Past Speakers 2006-2007

Dr Brendan Lloyd
Brendan Lloyd graduated from Cardiff and worked as a general practitioner in Swansea from 1989 until 2005 when he became the medical director of Cardiff Local Health Board. Experience as a GP included time as chairman of the District Medical Committee and vice-chairman of the Local Medical Committee.

In 2003 he was awarded an MSc in diabetes and served as chairman of Swansea Local Diabetes Service Advisory Group. As an advanced trainer for the Warwick University diabetes course he co-facilitated the Certificate in Diabetes as a satellite course in Swansea. Dr Lloyd was a member of the Welsh Diabetes Education Steering Group which developed the Welsh GP Foundation Course in Diabetes. He is an honorary clinical research fellow of the Centre for Health Information, Research and Evaluation (CHIRAL) at Swansea University School of Medicine and has co-authored publications on diabetes in primary care with CHIRAL members. In 2007 he was awarded fellowship of the British Association of Medical Managers.

Dr Colin Kenny
Dr Colin Kenny is a general practitioner in Dromore, Co Down. He is now an associate director of postgraduate medical education in Northern Ireland.  He runs a diabetes clinic in his practice, writes, and lectures regularly on diabetes related subjects.  He is the inaugural chairman of Primary Care Diabetes U.K. In 2000 he completed a survey of primary diabetes care in Northern Ireland. He was chairman of the Primary Care Diabetes Society and is a current committee member. He is also the editor of the journal Diabetes and Primary Care.

Dr Graham Burns
Graham Burns began academic life as a mathematician, studying in Nottingham and Cambridge. Despite the joys of this rude intellectual stimulation, he decided pure academia was would not afford him the full range of life’s experiences. He changed direction.

After turning down a lucrative appointment on the stock market he took up voluntary work in Bihar, India. He also worked as an actor and as a civil servant in Westminster before deciding medicine was the career most likely to fulfil his dual requirements: a plug for the existentialist gap and a decent income.

He studied medicine in Newcastle. As a registrar his PhD thesis was on asthma.  In 2000/01 he was a visiting scientist and honorary lecturer in the Alfred Hospital and University of Monash, Melbourne.

In 2002 he was appointed as consultant physician and honorary senior lecturer in the Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle University. He is heavily involved in undergraduate education and is chair of the British Thoracic Society Workforce committee. Clinically he retains an active interest in asthma and is COPD lead for Newcastle Hospitals.

Mr Jonathan Rees
Jonathan Rees is the University Lecturer in Orthopaedics at the University of Oxford and NHS Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.  He graduated from St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London and did his Orthopaedic and Specialist Training in Oxford.  Mr Rees is a Committee Member of the Research and Academic Surgery Committee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.  He is also a Fellow of the British Orthopaedic Association and Member of the British Elbow and Shoulder Society.

Dr Andrew Dowson
Andrew Dowson qualified in medicine in 1984, and worked as a GP for several years before becoming a specialist in headache. He is Director of the NHS King’s Headache Service at King’s College Hospital, London and also has several General Practice based, headache-focussed positions. He is chairman of the umbrella organisation for the headache interested charities - Headache UK and of MIPCA (Migraine in Primary Care Advisors), the leading UK charity that promotes headache management in primary care as well as of the international organisation ‘Headache Care for Practising Clinicians’ – a group of similar organisations from around the world. In recent years he has chaired the P-CNS (Primary Care Neurology Society). He is a Council member of BASH (British Association for the Study of Headache).  He has authored numerous original articles, reviews, books and congress presentations in the field.

Dr David Tuthill
David Tuthill is a Consultant Paediatrician at the Children's Hospital for Wales, as well as Chair of the multidisciplinary Cardiff Nutrition Care Team and an active member of the Child Nutrition Panel, developing practical educational material for healthcare professionals on the many aspects of infant feeding.  His paediatric training was conducted in a wide variety of hospitals in Wales and New Zealand.

Dr Tuthill's research interests have centred on infant feeding, breast feeding, coeliac disease, medication errors and probiotics. His teaching commitments, among others, include being an honorary lecturer in Cardiff University, and lecturer to the paediatric Specialist Registrar national grid training in gastroenterology/nutrition.

