Best Paediatricians (Children's Doctor) in Chelsea, London, UK

Dr Nitha Naqvi undertook her initial training in medicine at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Medical School, London. While she was studying, she also obtained a first class honours BSc degree in experimental pathology, then completed her MBBS degree in 1995 and was awarded honours in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Dr Naqvi continued her training with a house job in adult cardiology at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. Her general paediatric training then took place at a number of large NHS hospitals, including Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the Royal Marsden Hospital, University College Hospital and Northwick Park Hospital.

During her paediatric training rotations, she undertook training in general paediatrics, neonatology, paediatric oncology, and paediatric intensive care. She then further specialised, beginning her paediatric cardiology training in 2000 at Guy’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, before completing her training at Royal Brompton Hospital.

Dr. Naqvi has achieved excellence throughout her career, having won a number of national prizes, including the British Congenital Cardiac Association prize for research and a Royal Society of Medicine prize for paediatrics.

In addition to her busy practice, she is active in research and has been widely published. She is also interested in teaching and is well known for her excellence in post-graduate education.

Dr Daubeney is a Consultant Paediatric and Fetal Cardiologist. Having completed his initial medical training at Oxford and St Thomas's Hospital, he went on to train in paediatric cardiology in Southampton, Melbourne and Toronto. In 1999 he was appointed as consultant in paediatric and fetal cardiology at the Royal Brompton and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals. His subspecialty training was in paediatric and fetal echocardiography (scanning of the unborn child's heart). He was recommended as one of the top 250 private doctors in the Tatler guide; a testament to his excellence.

Professor Daubeney's clinical expertise is the care of infants, children and teenagers with all forms of heart disease as well as in the unborn child.

He also has an international reputation and has lectured all over the world, published over 50 scientific papers, written numerous chapters and edited 2 books.

Dr Daubeney is passionate about research into the causes and effects of heart disease in children and infants. He was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine from Oxford University in 2007 and has his own dedicated research team at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College. In 2009 he became Honorary Reader at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College.. He has founded CHUKRA, the Congenital Heart Research Association (UK). He represents paediatric cardiology on the national Medicines for Children Clinical Research network and previously sat on the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit.

Dr Daubeney is married with 4 children. In his spare time away from his busy practice, his interests include bridge, skiing and rowing. He is President of the Phoenix Boat Club and Vice-President of United Hospitals Boat Club.

Dr Samatha Sonnappa is a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital, where she treats both private and NHS patients. She completed her medical education in India, where she also studied general paediatrics, neonatology and paediatric respiratory medicine.

After completing her initial medical training, Dr. Sonnappa moved over to the UK to continue to her practice and education and completed specialist respiratory medicine training at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In addition, her passion for research led her to undertake research for her PhD thesis at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), where she investigated sensitive measures of lung function in preschool children with frequent wheeze.

In 2005, Dr Sonnappa was appointed a fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Dr Julene Carvalho is a Consultant and Professor in Fetal Cardiology, with over two decades of experience in the treatment and management of paediatric Cardiology. Dr Carvalho sees private patients at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

After gaining her MD at the University Juiz de Fora, Dr Carvalho undertook her basic and specialist training at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Since her appointment, she has made a number of improvement to the novel field of fetal cardiology, including the opening of the Fetal Clinic at the Royal Brompton, which utilises fetal heart ultrasound for high risk pregnancies.

Dr Beverly Tsai-Goodman studied medicine at the University of Southampton. In 2004 she was awarded a doctorate from the University of Bristol where she trained in paediatric cardiology and practised as a consultant until 2016. Additionally, from 2004 to 2014, Dr Tsai-Goodman was the leading cardiologist for the Barth Syndrome Specialist Services in Bristol.

Dr. Tsai-Goodman spent 15 months at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a senior clinical fellow, receiving the highest quality monitorship and adding to her skillset as a clinician. During this time, she trained in cardiac MRI, echocardiography and foetal cardiology.

Since 2017 Dr Tsai-Goodman has been a consultant paediatric and foetal cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital.

Dr. Tsai-Goodman was recently awarded a master’s (MSc) degree in genomics medicine at Imperial College London. Her aim is to combine her expertise in paediatric and foetal cardiology with the latest in human genomics. she continues to better herself professionally at every opportunity, and is also active in research and teaching.

