RCGP announces Clare Gerada as new President

Professor Dame Clare Gerada will be the next President of the Royal College of General Practitioners from 20 November.

She will take over the post from Professor Amanda Howe, whose two-year term will come to an end. Professor Gerada ran unopposed, with 84% of voters agreeing to her appointment.

The RCGP President is the constitutional head of the College. Unlike the other Medical Royal Colleges, it is the Chair who sets the strategic direction and policy. The current RCGP Chair of Council is Professor Martin Marshall.

Professor Gerada was College Chair between 2010-2013 and has remained on College Council as a nationally elected member since. She is currently the longest serving Council member, having been continuously on RCGP Council since 1998. Dame Clare will be the first woman for nearly 70 years and the second in the College's history to hold the position of both Chair and President.

She is a member of the BMA's Council, co-Chair of the NHS Assembly and is founder and Medical Director of Practitioner Health, which provides mental health support to GPs. She is a partner in the Hurley Group and a practising GP in South London.

Dame Clare is also Chair of the charity Doctors in Distress and has recently written a book, Beneath the White Coat, Doctors, their Minds and Mental Illness, with all proceeds going to the charity.

Her term in office will run from November 2021 until November 2023.

Election results for six Nationally-Elected Council Member candidates have also been announced. The successful candidates are:

• Dr Susi Caesar
• Dr Tajvinder Grewal
• Professor Michael Holmes
• Dr Uwadiae Ima-Edomwonyi
• Dr Mohana Ratnapalan
• Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown

Thirteen candidates stood for election. The successful candidates will begin their three-year terms of office from the College's governing Council meeting in November 2021.

The elections were conducted officially and independently by Civica Election Services.

RCGP Chief Operating Officer and College Returning Officer Dr Valerie Vaughan-Dick said: Congratulations to Clare who has a long history with the College. We look forward to working with her more closely once again.

Congratulations also to our new Council members and thank you to everybody who put themselves forward.

Further information

RCGP Press office – 020 3188 7633/7494/7574
Out of hours: 020 3188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editor

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 53,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.