Professor Chris Hollis
Clinician and academic psychiatrist at the University of Nottingham, and founder of the NIHR MindTech HealthTech Research Centre. Chris is an international leader in digital mental health and has advanced the adoption of evidence-based technologies across the NHS and global healthcare systems.
Work Package Co-Lead
Pauline Whelan
Pauline is Professor of Digital Mental Health at the University of Manchester and Chief Operating Officer at CareLoop Health Ltd, a digital mental health company supporting people with serious mental illness. With nearly 20 years’ experience in digital health, she is an Honorary Professor at Swansea University and specializes in designing, developing and implementing digital mental health technologies.
Co-Lead
Trina Histon
Co-Lead
Trina is the founder of Percolating Health and an internationally recognised expert in digital health, behaviour change, and healthcare innovation. With over 20 years’ experience at the intersection of clinical care, psychology and technology, Trina brings academic rigour and real‑world insight to partnerships focused on improving lives.
Charlotte Stockton-Powdrell
Operations Lead
Charlie leads the Digital Health Software team at the University of Manchester and is Co‑Director of the GM.Digital Research Unit at GMMH. As Operational Lead for the Digital Innovation Workstream of the MHG Programme, she draws on nearly 20 years in health research, with a focus on co‑designing digital tools for mental and physical health.
Judith Gellatly
Judith works in the Division of Informatics, Imaging & Data Sciences at the University of Manchester. She has managed multi‑centre research trials to improve outcomes for adults with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and OCD, and has also contributed to studies on physical health conditions including diabetes, asthma and musculoskeletal pain.
Programme Manager
Mia Vines Booth
Communications and Media Manager
Mia manages MHDI's communication and engagement across press, social media, external stakeholders and community outreach. Mia has a background in digital media, community journalism, and academic research.
Gilson Tam
Programme Coordinator
Gilson is based at the University of Manchester. Previously, he worked as a Junior Technical Project Officer in the University’s Digital Health Software team, supporting digital health applications, managing budgets, organising meetings and performing system testing to ensure quality, reliability and smooth delivery.
Work Package Leads
Victoria Bretton
Work Package Lead
Victoria brings over thirty years of experience across the NHS, local government, the third sector, and digital health startups. A qualified social worker and certified coach, Victoria is recognised for her expertise in people-centred design, systems thinking, and digital strategy, with a focus on driving the meaningful adoption of technology in healthcare.
Barnaby Perks
Work Package Lead
Clinician and academic psychiatrist at the University of Nottingham, and founder of the NIHR MindTech HealthTech Research Centre. Chris is an international leader in digital mental health and has advanced the adoption of evidence-based technologies across the NHS and global healthcare systems.
Becca Randell
Work Package Lead
Becca Randell leads children and young people’s work for Health Innovation KSS and NIHR ARC, with extensive experience in evidence‑based mental health improvement. She brings over twenty‑five years of commissioning experience and contributes to several charities and advisory groups.
Jenny Brooks
Work Package Lead
Jenny is an experienced programme lead and health data analyst with a background across the NHS, voluntary sector and local government. She has delivered projects on health inequalities, social prescribing and community‑led prevention, and also serves as a charity trustee, coach and Action Learning Set facilitator.
Alessandra Scola
Implementation Team
Alessandra is a Programme Coordinator for the Health Innovation KSS team, supporting the organisation’s Digital, Data, and Artificial Intelligence portfolio. She brings experience in project management across both the public and private sectors, including global marketing with blue-chip clients and NHS national programmes.
Dr Aaron Kandola
Work Package Co-Lead
Digital mental health researcher and Chief Scientific Officer with experience across academia, government, investment, and industry. Aaron has held roles at UCL, Wellcome Trust, the Department of Health and Social Care, Zinc VC, juli Health, and the Mental Health Foundation, giving him a system-wide view on developing and scaling evidence-based health and AI technologies and building cross-sector collaboration.
Heidi Tranter
Programme Manager
Heidi leads the GM.Digital Research Unit at the GMMH Trust and the University of Manchester. She is a Programme Manager for the Digital Innovation Workstream of the MHG Programme. Heidi manages the delivery of research projects which focus on collecting mental health data, and co-developing digital tools to improve mental health care and service delivery.
Marta Chmielowska
Research Fellow
Marta brings together interdisciplinary expertise, strategic insight, and a strong commitment to user-centred design to understand how digital health products can be effectively implemented and sustained within NHS services. Marta chairs the Digital Health Reading and Research Group.
Our team
MDHI brings together a wealth of experience across industry, healthcare and tech.