Executive committee
The Executive Committee is elected annually at the Annual General Meeting (usually held late Sept/early Oct). Those who are interested in making a key contribution to the running and direction of the MJA must submit their nomination, supported by another full member of the MJA, at least four weeks prior to the AGM. This can be done by email to .
Each year, notice of the date of the AGM, and the key deadlines for nominations and other matters relating to the AGM, are posted as members’ only news on the MJA website and sent out to members in the regular e-newsletter.
For full details of the rules and regulations that govern the MJA download a copy of the MJA constitution.
If you want to chat to any of the existing EC members to find out what a role on the EC entails do contact the administrator Sam Biggs .
Shaun Lintern: Chair
Shaun Lintern is health editor of The Sunday Times. An investigative health journalist for more than a decade, he has helped expose some of the worst scandals in NHS history, including the Shropshire and Telford maternity disaster and poor care at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and subsequent public inquiry. He was health correspondent for The Independent and previously bureau chief for the Health Service Journal.
To view Shaun’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Elected to the EC 2023 AGM/appointed Chair at November 2023 MJA EC Meeting
Jane Symons: Vice chair and website editor
Jane Symons is a freelance health writer and media consultant and a regular contributor to the Daily Express and Daily Mirror. Jane edited the health pages of The Sun for five years and was health editor of Woman’s Own for two. She has also written for a broad range of national titles including The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Sunday Express, Women’s Health and Woman and Home. She was the launch editor of the Feeding For Life Foundation magazine, a specialist publication for healthcare professionals and others working with infants and under-fives and has edited reports including Stop the MS Lottery for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Jane has written several pregnancy books including How to Have a Baby and Still Live in the Real World, which have been published in the UK, USA, Europe and Russia. She has also edited a volume on Health System Performance Assessment and website material for the World Health Organisation. As a journalist who also provides media consultancy she offers bespoke advice in effective media messaging and press materials, thought-leadership articles, speech writing, identifying the best story angles, report writing and media training. Jane also chairs media advisory boards and meetings and is the Public Patient Information lead on the CovidenceUK longitudinal study into all things Covid-related.
To view Jane’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Re-elected 2023 AGM/re-appointed Vice-Chair at November 2023 MJA EC meeting
Emma Wilkinson: Vice chair
Emma is an award winning freelance journalist specialising in medicine and health. She did a BSc in Biomedical science before decided she wanted to write about but not ‘do’ medical research. After an MA in journalism where she well and truly caught the reporting bug, she started out as an assistant editor at The Lancet Oncology editing scientific reviews, writing news and doing some commissioning. From there she went to work as a clinical reporter at Pulse, where she won several awards before moving to BBC News online to work as a health reporter. Emma has been fully freelance and living in Sheffield for more than a decade writing for Pulse, the Pharmaceutical Journal, Chemist and Druggist, the BMJ, the limbic and more. She is also an associate lecturer in the Journalism Department at Sheffield Hallam University teaching news writing and digital journalism with a bit of moral panics and research methods thrown in. More recently Emma has teamed up with a colleague to develop the Freelancing for Journalists brand which includes a book, podcast, Facebook community, online course run with Journalism.co.uk, webinar series and newsletter. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they developed a Journalism Work Experience Initiative to buddy up freelance journalists with students and recent graduates. Co-opted at Dec 2020 MJA EC Meeting
Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM/re-appointed as Vice-Chair at November 2023 MJA EC Meeting
To view Emma’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Sam Biggs: Administrator
Sam has spent much of her communications career working in the health and medical sector. She has previously led the media and PR functions for a range of health charities, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, an NHS Trust, and has experience working with an international pharmaceutical company.
Alongside being the MJA’s administrator and her marketing communications experience work, Sam is also studying for an international qualification in coaching with the intention of supporting people to build confidence and resilience.
Originally from London, Sam now lives in Winchester with her husband and son.
