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Board Member: Max Thomas
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Max Thomas

Position: Workforce Chair

Who am I?

I am just starting a new role as the Service Lead for Respiratory and Sleep Physiology at Royal Sussex County Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital, part of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

I've always been science-minded. I started by studying biology in Manchester before pursuing an MSc in Human and Applied Physiology in London. I worked on research projects related to cold water immersion and high altitude physiology. I've now been in clinical science for 10 years, beginning my NHS career through the Scientist Training Programme in 2014.

I was fortunate to start my career in a large service with several specialist areas. My main passions are CPET and sleep, with a focus on sleep for performance. I've engaged with elite academic and athletic institutions, including Premier League football teams, helping them harness the power of good sleep.

After finishing the STP, I led a small CPET service and developed it into a large one. We went from ~150 tests per year to ~500 per year and added continuous laryngoscopy during exercise and MDT clinics with speech and language therapy and physiotherapy.

A bit about me

I first became a part of the ARTP when I joined the research committee and standards committee under the leadership of Ian Cliff. Engaging with the ARTP and contributing to the organization has allowed me to receive mentorship from Ian and other titans of the ARTP.
Drs. Vicky Moore, Karl Sylvester, and Julie Lloyd deserve an honourable mention. The connections forged through a shared endeavour to improve the respiratory/sleep physiology workforce are responsible for much of my professional development. For those of you reading this who aren't already part of one of the ARTP committees, you are absolutely missing out!

I now Chair the Workforce Committee and have found it to be filled with like-minded people who just want to make the profession better!

I absolutely love all things science and physiology. I love teaching and learning.

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I like to think I've got a good sense of humour, and I use that to good effect in my professional life. I enjoy the challenge of professional development and am now focused more on developing others and services. I recently moved from a large service where I had been involved in training many staff over the years, and I miss seeing their personal growth.

Outside of work, my wife and I spend a lot of time walking and hiking with our big Doberman, Hunter. She's genuinely the softest, sweetest creature in the world, and I don't understand how Dobermans have the reputation for being scary.

I love basketball, and my NBA team is the Dallas Mavericks. I still play and was involved in leading a community basketball team in Birmingham.

Our first team won their division and the all-division cup.

I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact my knees won't be able to do this forever and am doing more coaching of youth teams.

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What would you like to achieve in your role?

It's not news to anyone reading this that there are huge gaps in the healthcare science workforce. The demand for services completely outstrips supply, and that is only projected to worsen. This drives much of the work we intend to do in the workforce committee. From raising awareness of healthcare science as a career at a grassroots level—attending careers fairs and speaking at schools—to raising the agenda at a national/political level through working with groups lobbying parliament such as the Taskforce for Lung Health and producing recommendations regarding the number of trained spirometry practitioners for NHS England.

I've been passionate about ED&I in the ARTP and am keen to help organisational policy develop further.