Dr Simon H Baird
Simon Baird qualified at Queen’s University Belfast in 1991 and after completing a general practice training year in 1996 took up a position as a Cardiology Registrar in Antrim Area Hospital. Dr Baird completed his Medical Doctorate in the field of acute coronary syndromes in 2000.  He joined Broughshane Medical Practice as a full time General Practitioner with special interest in cardiology, working in the chest pain clinic of Antrim Area Hospital for one session a week.  He is a member of the CREST subgroup for both hypertension and lipid management and sits on the Regional Cardiac Network Board for Northern Ireland.

Dr Lee David
Lee David is a GP from Hertfordshire with a specialist interest in cognitive behavioural therapy. She runs workshops for GPs, GP Registrars and primary healthcare professionals, on how to apply CBT techniques within routine 10 minute consultations. The aim of her training is to improve quality within primary care and to make consultations more interesting and enjoyable for GPs. Dr David has also written a book Using CBT in General Practice: the 10-minute Consultation. She can be contacted on CBM.Training@googlemail.com

Dr Frances Cole
Frances Cole is a part time GP in Huddersfield and trained in cognitive behavioural therapy at Newcastle CT Centre in 1993-94. In 1996, she started the first UK multidisciplinary primary care pain rehabilitation service in Bradford based on CBT principles. She currently runs this service and works in clinical health psychology at Bradford Teaching Hospitals using CBT in a wide range of mental and physical health problems. She runs a variety of workshops and training courses for primary care trusts in the North of England for primary care practitioners in CBT techniques for both mental health, chronic pain and long term health condition self management. She is also a co-author of a CBT self help guide Overcoming Chronic Pain, CBT based self help guides on health problems published in 2005 by Constable Robinson.

Dr Paul Stevens
Paul Stevens trained in renal medicine in the Royal Air Force and at Charing Cross Hospital, London. He is the President of the British Renal Society and has a major interest in commissioning and developing renal services. Paul oversaw the modernisation and development of one of the largest District General Hospital renal units, was clinical advisor to NICE for Anaemia Of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and is clinical advisor to the NICE Chronic Kidney Disease Guideline currently under development. He was also a member of the UK CKD guideline development group. Dr Stevens is Consultant Nephrologist and Clinical Director Vascular, Interventional Radiology, Urology and Renal Services, East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust and Canterbury Hospital. His research interests are centred on clinical nephrology and epidemiology, with a particular interest in the unmet need in nephrology and in earlier identification and management of CKD.

Dr Clare Kaye
Clare Kaye is a GP on the flexible careers scheme. She specialises in teaching and for a number of years has taught postgraduates in the vocational training setting. She has also co-ordinated and created teaching curriculums for this group of doctors. She is a member of a group of young GPs who meet every six weeks to discuss their learning needs and ways to fulfil them.

She teaches undergraduate students in the community as well as teaching communication skills and issues in psychiatry. She coordinates the curriculum for the undergraduate students. Part of her clinical work includes two clinical sessions at her practice in Pinner, Middlesex. She gained a distinction in the MRCGP examination in 2004 and keeps up to date using journals, online resources, courses, and peers. She has also completed her Diploma of Family Planning, Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist, and Diploma of Child Health.

Dr Rupal Shah
Rupal Shah is a Principal in General Practice in Battersea, south London. She is based in a vibrant inner city practice where she works with a socio-economically and culturally diverse population. She qualified as a GP in 2002 and has written about and taught current issues in general practice since then.

She has also written and edited two textbooks for newly qualified GPs and edits the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) magazine, The New Generalist. She is also an editorial adviser for Doctor and Update magazines. She passed the MRCGP examination with distinction in 2002 and currently teaches undergraduates within her practice.

Dr Roger Gadsby
Roger Gadsby has been a GP since 1979 and works in an eight partner training practice in Warwickshire. He has spoken on and written about diabetes since 1983, and has published two textbooks on diabetes and more than 150 articles, papers, and chapters.

