Adolescent health group

Dr Fiona Smith 

Dr Fiona Smith is a GP from Stockton on Tees, who has a special interest in adolescent health. She has worked at Eaglescliffe Medical Practice since 2003, and in 2018 set up Footsteps, a service for children and young people based within a primary care setting.
Footsteps provides mental health support for young people aged 11-19 years and has received a BMJ award, RCGP poster prize and Stockton Mayors award. Fiona has been a member of the RCGP adolescent health group since 2019.

Dr Faraz Mughal

Dr Faraz Mughal is an academic GP and holds a prestigious National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Doctoral Fellowship at Keele University. Faraz is a GP in Birmingham, a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and an affiliate of the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration. He is an NIHR Academy and NIHR Incubator for Mental Health Research Case Study and is an appointed NIHR Academy Forum member. Faraz has a growing international reputation for suicide prevention and young people’s mental health in primary care and is an expert advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.

Faraz’s main research interests are in the prevention and management of self-harm and suicide, young people’s mental health, and common mental health problems in primary care settings. He is Chief Investigator (CI) of the NIHR funded COPING study - developing and testing a new brief psychosocial GP intervention for young people after self-harm. He has won research funding with colleagues amounting to £1.7 million, £647,000 at CI, from NIHR, NIHR SPCR, and the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board.
He has 101 scientific and peer-reviewed journal publications; H-index 15.

Dr Amina Al-Yassin

Dr Amina Al-Yassin is a GP in the NHS and Barnardo’s and the Clinical Lead for children’s services in the London Borough of Brent. Amina is passionate about the health and wellbeing of babies, children and young people. She has trained in both paediatrics (MRCPCH) and general practice (MRCGP). Amina has completed a post-CCT fellowship in child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) and a diploma in working in children and adolescent mental health. I am a core committee member in the Royal College of GP’s adolescent health special interest group.

As the Strategic Clinical Lead for Children’s Services in Brent, the scope of her role includes supporting better outcomes for Brent children in CAMHS, childhood obesity and dental caries, SEND, children with long term conditions and liaising with children’s safeguarding teams. As a GP with Barnardo’s, the largest national children's charity in the UK, she supports their work towards becoming a leading provider of integrated health and social care services across the country band, developing commissionable healthcare delivery models as part of its signature programs.

Amina established Iraq's first centre for personal development, resilience building and mentoring for orphaned children (Hikayati) and developed the governance, supervision and training structures for a network of family mental health clinics across the country including in rural and underserved areas.

She is passionate about education and training, both for fellow health care professionals and community groups. As well as an M.Sc. in Medical Education, Amina is a WHO FIDES health influencer and an accredited trainer for multiple programmes including the youth MHFA, children and war foundation’s trauma recovery intervention, and the Anna Freud National Autism trainers’ program. She enjoys public speaking and workshop facilitation and regularly presents at conferences and workshops for professionals, young people and families on mental health and wellbeing.

Amina has won multiple awards for her work, including the Imperial College Emerging Alumni leader award (2023) and the Empowered women's network outstanding achievement of the year (2023). In 2021, she was a finalist for the PULSE General Practice awards (GP Rising Star award).

Dr Emma Rengasamy

Dr Emma Rengasamy is currently an academic GP trainee doing an academic clinical fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Her current project is in the area of child and adolescent mental health. She is also one of the education and training officers for the International Association of Adolescent Health. Emma has a strong interest in adolescent health and mental health. 

Dr Liz Hare 

Dr Liz Hare qualified in 1992 from the Liverpool Medical School and completed an MRCGP in 2003 after completing basic surgical training and gaining FRCSI. She completed her Dermatology Diploma as part of a community surgery service and joined AHG in circa 2016 and remains very engaged to this day. Liz is sighted on medical writing about Young People’s health topics, and is a case reviewer for NCEPOD on Transition, Endometriosis and JIA research studies. 

Dr Stephanie Lamb

Dr Stephanie is a GP partner in a group practice covering a diverse inner-city population of 15,500 in Lambeth, South London and founder and Clinical Director of the Well Centre, a young person’s integrated health hub with Primary Care, Health and Wellbeing Link workers and CAMHS.

She has a special interest in developing accessible, young people friendly services in Primary Care and developing targeted services to more vulnerable groups of young people.

She has been GP lead of the Children and Young People’s Health Partnership, (now CHILDS) since 2013.

She is Chair of the RCGP Adolescent Health Group.

David Fox

Dr David Fox is a GP with over 15 years experience. His long-standing interest in adolescent health has been shaped by witnessing the lasting impact of unmet needs during this stage of life. This has driven his commitment to improving early identification, advocacy, and support for young people—particularly those who are neurodivergent or facing social disadvantage.

