Women’s Health at Work Scotland Conference

Monica Lennon is a Scottish Labour and Co-op MSP for Central Scotland.  

A local councillor in South Lanarkshire Council before entering Holyrood, Monica is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde and a former chartered town planner. 

She spearheaded the trailblazing campaign to end period poverty, leading to a historic vote that made Scotland the first country in the world to make free period products available for all. 

Named one of Vogue’s ‘top 12 female leaders who changed the world in 2020’ and a Changemaker by The Big Issue for her anti-poverty work, Monica is passionate about gender equality, women’s health and the environment. Other recent accolades include Women of Influence in Planning 2024. 

A supporter of Stop Ecocide International, she is championing proposals to criminalise ecocide in Scotland. 

 
A former Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Monica is the Convenor of several parliamentary forums, including the Cross-Party Group on Women’s Health and Chair of the Scottish Labour Trade Union Group.

Dr Sigi Joseph is an enthusiastic GP Partner & Trainer in Edinburgh. She has worked in Scottish General Practice since 2004 and has a real passion and joy in her job.

Alongside her clinical role she has worked for National Education for Scotland for 20 years this has been planning, developing and then delivery and assessing multiple educational workshops.

To date she has trained over 1000 future GP’s. In recognition of this she recently won the UK was RCGP Inspire 21 awards for her work with GP’s in training.

This has subsequently to the honour of receiving Fellowship to the RCGP in October 2023

Since 2018 she has worked for RCGP Scotland at their Executive Officer for National Professional Development and as RCGP Scotland Clinical Lead for the Leadership for Integration.

Most recently Dr Joseph was the RCGP Primary Care lead for the Scottish Governments Women’s Health Policy. This work has extended to representation on Scottish Government and UK Government Menopause Taskforce, and she has given a presentation to UK Westminster on Menopause education & workplace.

Following the launch of this Policy in August 2021 Dr Joseph has appeared multiple times on STV News, BBC Reporting Scotland, The NINE and BBC Radio Scotland DRIVETIME.

These appearances have been on Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Health inequalities & Workforce crisis.

She has been a UK Panel expert on multiple speciality panels including RCGP; BAME leadership, Women’s Health, Menopause management, Young GPs Inspiring GPs series.

The Alliance, STEM Conference, Scotland Tonight. Step Into medicine.

Alongside of Publishing multiple articles on women’s health, recruitment and retention of GP’s and workforce The Scotsman, Press & journal, Guidelines UK, Dr Joseph has developed her desire to get more workplace support and help into our community by co-founding The Doctor Explains in 2022.

This brings essential jargon- free health information to businesses.

Frustrated at a health system that no longer offers preventative medicine, we aim to empower our attendees with knowledge and tools to take charge of their own health and improve their wellbeing and work productivity and attendance whilst simultaneously aiming to relieve burden on the NHS.

I have worked in geoscience education and research for over 20 years, firstly with 16–19-year-olds teaching geography and geology, and later moving on to a PhD in marine geology. Fieldwork and lab work have played a significant role in my career, and each pose a challenge to those of us living with menstrual conditions. I am passionate about raising awareness of the issues surround menstruation in these environments. I now deliver a training package from SUERC to Glasgow students on healthy toileting and menstruation in the field through interactive workshops, and an exhibition of menstrual technologies. The aim is to educate a new generation of scientists on the importance of privacy and dignity in these environments and embedding menstrual equity in learning and research.

Angela has worked in social housing for over 30 years in various senior roles in the local authority, third sector and laterally in the housing association sector.  She is an experienced leader of change and has a track record of innovate service redesign and digital transformation.

Angela is also an expert in adult social care having successfully developed a passion for combining housing and social care in a previous roles and is a strong advocate for housing, health and social care integration.

Having recently achieved Menopause Friendly accreditation and awarded IIP in Wellbeing Gold status, Angela is passionate about ensuring that wellbeing is embedded within the culture of the organisation and reflects the needs of those that work for Hanover.

