Our Partners
Vanessa Winfield (MSc)
Tess is a HCPC registered Biomedical Scientist with over 30 years’ experience in the Blood Transfusion field. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience having progressed in her career from a trainee Biomedical Scientist (BMS) to Senior BMS, Head of Laboratory then to her current national role of Process Improvement Manager. In this role, Tess leads on continuous improvement and regulatory compliance for the Red Cell Immunohaematology Department in NHS Blood and Transplant. She has an MSc in Pathological Science and is certified to Lean Competency Level 2b by The Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University. Tess has led on many improvement events (Local small scale and National large scale), utilising her expertise in CI tools to optimise and standardise processes, as well as, support implementation projects across a national service in England (7 Red Cell Immunohaematology laboratories). In addition to this Tess led in RCI’s transition to UKAS ISO15189 accreditation from CPA standards and manages national documentation to ensure on going compliance with ISO15189. Tess is an experienced internal auditor against ISO15189 and ISO18001 and is the functional lead for Data Integrity, Risk Management and Health Safety and Wellbeing.
Shane Grimsley (DipRCPath)
Shane is a registered Clinical Scientist. He has worked at the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory since 2009, as laboratory manager from 2015 and commenced the HSST to become a Consultant Clinical Scientist in 2020, for which he currently holds a diplomate in Pathology from the Royal College of Pathologists, UK. Shane has been the lead scientific advisor to the UK NEQAS Red Cell Genotyping scientific advisory group since 2017. He is an active member of the editorial board for Immunohematology as well as a reviewer for Transfusion, Vox Sanguinis and Transfusion Medicine. He won the 2020 Race and Sanger Award from British Blood Transfusion Society. He is an international scientific speaker and a workshop instructor for immunohematology topics in conference programs, such as ISBT. Shane helps lead a team of skilled and passionate scientists to resolve the world’s most complex immunohematology cases, contributing to ground-breaking projects that have improved the standards of care for patients.
Matthew Hazell (PhD, DClinSci, FRCPath)
Matt is a HCPC registered Clinical Scientist with over 20 years’ experience working in clinical and scientific research roles. He has advanced level training in Transfusion Medicine having completed an E-portfolio of evidence demonstrating work to Consultant Clinical Scientist level; a level 8 PGDip in Leadership and Management in Healthcare Sciences; a DClinSci and FRCPath Part I and Part II exams, granting him fellowship to the Royal College of Pathologists. In addition, he holds a PhD in Biology and has extensive experience in antibody technology, immunogen design and medical assay development. He is also trained to LCS level 1b - CI Practitioner Training, through which he has been involved in and led on CI activities to influence positive change. Matt is an acting member of the UK NEQAS-BTLP, holding the role of scientific chair of the UK NEQAS Feto-Maternal Haemorrhage Specialist Advisory Group. He is also an internationally recognised speaker and a member of the BGS Committee, taking an active role in conference planning and delivery.
