Staff profiles

Charlotte Burnside

Deputy Head of Health and Care Professionals

Charlotte graduated from University of Central England in 1999 with a BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography; then she completed a Pg Diploma and MSc in Advanced Practice Nuclear Imaging at Salford University in 2006. She was practising as a Diagnostic Radiographer from 1999-2008 specialising in Radionuclide Imaging. In 2008...

Lewis Clemson

Lecturer in Operating Department Practice

Lewis qualified as an Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) in 2017. Once qualified, he worked at a Major Trauma Centre, helping to care for patients with severe life-threatening injuries. He was able to experience the perioperative care of patients undergoing complex procedures within Orthopaedics (both elective and...

Sam Davies

Lecturer in Paramedic Science

Sam completed his first undergraduate degree at The University of Central Lancashire studying BSc (Hons) in Fire and Leadership Studies. Soon after graduating he started with West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust as a Student Paramedic where he completed by Associate Ambulance Practitioner...

Paul Finnemore

Lecturer in Operating Department Practice

Paul is an Operating Department Practitioner and Alumni of BCU. During his training he attended the Birmingham hospitals circuit rotation for his first year and at City Hospital for his second. Paul initially worked at City Hospital post qualification for three and a half years, and then moved to Birmingham Children’s...

Laura Garbett

BSc ODP Course Leader / Senior Lecturer in Operating Department Practice

Laura is an Operating Department Practitioner registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Clinical experience includes anesthetic, surgical (scrub), post-anesthetic care and resuscitation. She successfully completed the Resuscitation Council Advanced Life Support Course & European Advanced Life Support Courses to...

Karen Gubbins

Senior Lecturer & Course Lead for Paramedic Science

Karen joined West Midlands Ambulance Service in 1996 and qualified as a paramedic in 1998 within the Birmingham area. She was promoted to a first line manager in 2000 working with Wolverhampton. Karen then moved into the Training and Education Department in 2004 as worked as an Ambulance Tutor teaching all aspects of patient...

Sharon Hardwick

Associate Professor of Life Sciences

Sharon has been a paramedic for over 20 years after starting her career with West Midlands Ambulance Service working in Coventry. In 2001 she became a clinical supervisor in what was Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, where she supported and mentored newly qualified staff through their training period. As part of...

Gema Mee

Lecturer in Paramedic Science

Before joining West Midlands Ambulance Service in 2016 as a student paramedic, Gema worked as a journalist across several daily and weekly local newspapers with an original focus on music journalism, which led her to complete her Post Graduate Diploma in Music Industry Management at the University of West London. During her...

Katie O'Connor

Lecturer in Operating Department Practice / Admissions Tutor

Katie's career as an ODP began at Birmingham City University 15 years ago when she undertook the Diploma in Higher Education in Operating Department Practice, she has been qualified for almost 13 years. Since qualification Katie has worked full time in the clinical environment working pre-dominantly in anaesthetics and...

Julie Quick

ODP Apprenticeship Course Leader / Senior Lecturer Clinical Lead & Enterprise/Research

Julie has spent 25 years working within the perioperative environment. In her last NHS post she worked as a Surgical Care Practitioner in general surgery at Trust within the West Midlands. Julie is passionate about perioperative care and has a particular interest in surgery, research and advancing surgical roles.