Welcome, Dr Sriram and Dr Ramafikeng!

We are delighted to officially welcome two exceptional leaders, Dr Vimal Sriram and Dr Matumo Ramafikeng, to our Board of Trustees. We are thrilled to have their expertise and passion guiding our work.

You may already be familiar with their contributions to the profession. Both have been invaluable collaborators with the Trust in the past, and we are fortunate they have now joined us as Trustees.

Meet Our New Trustees

Dr Vimal Sriram

A clinical academic and Director of Allied Health Professionals, Vimal has been instrumental in all of our Focus On Fairness Observatory Events, and was a keynote speaker at this year’s Focus On Advancing Your Career event. Read his career biography in his own words below.

I trained as an Occupational Therapist in India and currently serve as the Director of Allied Health Professionals at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust and Deputy Theme Lead for the Collaborative Learning and capacity Building theme for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration in Northwest London. I worked initially in India in a specialist spinal and brain injury rehabilitation centre and moved to the UK in 2005 and have worked in acute and community NHS settings.

I read for my MSc in Evidence Based Healthcare and DPhil in Populational Health at the University of Oxford, my research focussing on carers experience of assistive technology use in dementia care and continue to work as a clinical academic.

I was a NICE Fellow (2015-2018), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and regularly lecture on translating health policy into practice and applied health research for MSc programs in Imperial College London. I was a fitness to practice panel member for the HCPC (2014-2022) and a director and Vice-Chair and Trustee for the Community of Allied Health Professionals in Research. In addition, I was a Trustee for a national charity called Dementia Adventure, am a member of the Research & innovation advisory group at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, a reviewer for the WHO dementia knowledge exchange platform and a Founding Fellow of Innovate Healthier Together in Health Innovation West of England.

I have experience in capacity building for quality improvement and a keen interest in digital health, research using mixed-methods, eLearning, mentoring and developing future Allied Health Professionals, especially those from a Black and Minoritised Ethnic background.

Dr Matumo Ramafikeng

With over 20 years of experience, Matumo is a lecturer and researcher, and was the recent President of the Occupational Therapy Africa Regional Group (OTARG), through which she supported our International Development Award. Read Matumo’s words about her career below.

I have been an occupational therapist for more than 20 years with experience in mental health practice, research and teaching in the Global South context. Currently, I am a lecturer in the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Essex and I am also the Ethics Officer for the School. My areas of expertise as an educator include teaching for diversity, providing academic support to Occupational Therapy students at risk of failing, as well as the design and delivery of occupational therapy curriculum that is contextually relevant. In my PhD I explored and challenged the OT curriculum and its contextual relevance for African language speaking students in South Africa. I drew on insights from this research to develop strategies to support student learning to ensure equal attainment of educational outcomes among all students regardless of their background. I also have a range of research areas and interests, including exploring issues of equity and diversity, loneliness and social isolation, mental health and well-being, decolonization of curriculum, transformative pedagogy, practice education in health sciences programmes, language in teaching and learning, as well as international students’ experiences.

I recently completed my six-year term (2019-2025) as the President of the Occupational Therapy Africa Regional Group (OTARG), which I was honoured to lead. I am excited to serve as a Trustee as I believe the Trust is making an incredible impact in the growth of occupational therapy across the world, supporting occupational therapists to access opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible due to financial constraints.