Meet the team
our team
BAME Vision Team believes that Teamwork makes the dream work. People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.
Bhavini Makwana
Chair Person
Bhavini Makwana is the Chair of BAME Vision, Campaigns & Projects Manager for Thomas Pocklington Trust. Her background is in the sight-loss sector, previously working for London Vision as an Engagement Manager and prior, for East London Vision as an Activities Coordinator organising events for people with a visual impairment.
Bhavini is the Chair of the London Retina UK Peer Support Group, she has Retinitis Pigmentosa and is proud owner of guide dog Colin. She has received a Points of Light Award by the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street and volunteers her time to reach ethnic communities to raise awareness of sight loss.
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Subhash Suthar
clinical pharmacist
Subhash Suthar is a trained clinical pharmacist. Subhash has been recipient of inaugural, David Burt OBE award 2019 for his work in, in advances in Vision Care. He most recently worked with Glaucoma UK with a focus in eye health education. Initiator of Eye Drops Compliance, adherence amongst fasting Muslim population during Ramadan, a highly effective sight saving program. he also started the successful “Know Your Drops” programme at Moorfields Eye Hospital as well as DropsAndYou educational initiative at all major Eye Institutions. Regular speaker at Clinical Teaching meetings. Subhash is nationally involved with many organisations and regularly delivers educational sessions about eye care. He regularly speaks on ethnic radio and often acts as an interpreter, confidently speaking in English, Gujrati, Swahili, Hindi and Mahrati.
Jayshree Vasani
Dispensing Optician
Jayshree Vasani is a Dispensing Optician(D.O), a sessional D.O for RNIB and a committee member of the East London, City and Islington Local Optical Committee. Jayshree specialises in educating eye care professionals about the impact of sight loss and the benefits of building connections between the eye care and sight loss sector.
This was encompassed in the award winning “Seeing Beyond the Eyes Roadshow” and she was part of the team that trained around 5000 eye care professionals. She works closely with other members of the group to make eye care more accessible from people from the South Asian diaspora. Jayshree is an East African Asian, born in Kenya and speaks Gujarati.
Ashfaq Azim
Evaluation manager
Ashfaq Azim is the Impact & Evaluation manager at the Thomas Pocklington Trust. He is relatively new to the charity sector, with a previous background in data and analytics. Ashfaq has Retinitis Pigmentosa and enjoys cycling, running and climbing regularly to keep fit.
Beverley Duguid
academic researcher
Beverley Duguid is an academic researcher and freelance specialist in inclusive mindfulness and wellness. She has previous experience in sight loss sector working for Thomas Pocklington Trust and London Vision. Her professional background is working in the non-profit sector, particularly around women’s rights and LGBTQ+ issues. Beverley brings a mixture of academic experience blended with grass-roots activism, and lives with glaucoma.
Lance Campbell
Eye Care champion
Lance Campbell is an Eye Care champion for Seeability. Lance is mildly autistic, and previously did an internship at Project Search. He has previous experience in audiology.
Karishma Shah
Campaigns Manager
Karishma Shah is a Regional Policy & Campaigns Manager at Guide Dogs. She is passionate about diversity, equality & inclusion and environmental issues. Karishma has Albinism and Nystagmus and her interests include cooking, reading and Kung Fu. Karishma’s background is in the sight-loss sector and environmental science. She speaks Gujrati and Swahili.
Ashrafia Choudhury
chair Beyond Sight Loss
I am the chair of Beyond Sight Loss – A user led peer support group in the borough of tower hamlets.
I have been visually impaired for over 30 years with Stargardst.
I have over 20 years of experience working in the NHS, local authority and the voluntary sector. I have also been in various articles and journals and played a fundamental role in developing services for ethnic minority community with Visual impairment.
Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi
ophthalmic nurse
Roxanne is a postdoctoral ophthalmic nurse researcher and the lead nurse for research at Moorfields Eye Hospital. She is passionate about improving ophthalmic patient related outcomes through the modelling of real-world clinical data to deliver personalised medicine.
She sits on the board of the Royal College of Nursing Ophthalmic Nursing Forum and is a Trustee of GlaucomaUK. She is also a Florence Nightingale scholar, a NIHR 70@70 senior research leader, an inaugural Topol/Health Education England Digital Health Fellow and an NHIR/HEE Clinical Lecturer. Roxanne has several peer-reviewed publications and oral/poster presentations at national and international conferences.”
Molemisi Kono
Rehabilitation Specialist
Tricia Smikle
Development Manager
Tricia Smikle works as a Partnerships and Development Manager at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Tricia is also the Business Co-Chair of the RNIB Race Forward Staff and Volunteer Network for Black, Asian and minority ethic and minority faith colleagues and volunteers.
Tricia is passionate about eradicating health inequalities, has worked in the charity sector for over ten years and is a Trustee for Pauls Cancer Support Centre in South London.