Introducing our Nurse Specialist

I am excited to be joining the Marfan Trust as a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and hope that I can add to the excellent work already being done by the charity. 

I qualified as a nurse in 1998 and worked at King's College Hospital in London. Most of my work has been in the Cardiac speciality. I spent several years caring for patients following different types of heart surgery, including interventions to the aorta. 

I moved from the wards into research and again spent many years helping to coordinate and run clinical trials in the Cardiac Department at King's. Clinical trials and research are so important in allowing us to provide evidence-based care for patients and continually improve the medications and interventions we can offer.  

Recently, I have continued my nursing career as a CNS working at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. I joined the team there in 2019 and helped to set up the Aortopathy Service as well as looking after patients with Congenital Heart Disease (heart conditions that patients are born with). In the aortopathy clinic I was able to coordinate aortic screening and follow up for patients who required monitoring for all different reasons, including connective tissue disorders like Marfan Syndrome, Loeys-Dietz and Ehlers Danlos. 

I am married and have a son aged 15 and a daughter who is 12. We have travelled a great deal due to my husband's job and it's something we all enjoy doing. Both our children were born in South Africa where we spent several years and we also lived in Bahrain, both great experiences. In my spare time I love to walk, read and bake.