I’m really excited to co-lead on delivering the new Violence Reduction Academy. When I was recruited to the role, the Academy was a brilliant idea with a broad vision that recognised the need to build evidence around violence reduction and galvanize colleagues across the health system. Over the past 10 months, Mike and I have been working to bring that vision to life through a dedicated plan and achievable deliverables.

After much stakeholder engagement, brainstorming sessions, a procurement process, sign off meetings and comms planning, we were proud to host the Academy launch event earlier this month. Looking at the range of expertise across the room, it felt like a true testament to the work that the London Violence Reduction Programme has done for the past few years to build a network of passionate professionals who truly care about making a difference.

We couldn’t be more excited to partner with QMUL to provide the academic rigour that the Academy will ground its roots within. As a proud alumnus of the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, I am confident that our QMUL colleagues will be key in supporting us to understand what the evidence tells us works (and doesn’t work) so that we can make a true difference for young Londoners.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a social butterfly who truly takes advantage of our ‘partnership working’ ethos – please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want to be involved or just to have an informal chat about the Academy and wider London programme.

Tola Masha
VR Academy Programme Manager
a.masha@nhs.net