National Management Committee

Professor Zahir Irani 

Zahir studied Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Salford before working as a Project Engineer in industry. He then secured a scholarship from Brunel University London, where he completed a PhD in Investment Decision Making. His professional development has seen him complete his leadership and financial management training at Harvard Business School (HBS) and University of Cambridge, respectively.

He started his academic career in the Department of Computer Science at Brunel University London. Five years later becoming the youngest Professor in the UK, followed by a period as Head of Department, where he championed industry-academia partnerships.

A move to a more senior management position saw him lead the Brunel Business School. After completing a 7-year tenure as Head of the Brunel Business School, where he won the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Business School of the Year award, he accepted an invitation to work in Central Government, where he was seconded to Whitehall as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Cabinet Office during the UK coalition Government. On completion, he returned to academia, as Founding Dean of the newly established College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences at Brunel University London; an amalgamation of four previous Schools – Business, Law, Social Sciences and Education.

In 2016 the University of Bradford appointed Professor Irani as Dean of Faculty (Management and Law), where he led a successful merger with the Faculty of Social Sciences before assuming the role of a Founding Dean of the new Faculty. 

As a senior academic leader, Professor Irani expanded his portfolio when appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bradford, with responsibility for Academic, Innovation and Quality, where he is accountable for:

•           Four academic faculty’s.

•           Directorate of Outreach, Recruitment and Marketing (DORM)

•           Directorate of Student & Academic Services (including registry, library, career services, counselling, etc),

•           Directorate of Learning, Teaching and Quality Enhancement, and,

 Professor Irani also leads the transformation and growth of the University’s undergraduate, postgraduate (taught and research) educational portfolio through Faculty and Professional services, where he leads on innovation and enhancing the quality of the student experience, teaching practice, curriculum development and support for student learning and success.

 The West Yorkshire Lord Lieutenancy formally recognized Professor Irani for his outstanding service to the community. He continues to support charities such as Age UK (Bradford and District) and the Volunteering Interfaith Partnerships (VIP) that help vulnerable communities.

He has also received the district governor’s award from Rotary International for services to the community.

 He is also leading social, economic and cultural value creation, having been appointed by the Bradford Metropolitan District Council as the Chair of the Bradford Covid-19 Economic Recovery Board that developed a 5-year economic recovery plan for the district; approved in 2021 by the council executive and elected officials. At a national level, appointed by the NHS (Health Education England), to Chair a Blended Learning Advisory Group that will revision the future of medical and health clinical placements. He is also a Higher Education representative on a Cyber Security Steering Group for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

 Professor Irani was named by the Sunday Times as a leading Bradford influencer. He tweets at: @ZahirIrani1

Gregor Purdie

I graduated in medicine at Edinburgh in 1978 and became a partner in General Practice in 1983.

It became apparent to me that my training did not make me fit to support people with non-cancer chronic pain. The only avenue available at that time was the use of medication.

It became apparent that medication was only of partial value in relieving chronic pain. There were the problems of the body becoming used to the medication leading to increasing dosage. At that time it was considered that people would not become addicted to strong painkillers if they were prescribed for pain.

When I was made aware of Pain Association Scotland, I felt strongly that this filled a huge gap in the management of people with chronic non cancer pain. Using the techniques taught by Pain Association Scotland, people with chronic non cancer pain have been able to live more productive lives and keep medication under control such that the medication does not become a problem in itself.

As the management on chronic non cancer pain became a special interest in my practice, I was pleased indeed to become a Trustee on Pain Association Scotland and thus become involved in the planning of services of people with chronic pain.

Thus, I feel that Pain Association Scotland has played a very important part in moving forward the care and management of people with chronic non caner pain.

Marlene Lowe

Marlene previously worked at a highly regarded international consultancy located in Sweden and the Ukraine, who specialise in a variety of digital transformation and business solutions such as e commerce platforms. She brings a breadth of sector experience having worked in banking, retail, IT, consultancy, and non-profit organisations.