Status: Non elected post
Dawn Connelly: Membership secretary
Dawn Connelly is senior features editor at The Pharmaceutical Journal, an monthly digital magazine for practising pharmacists. She initially trained as a pharmacist and spent several years practising in hospitals where she gained a clinical diploma. She has also worked as a locum community pharmacist and as a researcher within academia. She joined The Pharmaceutical Journal in 2001 and has held several staff positions, including contributions editor, senior news and feature writer, and deputy news editor. She now writes and commissions features on a wide range of topics, including science, practice and policy, with the aim of appealing to all sectors of the pharmacy profession. She also works alongside the art editor to create infographics. In 2015, Dawn took the Medical Journalists’ Association Data Journalism prize for an impressive infographic charting the Ebola virus outbreak. And in 2023, she was awarded Feature of the Year by the Association of British Science Writers for her feature on parosmia, a post COVID taste and smell disorder.
To view Dawn’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here
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Status: Re-elected at 2023 AGM/re-appointed as Membership Secretary at November 2023 MJA EC meeting
Sarah Comery: Treasurer
Sarah has worked as a freelance book-keeper/accountant to a number of different industries for over thirty years. She is currently acting as Treasurer to a charity researching childhood leukemia and has previously been Treasurer to a number of other charities in the UK. She is also a qualified CELTA teacher.
Status: Re-elected at 2023 AGM/re-appointed as Treasurer at November 2023 MJA EC Meeting
Jessica Beresford: Student Ambassador
Jessica Beresford is a fourth year medical student at the University of Manchester, with a growing interest in writing about health and medicine as well as training to practice. Though her story with journalism is at its beginnings, she has written for the Mancunion, and published a poster for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She has recently completed a Masters in International Development which has helped her explore health through a wider lens. By experiencing first hand the difficulty of finding both the time and resources to explore health journalism alongside medical studies, Jess has joined the MJA as the student ambassador, aiming to facilitate student participation in health journalism with the guidance of experienced MJA writers. She is working to give students the chance to explore their writing skills, form meaningful connections between students and established writers, and make space for voices to be heard that may not have been at the forefront before.
Student members can contact Jess on:
Aasma Day
A multi-award winning journalist, Aasma Day is based in Preston, Lancashire, working for The i Paper. Her work brings in a perspective and views from outside the London bubble to the national news agenda. Aasma specialises in investigations and original stories with a human interest focus and wants to ensure people from all diversities of life have the chance to make their voices heard and to highlight inequalities and injustices they may be facing. She has a particular interest in real life and health related stories and telling the tales of those battling poverty and trapped on the margins of society, as well as those who have stories of inspiration and hope. She also likes spending time on the frontline at organisations to portray the reality of important issues. Before working for the i, Aasma spent around three years working for HuffPost UK as North of England correspondent. Prior to that, Aasma spent 20 years working as a journalist for the regional press. She previously led the JPIMedia Investigations Team and was a Lifestyle Editor, Investigative Reporter and columnist. She has won and been shortlisted for awards including The Paul Foot Awards, the O2 Media Awards, the Regional Press Awards, the Medical Journalists’ Association Awards, Mind Media Awards, Asian Media Awards and the Rosemary Goodchild Award for Excellence in Sexual Health Journalism. She is fluent in Urdu and understands Punjabi and Hindi and is keen to hear from people from all communities, particularly those who feel they are not being heard.
Status: Re-elected at 2023 AGM
To view Aasma’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here
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Lucy Elkins
Lucy is a Contributing Editor, Good Health, Daily Mail.
To view Lucy’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here
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Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
Nicola Hill
Nicola Hill started work on local and national newspaper, before moving into broadcasting. She has presented radio and TV programmes: for the BBC and independent radio and for Sky News where she was health correspondent. She also edited the health pages on Sky News online. She has been nominated for both an Royal Television Society and a Sony award. Among her scoops: gaining permission from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to film in Riyadh, and from Fidel Castro to film in Cuba. Since becoming freelance Nicola has reported on, and spoken at, international health conferences and made health documentaries in the UK and abroad. She acts as a media consultant, hosting interactive web-casts, chairing media advisory boards and medical symposia, and presenting corporate films and podcasts. Nicola spent 18 months covering the Covid19 pandemic for the global TV news channel TRT World. Her website is: www.ncmedia.org.uk
To view Nicola’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
John Illman
John Illman spent eight years as the Guardian‘s health editor and five years as the Daily Mail’s medical correspondent. A former GP newspaper editor, he is now lecturing, writing a series of books and has set up a video production company. His publications include The Body Machine with the heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard.
