Programme Speakers

Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca
Lead, Global Social Prescribing Alliance
Clinical Lead, National Academy for Social Prescribing

Dr Bogdan is a medical doctor, currently working as Clinical Champion Lead at the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), and Lead for the Global Social Prescribing Alliance. As the founder of the '#SocialPrescribingDay' campaign, Dr Bogdan has acted as an international champion, raising awareness of the subject globally in over 30 countries. His work has influenced national and international healthcare policy and has driven key changes within the medical school curriculum, contributing to several peer-reviewed publications and policy documents, including the NHS Long Term Plan, the Personalised Care Model, GP Partnership Review, as well as authoring three books on medical education.

Dr Bogdan is an Honorary Lecturer at University College London, he currently leads the Social Prescribing Module at Imperial College London Medical School, is a Collaborator for the Harvard Global Health Institute at Harvard University, and has recently been nominated as part of the HSJ100: Most influential people in health within the United Kingdom (2022).

Ms Najnin Islam
Head of Healthcare Integration & Workforce,
Clinical Lead, National Academy for Social Prescribing

Ms Najnin Islam is the Head of Healthcare Integration & Workforce at National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) where she leads on strategic support and development of the social prescribing workforce and healthcare integration of social prescribing at a national level. She is also a key contributor to the international workforce support offer through NASP's Global Social Prescribing Alliance.

Ms Najnin has experience of implementing social prescribing workforce where in her previous role she implemented Mental Health Link Workers and led on change management projects in the NHS Mental Health Transformation programme across East London.

Ms Najnin's expertise in social prescribing was earned at one of the early pioneer sites of social prescribing, the Bromley by Bow Centre. Here, she developed and managed a social prescribing team and went on to develop practitioner led link worker training courses which she delivered nationally to over 300 link workers. She also supported the development and delivery of the Social Prescribing Qualification in England.

Ms Najnin is passionate about addressing health inequalities through social prescribing and supporting the equity of access to provision that can help people live a purposeful and meaningful life.