Dr Michael Rigby is a consultant paediatric cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital who treats private and NHS patients.

He trained at Killingbeck Hospital in Leeds, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

Diseases, Medical Tests and Treatments

• Percutaneous device closure of atrial septal defects (ASD) and ventricular septal defects (VSD)
• Stenting procedures for aortic coarctation, pulmonary arterial and venous stenosis
• Cutting balloon dilatation of pulmonary vein stenosis
• Pulmonary valve implantation with Melody and Edwards valves
• Closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)
• Percutaneous pulmonary and tricuspid valve implantation
• Venous stent implantation
• Occlusion of coronary fistulas
• Interventional catheterisation in congenital heart disease in children and young adults

Dr Rodney Franklin is a consultant paediatric cardiologist, based at Royal Brompton Hospital, who treats both private and NHS patients.

Dr Franklin studied medicine at University College Hospital (part of UCL), and graduated in 1979. He completed his research doctorate (MD) at the University of London in 1997 - a retrospective audit of 428 infants with functionally univentricular heart disease.

He was appointed as a consultant paediatric cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital in 1991. Alongside his role, he is clinical lead for the Congenital Heart Disease Audit, and is chair of the National Congenital Heart Disease steering committee, which promotes data collection within specialist paediatric centres; always striving for quality improvement and the best outcomes for all of his patients.

Dr Franklin is also an honorary consultant paediatric cardiologist at Hillingdon Hospital, Northwick Park Hospital, and Lister Hospital.

Dr Hui-leng Tan undertook her initial training in medicine at the University of Cambridge. She completed her general paediatric training at Addensbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge and Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Dr Tan's MD thesis was on airway inflammation in cystic fibrosis patients. This thesis, supervised by Dr Jane Davies, Professor Andrew Bush and Professor CM Lloyd was done at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), Imperial College London.

She completed her paediatric respiratory medicine training at Royal Brompton and Great Ormond Street hospitals. She continues to practice in the area of paediatric respiratory and sleep medicine.

Dr Tan received a Fellowship from the European Respiratory Society. This was to go to the University of Chicago, one of the leading sleep centres in the world. She studied developments in clinical paediatric sleep medicine. She also participated in research into sleep-disordered breathing in children.

In recognition of her excellence, Dr. Hui-Leng received the Scadding-Morriston Davies Fellowship for her work on T regulatory lymphocytes in paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea and endothelial dysfunction.

Dr Tan is a consultant in paediatric respiratory and sleep medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital. She works closely with the paediatric long-term ventilation and adult sleep teams. Her expertise includes: non-invasive ventilation and children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).

Dr Ayad Atra is a consultant at the Harley Street Clinic. His areas of interest include paediatric leukaemia/lymphoma, histiocytosis, haematological stem cell transplantation (HSCT, BMT), haemoglobinopathy and thalassemia.

Graduating in 1977, Dr Atra completed training in General Paediatrics and became specialised in Paediatric Haematology/Oncology in 1989, training in the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and the Royal Marsden Hospital. 

After obtaining membership of the Royal College of Pathologists (Haematology), he became a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist/Oncologist and the Director of the Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Programme in the Royal Marsden Hospital in 1997. He is a full member of the CCLG and the American Society of Haematology. 

Diseases, Medical Tests and Treatments

• Bone marrow transplantation
• Leukaemia / Lymphoma
• Histiocytosis
• Haematological Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT, BMT)
• Haemoglobinopathy
• Thalassemia

Dr Wathik Alsaud is a renowned and respected Consultant Paediatrician. He is also a member of the Paediatric acute team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

He has vast experience working in all fields of paediatrics; however, he has a special interest in allergies, asthma, eczema and babies with feeding difficulty and reflux. He offers in-depth consultations and a tailored approach to your child’s health and well-being, avoiding unnecessary interventions and treatments. His extensive experience and knowledge in the field enables him to provide the highest standard of care possible.

Dr Alsaud worked in many specialised paediatric centres abroad and in London. He was awarded Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2000. His strong clinical and academic background led him to being appointed as an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the well-known Imperial College and he is a professional member of The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

In his scarce free time, he enjoys cycling and exploring the world.