After undergraduate training in Bristol and postgraduate training in paediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Peter returned to Bristol.

From 1978 to 2012 he worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital and the Children’s Sleep and Developmental Physiology Laboratory at Bristol Children’s Hospital, and also led the service for children on long term ventilatory support for the Southwest of England.

In 1983, Peter established the Avon Infant Mortality Study and since that time have continued to provide care and support to families bereaved by perinatal, infant and childhood deaths particularly the sudden or unexpected death of an infant or child within the Avon area (population 1 million).

Since January 2013 Peter has worked primarily in research, teaching and safeguarding children.

Peter continues to conduct detailed research on epidemiological and physiological factors contributing to unexpected deaths in infancy and childhood and has co-authored more than 360 scientific publications. The approach to the care and investigations of families bereaved by the sudden expected death of their child that Peter pioneered in the Avon area has since 2008 been adopted nationally in England under The Children Act 2004. In 2018 our team in Bristol, led by Dr Karen Luyt, was awarded the contract to establish a national child mortality database using information collected as part of the child death reviews mandated by the 2004 Children Act.

Jenny Kurinczuk is a clinical epidemiologist and honorary consultant in public health at Public Health England; she is Director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) and Director of the DH-funded NIHR Policy Research Unit in Maternal and Neonatal Health and Care based in the NPEU.

Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of conditions from conception through pregnancy which affect mothers, their pregnancy outcomes and the health of babies as they develop during infancy, childhood and beyond. She is national programme lead for the MBRRACE-UK/PMRT collaboration responsible for the national confidential enquiries and surveillance of maternal and perinatal deaths, and development of the national Perinatal Mortality Review Tool.

Jenny is also a collaborator on studies of serious and ‘near miss’ maternal morbidity through the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) and the UK Midwifery Study System (UKMidSS). She led the development project which preceded and recommended the commissioning of the National Child Mortality Database and is a collaborator on the NCMD programme.

Vicky Sleap has 8 years practical experience in the field of child death reviews as a child death review manager and prior to that as a child death review administrator. She leads a team to deliver the child death review process for the CDOPs in the West of England, Swindon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.  

Vicky has provided mentoring and support for several other CDOP offices and has advised on ways of improving efficiency in data collection and storage. She has contributed to the drafting of revised legislation and new national guidance on child death reviews and has contributed to the development of forms used within the process in England.  Vicky has been invited to consult with HQIP in the early stages of the tender specification for the National Child Mortality Database and with colleagues at MBRRACE (Mother and Babies: Reducing the Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) on ways in which they could collaborate with CDOP offices
around the country.

In addition Vicky is involved in ongoing discussions on linking the perinatal mortality review tool with the CDOP process. She was a founder member of the Executive Group of the National Network of CDOPs and remains a co-opted member of that group. She is also a member of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) Working Group on Neonatal Mortality Review. Vicky has also acted as an international consultant advising and assisting other countries in setting up child death review processes.

Sylvia Stoianova is the NCMD project manager job-sharing this role with Vicky Sleap. She brings 15 years of experience, ranging from clinical audits and other measurement driven quality and service improvement projects working for Acute Central London Trusts and at London clinical networks’ level, to national and international work in disease registration and public health.

Along with her role with NCMD, Sylvia also works part-time for Public Health England’s National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service leading on data quality improvement projects. Sylvia holds a Master’s degree in Health, Population and Society from the London School of Economics (LSE) with a focus on epidemiology, health policy and planning and demography; she also holds degrees in International Relations and Linguistics from Sofia University.

She deeply cares about reducing health inequalities and improving the life and well-being of children and people with rare diseases and is committed to contributing to projects that can turn knowledge and data into action.

Tom joined the team in April 2019 and is the Data Analyst for the Programme. He will be analysing quantitative and qualitative data, identifying trends and translating this into meaningful reports.

Previously Tom worked as a Health Intelligence Analyst for NHS Commissioning, providing analysis and reports using commissioning datasets to support decisions on the improvement of healthcare, and has developed many interactive dashboards to assist learning. He also has experience within Clinical Audit and Effectiveness at an NHS Trust, working on Local and National Audit Programmes, reviewing and assisting with NCEPOD reports and NICE guidance to facilitate the quality improvement process.

Tom looks forward to analysing the data in order to provide information to help improve quality of care for children.

Rob is the managing Director of QES, a software development house specialising in providing multi agency information sharing systems. QES work almost exclusively in the Public Sector, providing both bespoke applications and product based systems, to the NHS, Local Authorities and Police.

Mike is an integrated care Respiratory Physician in West Essex, Clinical Academic Lead for Population Health for UCLPartners Academic Health Sciences Network, Deputy Director of the NIHR North Thames Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, and Senior Clinical Lead for the National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme. His special interests are in respiratory care, education and health care system reform using data for improvement.

With 18 years’ of expertise in public-facing communications, Matt brings significant experience, knowledge and leadership skills to deliver strategic and impactful digital communications.

Previously at NHS England and the National Patient Safety Agency, Matt uses his creativity to develop innovative solutions to tackle the many challenges facing the health sector. Matt’s experience includes leading communications on the roll-out of the World Health Organisation strategy for surgical safety in England and Wales and for the Chief Nursing Officer for England.

Matt’s skills cut across all the key functions and channels of integrated marketing communications, including: strategy and planning, influencing behaviours and campaigning, brand awareness and positioning, digital marketing and social media, event management and media handling (including major press conferences), stakeholder relations and employee engagement.

Katie is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with extensive experience of working with children and families and of providing supervision for professionals providing direct services.

Her current role includes overseeing Child Bereavement UK’s National projects, overseeing research and facilitating training for professionals working with children and young people with additional needs.

Katie has a particular interest in working with children with developmental difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders and has in previous roles developed services within the NHS for parents of children with such difficulties.

Clea is the Chief Executive of Sands. With growing public awareness of the issues surrounding stillbirth and neonatal death, and a national commitment to reduce the number of babies dying, now is the moment when there is real potential to make a difference for parents. Sands works not only to reduce the number of babies dying, but also to improve the care and support received by anyone affected by the death of a baby.

Clea’s previous roles in NCT College, in Higher Education and in medicine have all contributed to a passionate belief in the importance of using research effectively to make a positive difference; but also in the importance of support for parents which enables them to make the decisions that are right for them.

Jenny has worked for the Lullaby Trust since 2006 and is currently Acting Chief Executive. Jenny leads the charity’s bereavement support and information services for anyone affected by the sudden death of a baby or young child. The Lullaby Trust has successfully helped to decrease the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate in the UK dramatically in the past 30 years, but there is still work to be done to bring this figure even lower.

Jenny’s role covers both bereavement support and prevention, and as such she is involved in several projects that cover both areas of work. She led a project to describe the child death review process to families, and is keen to improve the processes bereaved families face at such difficult times.