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Meet the team

  • Bernard Watson

    Head of audiology

    Bernard is the head of audiology at the Trust.

    He obtained an MSc in audiology at the University of Southampton in 2000 and the Certificate of Audiological Competence in 2002. He has been a state registered clinical scientist since 2005.

    From 2009 Bernard spent four years working in operational management and governance roles within Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust before making the decision to return to clinical audiology in late 2013.

    Bernard maintains an interest in all areas of audiology but in recent years he has had a particular focus on paediatric audiology.

  • Diane Kane

    Clinical scientist and vestibular team lead

    Diane has been part of the Southampton audiology team since 2001.

    She obtained her MSc in Audiology in 1998 and completed further clinical training in Bournemouth where she obtained her Certificate of Audiological Competence in 2001.

    She is the lead for vestibular services, overseeing the vestibular assessment and rehabilitation of adults, with a particular interest in BPPV cases. She also carries out adult diagnostic assessments such as auditory brainstem response (ABR) and speech testing.

    Diane also works as part of the paediatric team carrying out assessments and hearing aid clinics along with ABR testing in clinic and theatre.

  • Abby Milchard

    Clinical scientist and paediatric team lead

    Abby is the team leader for the paediatric service.

    She obtained a degree in biochemistry from the University of Bath in 1999 and an MSc in Audiology from the University of Southampton the following year.

    Following clinical training in Leeds, she obtained her Certificate of Audiological Competence in 2001 and in 2003 she registered as a clinical scientist in audiology.

    Abby has worked for the Trust since 2001 and has seen many of her paediatric patients with permanent hearing loss grow up through the service and finds great satisfaction from seeing them progress and achieve.

    She has particular interests in complex cases and is looking to grow and develop the service here in Southampton.

  • Hannah Bonniface

    Audiological scientist

    Hannah studied biological sciences at University of Leicester before completing her Masters in Audiology at University of Manchester.

    She started her career at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust in 2006 where she completed her CAC and worked in various roles including student coordinator.

    After nine years she left Portsmouth to lead the community paediatric audiology service in Basingstoke while also developing her paediatric rehabilitation skills at Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

    She finally completed the Hampshire audiology triangle by joining the team at University Hospital Southampton in 2019 where she continues to have an interest in paediatrics alongside developing the department’s ability to support adults with learning disabilities and dementia.

  • Josie Smith

    Clinical scientist

    Josie qualified as an audiologist after completing her BSc at the University of Southampton in 2014 and joined the Scientist Training Programme (STP).

    She completed her MSc in neurosensory sciences and registered as a clinical scientist in 2017.

    She then worked in community paediatric audiology as a clinical scientist before joining the Trust in November 2018.

    Josie works in paediatric and vestibular services and undertakes specialist hearing assessments.

    Josie is the Education and Training lead for our department, supervising our students and trainees and making sure we are all up to date with our ongoing training. She is also a supervisor for our STP students and plays a role in our accreditation work.

  • Michelle D’Amico

    Paediatric Audiologist

    Michelle qualified from the University of Southampton in 2011 with a BSc in audiology. She has worked with both adults and children in audiology since 2011, across Dorset and Southampton.

    She is also certified in performing microsuction in both adults and paediatrics. Michelle enjoys working in the community with paediatrics, focusing on patient centred care.

  • Annabel Forsdyke

    Clinical scientist

    Annabel obtained a BSc in neuroscience from King’s College London in 2016, and after this began working as an assistant technical officer (ATO) in the auditory implant department of the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital.

    She then enrolled on the scientist training programme in 2018, and on completion of this in 2021 is now registered as a clinical scientist.

    She joined the Southampton audiology team in September 2021, and works in paediatric and vestibular services.

  • Lisa Garner

    Clinical scientist

    Lisa qualified as an audiologist after completing her BSc at Swansea University in 2015.

    She then worked as an audiologist in Bournemouth and Southampton for 2 years.

