Biographies of committee members

Gary Birkenhead
Gary is the Manager of the Health Information Centre at Tameside General Hospital, a joint local authority and NHS patient information service.  He has been a member of CILIP since 1994, and a member of its Health Libraries Committee since 2000, with responsibility for membership and publicity.   He is also the North West Regional Co-ordinator of the Patient Information Forum (PiF).  

Richard Bridgen
Chair of IFM Healthcare (IFMH), a partnership organisation of the Health Libraries Group, IFMH seeks to provide support to information professionals in the management of their own service and in the provision of information to managers working in health and social care, by keeping subscribers up-to-date and better informed about issues relating to the management and delivery of healthcare.

I am currently Head of the Knowledge and Information Service at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, and is one of the two East Midlands representatives on the National Core Content Technical Reference Group.

Heather Chesters
My current post is Assistant Librarian at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, where I have worked since 2003.
I have been in Higher Education sector libraries for a number of years, previously at Imperial College and at Goldsmiths College.
I joined the HLG Committee in June 2008, as Assistant Treasurer, and I am currently Treasurer for the group.
 
Hélène Gorring
Hélène has been Library Services Manager for Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Trust for the last 2 years. Prior to this she managed library services for Coventry Primary Care Trust and set up an Open Learning Centre for Birmingham Social Services.

Maria J Grant
Maria has an academic background in information science and is a qualified Librarian with over 25 years experience working in health information.   She has previously worked at the Centre for Health Information Quality, a national information service providing advice and support to self help groups and the NHS on producing high quality evidence based consumer information, has served as Chair of Information for the Management of Healthcare, a charitable organisation committed to improving the provision of information in enhancing health and social care management and delivery and is Editor-in-Chief of the Health Libraries Group official journal the ISI listed Health Information and Libraries Journal.  Most recently Maria has worked on projects investigating the support need of carers for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and an investigation of the factors that affect public engagement with eHealth services in the management of their health.  Her research interests include the role of published information; both its production and its application into practice.

Elise Hasler
Elise has over ten years experience of working in the health sector and is currently working as Information Specialist at the National Collaborating Centre for Cancer based in Cardiff, developing cancer clinical guidelines for National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence. Her career in health libraries started at Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust where she was Assistant Librarian / Policy Co-Ordinator.
She is the current editor of the HLG Newsletter, since 2009, having edited the Calendar of Events column for the Newsletter for two years prior to that. 

Andrea Lane
Andrea is a member of the Membership and Publicity Panel, specifically responsibile for co-ordinating an HLG presence at key LIS events.  She is an Information Specialist at the British Medical Journal Evidence Centre working for the BMJ Knowledge Department.

Alison Paul
Alison is currently the Acting Library and Knowledge Services Manager at Ashford and St Peter's NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey.  Previously she was an Outreach Librarian at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.  She has over 20 years experience of working in health libraries including academic, departmental, private company and the NHS.  She is also the membership secretary of the Lbraries for Nursing Subgroup.

Julie Ryder
Julie is a freelance consultant working primarily in the field of disability and health information, having previously worked for many years for Westminster Public Libraries.
She is responsible for the HLG website and is also the co-ordinating editor of HLISD - the Health Library and Information Services Directory, jointly produced by HLG and SHALL.

Chris Thornton
Chris Thornton has worked in the health sector since 1996 and has been Head of Library Services at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2000. As a former teacher and Associate Lecturer at the Department of Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University, staff development is one of her main professional interests. She is the Awards Co-ordinator for HLG and is also the HLG representative on the HLISD (Health Library and Information Services Directory ) Board.