He is also a Senior Lecturer in Primary Care at Warwick University. He is involved with developing assessed accredited courses in diabetes run by Warwick Diabetes Care. Over 5000 healthcare professionals have so far undertaken the Warwick Certificate in Diabetes Care.

Dr Gadsby is a member of two diabetes guideline development groups for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), and is a founder member of the Primary Care Diabetes Society.

Dr Iain Small
Iain Small has been a General Practitioner in Peterhead since 1989. He has been Chair of the Scottish Paediatric Asthma Group and the Grampian Asthma Action Group. He is education lead and Vice Chair of the General Practice Airways Group, and an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of General Practice at the University of Aberdeen. Dr Small is the clinical lead for the Grampian managed clinical network for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Dr Tom Brown
Tom Brown is a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh and was a physician then a general adult psychiatrist, before liaison psychiatry. He is a cognitive behavioural therapy trainer whose interests are in managing depression in chronic physical illness. Dr Brown has written extensively on the management of patients with medically unexplained symptoms. He is Chair of the Scottish division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Professor Greg Rubin
Greg Rubin is a general practitioner, Professor of Primary Care at the University of Sunderland, and Director of the Northern Primary Care Research Network. He has been involved with the development of practice based research and research networks. His principal research interest is the management of gastrointestinal disorders in primary care. Professor Rubin’s current research activity includes studies of the diagnostic approach of GPs to irritable bowel syndrome, a Europe-wide survey of the GP management of GI problems and an extensive programme in IBD.

He is currently Honorary Secretary to the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board and Chair of the European Society for Primary Care Gastroenterology.

Dr John Paul Leach
John Paul Leach has been a Consultant Neurologist in the Southern General Hospital and the Western Infirmary, Glasgow since 2002. He also runs general neurology clinics in Wishaw and Hairmyres Hospitals, Lanarkshire.
Dr Leach’s specialist interest is in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy and he
runs first seizure services for north Glasgow.

Dr John Hebden
John Hebden is a Consultant Gastroenterologist at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield. He trained in London and Nottingham, where he completed a postgraduate degree investigating colonic drug delivery. Dr Hebden is Secretary of the Gastroenterology Speciality Question Group of the Royal College of Physicians, and a member of the Standard Settings Group for the Part 2 MRCP(UK) examination and is on the Part 2 membership board. His interests include inflammatory bowel disease and endoscopic ultrasound. He has written Your Questions Answered: Gastrointestinal Problems, part of a series for primary care physicians.

Dr Angus Kennedy
Angus Kennedy is Consultant Neurologist at Charing Cross Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, having received his neurological training in London at the Atkinson Morley’s and St Mary’s Hospital. In 1997 he spent a year as Senior Fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His specialist neurological interests include the diagnosis, investigation and management of people with degenerative dementia. Dr Kennedy’s research has aimed to assess how functional imaging can be used to map the early phases of Alzheimer’s disease, and how this affects the functioning of the brain.

Dr Marta Buszewicz
Marta Buszewicz is qualified in both general practice and psychiatry. She works part time as a GP in north London and part time at the Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, University College London. Her main research and teaching interests are in the field of mental health, particularly in depression, anxiety, and somatisation. Until recently she was also involved in teaching the history of medicine for the intercalated BSc in medical humanities.

Dr Geraint Fuller
Geraint Fuller is a Consultant Neurologist at the Gloucestershire Royal NHS Trust. He qualified in 1983 and started clinical neurology training in London. He won the Queen Square Prize in Neurology in 1990.

He is particularly interested in education and training and has written two textbooks, including Neurological Examination Made Easy (Churchill Livingstone). He has also edited a training journal Neurology in Practice. He is the Chair of the Neurology Specialty Advisory Committee and has been closely involved in introducing assessment into specialty training in medicine all while maintaining a busy clinical service.

Miss Joan Pitkin
Joan Pitkin is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Director of the Menopause Clinical and Research Unit at Northwick Park and St Mark’s Hospital (NPMH) in Harrow, Middlesex. She is also Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, London.

