Dr Naeem Aziz

SAS lead

Dr Adam De Belder

Medical director, invited reviews

Dr Adam de Belder is the current medical director (MD) of invited reviews at the RCP.

A clinical chair in cardiology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, he has pursued a career as a cardiac and valve interventionist and was part of a team that set up adult cardiological services based in Brighton in 1999. His experience in developing advanced cardiac audit programmes led to his appointments as chair of the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS) and vice president of the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) for clinical quality and standards. He was appointed deputy MD of RCP invited reviews in 2019 and MD in 2021.

Dr Celia Bielawski

Clinical lead for assessments

Dr Celia Bielawski trained at Kings College Hospital Medical School and works as a consultant geriatrician and physician at Whittington Hospital.

At Whittington she has held various education roles, including undergraduate sub dean, Foundation Training Programme director and director of Postgraduate Medical Education. 

Maria Buxton

PRSAS clinical lead

Maria is the clinical lead for the PRSAS accreditation programme and serves as clinical lead and service manager for the West Herts Community Respiratory Service at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust in Hertfordshire. This is a large, integrated community respiratory service delivering nine respiratory services, including pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). 

Prior to her current role, Maria was the quality lead for PRSAS, where she led on assessor training, supported services through the accreditation process, and undertook accreditation assessments, building extensive expertise in quality assurance and service improvement. In 2025, she provided clinical leadership for the comprehensive review and revision of the PRSAS accreditation standards, working closely with stakeholders across the devolved nations, patient organisations, and specialist societies. 

Maria qualified in 1988 at Kings College Hospital and has built a broad clinical career working predominantly in London, as well as in the USA and Australia. She joined Central Middlesex Hospital in 1997 as a clinical specialist, and went on to become an integrated consultant physiotherapist in 2005, working across North West London Hospitals Trust. She completed an MSc in Cardio-Respiratory Physiotherapy at UCL in 2023 and has been actively involved in pulmonary rehabilitation since 1997, across both acute and community settings. 

Maria has played a key leadership role in PR at regional and national levels. In 2010, she led on PR for the London Respiratory Team, benchmarking PR services across London. She subsequently led PR work within the London Respiratory Network and was instrumental in establishing the London PR provider network.

Beyond her clinical roles, Maria has contributed extensively to national respiratory policy and quality improvement initiatives. She has served on the British Thoracic Society (BTS) Education Committee, advised on the BTS Hospital at Home Guidelines, and contributed to the CSP PRIME tool for PR commissioning. She has also supported the BTS PR Quality Standards review and currently acts as the East of England home oxygen contract clinical lead. 

Dr Ben Chadwick

Deputy registrar

Dr Chadwick is a consultant physician in Acute Medicine at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, and was appointed to the role in 2008.

A fellow of the RCP since 2015, Ben completed his undergraduate training at Southampton University before becoming one of the first registrars to train in Acute Medicine in the Wessex Deanery in 2004. Ben is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton, where he works as the Programme Lead for the graduate entry medicine course (BM4). In addition to his role with undergraduate medical education, Ben has always had a keen interest in postgraduate medical education. He acted as the Training Programme Director for Acute Internal Medicine (AIM) in Wessex Deanery from 2009 to 2018, and chaired the Specialist Advisory Committee for AIM from 2016 to 2022. During this time he was responsible for the development of the 2022 AIM curriculum, including introducing point of care ultrasound as core part of the curriculum, with time for this protected for training.

Since demitting as the chair of the AIM SAC in 2022 Ben has taken up the role of the RCP college tutor in Southampton responsible for ST4+ trainees. In this role he has developed well received regional training days in General Internal Medicine, and also simulation training within the Trust. Since 2023 Ben has also acted as the joint Regional Advisor for the Wessex region.

Ben was elected as one of two England Regional Advisor representatives to the RCP council, and has been a member of the Council since January 2024. In this role he has been involved in producing guidance on supervision and employment of Physician Associates in the medical specialties.

Professor Alistair Chesser

Deputy medical director, invited reviews

Alistair is a consultant nephrologist and acute physician at Barts Health NHS Trust, having trained in Cambridge, London and Inverness.