He believes general practice has a vital, yet often overlooked, role in supporting young people and providing early intervention. As Clinical Director of Hastings PCN, he has led projects focused on adolescent mental health, frequent vulnerable users, and asthma outreach. 

David is also a GP trainer and is committed to developing practical, relevant training that equips GPs to better support young people.

Tola Salami

Tola Salami is a GP in Leicester with a special interest in adolescent health. An international medical graduate, she completed her GP training in East England while serving on faculty, teaching resident doctors learning and feedback techniques.
Her experience brings valuable perspective to working with diverse youth populations. Tola recognises adolescent health's impact on future wellbeing and is currently involved in taking medical students through courses helpful for their wellbeing.

She advocates for holistic, youth-friendly services addressing both physical and mental health needs.

This led to her RCGP Adolescent Health Special Interest Group membership, where she raises professional awareness.

Through her roles as a clinician and educator, she offers particular insight into supporting minority youth.

 

Amina Al Yassin

I am a General Practitioner in the NHS and Barnardo’s and the Clinical Lead for Children’s services in the London Borough of Brent. I am passionate about the health and wellbeing of babies, children and young people. I have trained in both paediatrics (MRCPCH) and general practice (MRCGP) and have completed a post-CCT fellowship in child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) and a diploma in working in children and adolescent mental health. I am a core committee member in the Royal College of GP’s adolescent health special interest group

As the Strategic Clinical Lead for Children’s Services in Brent the scope of my role includes supporting better outcomes for Brent children in CAMHS, childhood obesity and dental caries, SEND, children with long term conditions and liaising with children’s safeguarding teams. As a GP with Barnardo’s, the largest national children's charity in the UK, I am supporting their work towards becoming a leading provider of integrated health and social care services across the country band developing commissionable healthcare delivery models as part of its signature programs.

I established Iraq's first centre for personal development, resilience building and mentoring for orphaned children (Hikayati) and developed the governance, supervision and training structures for a network of family mental health clinics across the country including in rural and underserved areas.

I am passionate about education and training, both for fellow health care professionals as well as community groups. As well as a MSc in Medical Education, I am a WHO FIDES Health influencer and am an accredited trainer for multiple programmes including the youth MHFA, children and war foundation’s trauma recovery intervention, the Anna Freud National Autism trainers program. I enjoy public speaking and workshop facilitation and regularly present at conferences and run workshops for professionals, young people and families on mental health and wellbeing.

I have won multiple awards for my work including the Imperial College Emerging Alumni leader award (2023) and the Empowered women's network outstanding achievement of the year (2023). In 2021 I was a finalist for the PULSE General Practice awards (GP Rising star award).

 

Dr Ichechim White

Dr Ichechim White works as an NHS GP. She has a specialist interest in adolescent health. She also has an interest in approaching chronic disease management using lifestyle medicine and transformative coaching, promoting health equity amongst marginalised groups. 

 

She leads a clinic for young people to receive support for their physical, sexual and mental health needs. 

 

She has worked as a GP facilitator for a co-developed chronic pain project in partnership with Thriving Stockwell and King’s Health Partners. This programme received high commendation by the HSJ (health and social justice awards).

 

She is a member of the health professionals for safer screens. She enjoys working in partnership with the voluntary sector and collaboratively with patients and supports a local mentoring charity. She has delivered training to health professionals, mentors and young people around adolescent health needs, health equity and digital media safety.

 

Dr Emma Park

Dr Park has a longstanding interest in the care of adolescents stemming from her medical school elective at a dedicated adolescent clinic in Montreal.

She is a member of the RCGP Adolescent Clinical interest Group. As part of this group she has contributed to the RCGP Confidentiality Toolkit as well as national guidance such as the You’re Welcome” criteria, and “Developing developmentally appropriate Healthcare” in conjunction with AYPH. She has worked in Youth Sexual health clinics and is a GP trainer. Dr Park undertakes peer review of referral letters for gynaecology and provides education in this area as part of the CASES project in Sheffield.

Currently she has been involved in the successful Sheffield bid to move sexual health and community gynaecology into primary care.

 

Dr Richard Churchill

Richard Churchill is a retired academic GP with a long-standing interest in adolescent health from both research and clinical perspectives.  He is a former Chair of the RCGP Adolescent Health Group, a founder and trustee of the Association for Young People’s Health (AYPH) and currently serves on the Education Committee of the International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH). 

 

Dr Dhiviya Tharan

Dr Dhiviya Tharan is an NHS GP working in Salford, Greater Manchester who has specialist interests in child health (MRCPCH) and women's health (DRCOG). She has experience working with deprived and refugee patient populations and had a strong interest in improving adolescent healthcare in general practice.