To view John’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
Lawrence McGinty
Lawrence McGinty has reported on health and science for more than three decades. First for New Scientist magazine, then for Channel Four News, and most recently for ITV News. During that time he has covered an extraordinary breadth of stories. He has flown a Harrier jump jet, reported live from the military hospital at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, and presented a week of reports from Papworth Hospital that persuaded over 100 000 people to sign up as organ donors. In 2014 he won the Lifetime Achievement award of the Association of British Science Writers. The citation said he had “a profound effect on the scientific community”.He has interviewed every health minister for the past two decades. More importantly he has interviewed thousands of patients – some delighted by new developments that have transformed their lives, others blowing the whistle on appalling NHS treatment. He has won awards from BAFTA, the RTS, the ABSW, the Medical Journalists Association and an Emmy. He also won the British Video industry’s award for the best comedy video (beating Morecombe and Wise!) He has chaired an international conference on drugs for the World Health Organisation and given talks to many professional bodies. But more important to him, he has won the respect of the many doctors, scientists and patients he has met. Lawrence stood down as MJA Chair in 2021.
To view Lawrence’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
Jill Palmer
Medical Correspondent for the Daily Mirror for 18 years until September 2003 when made redundant. As a freelance I wrote for various consumer magazines and national newspapers and was involved in media consultancy work with pharmaceutical companies and medical PRs for around nine years.
Now semi-retired I still do some writing and am a trustee of the Journalists’ Charity.
To view Jill’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
Nigel Praities
Nigel was appointed executive editor of the Pharmaceutical Journal in 2018, after being editor of GP magazine Pulse for four years. He started out freelancing for the Guardian newspaper and as a reporter at Research Fortnight magazine before joining Pulse in 2007. As a reporter, he specialised in clinical news and broke a number of exclusive stories that made national newspaper headlines.He named ‘Editor of the Year’ two years running in the Business category at the British Society of Magazine Editors Awards in 2015 and 2016 and ‘Publication Editor of the Year’ by the Medical Journalists’ Association Awards twice, in 2014 and again in 2017. Under his editorship, Pulse was named ‘Business Magazine of the Year’ by the Professional Publishers Association in 2016 and twice at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards, picking up the prize in 2014 and 2015. He has a MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College London and a BSc in Physiology from University College London.
To view Nigel’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Resigned as Chair 2023 AGM 2023, re-elected to EC 2023 AGM
Isla Whitcroft
Isla is highly experienced journalist and writer who has covered health for national newspapers and magazines for over fifteen years, in the process building up extensive contacts with clinicians, charities, patient groups, government bodies & across the health media. Isla is also currently working with health charities and clinicians to create informative and engaging patient information on often complex medical conditions, something she finds extremely rewarding.
Isla has been a national newspaper journalist since the early nineties, writing on subjects ranging from overseas property to celebrities and hugely enjoyed a three year stint in Australia helping to launch a woman’s news magazine for ACP. She is the author of the YA fiction series The Cate Carlisle Files (Piccadilly Press) and takes her ‘Thriller Writing Workshop for Young Adults’ into schools & libraries across the UK. She is currently writing her fourth novel, a fictionalisation of real life Victorian murder. Away from writing, Isla is a school governor at Northampton School for Boys with responsibilities for …… student health and welfare!
To view Isla’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Re-elected at the 2023 AGM
Carolyn Wickware
Carolyn was appointed executive editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal in 2023, after four years as the journal’s deputy news editor and investigations editor. She started out as the sole reporter for three B2B healthcare magazines – Nursing in Practice, Management in Practice and Healthcare Leader – in 2016 before joining the news team at GP magazine Pulse. While there, Carolyn honed her skills in investigative journalism, and has subsequently broken several exclusive stories for both Pulse and The Pharmaceutical Journal. Several of her stories have gone on to make national headlines, with Carolyn interviewed twice on LBC for stories relating to medicine shortages. Carolyn was named Pharmacy Writer of the Year at the Avicenna Media Awards in 2023 and was listed as one of MHP’s ‘30 to Watch’ in 2020. Carolyn has also been nominated for a British Journalism Award, four MJA Awards and four BSME Talent Awards. She has a BA in Psychology and English from Western University in Canada, a Bachelor of Journalism from University of King’s College in Canada, and an MA in Magazine Journalism from City, University of London.
To view Carolyn’s contact details and conflict of interest declaration click here.
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Status: Co-opted by EC in March 2024 to fill a vacancy
