Yana is Consultant Midwife at University College London Hospital, she has a wide variety of clinical experience as a nurse and a midwife, practising in both a hospital and community setting. She was invited member of the Department of Health [DH] steering group for Making a Difference for midwives,(1999) and Maternity module of the National Service Framework [NSF] (2004). She is a member of the Chief Nursing Officers national advisory group providing specialist advice on black and ethnic minority issues in the NHS. Research interests include the experiences of non English speaking women and maternity services, perinatal and maternal mortality and morbidity in ethnic minority groups, female genital mutilation and obesity and pregnancy.

Yana is co editor in chief of the British Journal of Midwifery, consultant editor of the African Journal of Midwifery, an editorial board member of the Nursing Standard, was a member of the NICE guideline development group for the guideline on Puerperal/perinatal mental health, and a member of the new clinical guideline group for women with complex social problems. Yana has been an expert advisor to the National Patient Safety Agency prioritisation Board. Yana co-founded the Female Genital Mutilation clinical guideline group, a group which is committed to the clinical support of women who have undergone FGM and eradication of the practice in the UK. This group have just developed an educational DVD on how to perform a deinfibulation.