The ACPICR committee is made up of physiotherapists working within cardiovascular rehabilitation.
The ACPICR committee consists of a wide variety of clinicians, all of who provide valued education and support to the devleopment and running of the group. Committee members have been elected into different positions within the committee and give their own time to providing this resource.
They support the updating of publications, the members of the committee by offering advice and guidance, and are involved in helping set up and teach on study days in association with the BACPR.
Fiona Brownlie
She/her What’s this? Fiona graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2002. She is the Team Lead for the Cardiac Rehabilitation Physiotherapy team at Ninewells Hospital in NHS Tayside.
Fiona is Chair of CRIGS (Cardiac Rehab Interest Group Scotland), a tutor on the BACPR Physical Activity and Exercise Part 1 course. She was on the writing group for the ACPICR Standards update and led the ACPICR Peer Review document update.
Susan Young
She/her What’s this? Sue graduated from King’s College London with a pre-registration MSc in Physiotherapy in 2005. She is the Cardiac and Heart Failure Rehabilitation Exercise Lead for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in South Wales and has recently completed an MSc in Advanced Practice at Cardiff University. Alongside her role as Co-Chair for ACPICR, Sue is also past chair of the BACPR Exercise Professionals Group, she was co-editor for the recent updates of the ACPICR Standards for Physical Activity and Exercise in the Cardiovascular Population and Peer Review documents, and is a course tutor for the BACPR Physical Activity and Exercise in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease Part 1 course.
Mairi Smail
She/her. What’s this? Mairi qualified in 1999 from Glasgow Caledonian University. She developed the new role of cardiac physiotherapist in NHS Dumfries & Galloway when it was created in 2004 and now leads the Cardiac Rehab team there.
Mairi’s main interests are rehabilitation of complex, multi-morbid patients and the effective transition to long term physical activity and exercise opportunities within the rural area of south west Scotland. She is also very interested in the psychosocial aspects of rehabilitation and worked on the development of the Psychological Impact of Cardiac Disease HEARTe module. Mairi is a graduate of the Scottish Improvement Leader programme and an Independent Prescriber.
Aynsley Cowie
She/Her What’s this? Aynsley completed her undergraduate physiotherapy degree in Glasgow and in 2011 completed a PhD examining effects of home- versus centre-based exercise training in heart failure. She is a consultant physiotherapist in cardiology within NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and in this role she is involved in delivering and leading a variety of research projects. Aynsley also works as BACPR education and training lead, and she recently led a BACPR project to identify research priorities within the field of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation.
Heather Probert
She/Her What’s This? Heather graduated from the University of Hertfordshire in 2001 and completed her MSc in Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation at the University of Chester in 2018. She leads the Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation team at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Hospitals (Part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust). Her specialist interests lie with the complex patients including heart failure, Transplants, VADs and Adult Congenital Heart Disease.
Alongside work, Heather is a tutor on the BACPR Part 2 and Heart Failure courses and is currently BACPR President. Heather had chaired the last 3 editions of the ACPICR Standards.
Nicola Cooper
She/Her What’s This? Nicola qualified from the University of Hertfordshire in 2005 and has worked at the Royal Papworth Hospital for 12 years in both cardiothoracics and cardiac rehabilitation. Here she has gained experience with complex cardiac patients including patients with heart failure, transplants and ventricular assist device patients.
Nicola has been involved in the development and delivery of a seated exercise group, home exercise via DVD and the use of a cardiac rehab app. Nicola leads on the ACPICR leaflet working group.
Emma Fraser
Emma graduated from Teesside University in 2003. Since graduating she has worked for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (formerly Sunderland NHS Trust). After specialising in neuro-rehab initially Emma moved into cardiovascular rehabilitation in 2016. She now leads a small team of physiotherapists in cardiovascular rehabilitation, breathing pattern disorders and lower limb amputee rehab. Emma has an interest in supporting people to lead more active lives by using her physio skills to manage and treat barriers to activity.
Dave Massam
He/him. What is this? Dave graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science in 2005, before going on to work in sport and education, coaching and officiating at an international level. Dave later underwent a career change and graduated from the University of Essex with a degree in Physiotherapy in 2018. Dave specialised in cardiorespiratory care, working primarily in intensive care before changing to a split cardiorespiratory and cardiac rehabilitation role. Dave now works full time in cardiac rehabilitation as the lead cardiac rehabilitation physiotherapist at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre.
William McKnight
William graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University as a physiotherapist in 2009. He has worked in cardiac rehabilitation for 5 years at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. William has a keen interest in exercise prescription, low-volume HIIT, diabetes and health behaviour change. He is currently undertaking two departmental audits evaluating the impact of cardiac rehabilitation service upon participants’ cardiovascular fitness levels and muscle strength.
Lindsay Jamieson
She/her. What’s this? Lindsay qualified from Glasgow Caledonian University in 1998 and completed her MSc in Cardiac Rehabilitation from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2008. She specialised full time in Cardiac Rehabilitation in 2008 and is now the Team Lead for the Forth Valley Cardiac Rehabilitation Team.
Lindsay has led the team through many changes and challenges in their service, more recently developing Specialist Physiotherapist and Specialist Nurse Led Cardiac Rehabilitation Assessment Clinics and moving all our exercise classes out into the community. Lindsay has completed her Non Medical Prescribing at Stirling University and is now an Independent Prescriber.
Iain Waite
He/Him. What’s this? Iain graduated from the University of Sunderland in 2000 as a sports scientist, beginning his career working within both sport and the NHS. Iain later qualified from The London Southbank University and has specialised in Cardiac rehabilitation since 2011. Having gained experience working in various trusts, he joined King’s College Hospital in 2015 and is the Physiotherapy lead for cardiovascular & heart failure rehabilitation.
Having completed initial research investigating pre-operative rehabilitation in frail patients awaiting cardiac surgery, Iain continues to progress his academic interests together with his clinical role.
Sally Hinton
Sally is the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (BACPR) Executive Director and Education Director responsible for supporting the BACPR executive committee across all aspects of the work of the association and responsible for the expanding education programme including the BACPR Exercise Instructor qualification, range of CPD courses and on line education. She is both founder chair of the ACPICR (Association of Chartered Physiotherapists interested in Cardiac Rehabilitation) and the BACPR Exercise Professionals Group committee. Sally completed an MSc in Health Promotion at Brunel University with a dissertation in patients’ compliance with exercise after cardiac rehabilitation and has many years’ experience lecturing in the field of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation. Sally has been involved with the development and review of many national guideline documents within the speciality including the BACPR Standards and Core Components for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (2023), a key document for the cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation programmes within the UK.
Fiona Yow
Fiona Yow (nee Lough) is a retired senior physiotherapist in cardiovascular health and rehabilitation at University College Hospital in London, with a specialist interest in exercise prescription for CVD patients. She worked in cardiac rehabilitation for over 28 years and served on various national CR, heart failure & exercise prescription steering groups and committees, including BACPR Council, ACPICR, BHF and BSH. She was a tutor on the BACPR Phase 4 and BACPR HF training courses, a co- author for the Cochrane Systematic Review on Exercise-based Rehabilitation for Heart Failure and contributed to various other texts, teaching manuals and publications for CR professionals, physiotherapists and exercise specialists.