Marlene’s successful experience in digital transformation further enhances our team’s capabilities, and she brings a genuine passion for people, and how technology can work for a business rather than the other way around. Having suffered from chronic pain for most of her adult life, she is passionate about helping others manage their pain and find a happy balance.

Dr David Rigby

I am a GP working in the Western Isles and have roles in developing patient pathways that put the patient at the centre in line with the principles of Realistic Medicine. This includes individualising care for patients, accepting that we can't cure all ailments but can help people live better with their disabilities and delivering care in the most convenient way possible for the patient- avoiding travel wherever possible.

I have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Pain Association over many years and learn the principles of managing and living with Chronic Pain and all the associated issues this brings physically, socially, and psychologically. This has helped to shape my thinking of how we best provide care for a large group of patients living with this diverse condition.

The forward thinking approach and innovation shown by the Pain Association has allowed us to develop new ways of providing support remotely, face to face, one to one and other modalities to cover all aspects of patient expectations and abilities.

Dr Mary Harper

I graduated in science at Aberdeen University in 1974 and spent the next 15 years working in research - embryology, developmental genetics, molecular biology - in London, the US, and back in my home city of Glasgow.

In 1989 I switched careers to NHS management, first at NHS Borders and then NHS Dumfries and Galloway (D&G). In my role as strategic planner and commissioner with NHS D&G I worked with Pain Association Scotland to develop a Board funded Service Agreement and supported the local Chronic Pain Improvement Group, whose membership included Pain Association Scotland. For two years (2014-2016) I chaired the National Chronic Pain Steering/ Improvement Group.

I retired in summer 2016, but in autumn 2022 I was invited to join the National Management Committee of Pain Association Scotland. As I have great respect for their work in supporting people with chronic pain through self management training, I was delighted to accept.

Chris Mathieson

People & Culture Management Professional

Chris is skilled in devising and executing impactful digital solutions for talent acquisition, employee engagement, performance management, and professional development. He has been instrumental in managing change, driving organisational development initiatives, and ensuring compliance through strategic and operational resource development.  He is adept at accelerating digital transformation and continuous improvement in people & culture management processes and demonstrated success in steering the planning and meticulous delivery of transformational projects promoting diversity, equality, and inclusion organisation-wide. With a solid history of fostering the professional development of line managers and teams through coaching and mentorship, he has a strong commitment to organisational learning and development, and the creation of performance appraisal systems.

 He brings a wealth of knowledge around understanding the needs of those who are in work and living with a long-term condition and being able to nurture and support such individuals in order to ensure they continue to reach their potential.

Professor Margaret Dunham – Associate Professor, Napier University

Margaret trained as an adult nurse (RGN) and worked in the NHS for 16 years, latterly as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Pain Management. She completed her PhD 2015.

Margaret is interested in appreciating the heterogeneity of the ageing population, utilising primarily qualitative methods to engage with older people themselves as service users to understand their health care needs, inform policy and develop suitable age-friendly assessment and support.

Margaret specialises in older people's experiences of health care, and innovative ways to support those needs, focusing on pain and other co-morbidities of ageing. She is currently working on a number of projects related to pain, ageing and nursing home care.

She works with groups locally and nationally to improve and enhance experiences of pain services. Margaret has collaborated with academics and health care professional across the UK, Europe and the US; presented her work at national and international nursing and multidisciplinary conferences.

She is active nationally and internationally as Associate Editor of the British Pain Society's Pain News, Chair of the British Pain Society Older People Special Interest Group, Member of the EFIC Academy and elected member of IASP's Older Persons Special Interest Group.

Margaret is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, experienced in supervising post-graduate research projects and teaching research methods. She has supervised three PhD students to completion and currently supervises three PhD students.

Margaret is interested in supporting research projects related broadly to the areas of older people’s health care needs and improving service-user experiences of health care services.