SHE Relatable Leaders Career Insights Spotlight

The SHE Women’s Network Support Heal Empower is all about empowering, supporting and elevating our members, and inspiring future generations of female leaders. Across 2025 we will spotlight the careers journeys of some of our amazing members. Today we hear from Heena Mahmood

From Physio to Digital, Heena Mahmood, Business Configuration and Change Analyst

Heena Mahmood began her career journey as a Physiotherapist, working in various different specialties whilst continuing to progress to senior level. Heena worked in areas such as critical care, burns and plastics and neurorehabilitation before moving in to IT Project Management, gaining experience in leading high profile digital projects for clinical services. From here, she moved in to digital leadership, and has continued working in the world of digital healthcare. She has a keen interest in racial inequalities, having recently published a book on the topic.

Minority Ethnic Voices in Healthcare Professions: Strategies for Career Empowerment and Creating Inclusive Settings : Mahmood, Heena: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Introduction

My name is Heena Mahmood, and I am currently working on the regional LIMS implementation in the North East as a Business and Configuration change analyst for Pathology services.

My career journey is quite varied, with my 3 areas of interest being Physiotherapy, Project management and addressing racial inequalities. During my career, I have led the race equality network for previous Trusts, spent time working in frontline care seeing patients as a Physio, and worked on large scale change projects that have made significant improvements to how care is delivered.

Early Career

I can remember when I applied for Physio as a college student that my teachers were not particularly hopeful I would get a place at uni. I decided not to listen to them and applied anyway, actually gaining 4 offers! I graduated with a 1st, and although it was daunting to be fully qualified as a junior physio, I learned a lot in the first couple of years through clinical and practical experience.

Key decisions that shaped my path included recognising that I wanted to try something different, and be more involved in service improvement. I therefore pursued secondment opportunities and was lucky to land one in IT Project Management Office, which I really enjoyed.

Pivotal Moments

A significant challenge I once learned from was hearing of a colleague being subjected to racism from a patient. I was shocked and appalled that she was not supported through the experience, and it led me to challenge how staff were supported through racism and working with corporate colleagues to highlight the impact of complacency with racism.

Sometimes I was quite cheeky and would not take no for an answer if I saw an opportunity and wanted to go for it. Most of the time this didn’t get me in to trouble, sometimes it did! I would overcome such obstacles by having a clear purpose why I do what I do, being clear in my communication, and being able to articulate my reasoning for decision making.

Leadership Lessons

• Never let your fear of failure stop you from trying something new

• Be curious! Ask questions, understand how and why things work the way they do, so you can understand what could be done better

• The same people you push past on the way up, are the same ones you will bump in to when you go back down. Be humble.

• Life will always pose challenges and difficulties. Don’t take things too personal, accept it for what it is, and give yourself the time and space to process things, but don’t dwell on it too long. Confidence comes with practice and experience, so if you don’t know then learn how to do it again and again until you get it right.

Advice for Others

Words a mentor shared with me some years ago which I have never forgotten: “you will never discover new oceans until you develop the courage to lose sight of the shore”.

Closing Thought

We can get so caught up in trying to change/fix everything around us, but the true work lies in changing ourselves.

A quote or some advice that you found valuable

Key advice I found valuable is that consistency is key. Show up even when you feel like you don’t want to, and do the basics well, this is what is valued rather than grand gestures which cant be maintained.

Editor: Asma Nafees SHE Women’s Network Support Heal Empower