Brief speaker biographies for our 2025 conference faculty will be added here as we receive them.
Emma Blowers
Emma Blowers is the manager of the Health, Wellbeing and Care Hub at the University of Essex. Emma is a chartered Physiotherapist, qualifying at the University of Nottingham in 2005. She has worked across acute and community settings in Suffolk and North East Essex, predominantly focusing her clinical skills in paediatric neurology and orthopaedic physiotherapy. Emma has operationally led a variety of childrens and adult services during her career. Prior to joining the University of Essex, Emma was General Manager for a large portfolio of community rehabilitation, nursing and specialist services, at East Suffolk and North East Essex Foundation Trust. Her clinical interests focus on children and young people with SEN and complex neurological conditions. Emma is passionate about integrated service provision and collaborative working at system level.
Emmanuel Ovola (Cultural Health Club)
Emmanuel is the founder of the Cultural Health Club and running community London Select. He has a BSc in Sports Therapy and an MSc in Physiotherapy. He is passionate about the culture of health care in minority communities and how minority healthcare professionals support these communities. Emmanuel is a Nike athlete and running coach and prides himself on bridging the gap between the science and the general population, and developing the quality of health and wellbeing through his work and leadership.
Zubair Haleem (Arsenal FC)
Zubair is a highly experienced physiotherapist with over 13 years of clinical expertise, currently working as a Senior Academy Physiotherapist at Arsenal FC, where he leads the performance and rehabilitation of the U21 squad. Alongside his career in elite sport, Zubair has maintained a strong connection with the NHS and academia, most recently as the Clinical Research Team Lead at Barts Health NHS Trust in a joint role with Queen Mary University of London. His research interests, under the guidance of Professor Dylan Morrissey, focussed on the Tendinopathy Effects and Mechanisms (TEAM) project, exploring innovative approaches to improve tendon health. Zubair now leads the Tendon Clinic at Mile End Hospital, where he applies his expertise in musculoskeletal health to improve patient care. He has a special interest in digital healthcare technology, striving to enhance patient outcomes and streamline clinical pathways through innovation.
Khalid Maidan (Clinical Physio)
Khalid is a Co-Founder of Clinical Physio, a platform dedicated to empowering physiotherapy students and new graduates to become exceptional clinicians. His passion for education was sparked early in his career when he struggled to find the right resources to advance his own skills. Determined to change this, he set out to create the highest quality learning tools to help others grow with confidence and self-belief. This mission remains at the heart of Clinical Physio today, a commitment you’ll experience first hand in his presentation.
Lakshmi Tulasi Bodepudi (EPUT)
Lakshmi has worked for EPUT since 2013. She is currently working in a split role – Advanced Physiotherapist and also as AHP Preceptorship Lead. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy in India before working there as a lecturer and also in MSK outpatients before moving to the UK.
Ellen Goode
Ellen is a specialist cardio-respiratory physiotherapist at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where she is the Deputy Team Lead in the Critical Care Unit. Ellen has a special interest in rehabilitating patients on ECMO and BiVAD support. She began her career with general rotations before joining Royal Papworth as a Band 5, eventually progressing to her current leadership role. Her passion for critical care grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she worked closely with multidisciplinary teams. In the past year, Ellen has expanded her practice to include lung ultrasound and tracheostomy decannulation, further enhancing her clinical skills.
Paul Rees
Paul is a cisgender, gay male (He/Him), and he graduated with a BSc in Podiatry in 1999, followed by a physiotherapy preregistration MSc in 2006. His career as a physiotherapist focused on musculoskeletal medicine, with a particular emphasis on persistent pain management - he worked with individuals experiencing long-term, chronic pain in West Birmingham. Over the years, he progressed to the role of an Advanced Clinical Practitioner before transitioning in July 2024 to an operational and leadership position as Deputy Directorate Lead for Ambulatory Care and End of Life at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.
Paul has been a committed member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) throughout his career, serving as a workplace steward for over 10 years. Since 2018, he has been involved with the CSP’s LGBTQIA+ network, and in the autumn of 2023, was elected as Vice Chair. He then stepped into the role of Chair in the summer of 2024. During this time, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate on several important initiatives, including the CSP’s Equality, Diversity, and Belonging strategy (published in 2021) and the more recent Transgender Practice Guidelines. He's also participated in several podcasts, sharing his experiences as a gay male AHP. In 2021, he had the privilege of leading a panel discussion on LGBTQIA+ issues in sport for the network.
Paul recently completed an MSc in Professional Practice (Healthcare), conducting primary qualitative research on chronic pain reconceptualisation—an area central to his clinical practice. He's passionate about further exploring this therapeutic approach in the future, with the goal of improving service delivery and patient outcomes by empowering individuals to better understand their condition.
Outside of work, Paul married his husband Stewart in 2022. They love traveling together whenever the time and money will allow and are both extremely excited to visit Vietnam in March.
Laurie Clarke
Laurie Clarke is a Band 7 Physiotherapist for Vascular, Surgery and Amputees at Basildon Hospital. He has worked at Basildon for 4 and a half years, most of which have been in the surgical team as a 5, 6 and now 7. Laurie is also a CSP steward for the hospital.