Meet The Team

Matthew McFeeley

I was pleased to join the Board of Trustees of the Brazelton Centre UK in June 2018 to assist the Board with legal matters.

In my ‘day job’ I am a solicitor working on environmental and planning law. I originally qualified as a lawyer in the United States, where I worked for an environmental charity. Before studying law, I got a Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Chicago and an undergraduate degree in Cell Biology at UC San Diego. As a new parent I was fascinated to learn more about how tiny babies communicate and I’m delighted to help the Brazelton Centre in its important work to support parent-infant relationships.

Susan Pawlby

I have been a trustee on the Board of the Brazelton Centre UK for 4 years and its Chair for the past year. I am both NBAS and NBO trained, first using the NBAS when it was in its infancy in 1976. I trained as a developmental psychologist gaining my clinical and academic doctorate at the University of Nottingham and have over 40 years of experience working with mothers and babies both in clinical and research contexts. I trained in observational methodology and have pioneered the use of the NBAS and video feedback techniques in supporting the developing relationship between mothers with severe mental illness and their infants.

Until December 2016 I was a Lecturer in the Section of Perinatal Psychiatry at King’s College London (KCL), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and a member of the Multi-Disciplinary Team on the Channi Kumar Mother and Baby Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. Since my retirement, I hold a Visiting Senior Research Fellow appointment at KCL and an honorary contract with SLaM.

I have undertaken several research studies, notably the South London Child Development Study (SLCDS). Over a period of 25 years I have worked on the SLCDS, a prospective, longitudinal community study begun in pregnancy, looking at the effects of the mother’s experience of childhood maltreatment, maternal depression in pregnancy and child maltreatment on the offspring into young adulthood. I have published widely on this subject in peer-reviewed journals and presented research findings at international and national conferences. I provided expert advice to the NSPCC’s All Babies Count Campaign and am a member of the Early Years’ Champions working group dedicated to pushing forward the all-party manifesto on the First 1001 Critical Days from conception to 2 years. I gave expert evidence before the All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry committed to the prevention of problems in childhood and adolescence, through early intervention in pregnancy and the first years. Currently I am one of the experts advising the Ministerial Early Years Family Support Group and am a member of the NHS England Perinatal Parent Infant Pathway Expert Reference Group.

Maggie Redshaw

Maggie Redshaw is an internationally renowned developmental psychologist with over 150 publications. Over the last 30 years, key aspects of her work have included the experiences and longer term development of babies born preterm. Dr Redshaw’s work has also included the experiences of mothers and fathers and neonatal intensive care staff and the organisation and delivery of neonatal intensive care. She has also undertaken studies exploring developmental care of full term and preterm babies.

Her extensive research studies include qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research, often focusing on the needs of new mothers and families. She has a global perspective on health care issues and has conducted internationally-based research with studies in Australia at the University of Queensland. She is an editor for the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology and associate editor for BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. She is a co-editor for the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology and is currently associate editor of BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

In 1998 Maggie was a founder member of the Brazelton Centre UK, which she has continued to support, joining the board of trustees in 2016 and is chair of the Training Committee.

Rodney Rivers

Reader in Paediatrics (emeritus) Imperial College School of Medicine (and formerly of St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, Paddington).

As consultant paediatrician and neonatologist, I established the level 3 neonatal intensive care unit at St Mary’s and organised the undergraduate course in paediatrics for the St Mary’s and, subsequently, for the Imperial College Medical Students. I had a particular interest in supporting psychological studies incorporating the NBAS in the 1970s on the neonatal unit, and in involving parents in their baby’s care, even when very premature. I supported the introduction of the Neonatal Individualised Developmental Care Program (NIDCAP) on the neonatal unit at St Mary’s – the first unit in the UK to do so, and gave regular antenatal class talks to parents stressing a baby’s capabilities, even at birth, and providing “Dr Brazelton –based” details on their subsequent “communication” capabilities in early life.

I was co-author of the book “Born Too Early” Oxford University Press, 1985, directed towards parents of preterm infants and their health visitors and doctors who would be interacting with these families after they had left hospital. It has been a much appreciated honour to become a Trustee of the Brazelton Centre UK.

Victoria Whelan

I joined the Brazelton Centre UK as a Trustee shortly after returning to work following maternity leave for my first child. I was intrigued by the work of the Brazelton Centre UK and fascinated to learn of the support they provide to families and health professionals during those crucial first weeks.

I now have 3 wonderful daughters and my fascination for the work of the Brazelton Centre UK has become a passion. I have a firm belief that every child and new family should have the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge, understanding and wisdom obtained from the NBO and NBAS courses provided by the Brazelton Centre UK.

Following university I undertook the NHS graduate management training scheme and went onto become a General Manager within the NHS and worked in a number of different hospitals. I then moved to Ernst & Young where I am now a Partner in the health practice, working with the NHS to advise and support them to improve performance: be that in the quality of care provided to patients, in the value for money of the services provided, or in the experience of service users and their carers. I love being able to bring both my health sector knowledge as well as my commercial experience to my work as a Trustee for the Brazelton Centre UK.

Duncan White

Trustee – Treasurer

I am the Chief Administration Officer for HSBC Commercial Banking in the United Kingdom, where I carry responsibility for running, changing and setting the future priorities of a business serving the UK’s business community. With a 25 year career spread over 8 countries from Asia through the Middle East to North America, I have now settled back in the UK, where I have settled in North Yorkshire with my wife and 2 children.

I joined the Brazelton Centre UK Board early in 2018, where I serve as Treasurer, assisting in particular with the setting of future priorities to continue to extend the Charity’s influence and impact.