Meet the Team

Prof. Paul O’Brien
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Professor Paul O’Brien

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Professor Paul O’ Brien was appointed CEO of ELAROS 24/7 in April 2012. Paul has held senior posts in the private sector (Chief Executive), local government (Chief Officer), health (Director in West Essex NHS Trust) and education (Head of Department).

He has previous venture start-up experience having established the Essex Development and Regeneration Agency with a turnover of £8.5 million and funds under management of £15 million – employing 60 planners, economists, surveyors, bid writers and fund managers.

He has extensive experience of public sector transformation having externalised a local government service and more recently the externalisation of a £33 Million NHS Service.

Paul also has broad non-executive board experience gained over a 15 year period and has completed the Institute of Directors Diploma in Company Direction.

He is a visiting lecturer to the University of Surrey on its MBA & MSc Entrepreneurship programmes.

Peter Cunliffe
Finance Director

Bio

Peter Cunliffe

Finance Director

Peter Cunliffe qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1983, having trained in Birmingham with one of the then ‘Big 4’ accountancy firms, Deloitte Haskins and Sells.

Since qualifying, Peter has worked in various finance and accounting roles for a wide spectrum of businesses, both in terms of size (£3m up to £1.2bn turnover) and industry sector (including retail, engineering, steel stockholding, laboratory analysis and specialty chemicals).

His early positions were in large blue-chip companies, roles which gave him a full understanding of the importance of pertinent, current management information and the need for strict financial disciplines to augment performance and safeguard assets.

Recognising that most small companies do not need a full-time financial director, Peter set up Flex FD Ltd in 2004, providing a flexible financial direction service for start-up and early-stage companies, particularly in the life science and healthcare sectors, and has helped raise £7m in funding across 10 businesses.

Román Rocha Lawrence
Director of Research
& Development

Bio

Román Rocha Lawrence

Director of Research & Development

Román Rocha Lawrence joined ELAROS in July 2019 as our Graduate Research & Development Manager after graduating from The University of Sheffield with a First Class Honours MEng Degree in Bioengineering.

As part of his degree which drew on various engineering disciplines, management, science and medicine, Román specialised in Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering, Medical Devices and Computational Medicine; completing a summer research project with INSIGNEO in 2018; Europe’s largest research institute dedicated entirely to the development, validation, and use of in silico medicine technologies.

Román made a substantial impact at ELAROS in his first year using his broad depth of knowledge of interdisciplinary STEM subjects and entrepreneurial experience outside of academia, forming key partnerships for the company at an early stage and managing two pivotal Innovate UK funded projects for ELAROS.

Román has led on the development and nationwide adoption of the (digital) C19-YRS with ELAROS’ industrial, academic, and clinical partners and will be responsible for increasing the uptake of the system by patients and healthcare organisations in the NHS and private sector.

Oscar Petherick
Programmes Director

Bio

Oscar Petherick
Programmes Director

Oscar joined ELAROS in July 2021, following the completion of the University of Sheffield’s multidisciplinary MEng Bioengineering degree. During his dissertation he evaluated in-silico methods for the assessment of non-invasive mask fit.

Appointed to the role of Graduate Research and Development Associate, Oscar worked across all aspects of the development of the C19-YRS, which was quickly gaining traction amongst NHS Long COVID clinics. During this time, he worked with the team to garner and convert interest in the system as well as designing and testing new features, and instructing users.

Currently, Oscar oversees ELAROS’ pre-commercial activity, acting as Project Manager for ELAROS Innovate UK Projects, Neu-Restore and Open-OH. He also lends support to the management of projects such as MammoScreen and the Smart Coasters. Other aspects of this role involve identification and application for new funding opportunities, development of elaros.com, creation of marketing materials, and supporting new staff.

Henry Robinson
Regulatory Affairs and IT Manager

Bio

Henry Robinson

Regulatory Affairs & IT Manager

In July 2022, Henry began in the new role of Regulatory Affairs and IT Manager. In this role he will ensure that Elaros and its products conform to the highest regulatory standards, and that our IT systems are secure for both staff and customers. He will bring his experiences in areas such as data processing, data protection, data ethics, and project management to this new role.

Henry started at Elaros as a part time intern in March 2021 whilst completing his master’s degree in Healthcare Analytics and Artificial Intelligence at Sheffield Hallam University. After completing his master’s degree in January 2022, he transitioned to a full time role as our Business and Healthcare Analyst. In this role he supported the rollout and development of the C19-YRS system, and became heavily involved with our partner company Mi-Trial.