From 2016-2025 he was Group Chief Medical Officer at Barts. He now works in acute medicine at Newham Hospital.

He was appointed Deputy Medical Director for Invited Reviews at the RCP in 2025.

Dr Aklak Choudhury

Clinical Director for Improvement Programmes

Dr Aklak Choudhury is Deputy Medical Director for Quality and Safety and a Respiratory Consultant at University Hospitals Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. 

He has an MSc in Medical education focusing on how staff practice continuous improvement in acute healthcare environments. He is a QSIR associate and has been an Associate Editor for BMJ Open Quality.  

Aklak has mentored many trainee QI programmes and delivered virtual and face to face educational QI workshops locally and nationally. He is passionate about continuous quality improvement and strives to support the RCP development programme for improvement for the benefit of our members. 

With the support of the CQID team, patient carer network and wider system partners, Aklak helps to develop and influence policy for our healthcare systems to better the patient experience.

Professor Nick Curzen

Deputy medical director, invited reviews

Nick Curzen BM(Hons) PhD FRCP FBCS is Professor of Interventional Cardiology at University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at University Hospital Southampton NHS FT. His half & half contract includes on call for primary angioplasty/acute intervention and running a large research group specialising in coronary physiology/imaging, as well as setting up and contributing to RCTs and other multicentre studies.

Nick is a past President of BCIS and has been an expert advisor to NICE on 4 occasions, as well as to the Prime Minister's Directive Unit. He sits on the BHF Clinical Studies Committee as well as BCS Professional Standards Group. He spearheaded initiatives to address training culture/bullying and to make interventional cardiology a more attractive specialty for women during his time with BCIS. He is passionate about maintenance of high standards for patient care and safety.

Dr Paul Dunckley

JAG training Chair

Paul is a consultant gastroenterologist at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, and the South West Endoscopy Training Academy Director. He has extensive experience in leading endoscopy training, and has previously been involved with JAG as JETS lead and as a certification assessor. Paul will be working with JAG’s stakeholders to continue developing and quality-assuring endoscopy training in the UK.

Dr Andrew Duncombe

Editor-in-chief, Future Healthcare Journal

Following undergraduate and postgraduate training in Oxford and London, Dr Andrew Duncombe has been an NHS consultant and honorary senior clinical lecturer in haematology specialising in blood cancers in Southampton since 1994.

As lead consultant in clinical haematology at University Hospital Southampton from 1995 to 2001, he led the successful bid for Southampton to be the Wessex Regional centre for blood and bone marrow transplantation (BMT). His clinical experience spans 12 different hospitals, including in Australasia.

He is a keen educator and has taught physicians, GPs, allied health professionals and patients. Andrew has been an investigator in more than 40 clinical trials and has championed their value in improving patient choices and outcomes.  He has co-authored national guidelines with National Cancer Research Institute subgroups and the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Group. Andrew’s continuing research interests include the epidemiology of blood cancers and clinical response prediction in severe COVID.

He is excited by the diverse range of new diagnostic and therapeutic options that will transform future healthcare and passionate about expanding access to health improvements for all. Recently he has left his main clinical practice to concentrate on this academic work.

Dr Kate Fayers

Clinical adviser in flexible working

Dr Kate Fayers is a consultant in diabetes at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Kate’s other roles include Wessex Training Programme Director for Diabetes & Endocrinology, Meeting secretary for the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists and a secondment to Southampton Medical School to support curriculum redesign.

Kate has recently undertaken the ILM & executive coaching qualification.

Dr Daniel Flanagan

DCAP Clinical lead

Daniel Flanagan MD FRCP is a Consultant Physician working at University Hospital, Plymouth. After graduating from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London he continued his medical training in London and then Wessex. Daniel has also held positions as visiting lecturer at the University of Adelaide and is an Associate at Yale University School of Medicine, USA. He is also an honorary associate professor at the Peninsula University, Plymouth Medical School.

He has worked as Chief of Medicine and associate medical director at Derriford Hospital Plymouth, as a member of the Department of Transport Medical advisory panel on Driving and Diabetes and is a medical advisor to the CQC. He is the clinical lead for DCAP as well as the clinical lead for the NHS England National Diabetes Audit of inpatient care.