    Lisa then enrolled on the scientist training programme (STP) and was employed by UHS for her training post.

    She completed her MSc in neurosensory sciences and registered as a Clinical Scientist in 2020.

    She moved to work in community paediatric audiology as a clinical scientist before beginning her role here as a clinical scientist in paediatric and vestibular audiology in October 2021.

  • Tasmin Jeffreys

    Specialist audiologist

    Tasmin graduated with an Integrated Masters, MSci in Healthcare Science (Audiology) from the University of Southampton in 2017.

    She spent time undertaking the clinical placement component of her course in Jersey in the Channel Islands.

    She has since worked in adult community audiology in Southampton, carrying out clinic based and domiciliary adult rehabilitation work prior to commencing her role at the Trust.

    Tasmin’s work here currently involves paediatrics and ENT support. She is also the infection control lead and the health and safety officer for the department.

  • Rachel Kidd

    Clinical scientist

    Rachel obtained a degree in chemistry at the University of Southampton in 2010.

    She subsequently worked as a postgraduate researcher before beginning the STP in 2012; completing her MSc in neurosensory sciences in 2015.

    She then worked as an audiologist at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth before registering as a clinical scientist in 2016.

    In 2016, Rachel also began working as a clinical scientist within the community paediatric audiology team while studying for her PhD at the University of Southampton.

    She joined our team as a clinical scientist in paediatric and vestibular audiology in September 2019.

    Rachel is the lead for the Community Paediatric Audiology team.

  • Rosey Scott

    Clinical scientist

    Rosey obtained a degree in biology from the University of Portsmouth and a Masters in Audiology from the University of Southampton.

    Following the completion of her Masters in 2004, she worked in the audiology department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

    During her time there she obtained her Certificate of Audiological Competence and was responsible for co-ordinating the vestibular service, while also working in the paediatric and adult hearing service.

    She has worked for the Trust since April 2019 in paediatric and vestibular audiology.

  • Annemarie Stubbs

    Hearing therapist

    After obtaining a BSc in Human Biology at Loughborough University, Annemarie qualified as a hearing therapist and teacher of lip reading for adults in 1996 from the Cit Lit in London.

    She started as a hearing therapist at the Royal Berkshire Hospital then joined the Trust in 1998.

    Annemarie specialises in tinnitus management and helps many adult patients to cope with their tinnitus and hearing loss.

  • Lauren Summers

    Pre-registration clinical scientist

    Lauren qualified as an audiologist in 2015 after completing her BSc and integrated Masters at the University of Southampton and has worked for the Trust since 2016.

    She completed her paediatric Higher Training Scheme (HTS) module in 2019 and her vestibular module in 2021 and she hopes to soon register as a clinical scientist.

    Lauren plays a key role in our service improvement projects and plays a role in our accreditation work.

  • Jackie Young

    Clinical scientist

    Jackie specialises in paediatric audiology and clinical research.

    She obtained her Masters degree in Physics at Oxford University in 2002 and completed her Audiology MSc and CAC training in Southampton between 2003 and 2005.

    She is registered with the HCPC as a clinical scientist and worked with our team until 2007 when she transferred to Southampton University to complete a PhD (2011) and teach on their audiology programmes.

    She went on to lead the paediatric audiology service in Winchester for 8 years before returning to our team in July 2019.

    She now co-ordinates our research activities and will lead our team in editing the Audacity magazine for the British Society of Audiology.

  • Harriet Withey

    Clinical scientist

    Harriet originally graduated with a BSc (Hons) in audiology from the University of Manchester in 2012. Her first audiology role was at The Ipswich Hospital where she worked for four years as an adult audiologist.

    She then joined the UHS audiology team and began training to become a clinical scientist (audiology). Once completed, she registered with the HCPC in 2022.

    Harriet now works across the paediatric and vestibular services, and takes a small role in managing the departmental accreditation process.

Administration staff