Before joining Elaros, Henry graduated with honours in BSc Biochemistry from the University of Sheffield and worked as Laboratory Technician for a medical devices company. This degree included teaching in genetics, bioinformatics, microbiology, and genomics. Henry has also completed a PGCE in Secondary Science at the University of Manchester.

Dr Tom Richards
Scientific Director of
Neu-Restore

Bio

Dr Tom Richards

Scientific Director of NeuRestore

Dr Thomas Richards joined Elaros in 2022 as Scientific Director of the Neu-Restore platform. He studied a BSc in Medical Science (2014) followed by a PhD in neurophysiology (2018) at the University of Leeds. During his doctoral studies, he worked both in research, studying motor control pathways, and in education, demonstrating practical laboratory skills to undergraduates. He has also worked closely with Memorial University in St Johns, Canada, where he seconded in order to conduct experiments on a collaborative project.

Thomas’s main focus of study has been the physiology of motor control pathways, towards the goal of improving personalised therapies for conditions such as stroke, spinal cord injury, and cerebral palsy. He has worked with several different programming languages in order to apply a range of signal processing, statistical, and clustering techniques with which has developed a number of analysis pipelines.

Whilst working at Leeds Institute of Data Analytics (LIDA) from 2019-2021, he also worked on projects studying prescription patterns of inhalers across the COVID-19 pandemic and agent-based models to which would integrate live to data in order to model movement of people around a building.

At Elaros, he is implementing the skills and knowledge he has accrued towards Neu-Restore, a stroke-management platform and assessment, which aims to create the gold standard for stroke management and diagnostics.

Jennifer McDonald
MammoScreen Project Manager

Bio

Jennifer McDonald

Project Manager of MammoScreen

In March 2023, Jennifer began in her new role at ELAROS as MammoScreen Project Manager. Her primary responsibility will be delivering ELAROS’ role in the multinational MammoScreen project, which uses ultra-wideband (UWB) imaging methods for accurate, effective and safer screening of breast cancer.

After graduating from the University of York with a master’s degree in Biotechnology and Microbiology, Jennifer started as a QC Analyst at a company in Harrogate. Here she focused on testing a variety of different drugs for client companies, utilising the knowledge and skills she developed through university.

Jennifer will also be assisting with the development and management of existing and new systems for ELAROS, as the company expands.

Toby Boud
Research and Development Manager

Bio

Toby Boud
Research and Development Manager

Toby is a recent graduate from The University of Sheffield, with an MEng in Biomaterials Science and Engineering. This is an interdisciplinary degree studying materials for use inside the body, it draws aspects from materials science and bioengineering; covering topics such as materials processing, cell and molecular biology, physics of living systems, design of medical devices, metallurgy, and materials for biological applications.

His master’s thesis investigated the viability of using slug mucus as inspiration for a next generation medical adhesive, within the Naturals Materials Group.

As the Research and Development Manager, Toby is responsible for the early stage portfolio of R&D, with a focus on Elaros work in emerging technologies.

Outside of work Toby has a passion for a wide range of outdoor pursuits from cycling to sailing, climbing and mountaineering. He is a qualified RYA keelboat instructor and spent the summer after completing his degree teaching sailing on the Norfolk broads, for a small family run boatyard and sailing school.

Oliwia Zwara
Business Communications Manager

Bio

Oliwia Zwara

Business Communications Manager

Oliwia was selected to join the company’s summer placement programme whilst completing her University of Sheffield’s MEng Bioengineering degree.

Whilst specialising in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, the degree also offered her exposure to fields like computer science, medicine and material science as well as industry focused project management.

Having worked on designing and manufacturing a thermal cycler for COVID-19 testing and hearing about the Elaros’ C19-YRS app and clinical portal, it seemed like the perfect collaboration.

Over her time at the company she has worked on different aspects of the C19-YRS including the commercialisation and implementation, as well as the resource research for www.c19-yrs.me and Elaros’ most recent project, Neu-Restore.

Daniel Weatherill
Trainee Management Accountant

Bio

Daniel Weatherill
Trainee Management Accountant

Dan is a recent graduate from The University of Sheffield, studying Business Management.

He particularly enjoyed the maths and data side of his course, exploring how software can assist with decision making. He also found a particular interest in the responsible business side of the course, such as Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance.

This led to his decision to begin studying for CIMA’s CGMA qualification in August 2023, currently at the operational level. He joined us as a Trainee Management Accountant in September 2023.

Bárbara Silva Passadouro
PhD Researcher

Bio

Bárbara Silva Passadouro

PhD Researcher

Bárbara is a MRC DiMeN funded PhD student at the University of Leeds interested in the neurophysiology of chronic pain in Long COVID. She graduated with a First-Class Honours BSc Neuroscience with Industrial Experience degree from the University of Manchester.

