Obstetrics Sonography

Ms Nicole is an AHPC-registered Diagnostic Radiographer by training and cross-trained in several Radiological modalities such as Nuclear Medicine, Computed Tomography and Mammography over her 20-year career in various restructured hospitals and private medical imaging establishments.

She found her calling and passion in Obstetric Ultrasonography when she joined Thomson Medical Centre (TMC), where she spent 8.5 years under the tutelage of Mrs Chin Suan Too, then Chief Radiographer of Thomson Diagnostic Imaging Centre, and Dr TC Chang, O&G consultant in Maternal Fetal Medicine, Head of Fetal Assessment Unit in TMC.

In 2019, Ms Nicole was approached to set up a brand-new Fetal Assessment Centre (FAC) together with Dr TC Chang, who is now the Medical Director of FAC. She currently has a team of 6 staff, and oversees the daily operations of FAC, which includes the recruitment and training of new sonographers.

Ms Nicole has also been invited as a Guest Lecturer for the Obstetric Ultrasound module, SIT Diagnostic Radiography undergraduate course since 2018. She hopes to give back to the Radiography profession by sharing her cumulative knowledge and experiences.

Rita is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Medical Ultrasound team at the University of The West of England, Bristol UK (UWE), and an Advanced Practitioner in Ultrasound at the Royal United Hospital Foundation Trust (RUH) Bath UK.

Her academic experiences include curriculum design, module leadership, academic and clinical teaching and assessment, research supervision at both under and postgraduate levels, including PhDs. Her interests include developing strategies for Continuous Professional Development, workforce development, and Preceptorships. Rita is the sonography consultant advisor for the Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme (FASP) and has active involvement with FASP for over 10 years.

Her current and previous roles and responsibilities have enabled her to gather experience in various facets of health care services and to influence the strategic directions of health care delivery, policy-making, and research. She has led initiatives both locally and UK-wide to support the training, education, and CPD of sonographers from a multidisciplinary background. These include conferences, workshops, hands-on training as well as e-learning modules.

She is a highly experienced sonographer and has over the past 30 years been actively involved in all aspects of medical ultrasound. Her clinical skills are current and include all aspects of medical ultrasound for example obstetrics, gynecology, General Medical and small parts scanning, and advanced procedures such as HyCoSy. She also is involved with the Public Health England (PHE) Quality Assurance programme as a professional clinical advisor to ensure that national standards are met and to encourage continuous service improvements.

She also acts in the capacity of an expert witness for medico-legal and fitness to practice cases. She has published chapters, papers, and articles, contributed to several professional publications, and presented at conferences and seminars. She also acts in the capacity of an expert witness for medico-legal and fitness to practice cases.