Doctors of the World has a number of expert spokespeople who are available to take part in media interviews.
Below is a list of their names and areas of expertise. If you would like to request to speak to them, please email Dominic Stevenson at media@doctorsoftheworld.org.uk
Ellen Waters, Director of Development
Ellen Waters has led Doctors of the World UK since 2017, having joined the previous year as Head of Fundraising. Ellen is an organisational leadership and fundraising growth expert who is responsible for making sure that the organisation has the plans and processes to deliver the strategy and enough funds coming in to continue to grow.
Anna Miller, Head of Policy and Advocacy
Anna joined Doctors of the World UK in 2015 to lead the organisation’s work to strengthen the right to healthcare in the UK and then joined Médecins du Monde’s European Observatory programme, which collects and publishes data on healthcare exclusion across Europe and advocates for policy change at European level. She now leads Doctors of the World UK’s advocacy team, overseeing policy work, parliamentary advocacy, public facing campaigns and evidence collection.
Before joining DOTW UK Anna worked and volunteered with a number of NGOs to improve access to justice, housing, and public services and as a receptionist in an NHS GP practice. She has a Graduate Diploma in Law and a master’s degree in African and Asian History from SOAS.
Matteo Besana, COVID19 Advocacy Project Lead
Matteo joined Doctors of the World UK in 2021 to lead the organisation’s advocacy work around COVID-19 services, to make sure that everybody, regardless of their immigration status or personal circumstances, has timely access to healthcare and the vaccine.
Alongside this, Matteo works to expand the Safe Surgeries Initiative to improve the access to primary care for everybody, a right too often denied to many in our communities.
Prior to joining DOTW UK, Matteo, a journalist by training, worked for European institutions, international humanitarian organisations and political parties.
Amardeep Kamboz, Head of Services
Amar joined the DOTW team in June 2018, taking on responsibility for coordinating DOTW’s east London clinic and helpline services, prior to which she had volunteered in DOTW’s east London clinic. Since then, she has led the opening of new projects, and now leads DOTWs services. Amar’s background encompasses a range of humanitarian roles in the international and UK domestic charity sector.
Amar’s role requires detailed knowledge of the people DOTW supports and the challenges they face accessing healthcare, which include people with irregular immigration status, people seeking asylum, people who are homeless, and people from other vulnerable and excluded communities. She is able to comment on the healthcare needs and priorities of these communities.
Dr Yusuf Ciftci, Policy and Advocacy Manager – Participation Lead
Yusuf leads organisation’s participation work with service users and people with lived experience of health exclusion. Having lived experience of seeking asylum and being a refugee, Yusuf is keen to speak about how the asylum process creates barriers to access services. He supports policy programmes to ensure inclusive access to healthcare for migrants in vulnerable situations. Yusuf has also been working to improve access to healthcare for people in the asylum system, focusing on those in asylum accommodation centres. Dr Ciftci’s particular areas of expertise include access to healthcare in asylum accommodation/barracks/reception centres; improving access to primary care and Safe Surgeries, and coproduction and effective engagement with migrants/experts by experience of health exclusion.