As part of her final year academic research project, she joined the University of Manchester’s Human Pain Research Group to investigate brain activity in chronic pain patients, which prompted her interest in pain research.

She first got involved with ELAROS’ work on the C19 YRS app in her Research Assistant in Rehabilitation Medicine role at the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine.

She is now working together with the ELAROS team to create a platform for her PhD study that aims to measure pain symptoms and assess the impact of chronic pain in individuals with Long COVID.

Owain Medford
PhD Researcher

Bio

Owain Medford

PhD Researcher

Owain is currently a PhD student in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Huddersfield after graduating with a First Class BEng (Hons) in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

In addition to general engineering principles and the generation and manipulation of electrical power, his undergraduate degree also covered the implementation of electronics, computer programming and embedded systems. During this time, he specialised in the use of IoT devices as remote measurement and monitoring tools for organisations to improve user quality of life.

Utilising ELAROS’ expertise in healthcare technology development, strong links with the NHS and hydration-focused academics at other partner institutions, Owain works to develop Internet of Things (IoT) devices and studies their use for improving hydration monitoring.

James McMunn
Software Developer

Bio

James McMunn

Software Developer

James has worked for 20+ years around a broad set of technologies and across a wide range of sectors, including; Health, Insurance, Finance, and Travel (The British Library, Jet2 and Confused.com).

James has worked on complex software projects, from building databases, assessing security risks, streamlining backend code to building cloud infrastructure.

Over the past four years James has been working with ELAROS on a range of health apps and on a web based health commissioning platform.

James is the lead software developer for the Mi-Trial and Neu-Restore platforms.

Our Advisors

Matt Abrams
Pipe and Piper

Bio

Matt Abrams
Director at Pipe and Piper

Matt Abrams graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a BSc (Hons) in Business Information Technology and later co-founded Pipe & Piper in 2012. Previously the Operations Director for a web design agency, Matt developed a range of skills and experience that finally led to him set up his own company with Alex Pashley (Technical Director at the same organisation).

In the 10+ years that Matt has run P&P, he has worked with people and organisations across most business sectors including healthcare, compliance, manufacturing, hospitality, education, government and finance; redesigning business processes and leading the development of multiple award winning bespoke mobile applications and cloud-based business systems.

Matt is also the co-founder and Commercial Director of AssetGo, a market leading DVSA approved SaaS solution that enables fleet oparators with a suite of tools to ensure complete compliance management of their vehicles and drivers.

Pipe and Piper have collaborated with ELAROS for many years, with Pipe and Piper responsible for software development of the C19-YRS platform and earlier the Digital Bladder Diary.

Dr Samit Chakrabarty
University of Leeds

Bio

Dr Samit Chakrabarty
University of Leeds

Dr Samit Chakrabarty has studied the role of spinal circuits in the execution of motor tasks and their modulation by peripheral sensory and descending inputs from the brain, focusing on the plastic changes that the system undergoes during development or disease. After a PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Cambridge, UK, he trained at Columbia University, NYC, and has since moved to the University of Leeds as an academic researcher.

His group is active in the fields of sensory and motor control and rehabilitation. Using innovative technologies and algorithms, they both study and work to improve the lives of those with maladies affecting sensory and motor function. He has been using AI and ML tools along with pattern recognition systems to examine biosignals acquired from multiple sources while also working to improve the signal capture and delivery of stimuli by designing new devices and using closed loop algorithms. Samit advises and works with multiple NGOs in the UK, India, and Africa, as well as start-ups and incubation centres in the UK, EU, and India, to create affordable and sustainable health care solutions that address the needs of the emerging world.

Samit is a key figure in the inception of Neu-Restore and is a member of the project’s Advisory Board.

Dr Nikki Cordell
Cordell Health

Bio

Dr Nikki Cordell
Cordell Health

Nikki is an accredited specialist in Occupational Medicine, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FFOM), with over 15 years experience in delivering occupational health services, first within the military and subsequently in the private and third sector. She has a keen interest in medical education and having gained an MSc in Medical Education from the University of Cardiff, she has been very involved in the professional development of clinicians providing specialist occupational health services.

She is currently undertaking a PhD working with Professor Helen Dawes, in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Oxford Brookes University. Her research is focused on the factors influencing the ability to work for employees with a long-term health problem or disability. Other research interests include evidence in supporting those with a disability in employment, the role of employees’ health and wellbeing in organisational performance, and evidence-based assessment of fitness for work.

