Who we are

Safina Islam

Trustee

Safina has a background in biomedicaI science and after obtaining a PhD from Manchester University she moved into Public Health/Health Inequalities focused research and policy development. This led her to tackle the challenges of the evolving Public Sector Equality Duties and Inclusion agenda, initially in the NHS and the later in the Civil Service. She was responsible for leading the first national review of Race Equality in Health and Social Care as Head of Equality and Human Rights at the then Health Care Commission and was tasked with developing Equality standards across Inspectorates.

More recently, Safina has spent a few years as a Chief Officer of a small BAMER women’s organisation in Manchester and has immersed herself into the Community and Voluntary sector with a particular interest in improving access to mental health and well being services for diverse communities. Safina is now based in a specialist unit at Manchester University Foundation Trust where she is responsible for developing a community led innovation programme to engage and involve diverse communities in biomedical and clinical research across Greater Manchester.