The Composition of the Board
The Board consists of a Chairman and not less than 11 and not more than 20 members all of whom are appointed by the Secretary of State. Our membership must include members with professional knowledge or experience of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, nursing disabled people and medical practice.
Our Board must include at least 6 members who are themselves disabled and at least 1 carer.
All our vacancies are advertised and applications are welcome from both men and women, ethic minorities and people with disabilities from anywhere within Great Britain.
We are committed to making appointments based on merit, independent assessment and openness. All our members must subscribe to the objectives of the DLAAB and uphold our code of practice.
The members of the DLAAB also follow the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The Board's membership
Chairman
Mrs Anne Spaight, MBE, MA, MCSP
Mrs Spaight was appointed to the Board in May 1997, becoming Deputy Chair in June 1999 and was appointed Chairman in May 2003. A physiotherapist and health management professional with over thirty years of experience of NHS therapy services in various parts of the country, she is currently working as Associate Director of clinical governance for Lincolnshire Ambulance and Health Transport Service NHS Trust. She has a special interest in rheumatology, and has lectured widely on this subject not only in the UK but also overseas in places as varied as Latvia and South Africa.
Members
Dr. Amit Arora MD, MRCP, MSc
Dr Arora is a Consultant Physician with interest in Stroke Medicine at the North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust in Stoke-on-Trent. His MD (Medicine and Pharmaco-therapeutics) was on coronary risk factors and his MSc in Geriatric medicine was on the topic of hearing related disability in older people. He deals with people with disability through his work as a geriatrician and a stroke physician. His special interests are in management of acute stroke, risk factor modification and community participation in disease prevention. He is helping with implementing thrombolysis service for acute stroke. He is a module leader for MSc course in Geriatric Medicine at Keele University. He is also a member of BMA Medical Speciality Sub committee.
Mrs Simone Baker
Mrs Baker was appointed to the Board in March 2000. She works in a voluntary capacity for a number of organisations including Vice Chair of the national organisation Disabled Parents Network, member of the West Berkshire Maternity services Liaison Committee, member of the South Eastern Regional Committee for the Big Lottery Fund (formerly the Community Fund) and parent governor at her daughters Primary School. Her past experience involves working for the Thalidomide Society, serving on the Thalidomide Trust's National Advisory Council and serving a year as Chair on the Management Committee at her daughters pre-school. She is a member of the Restricted Growth Association and is a DLA Appeals Tribunal member. Mrs Baker has congenital malformations of all four limbs caused by the drug Thalidomide.
Mrs Jean Cooper, BSc Econ, HOLRCC
Mrs Cooper was appointed to the Board in February 1999. She is an experienced social worker initially employed by Manchester Social Services, moving into training, then teaching social work at Sheffield Hallam University. Her current work involves assessing the needs of children with disabilities for the Family Fund and the care needs of severely disabled adults for the Independent Living Fund. She is a member of the Appeals Service and acts as a part time social work tutor for Nottingham Trent University.
Mrs Judith Holt, DipCOT, MAOT, SROT
Mrs Holt was appointed to the Board in September 2001. An occupational therapist she has 28 years experience of working with both physical and mental disability. She is currently working with mentally ill patients, assessing their needs and providing care and treatment within a community mental health team. She was appointed in 1980 to the Mental Health Review Tribunal Service reviewing the detention of patients treated under the Mental Health Act. She has a particular interest in people with mental health problems and their re-integration into the community. Since 2005 she has sat on DLA tribunals as a disability qualified member.
Mohammed Zubair Khan
Mr Khan was appointed to the Board in September 2007. He is a Crime Scene Manager, Diversity Champion and Chair of Diversity Forum with West Midlands Police, currently stationed at Solihull Police Station. He is a lay member of Employment Tribunals, Public Governor at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and a School Governor. He is also an Authorised Assessor for new police recruits and a member of Solihull Police Development Board. He is a Visiting Lecturer in Crime Scene investigations at Sutton Coldfield college. Mr Khan has experience of caring for a disabled person and has assisted people within the community with applications for benefits and other provisions.
Dr Ben Ko, MB ChB, MRCP, FRCPCH
Dr Ko was appointed to the Board in January 2003. He is a Consultant Community Paediatrician in East London. He has special interests in childhood neurodisability, especially pervasive developmental disorders. As a council member and trustee of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, he contributes to setting national standards for Paediatric practice and training. He was formerly a member of the Appeals Service.