Daniel has worked as one of the inpatient diabetes team in Plymouth since 2001.

Dr Stella George

Director of the RCP medical workforce and data insights unit

Dr Stella George is a consultant in diabetes and endocrinology at the East and North Hertfordshire Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology (ENHIDE). Her undergraduate medical studies were completed at the University of Birmingham. Stella gained an MSc in medical education at the University of Cardiff and a PhD at the University of Cambridge. She undertook her specialist training in the Eastern Deanery and is a member of several national specialist committees, including ABCD (Association of British Clinical Diabetologists) and JBDS (Joint British Diabetes Societies).

As director of the Medical Workforce and Data Insights Unit, Stella leads on the design and development of RCP surveys, providing actionable insights into this data to key stakeholders, shaping workforce planning and policy decisions.

Stella liaises with stakeholders such as specialist societies, regional networks, NHS England, Health Education and Improvement Wales, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland and the General Medical Council.

Mark Jarvis

JAG accreditation Chair

Mark trained at Oxford University and Imperial College London, gaining the Rudolph Kohnstamm prize for clinical medicine before qualifying in 1999. Based mainly in England, he has also worked in Glasgow and in New Zealand. He accepted his current post as a Consultant Gastroenterologist in Basildon, Essex in 2013. Mark has a passion for clinical quality in endoscopy. He became a JAG assessor in 2019 and Chair of JAG accreditation in 2022.

Dr Nasreen Khan

IQAS clinical lead

Dr Nasreen Khan is the clinical lead for Adult Allergy at University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust. In this role, she provides clinical leadership for adult allergy services and is actively involved in shaping allergy care both locally and nationally.

Dr Khan is a member of the Expert Advisory Group in Allergy (EAGA), working in collaboration with the National Allergy Strategy Group (NASG). Through this work, she contributes to efforts to improve the lives of people with allergy across the UK and to influence government policy to strengthen and standardise allergy services across the NHS, ensuring equitable access to high quality care regardless of geography.

She is particularly proud of the multidisciplinary allergy team at UHL, which delivers a comprehensive package of care and works closely with its regional partners through the Trent Regional Immunology and Allergy Consortium (TRIAC), supporting joined up, patient centred services across the local network.

Dr Anne Kinderlerer

Digital health clinical lead

Dr Shruthi Konda

RCP Linacre fellow

Dr Shruthi Konda is the RCP’s Linacre fellow, a role focused on the development and leadership of the RCP’s network of college tutors and associate college tutors.

She is responsible for linking their work to that of other regional roles, the RCP’s Trainees Committee and New Consultants Committee representatives, and advocates and champions college tutors’ work within the wider medical workforce.

Shruthi is a consultant respiratory physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital. She graduated from Imperial College London in 2007 and continued with her postgraduate training in respiratory and general medicine at Imperial College, St George’s and the Royal Brompton hospitals. She also has a bachelor’s degree with honours in management and medical sciences from Imperial College Business School, and a postgraduate certificate in medical education.

Alongside her role as a consultant physician, Shruthi is an MRCP PACES examiner and has hosted examinations herself on behalf of the RCP. A dedicated educator, she has worked as foundation training programme director and as an RCP tutor, overseeing around 130 postgraduate medical trainees at a time.

Shruthi is committed to getting the foundations of training right, so that we can produce competent, engaged and enthusiastic doctors who can meet the challenges of tomorrow. Dr Konda is also passionate about issues surrounding diversity and inclusion.

Dr Tom Lee

JAG chair

Tom is a Consultant Gastroenterologist in Northumbria with a keen interest in endoscopy and cancer genetics. He has spent 12 years involved in the National Endoscopy Database (NED), serving as Clinical Lead from 2014, before becoming NED Chair in 2023. He is also co-chair of the Northern Region Endoscopy Group (NREG). Tom has a strong background in endoscopy research, improvement and implementation of new technology. Tom become JAG chair in January 2026.

Sam Mauger

Patient and Carer Network (PCN) chair

Sam Mauger is the Patient and Carer Network (PCN) chair on the RCP’s strategic priorities of improving, influencing and educating.

