, he runs regular complex diabetes specific surgeries, and other routine long-term condition clinics such as asthma, hypertension and COPD clinics. He provides leadership, support, training and mentorship to other healthcare professionals especially in the area of general practice and diabetes specialist care professional development. Charles’s goal is to help create a world where diabetes can do no harm, fighting the good fight to reduce the human and economic burden of diabetes.

Hibbah Osei-Kwasi is a Lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences in the field of Nutrition. She has a BSc in Community Nutrition from the University for Development Studies, Ghana. She then obtained a master’s degree in Nutrition and Rural Development from Ghent University, Belgium, and a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Sheffield. Prior to commencing her PhD, Hibbah worked as a Research Assistant at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana, where she was involved in various nutrition and intervention research.

Hibbah’s PhD project adopted a mixed method research approach to explore the determinants of dietary behaviour, dietary acculturation and household food insecurity among Ghanaians living in Europe.

After her PhD in 2017, she worked as a research associate on two global public health nutrition projects, and led the development of  “The African urban food environment framework for creating healthy nutrition policy and interventions in urban Africa”.

Hibbah was then employed as a lecturer in Public Health Nutrition in the Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition at Chester University (2018-2019). Hibbah was awarded the prestigious AXA post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Sheffield to explore culinary practices of African immigrant women in Greater Manchester and their readiness to prevent overweight/obesity (2019-2022).

Dr Harnovdeep Singh Bharaj is a Consultant Physician in General Medicine, Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and was formerly a clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester. Dr Bharaj pioneered the role of lay educator and diabetes support nurses for South Asians and developed a twilight multidisciplinary clinic for young people with diabetes and a nurse-led diabetes clinic; both initiatives improved access and reduced inequalities in health care delivery.

Dr Bharaj is a Member of the Greater Manchester Structured Patient Education Steering Group; a Member of the Diabetes UK Community Education Insight Advisory Group, and Chair of the North West Youth Diabetes Steering Group.

Dr Bharaj was awarded an MBE in January 2021 in recognition of his services to people with diabetes in the South Asian community

Rahab is a PhD Fellow within the Diabetes Team, Division of Care in Long Term Conditions in the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care at King’s college, London.

She has been working as a Diabetes Specialist Nurse at Weston General Hospital in North Somerset since 2015 and she is currently co-leading the diabetes nurses team.

Rahab has completed an MSc degree at King’s College in February 2021. The aim of her research was to explore the experience of sexual dysfunction in women with type 1 diabetes.

She was awarded a Doctoral Fellowship from the Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes (FEND) and joined King’s College as a PhD fellow in September 2021. For her PhD topic, Rahab aims to develop a psychometric scale for the measurement of sexual dysfunction in women with Type 1 diabetes.

Scott Mackenzie is an academic foundation doctor in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has worked with MyWay Digital Health for a number of years to develop educational resources for people with diabetes and is passionate about improving the quality and accessible of diabetes patient education.

Tracey Flax is a Learning Technologist with MyWay Digital Health. Her primary dedication lies in advancing structured education and resources for individuals living with diabetes. With a profound passion for the intersection of healthcare, technology, and social equality, Tracey is committed to making a meaningful impact in these domains.

Kirsten Cumming is the Clinical Education Lead with MyWay Digital Health.

Kirsten studied Food Nutrition and Health at Abertay University. Her work with MyWay focuses on developing structured education and resources for people with diabetes.  Her sister was diagnosed with Type 1 when she was 11 years old and after developing a number of complications, had a pancreas and kidney transplant 4 years ago.

Salma is a Consultant Dietitian working in the field of community health and wellbeing for over 20 years. Salma is interested in delivering diabetes care through digital platforms and is currently supporting the Northwest London Diabetes Transformation programme. She is also the co-author of the Carbs and Cals World Food Book. The first visual carbohydrate awareness resource for ethnic minority communities.

Debbie is CEO and clinical lead at MWDH. She is a qualified consultant diabetologist and senior academic (University of Edinburgh – MBChB (Hons), BSc, PhD, Clin Ed Dip), a 2017–18 NHS Innovation Accelerator Fellow and one of nine 2019 UK Women in Innovation award winners.

Debbie is a national leader in diabetes artificial intelligence and an international leader in diabetes education. Previously, she was a health columnist for a national UK newspaper and TV doctor/presenter for STV. She has trained in business development through the Boston MIT Entrepreneurship programme, the Unlocking Ambition and Converge Challenge initiatives, and the University of Edinburgh AI Accelerator and has delivered more than £5m in innovation funding. Debbie has led MWDH since 2017, delivering a high-growth globally operating company with a best-in-class diabetes platform.

Lyn is a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN) working in NHS Lanarkshire and is part of the MyWay Digital Health Education group. She has been a Registered General Nurse for 18 years and has specialised in Diabetes Nursing for over 14 years. Initially working in Diabetes Research in Lanarkshire and then as a DSN working in Glasgow, before taking a post in Secondary Care within Lanarkshire.

In addition to working in general diabetes clinics and delivering inpatient diabetes care, Lyn is a DAFNE (Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating) Educator and Specialises in Insulin Pump Therapy.