Better health at lower cost
Our team
Bazian has one of the most experienced and cohesive teams producing evidence-based analyses in the UK. We employ doctors, epidemiologists, librarians and scientists, and train them intensively in evidence-based methods, analysis, communication, and implementation before they start work. Our core in-house team includes:
Dr Vivek Muthu
Vivek is cofounder and Chief Executive of Bazian. The depth of Vivek's clinical and scientific knowledge has been key to Bazian's ability to innovate, design and scale systems for producing large volumes of high quality evidence quickly and efficiently. Vivek holds a first class honours degree in medicine and surgery from Oxford and Cambridge and worked at London's Queen Square, the Hammersmith and John Radcliffe Hospitals before becoming a Clinical Editor for Clinical Evidence at the British Medical Journal. Vivek has also held an honorary post at the Wessex Institute for Health Research and Development at the University of Southampton.
Dr Rob Cook
Rob is Bazian's Clinical Programmes Director, responsible for running our scientific unit and its team of informaticists and evidologists. Rob earned his medical degree from Guy's Hospital in London before working in general practice in Britain and New Zealand. While enrolled in a Masters of Public Health at Auckland University in 2001, Rob became the Medical Director and Senior Project Manager for the New Zealand Guidelines Group, coordinating and managing the development of cardiovascular guidelines. Joining Bazian at the beginning of 2006, he applies evidence to knowledge management systems, quality processes and clinical decision support tools.
Harri Mandhar
Harri is responsible for Operations and Business Development at Bazian. She has a first class honours degree in Applied and HumanBiology from Aston University. Harri worked as a research scientist at GlaxoSmithKline, followed by product development and operational roles at Mars Inc. She then moved into healthcare, specifically pharmaceutical procurement and operating models at Nuffield Health, followed by programme management and business development at Humana Healthcare.
Urmila Bhatt
Urmila is Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive and Corporate Services Manager. She ensures the day to day functioning of Bazian goes as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, including liaising with clients and suppliers, financial control and HR. She has worked in the public and private sectors, with responsibility for close liaison with senior staff from private companies to government departments. She has attained MBA from the University of Westminster, London.
Anelia Boshnakova
Anelia is an Information Specialist working as part of the Bazian team to develop the new NHS Evidence specialist service. She has been involved in the development of the NHS Evidence specialist collections, previously known as the NHS National Library for Health Specialist Libraries for the last six years. Past roles include information specialist support for a Department of Health funded systematic review project and a more traditional library role at the University of South Africa (UNISA) Library. Anelia has an MA in English from Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria, and a Master's degree in Library Science (MLS) from Syracuse University, USA.
Sarah Caton
Sarah is a Health Research Analyst in the science unit. She holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the George Washington University in the US, and a Master’s of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Prior to joining Bazian, Sarah worked in research management and administration in the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas – Austin.
Janet Clapton
Janet is a Senior Information Specialist at Bazian, contributing to the development and maintenance of the NHS Evidence hub that Bazian manages. Her previous career included developing methodologies in information specialism at the Social Care Institute for Excellence, and working in the information team at Diabetes UK. Prior to her information career, she was a hospital Biomedical Scientist. She has an MSc in Information Science and a BSc in Biomedical Science and is a keen practitioner researcher, promoting the importance of evidence based practice in library and information science as well as in health care.
Rob Davies
Rob is a Health Research Analyst working as part of the science unit to produce high quality, rapid analysis of health research. Prior to joining Bazian Rob worked in public health analysis and cancer immunology in the public and private sector respectively. Rob holds an undergraduate degree in Human Biology from the University of Birmingham and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Nottingham.
Naila Dracup
Naila is an Information Specialist, responsible for searching, sifting and appraising the medical information in relation to Fertility and childbirth, Gynaecological disorders, Renal and urogenital disorders and Sexual health. Naila has a degree in Sociology from the University of Leeds and a Master's in Information Studies from Leeds Metropolitan University. She previously worked as an Information Specialist for NHS Evidence – cancer at the Churchill hospital in Oxford and in the Information Centre in Leeds Public library.
Dr Mary Hughes
Mary is a Health Research Analyst. Mary holds a first class degree in Neuroscience from the University of Sussex. She completed a Masters in Clinical Neuroscience (with distinction) and a PhD from the Institute of Neurology, University College London. Prior to joining Bazian, Mary was a postdoctoral research fellow at King’s College London.
Dr Alan Lovell
Alan is Bazian's Information Services Manager, overseeing the horizon scanning, searching, collating and appraisal work for Bazian’s growing portfolio of products; he is also the manager for Bazian’s NHS Evidence Hub and managing editor for the journals Evidence-Based Mental Health, Evidence-Based Medicine and Evidence-Based Nursing. Alan has a degree in Biology from Royal Holloway, University of London, and gained his doctorate from the University of Warwick. He worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Sainte-Justine Hospital, University of Montreal before receiving an MA with distinction in Information Studies from the University of Brighton.
Dr Alexandra McAleenan
Alexandra is a Health Research Analyst working as part of the science unit to carry out high quality, rapid analysis of health research. Alexandra obtained a first class MBiochem from Oxford University. She then gained a Masters in Research (with distinction) and her PhD from the Clinical Sciences Centre, part of Imperial College. Prior to joining Bazian, Alexandra was a postdoctoral research fellow at Imperial College.
Elly O'Brien
Elly is an Information Specialist, contributing to NHS Evidence by identifying and adding value to specialist resources, identifying treatment uncertainties (DUETs) and producing Evidence Updates. Elly focuses on the subjects: anaesthesia, cardiovascular system disorders, critical care, perioperative care and surgery. Before joining Bazian, Elly worked in a number of specialist medical and social science information services. Elly holds a Master's in Library and Information Studies from University College London.
Li Kuan Stubbs
Li Kuan is Project Support Manager at Bazian. She runs the team that provides project-specific administrative support to projects, including managing our library access and literature retrieval. She also manages the day to day operations for the Evidence-Based Mental Health, Evidence-Based Medicine and Evidence-Based Nursing Journals. Before joining Bazian in August 2007, Li Kuan was pursuing a doctorate in Science and Technology Policy Studies in the University of Sussex where she gained an MSc in Technology and Innovation Management in 2005. She started a teaching career in the University of Malaya (Malaysia) in 2002 before receiving an MSc with distinction in Philosophy and Science and Technology Studies from the same university.
Dr Rachel Taft
Rachel is a Medical Research Analyst. Rachel holds a degree in medicine from University of Wales College of Medicine and has worked in general medicine, care of the elderly, surgery and general practice. Having developed an interest in epidemiology and health behaviour, she worked in the public health department of the Mid Sussex PCT prior to joining Bazian in 2006. At Bazian she has worked on more than 150 NHS-approved pathways for the Map of Medicine, and has been the lead analyst on projects for various clients including NHS PASA-CEP.
Dr Alicia White
Alicia is Bazian's Health Research Analyst Manager, overseeing the production of systematic reviews. Alicia has a first class honours degree in Genetics from the University of Sheffield and received her doctorate from the University of Manchester. She worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at University College London before joining Bazian.
Danielle Worster
Danielle is a Senior Information Specialist at Bazian, responsible for the development of an evidence-based information hub, systematic searching, tagging, and appraisal of new evidence. She has previously worked in health charities, a national collaborating centre for NICE guidelines, and the BMJ. She has worked on an innovative just-in-time information study, based at the University of Ottawa in Canada, that aimed to answer clinicians' questions in 20 minutes or less. She has a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Western Ontario and studied Psychology at the University of British Columbia.