Dr Partha Kar is a Consultant and National Specialty Advisor, Diabetes, NHS UK. Partha is part of the national team that undertook the data analysis around Covid-19, which subsequently contributed to vaccine prioritisation via JCVI, as well as risk tools such as Q-COVID risk tool developed by Oxford. Partha has also helped in developing information portals and language specific videos to help increase uptake of Covid-19 vaccines, by working with colleagues across the UK.

Partha is involved in diabetes care, and championing technology access in diabetes (Libre, CGM in Type 1 Diabetes). He has led work on interactions between HCPs and patients (“Language Matters”),  pioneered online self-management programmes for diabetes, as well as being co-creator of TAD (Talking About Diabetes) and Type 1 Diabetes comic (Volume 1, 2 and 3). Partha is an avid user of social media to engage with patients and was recognised as a “Social media Pioneer” by HSJ in 2014.  He also writes a monthly blog for the BMJ, has a personal blog (“Sugar and Spice: Wish all things were nice”) and a podcast (“Sweet Talking”). Partha was recently awarded an OBE for “services to Diabetes care”.

A huge fan of movies and an avid reader of comic books, Partha’s favourite food is Biriyani, but generally any good food, with a partiality towards Vietnamese too! He speaks English, Bengali and Hindi. Loves cricket and holidays where you do nothing.

Dr Shamaila Anwar is a Science Communicator and Team Halo Guide. She has a PhD in epidemiology and a background in health research and is interested in understanding health inequalities and improving health and science literacy through community engagement.

Her work during the COVID pandemic has focused on understanding societal views about vaccines, the impact of misinformation and disinformation and how to effectively communicate health messaging to underserved communities.

Sean Elias is working as part of the Covid-19 vaccine trial team both in the lab and as part of the SciComms team at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford.

Sean is a postdoctoral immunologist and  ‘Public Engagement with Research’ (PER) leader based. He has a keen interest in the human immune system with previous work on T cells, B cells and antibodies for various diseases including Malaria, Ebolavirus, Salmonella and now Covid-19. On the SciComms front, Sean has a keen interest in developing educational materials for schools and the general public, in particular through the medium of board games. During the pandemic he has also provided photos, videos, explainers and most recently GIFS to the world’s media on behalf of the Covid-19 vaccine research team.

When not in the lab Sean is a keen triathlete, cricketer & football player, avid board gamer and lover of ALL things Star Wars.

Dr Bnar Talabani is a scientist and Wellcome Trust Fellow (Immunology) and a Clinical Academic Trainee (Nephrology & Transplant Medicine). She is currently doing a PhD in immunology looking at the role of inflammation in organ injury and scarring. 

Bnar helped to set up Muslim Doctors Cymru, a grassroots network of over 60 doctors across Wales, who provide information about Covid-19 and the vaccines in a range of languages, including Urdu, Pashtu, Punjabi, Bangla, Kurdish, Arabic, and Somali. The network also works with local authorities and mosques to build trust with local communities. 

Bnar speaks Kurdish & English. She was born in Northern Iraq and moved to the UK as a refugee, aged 10. She now lives in Wales with her husband and 3 year old daughter. She loves exploring the outdoors, cooking and spending time with family.