Nikki has worked in the military developing regionally based multi-disciplinary occupational health services. She is dedicated to raising the standards in occupational health provision and believes in a multifaceted service, focused on prevention and early intervention is the future.

As CEO of Cordell Health, she has overall responsibility for strategy, business performance and organisation of service delivery. I lead on providing management consultancy advice to organisations which includes assessing the requirement, clinical specification, procurement and assurance of occupational healthcare services. She also supports the Medical Director with complex case management referrals.

“Being a social enterprise is very important to me, I want us to make a positive difference in the workplace and my vision is to change the focus from disability to ability.”

Nikki works with ELAROS as a member of the Advisory Board for it’s SBRI project, Open-OH.

Prof. Helen Dawes
University of Exeter

Bio

Professor Helen Dawes
University of Exeter

Helen Dawes is Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation in the College of Medicine and Health. She is themelead for rehabilitation in the NIHR Exeter BRC and co-director of health technologies at Exeter network and business engagement and innovation.

Helen is a clinical academic physiotherapist working in multidisciplinary research across ages, conditions, and health and care settings. Her research focus is on rehabilitation innovations to enable people living with conditions affecting their movement to be able to move well. She collaborates with key colleagues in the UK across the NHS and Universities, and internationally with Shanghai Jiao Tong Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Sao Paulo, Drexel, Aarhus, Monash, and Oslo Universities. Her research involves working closely, with industry, clinicians, and the public, to develop, evaluate and translate to clinical practice transformative innovation.

ELAROS first came into contact with Helen through the LOCOMOTION project, focusing on optimising NHS services for Long COVID. She now works closely with ELAROS sitting on the Advisory Boards for both Neu-Restore and Open-OH.

Prof. Alex Horsley
University of Manchester

Bio

Professor Alex Horsley
The University of Manchester

Alex is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester, consultant at the Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Centre, and CF academic lead for the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. He is a director of the NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Facility at Wythenshawe Hospital, where he oversees trials activity in a wide range of specialties. He is responsible for initiating and maintaining one of the largest CF trials programs in the country, having led over 20 trials of new therapies in CF since 2012 and making Manchester one of the leading sites for CF clinical trials internationally. He has been national or global lead on trials of several ground-breaking therapies, including transformative new CFTR modulator therapies. He has experience at all phases of clinical trials and has also designed and delivered clinical trials in acute COVID-19.

Alex works with ELAROS as Chairman of Mi-Trial, which is owned and operated jointly by ELAROS, the University of Manchester and the Medicines Evaluation Unit.

Michelle Kudhail
Inspire Neurocare and Hamberley Care Homes

Bio

Michelle Kudhail
Inspire Neurocare and Hamberley Care Homes

Michelle is a neurophysiotherapist with a specialism in acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neurological conditions for over 30 years. She has a broad experience having worked in the USA and the NHS and Independent sector in the UK.

She has worked clinically in the field of neurorehabilitation with a special interest in spasticity management, having completed the injectors course for use of botulinum toxin for spasticity management followed by accomplishing the non-medical prescribing qualification. She has been an invited speaker at International conferences and also the Rehabilitation Clinical Reference Group Summit. She also teaches post graduate physiotherapists and allied health professionals nationally on subjects including gait analysis, balance, upper limb rehabilitation and spasticity management.

Michelle is also an expert witness, carrying out medico-legal assessments and providing reports to the courts regarding people who have sustained catastrophic brain and spinal cord injuries.

Michelle has collaborated with ELAROS for a number of years and currently sits on the Advisory Board for their Innovate UK funded project, Neu-Restore.

Prof. Ruairidh Milne
Long COVID PPI Lead

Bio

Prof. Ruairidh Milne
Long COVID PPI Lead

Ruairidh Milne has had Long Covid since March 2020. He is Co-Lead for Patient and Public Involvement for the NIHR-funded Locomotion study. He is a retired public health doctor and academic, whose most recent work was with the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Ruairidh met ELAROS throught the LOCOMOTION project, and now sits on the Advisory Board for ELAROS’ SBRI Project, Open-OH.

Dr Christopher Russell
Vivisco Ltd

Bio

Dr Christopher Russell
CTO and co-founder of Vivisco Limited

Chris is the CTO of Innovate UK funded Vivisco Limited where he develops prototype healthcare technologies with an emphasis on affordability and usability.

Chris has a BEng and PhD from School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He initially undertook a post-doctoral position in high frequency engineering before repurposing his nanofabrication skills to build bespoke tools for neuroscience and healthcare applications.

He cofounded a start-up, Vivisco during COVID-19 to develop a novel treatment for intubated patients. Since the pandemic, his focus has been to develop bespoke hardware for healthcare and bioscience applications, as well as providing consultancy services.

