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Tracey McErlain-Burns, Board Chair

Tracey first joined the NHS as a cadet in 1979 and worked until the end of 2019 when taking retirement. For the final 21 years of her career, she was an executive director of nursing/chief nurse, with a range of portfolio leadership responsibilities including IT, quality, governance, legal, emergency planning, resilience, response and recovery and HR. In 2020 Tracey returned to the NHS as a band 5 staff nurse to contribute to the pandemic response, before retiring again in 2023.

Tracey joined the board for a short period in 2017/18, but had to step down when she took up a position in Greater Manchester. Having re-joined the board in 2021, and since becoming Board Chair in 2023, Tracey brings a clear understanding of board governance to her role and a commitment to working with the regional director to support the development of board members.

Rhian Wheater, Vice Chair and Trade Union Committee Member (ex-officio)

Biography to follow

Sian Grbin, Council Member (ex-officio)

Sian has been a children's nurse for the best part of two decades working on NHS specialist wards, general paediatrics and A+E.

She also has experience in the community providing nursing care to children with complex care needs, in public health and special needs school, across Yorkshire, Lancashire and London.

Previously serving a term as staff governor at a district general hospital, and currently studying health policy, Sian believes the power to effect the change we want to see lies with the members as part of the largest nursing union and professional body in the world.

Anna Young, Professional Nursing Committee Member (ex-officio)

Biography to follow.

Emilia Merer

Emilia Merer is a registered nurse with experience of hands-on nursing in acute medical units, NHS England service improvements, managing the Professional Standards Directorate at the Royal College of Anaesthetists and as a nursing officer in the British Army. Emilia鈥檚 friends and colleagues describe some of her qualities as kindness, empathy, organisation, reflection and passion.

Emilia joined the board in January 2025. She is dedicated to ensuring that patients receive the best patient-centred, evidence-based care and that staff are empowered, motivated and committed to improving quality across the service and achieving excellence. This underpins all of Emilia鈥檚 professional practice and ethos.

Emilia is deeply passionate about her profession and has first-hand experience with the frustrations and concerns of her colleagues. Being a board member enables her to be in a position to drive forward positive change by influencing, improving and enhancing the experiences for the nursing workforce, and as a result, the patients we care for.

Masiwa Ngoza Phiri

Ngoza began her nursing career 32 years ago abroad as a registered nurse. She has worked in various senior positions including as a charge nurse, clinical educator, acting nursing officer, midwife, and running and supervising midwives in the public health and primary care sectors. In 2001, Ngoza became a research nurse and then worked with a United Nations Reproductive Health Programme as a project coordinator.

Since moving to the UK in 2004, Ngoza has worked in various acute NHS trusts. This has included at the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, where Ngoza worked as a senior nurse in stroke and neurology care and as a band 6 clinical educator. During this time, Ngoza delivered staff training and preceptorship for internationally educated nurses (IENs) for OSCE, introducing them to the RCN and helping them to join the college. Ngoza now works for the South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching NHS Trust as a specialist nurse with Migrant Health and the Home Office.

Ngoza joined the RCN in 2024 and has since represented her branch at Congress and completed the RCN’s Clinical Leadership Programme. She used to think that activism in the RCN was not for IENs but is now a voting volunteer and actively campaigns for fair pay and safer staffing.

As a board member, Ngoza is active within the college and is passionate about speaking to members, particularly IEN members, about how they can get involved and contribute to changes that affect them as members.

Joan Pons Laplana

Joan Pons Laplana is a nurse with autism who is on a mission to turn the health care system upside down and empower frontline and patients to lead together.

In addition to lobbying national organisations for change, Joan sits at the helm of several national campaigns for which he won the 2018 BJN Nurse of the Year Award. More info at .

Joan joined the board in January 2025.

Kyle McInnes

Kyle has worked in the NHS since 2008, initially as a nursing support worker and then going on to complete his nursing education to become a registered mental health nurse. Kyle has worked in senior nursing roles across Yorkshire & the Humber, with his most recent role as a nurse consultant, following completion of his advanced clinical practice degree.

Over recent years, Kyle has focused on his passion to improve the way care is delivered and the working lives of nurses, by developing safer systems of work, with a focus on easier access to quality care for the public, instigating new care pathways and enhancing systems focused design. Kyle has also established an LGBTQ+ staff network and runs a nursing forum to support staff wellbeing and explore challenging issues faced by nurses.

Kyle is starting out on his journey supporting the nursing workforce as a board member and has recently become an accredited RCN learning representative. Kyle hopes to support his nursing colleagues as a board member by ensuring a robust response on issues facing the nursing workforce, and supporting representation on the board as an LGBTQ+ member.

Lisa Cooke

Lisa is a mental health nurse working in a specialist community-based service in Doncaster. Lisa is passionate about helping people to access person-centred trauma informed care that not only is treatment focused but encompasses all aspects of their lives.

After initially joining the RCN as a student nurse, Lisa quickly became involved as a student ambassador and was recognised for her achievements with the RCN Student Ambassador of the Year Award in 2023. Since qualifying, Lisa has supported local members as a learning representative and is also treasurer of the South Yorkshire Branch.

As a board member, Lisa enjoys being involved in discussions around the strategic, operational and financial plans for the region. She also advocates for members, ensuring their voices and opinions are heard, and is involved in developing ideas, projects and working groups to further the work of the college.

Effie Robinson

Effie began her career as a community staff nurse working within Nottingham City and Derbyshire, before completing her specialist community public health nurse (SCPHN) training and practising as a health visitor in Derby. Effie has also worked at NHS 111 within the clinical advisor team and later as a clinical team and clinical operations manager. Her career then progressed into adult and children鈥檚 safeguarding and governance, where she developed expertise in embedding safety, transparency and accountability into professional practice.

Effie is now a clinical quality manager in South Yorkshire for a health care provider that provides GP appointments, enhanced access services, primary care mental health, sexual health services, and a vast range of other care. In this role, Effie leads service improvement initiatives and collaborates with non-clinical managers to ensure that ethical and safety principles underpin operational delivery. She is proud that their service was recently rated as outstanding by the CQC.

Her key achievements include developing and implementing a robust complaints process to strengthen patient experience and organisational learning and successfully introducing the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) into general practice to enhance safety culture and learning.

Having served as a board member for several years, Effie remains committed to championing fairness, sustainability, and evidence-based decision-making. Her focus is on ensuring that the voice of nurses remains central to shaping the future of healthcare quality.

Bella Abidakun

Bella graduated with Diploma in Nursing in Nigeria some 22 years ago, and also graduated as a midwife in Nigeria, working both in the public and private sector. Bella became a registered UK nurse in 2019, when she began working in a surgical ward and in 2021 started her education career as a clinical educator, while preparing internationally educated nurses for their exams to be registered in the UK. Bella supported them through the journey of settling in the UK and achieving competence with their clinical skills.

Through the years, Bella undertook her nursing top up degree, and became a professional nurse advocate, for which she is currently the lead for in her Trust. Bella took an interest in leadership which led her to attend courses including the Mary Seacole Leadership Programme, and the Nursing and Midwifery Equity Programme, through which Bella worked on a project with NHS England on supporting global majority nurses into leadership roles.

Bella joined the Yorkshire & the Humber Board in 2023 and contributes by giving the best advice on subjects relating to her region. She cooperatively works with others to achieve the objectives in the strategic, operational and financial plan. Bella influences the development of nursing, and health and social care in her region and country in line with the RCN strategy.

Mathew Sidebottom

Biography to follow

Maria Davies

Biography to follow

Grace Chukwurah

Biography to follow

Russell Stringer

Biography to follow