She is currently chief executive of the Third Age Trust and has worked for over 20 years in health and wellbeing, giving a voice to under-represented groups. 

Sam is also chair of the London Age Friendly Forum and has previously chaired a range of other entities, such as Healthwatch City of London and the London Voluntary Sector Forum.

In her new role as chair of the PCN, Sam will steer the group and set its strategic direction, working across the organisation to promote a meaningful approach to involving patients in a wide range of activities.

Find out more about the RCP's Patient and Carer Network.

Ollie Minton

Clinical editor, Commentary

Ollie Minton is a consultant in palliative medicine and an honorary professor, based in University Hospitals Sussex and Brighton and Sussex Medical School. His role is to provide clinical leadership to the team, which advises other members of the hospital on end-of-life care, including their families and friends.

Ollie’s team see patients with and without cancer in a 50/50 split, but see patients based on need, not diagnosis or prognosis – patients who are treatable, but not curable – but they want to see people sooner than later, when they can have the most impact. They are a research-active team and continually look at quality and service improvement and education of staff and undergraduate students of all healthcare disciplines.

Dr Rasha Mukhtar

Senior examiner (PACES)

Rasha Mukhtar is a consultant endocrinologist at Frimley Park Hospital who completed her medical degree at the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to England once she completed her pre-registration postings to pursue a medical career in the UK. Her specialist training was based within the Severn Deanery, with time taken out for research leading to an MD from the University of Bath. Her specialist interest is in type 1 diabetes, diabetes-related technology and antenatal care and she has expanded these services during her time in post. In addition to direct clinical work, Rasha is involved in diabetes related research projects and has been the PI for several multi-centre national and international trials.

She is a keen educator involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate training. She was an Associate Clinical Lecturer for Newcastle University and is now involved with the new medical school at Brunel University where she is involved in the development and delivery of the endocrine curriculum. She is involved in junior doctor training initially as the Foundation year 2 programme director and more recently as a Clinical Tutor at Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey.

Dr Sunil Nedungayil

FFFAP senior clinical lead

Professor John Newton

Garden fellow

Professor John Newton is garden fellow for RCP.

Dr Emma-Kate Reed

Deputy medical director, invited reviews

Emma-Kate is a consultant geriatrician at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) NHS Foundation Trust. She trained in Bristol and completed her specialist training in the Severn Deanery. She is a deputy medical director at UHBW, and her current portfolio includes urgent and emergency care. She has held previous senior leadership roles within the trust including clinical chair for the Division of Medicine. She has an interest in patient safety and medical education and has previously been one of the trust Foundation Programme directors. 

She was appointed as a deputy medical director for RCP Invited Reviews in June 2023.

Professor Ponnusamy Saravanan

Editor-in-chief, Clinical Medicine

Dr Zuzanna Sawicka

Clinical director for patient safety and clinical standards

Dr Zuzanna Sawicka is an acute and community consultant in elderly medicine at Mid Yorkshire NHS Teaching Trust.

She was the clinical lead for the Future Hospital Programme project at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust which is one of the four Phase 1 RCP Future Hospital Programme development sites.

Zuzanna is currently the associate medical director for system collaboration for older people and those with frailty across the Mid Yorkshire footprint (Wakefield, Pontefract and Kirklees).

She is passionate about the patient and staff voice, especially in keeping patients safe. She is committed to about improving clinical standards, supporting staff to achieve their full potential and ensuring that patients get the right care at the right time and, where possible, that the care is delivered close to the place the person calls home.

Through the years, Zuzanna has worked on many patient safety issues, from championing PJ paralysis to improving hospital pathways. Most recently, she led and has advocated for improved care in the community setting by creating a Hospital at Home Programme locally, truly believing that the little things matter. 

In today’s world, where in health and social care we face challenges, recurrent bed pressures and financial constraints, Zuzanna firmly believes the ability to strive for excellence is vitally important and that, most of all, we must not do harm and ensure patients receive the care they need and deserve. 

Dr Ash Sharma

RCP outpatients clinical lead

Ash is a consultant nephrologist at the NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, where he has worked since 2011, and is clinical lead for the North West Kidney Network. Previously a GIRFT clinical ambassador and co-clinical lead for nephrology service reconfiguration across Cheshire and Merseyside, Ash brings a keen interest in clinical leadership, service design and outpatient transformation to his new role at the college. He will lead RCP work to implement good practice principles and guidance for modern outpatient care.