She was Chair of the British Menopause Society, retiring in July 2005, and a member of the British Menopause Society Council for seven years. She was also a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist (RCOG) Council for six years and the RCOG Continuing Medical Education Committee for three years. She is a RCOG Tutor and heads the Faculty of Education for NPMH for undergraduates and postgraduates. She heads a multidisciplinary menopause team,  which won a Team of the Year Award in 2000.

Dr Fraser MacLeod
Fraser MacLeod is a GP in South Glasgow and is the Primary Care Lead Clinician in the Health Board's Managed Clinical Network for Diabetes. He is involved in developing and implementing the managed care programme for diabetes, which is now delivered as a General Medical Services Local Enhanced Service in over 200 GP practices.
Dr MacLeod was a member of the panel which wrote the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guideline on diabetic retinopathy screening and chairs the project group responsible for establishing the retinopathy screening programme in Glasgow. He also participates in work on various aspects of chronic disease management.

Professor Roger Jones
Roger Jones is Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at King’s College London. He has carried out research in gastroenterology for over 20 years, with a focus on the epidemiology and management of common problems in primary care. Professor Jones is founding President of the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology in the UK and was founding Chairman of the European Society for Primary Care Gastroenterology. His other research interests include medical education and research ethics and governance. He is Editor in Chief of the Oxford Textbook of Primary Medical Care.

Dr Peter Tasker
As a General Practitioner for almost 30 years, Peter Tasker has had an interest in the management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He is a member of the diabetes team at St James Medical Practice, which offers continuous care for almost 900 patients. Structured and continuous education is a feature of the service, which is delivered by a team of general practitioners, primary care based diabetes nurses, podiatrists and dieticians. The team won the "Diabetes Doctor of the Year Award" in 1994.

Dr Tasker is President of the local branch of Diabetes UK, and a former member of various national committees of Diabetes UK. He co-chaired the steering group of Primary Care Diabetes UK, becoming chairman from 1999 to 2002. He was also a member of the RCGP working party that developed guidelines and protocols and was a member of various groups that developed the National Service Framework for diabetes.

He is a co-editor of the diabetes journal Practical Diabetes International and has published work on many aspects of chronic disease management. Dr Tasker helps organise diabetes multidisciplinary continuing education and chairs the local Network Group.

Dr David Millar-Jones
David Millar-Jones trained and qualified in Cardiff in 1988.  He eventually left hospital medicine to become a GP Principal in 1995, but has continued to work in hospitals as a Practitioner in Diabetes and became an Associate Specialist in Diabetes in 2004 after election to FRCP (UK).  Dr Millar-Jones continues to work as a full time GP and has established a specialist service to assist GPs in the management of diabetic patients who are difficult to control.

Dr Millar-Jones is a strong believer in GP education and has given numerous CPD talks.  He is also a tutor for Warwick University, a committee member of the Welsh Endocrine Society and PCDS and on the editorial board for their Journal.

Dr Jenny Maguire
Jenny Maguire is a Clinical Psychologist in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. She completed her PhD at Queen’s University Belfast and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. She is based at Belfast City Hospital and works in both Primary and Secondary Psychological Services in South Belfast.  Jenny has a keen interest in cognitive behaviour therapy in primary care and new ways of delivering services to increase access and choice.

Dr Raymond G White
Raymond White is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in the Belfast Trust based in the Mater Hospital. He has a sessional commitment to the Royal Jubilee Maternity Service. Dr White is also an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast. He has had a longstanding interest in HRT and the management of the menopause and has spoken widely on the subject. He is a member of the British Menopause Society and was a founding member of the Irish Menopause Society. Dr White initiated the first specialist menopause clinic in Northern Ireland and maintains this interest at his clinic in the Mater Hospital.

Dr Hugh Cairns
Hugh Cairns is a Consultant Nephrologist in the Renal Unit at Kings College Hospital, London.    He trained at Guy’s Hospital Medical School at the University of London, and has held previous posts as Renal Registrar and Senior Registrar at the Royal Free Hospital and Middlesex and University College Hospitals.  He was also Clinical Director of the Kings Renal Unit and the Kings Liver Unit for ten years.  His research interests include haemodialysis, urological renal disease, and chronic renal failure and its progression.