Dr Manoj Sivan
WHO, University of Leeds and Leeds NHS Trusts

Bio

Dr Manoj Sivan
WHO, University of Leeds and Leeds NHS Trusts

Dr Manoj Sivan MD FRCP (Ed) is an Associate Clinical Professor and Honorary Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine (RM) with University of Leeds and Leeds NHS Trusts. He led UK’s first study on Covid-19 long term symptoms (long Covid) published in July 2020 that led to the setting up of UK’s first Long Covid service in Leeds in Sept 2020. He also led the development of the C19-YRS (Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale), a NHS England and NICE recommended tool for assessment and monitoring of the condition. His current research interests are developing rehabilitation interventions for Long Covid symptoms and outcome measurement of the condition.

His previous research on home-based rehabilitation robots has won several awards including the European Academy of RM prize and the UK Philips Nichols prize. His research has received grants from NIHR, MRC, EPSRC, ISRT, Research England and RCP.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Handbook of Rehabilitation Medicine. He is also the President-Elect for the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine (BSRM).

Manoj has been instrumental in advising on the development of the digital C19-YRS platform and supporting it’s roll-out. He now sits on the Advisory Board for ELAROS’ SBRI project, Open-OH.

Prof. Jacky Smith
University of Manchester

Bio

Jackie Smith
The University of Manchester

Jacky is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Manchester and an Honorary Consultant at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. She runs a multi-disciplinary research team which focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying pathological cough and a regional clinical service seeing patients with refractory chronic cough. She is also the Director of the NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Facility and Leads the Rapid Translational Incubator Theme of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.

Jacky works with ELAROS as Chief Scientific Officer of Mi-Trial, which is owned and operated jointly by ELAROS, the University of Manchester and the Medicines Evaluation Unit.

Phil Walker
Practical Informations Governance Solutions

Bio

Phil Walker
Practical Information Governance Solutions Ltd

Phil was the driving force behind NHS Information Governance for nearly two decades, leading the policy team at the Department of Health, introducing the Information Governance Toolkit to the service and developing much of the guidance that still shapes the way the care services work with data. For five years he was Head of Digital Information Policy at NHS Connecting for Health, then led the information policy work on the Health & Social Care Act 2012 before going on to create the Information Governance Alliance between all the central health organisations. Since leaving Phil has put his extensive knowledge of data protection to good use supporting small enterprises around the care sector.

Phil has worked with ELAROS for a number of years, advising on data protection and information governance across ELAROS’ project and products.

Dr James Williamson
University of Huddersfield

Bio

James Williamson
University of Hudderfield

Dr James Williamson is a research fellow in the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Advanced Metrology (CIMAM) at the University of Huddersfield.

James has a BEng degree in Electronic Engineering awarded in 2010 from the University of Surrey. After two years in industry James joined CIMAM in 2012 for his PhD studies to research single-point on-machine metrology, graduating in 2017 with a thesis titled Dispersed Reference Interferometry for On-Machine Metrology.

James’ research interests include fibre-linked single-point metrology instrumentation, on-machine interferometric distance and topography measurement and, high speed fibre-based strain measurement.

James has worked with ELAROS for over five years. Initially James worked with ELAROS on urology projects, currently he works with ELAROS supervising Owain Medford with the development of Smart Coasters for hydration monitoring. He has also made important technical contributions in the development of Neu-Restore.

Prof. Jennie Wilson
The University of West London

Bio

Prof. Jennie Wilson
The University of West London

Jennie Wilson has a first degree in microbiology, a Master’s in Public Health, PhD in surveillance of healthcare associated infection (HCAI) and is a registered nurse. She has 30 years’ experience in infection prevention & control (IPC), has worked as a senior IPC practitioner in NHS Trusts in London and was a key player in establishing the first national surveillance programmes on HCAI in England. She led the Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Service for 10 years and developed HCAI surveillance and research initiatives in both the UK and Europe. Jennie is Professor of Healthcare Epidemiology at the Richard Wells Research Centre at the University of West London. She is a lead author of the Epic guidelines on the preventing HCAI, and her research interests include prevention of HCAI, urinary tract and respiratory tract infections, dehydration in the elderly, hand hygiene and the use of clinical gloves. She has published widely on many aspects of HCAI and is author of Infection Control in Clinical Practice, now in its 3rd Edition.

ELAROS and Jennie have collaborated for over a decade, initially working across multiple projects on hydration and dysphagia. She is currently advising and supporting ELAROS in their roll on the EU funded project, MammoScreen.