Professor Anita K Simonds

Harveian librarian

Prof Anita K Simonds MD FRCP FERS is honorary consultant in Respiratory and Sleep medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital and Professor Emeritus at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. She has a clinical and research background in acute and chronic ventilation, high dependency unit care, and the respiratory consequences of neuromuscular disease.

Prof Simonds has an interest in the history of mechanical ventilation and pandemics. These topics were linked in the RCP FitzPatrick lecture 'Pickwick, Polio and Pandemics - the history of mechanical ventilation and future challenges presented by home delivery' delivered in March 2024. She was president of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) 2020-21 and is editor of  ERS Handbooks on Respiratory Medicine, Respiratory Sleep Medicine and Non-invasive Respiratory Support.

Professor Michael de Swiet

Representative on the advisory committee of the Chelsea physic garden

Professor Michael de Swiet is RCP representative on the advisory committee of the Chelsea physic garden.

Dr Emma Vaux

Global vice president

Dr Emma Vaux OBE is a consultant nephrologist and general physician at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust since 2003. She is clinical director, integrated medicine A and associate medical director, patient safety. She is the clinical lead for the NHS England (NHSE) South-East Renal Clinical Network CKD workstream, and a member of NHSE Renal Services Clinical Reference Group.

At the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Emma has been senior censor and vice president education and training (2017–20), RCP chief examiner (2018–22) and on the RCP education faculty since 2009. She continues as an MRCP(UK) PACES examiner. Emma led the development of the RCP500 Code of Conduct. She is a Generation Q fellow with the Health Foundation and a founding member of the Q Community. Emma is co-editor of ABC Quality Improvement in Healthcare and an assessor with NHS Resolution. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical education in 2021.

Dr Sean Weaver

Deputy medical director, invited reviews

Sean splits his time between being a consultant gastroenterologist at University Hospitals Dorset and leading for Quality and Safety at the Trust. He trained in Oxford, Cambridge, Sydney and Bath where he obtained a PhD in molecular pharmacology. 

He was appointed in Bournemouth in 2005 and specialises in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and colonoscopy.  He has been clinical director and subsequently associate medical director for safety and quality.  During this role Bournemouth obtained the highest feedback nationally for safety in NHS staff survey and got outstanding for well led in a CQC inspection.  

He has completed a Masters in Quality Improvement and Leadership as part of the competitive Generation Q programmed funded by the Health Foundation. He was the national lead for the Royal College of Physicians Inflammatory Bowel Disease Quality Improvement programme. 

He was Deputy Medical Director at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB – the precursor of HSSIB) for 4 years. During this time he led national thematic reviews on Never Events and Safety Management Systems.

He is now Medical Director for Quality and Safety at University Hospitals Dorset, visiting fellow in patient safety at the University of Loughborough and Deputy Medical Director of the Invited Review Service at the Royal College of Physicians

Professor Tom Wilkinson

NRAP senior clinical lead

Professor Tom Wilkinson is professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Southampton and honorary NHS consultant physician at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, specialising in asthma and COPD. He leads the Southampton COPD research group and the airways disease theme of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.

Tom trained in Cambridge and London before moving to Southampton as a clinical lecturer. He has worked in COPD research and clinical service development for 20 years. 

Dr Andrew Yeoman

IQILS clinical lead

Dr Andrew Yeoman took up the post of IQILS Clinical Lead on 1 April 2026, having been the programmes Quality Lead since 2021. As Clinical Lead, Andrew provides leadership, direction and strategy and is responsible for delivering the main aims of the programme. Andrew is a consultant hepatologist based at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. 

Andrew brings a wealth of experience to the role, having been appointed as clinical lead for the Wales Liver Plan that was launched in 2015. Andrew took part in the Lancet Commission into Liver Disease and is currently a steering group member of its successor, the UK Liver Alliance. Andrew is a strong believer in the importance of patient centred care and provides support to a number of patient organisations, namely British Liver Trust, PBC Foundation PSC Support and AIH Support.