Meet ZHTS’s trustees

Dalia works as a research practitioner at the Government Office for Science and is a monitoring and evaluation adviser at Health Improvement Project Zanzibar. Her passion for health grew when she worked for doctors without borders researching maternal health in Zimbabwe.

Brighton Chireka was born in Zimbabwe and trained as a doctor at the University of Zimbabwe Medical School, qualifying in 1997. He moved to the UK in 2000 and is now a GP partner at Manor Clinic in Folkestone. He is also a clinical lead in child health and maternity services for South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group. Brighton was voted the winner for the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards 2015 UK Community Champion for his involvement in charity work. His academic interests include medical leadership, medical ethics, medical education, child health and maternity services.

John is emeritus professor of medical education at the Hull York Medical School. Until 2010 he was professor of medical education and undergraduate dean. For most of his career he was consultant physician in Leicester. He took an increasing interest in medical education and re-organised the clinical undergraduate course at Leicester Medical School following the publication of the first Tomorrow’s Doctors. He moved to Hull York as the foundation professor of medical education in 2002 responsible to the dean for the delivery of an innovation medical curriculum.

Chris is a case manager with an NHS England specialised commissioning team. He has over 14 years’ experience of working in different psychiatric services and previously worked as a senior nurse manager for a psychiatric hospital in London. He is an executive member of the National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (NAPICU). His main objectives are to advance the care and treatment of people who require mental health services by promoting and sharing good practice among healthcare professionals in Zimbabwe, the UK and on a global scale, providing education and training, encouraging clinicians to establish networks, and by undertaking research and audit.

Dorcas was born in Zimbabwe and trained as a mental health nurse at City University School of Nursing and Midwifery. She went on to study public health and gender violence at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2015 she was awarded Nursing Standard Mental Health Nurse for her work on mental health interventions for young people and families affected by gang culture in London. She has worked for as a mental health adviser for AFRUCA charity and with the Terence Higgins Trust. In Zimbabwe she works on a HIV-Psychological programme. Her special interests include culturally adjusted interventions, migration and trauma, HIV and sexual violence, child and adolescent mental health, emergency medicine nursing education and reproductive health. Dorcas is an African Affairs Analyst on Arise TV and has her own health and culture blog: www.tribalsands.org.

Charles qualified as a doctor and completed his postgraduate training in general practice in the UK, and then moved to Zimbabwe. Over 20 years he worked as a government medical officer then lecturer/professor in the country’s single medical school, including a spell as chair of the Department of Community Medicine and regional health adviser to the European Union. After returning to Europe in 2002, he worked in DG Development at the European Commission in Brussels, and then the Department for International Development in London. He has now returned to general practice and is a partner and GP trainer at a practice near Aylesbury.