Dr Mohammad Obaidullah, MB BS, FRCOG, FRCGP
Dr Obaidullah was appointed to the Board in November 2004. He is a part-time general practitioner, with a special interest in obstetrics and gynaecology, dermatology and palliative care. He is a member of the local Research Ethics Committee in Swansea and a member of the Multi Research Ethics Committee for Wales. Dr Obaidullah is a member of the Appeals Service and an associate member of the General Medical Council and sits on Fitness to Practice panels. He also works as a GP appraiser for the University Of Wales College Of Medicine, and is a volunteer on the Doctor's Support Line and past President of the Bridgend Rotary Club. He has recently been appointed as Clinical Adviser to the Statutory Committees of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and a Peer Reviewer of the Health Care Inspectorate Wales.
Dr Ronald Pearce
Dr Ronald Pearce is Consultant Neurologist at Charing Cross Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Neuropathology and Clinical Director of the UK Parkinson's Disease Society Tissue Bank at Imperial College. He runs specialist clinics in Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders and also Botulinum Toxin Injection clinics for treatment of focal dystonias and other related involuntary movement disorders. He formerly directed the Neurorehabilitation Unit at Charing Cross Hospital. He has a PhD based on research into the Neuropharmacology of Parkinson's disease and his ongoing research interests include brain changes is Parkinson's disease and psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and depression.
Ms Sarah Playforth, MCLIP, DipPSM, DipITEC
Ms Playforth was appointed to the Board in November 2003. She is a freelance access, diversity and equalities trainer/consultant and has worked in this field since leaving her post as Chief Librarian in a new unitary authority in 1988. She has been a lay member on Employment Tribunals since 2000. A chartered librarian and holder of diplomas in public service management, anatomy, physiology and body massage, she has over 20 years experience as a volunteer, Trustee, middle and senior manager in both the statutory and independent sectors, managing and developing public library services and equal access to them, and researching, planning and campaigning for equality of access and inclusion in society for D/deaf and disabled people. Sarah is deaf.
Mrs Clair Poole
Mrs Poole was appointed to the Board in March 2000 and re-appointed in March 2003. She has Multiple Sclerosis which has caused increasing levels of disability. A landscape artist, her past experience of committee work covers issues of health and welfare, provisions for sport and play and education through play for the up to five age group. She has understanding reached by living with a disability and believes access is essential to equality.
Mr Douglas Ross
Mr Ross was appointed to the Board in November 2003. He has worked in the disability sector since 1990, principally in the field of employment in relation to disabled people. He currently works for the Leonard Cheshire Foundation on their award winning 'Workability' project having previously worked for the RNIB and the Government's Employment Service (now Jobcentre Plus) Disability Service. He is a former member of the British Computer Society Disability Group Committee and the Greater London Employment Network on Disability Working Group. He has been disabled since birth as a result of spina bifida.
Professor David L Scott, BSc, MD, FRCP
Professor Scott was appointed to the Board in January 2003. He is an academic rheumatologist leading an integrated team of eight medical and six nursing staff who deliver specialist care at King's College Hospital. He also provides academic leadership for an integrated clinical and laboratory research team of nearly 40 research staff. The main thrust of his own research work is to improve outcome and reducing disability in arthritis by providing optimal medical care. Prior to joining the Board he had edited Rheumatology, the leading European specialist journal in the field for 5 years. He is heavily involved with patient groups including Arthritis Care and the Myositis Support Group and is a member of the executive of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, an umbrella organisation of patient and professional groups.
Professor Tom Sensky, PhD, MB BS, FRCPsych
Professor Sensky was appointed to the Board in April 2004. He is Professor of Psychological Medicine at Imperial College London, and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at West London Mental Health NHS Trust. Most of his clinical work involves psychiatric or psychological problems concerned with employment, or the psychological aspects of chronic illness, physical as well as mental. His research has focussed on the understanding and management of psychological problems associated with a variety of long-term illnesses, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to schizophrenia. He regularly gives lectures or workshops to doctors, medical students and others on a variety of topics. He has a particular interest in evidence-based practice, and regularly runs workshops on this in the UK and elsewhere.
Mrs Sarah Vines
Mrs Vines was appointed to the Board in July 2004. She qualified as a physiotherapist in 1988, since when she has worked in the acute, community and voluntary sectors. She works for Croydon PCT wheelchair service, working with adults and Children with disabilities. She also acts as a freelance assessor for Access to Work and as a physiotherapist for North East Surrey MS Society. Her main professional interest has been with adults with acquired neuro-disability. In the course of her work she has dealt with many people who have become disabled and has assisted them with applications for benefits and other services.
Mrs Christine Whitehead, RGN, RSCN, BA(Hons)
Mrs Whitehead was appointed to the Board in October 1998. She is an HIV Nurse Consultant at a teaching hospital in the North West. Her special interest is the management of HIV as a chronic condition and she works closely with a local service user's support group. Her experience in the NHS includes discharge planning, care of the elderly and general medicine. Mrs Whitehead has personal experience of caring for a disabled person and is a member of the Appeals Service.