Dawn has been Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway Council since July 2022, responsible for all local government services in the region serving 150K residents, and employing 6500 staff. Dawn is also the workforce lead for SOLACE in Scotland – the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, and works with colleagues across local government and other sectors on workforce priorities.

Dawn is passionate about developing a supportive and collaborative culture within the council, and across its diverse workforce. She is proud of the council’s focus on workforce wellbeing, and its work in mental health, trauma, gambling harm and a range of initiatives that support men and women in the workplace. The Council’s Menopause Policy is one such example.

Prior to joining Dumfries and Galloway Council, Dawn was the Executive Director of Corporate, Customer and Community Services for Cumbria County Council and for a time had additional responsibilities as Deputy Chief Executive.  Key responsibilities have included leadership of transformational change, corporate and enabling services, and community services such as libraries, archives, and registration.

With nearly 30 years in Local Government, Dawn has extensive experience in leading and managing others to be successful, working with communities to enable them to achieve their goals, supporting the most vulnerable within our communities, and working with partner organisations to deliver real and lasting change.

Lindsey Cartwright is a Partner with one of Scotland’s biggest independent law firms, Morton Fraser MacRoberts. She is one of Scotland’s best known employment lawyers, with over 25 years’ experience advising exclusively on employment law issues and regularly appearing in the Employment Tribunal. She is the first female President of The Employment Law Group and is the Senior Tutor for Employment Law on the Diploma in Legal Practice at The University of Glasgow, as well as being a member of the CIPD. Lindsey acts for some of the country’s biggest and best known employers, as well as balancing her practice with work for employees, and is also a Non-Exec Director of Scotland’s largest social-housing provider and mother of two teenagers.

Julie joined Endometriosis UK in April 2024 as the Endometriosis Friendly Employer Scheme Manager and is also a Volunteer Support Group Leader running the Ayrshire Group. Julie introduced the Endometriosis Friendly Employer Scheme to her previous employer and has first-hand experience of being a workplace Champion. She previously managed business support teams working with executives in the NHS and higher education for 25 years.  Julie is committed to improving the lives of endometriosis sufferers and making a positive difference in the workplace.

Jill Burgess (FCIPD) is a freelance HR Consultant (founder of Jill Burgess HR Solutions) offering outsourced HR services, enabling organisations to maximise the potential of their people. She offers Human Resources advice, strategy, consultancy & project support . Jill is co- chair of the West of Scotland CIPD.
For the last 5 years, Jill has been an active menopause campaigner, and Trainer with Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace. Jill is passionate about educating and upskilling employers, managers and employees to gain a better understanding of the role they play in creating an inclusive, informed and supportive workplace; and empowering everyone who is affected by menopause and menopause type symptoms to make the best decisions for them.

Sarah began working at Fertility Network UK as an Educational Development Officer where she raised awareness with young adults, about how wellbeing factors can affect fertility, as well as providing information about treatment and accessing support. Sarah is now Interim Scotland Coordinator where she is responsible for the management of support groups. As Interim Social Media and Communications, Sarah is responsible for creating, maintaining and developing good communications through social media platforms.

Prior to joining Fertility Network UK, Sarah worked in Education and uses her experience and skills to communicate and engage with a wide audience about fertility issues including how they impact on people’s working lives.

Sarah is passionate about supporting people who are on a fertility journey.

Fiona is Chief People Officer within the Health Workforce Directorate of Scottish Government, a unique post with an external focus, working to build strong links between Government, NHS Boards and the wider Health and Social Care system to ensure our people priorities are aligned and our resources used to best effect.  Prior to taking up this role in May 2023, Fiona was Director of People & Culture at NHS Highland, driving the leadership, governance and culture transformation following the Sturrock report.  She joined the NHS after 20 years working in a range of people, change and leadership roles in the Financial Services and Pharmaceutical R&D sectors, and is passionate about compassionate leadership, encouraging challenge, valuing difference,  promoting kindness and respect and putting people not processes first.  Fiona is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has a degree in HR from the University of Stirling.