Our team
Doug Stewart
Founder
Doug has been a Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) and held other senior digital leadership roles across the NHS for over a decade. During this time, he has become adept at identifying talent and building and sustaining high-performing teams across digital health, delivering a successful portfolio of innovation and transformation.
Recognising the capability and capacity challenges facing health sector, Doug has worked with a number of consultancies during his career. Whilst many successful partnerships have been formed, a golden thread that has frequently been exposed is some consultancies having a very junior or even lack of genuine understanding of health and care. He believes the most useful and timely insight is best coming from those with real subject matter expertise, experienced clinicians.
In response to this challenge and having consulted with dozens of health and care providers, including clinical and operational staff to qualify the existence of this gap, Doug founded Digital Health Professionals.
The vision is not to create lengthy and costly dependencies on consultancies trying to understand need, but to bring clinical subject matter experts who can empower the public sector and companies who work in health and care with the expertise needed to thrive.
Peter Thomas
Chief Medical Officer
Peter Thomas is a distinguished digital health leader and consultant paediatric eye surgeon. He currently holds the position of Chief Clinical Information Officer at Moorfields Eye Hospital, where he leads efforts to transform healthcare systems through innovations in remote care, data-driven analytics, and service delivery. Since 2021, Peter has also been the national digital/clinical lead for ophthalmology, shaping NHS digital health strategies through his work with NHSx, NHS Digital, and NHS England. He continues to advance the development of OpenEyes, an open-source electronic medical record for ophthalmology that now manages over three million patient records.
In addition to his NHS roles, Peter has consulted for investors and major pharmaceutical companies on digital health, and his research in clinical informatics and artificial intelligence has driven significant advancements in patient care. Recognised as "CCIO of the Year" in the 2022 Digital Health Awards, Peter is joining Digital Health Professionals as Chief Medical Officer. His extensive experience in scaling digital health solutions and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of digital products positions him as a key figure in supporting organisations through complex healthcare transformations.
Toby Avery
Chief Strategy Officer
Toby Avery is widely-recognised Digital Leader with an established career across the NHS over the last 25 years, including considerable experience (And being amongst the first) Chief Digital and Information Officers to operate at Board-level in the NHS.
Toby’s approach to Digital Transformation has always been to put people, not technology at the fore of any change consideration and this approach is testament to his creating some of the most successful, user-centred transformation services.
Toby is joining Digital Health Professionals as Chief Strategy Officer. His celebrated leadership portfolio includes leading complex change at provider and system level. Another board-level member of the leadership team whose credibility and nous will provide value and insight to those we work with!
Lenny Naar
Formally trained as a graphic and communication designer, Lenny has devoted his career to genuinely understanding people and using design to make their lives better. Lenny was the Design for Digital Transformation lead for the Digital Health Leadership programme at Imperial College London – the flagship programme of the NHS Digital Academy. Lenny works with partners in myriad industries to create a positive social impact with design. For seven years, Lenny led Design Strategy for the Helix Centre at Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, an interdisciplinary team who leverage human centred design methods to support health system transformation.
From working with Paula Scher at Pentagram on multi-national branding projects to developing change management strategies with award-winning consultancy SYPartners, Lenny has deep experience helping organisations large and small tell their stories. In addition to working with numerous design consultancies, Lenny worked inside a major U.S. health insurance company on population health management tools to support value-based care. Lenny lives in London with his partner and two young children, and when he’s not conducting field research or developing prototypes, you can find him baking bread or cycling.
Hayley Grafton
Hayley Grafton is a dynamic and accomplished digital nurse leader with a proven track record in delivering digital healthcare innovation. She has held several prominent digital leadership positions, including Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO) for two NHS Trusts. With over twenty years of experience as a registered nurse, Hayley spent many of her bedside years in Intensive Care as a Practice Educator before transitioning into digital health.
Hayley holds a master’s degree in Digital Health Leadership and serves as the elected Vice Chair of the Digital Health Networks CNIO Advisory Panel. In this role, she collaborates with national colleagues to address current digital health challenges and advance CNIO practice.
Beyond clinical practice, Hayley has contributed to the field as editor of the Royal Marsden Manual for Clinical Nursing Procedures, a widely respected textbook for Nurses. In the digital space, she has successfully led multiple electronic patient record deployments and delivered numerous other digital and data initiatives.
Her areas of expertise include strategy development, user-centred design and engagement, digital clinical safety, business continuity planning, and implementation methodology. Hayley is passionate about fostering the next generation of digital health leaders and has mentored many colleagues who have progressed into senior leadership roles.
Balancing a thriving career and motherhood, Hayley is a strong advocate for working mothers, believing they really can have it all.