Meet the Trustees

“I joined FPM when I took the DPM a few years after joining Roche (in the last Millennium). After a leaving Roche and joining GlaxoWellcome, which then became GSK, I spent several years in the USA. On returning to the UK I became more interested in governance and standards as I took on wider corporate leadership roles. In moving to Norgine as Chief Development officer I was keen to maintain my profile and raise the company profile for other pharmaceutical physicians. As such I decided to join the Professional Standards Committee on which I served for six years. I continued this as I left Norgine for Takeda and subsequently applied to become a Trustee in 2015 when I was establishing my own consultancy and working on the Accelerated Access Review for DHSC. I maintained my Trustee role during my two years at UCB before returning to consultancy and at present am now coming to the end of my second three-year term as a Trustee. I now have a fascinating portfolio of work with my consultancy, being on the Board of a regulator (Human Tissue Authority) and working for DHSC.

Trustees play a vital statutory role under the Charity Commission requirements, but we are not there just to make up the numbers and warm the seats! We provide external independent scrutiny of the organisation and its finances, while guiding on its direction and strategy. It is important that we remain at a high level as ’non executives’ and do not unduly meddle in operations, but having an understanding of the work while building trust between the Board and the Executive is a vital part of making a contribution as a Trustee.

The enjoyment of working as a Trustee is the ability to gain a wide overview of strategy, ensuring that the high level workings of the organisation are set up to be able to deliver against it. Seeing and hearing the diverse views and experience of other Trustees is simultaneously fascinating, informative and somewhat humbling as we all bring discrete and complementary perspectives to function as a Board.”

“I am a pharmaceutical physician consultant with over 20 years in the industry, where I have held several senior executive roles within various pharmaceutical companies such as Wyeth/Pfizer, Novartis, Kyowa Kirin and others. I am also a Visiting Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Medicine at King’s College, London, and Director of the Innovation & Technology Support Office (ITSO) at the University of San Augustin, The Philippines.

Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded Membership by Distinction by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, for contributions to the field of pharmaceutical medicine, and was appointed as a Non-Executive Board Director Trustee.

I have particularly enjoyed my role as a Trustee interacting with, and learning from, skillful and experienced fellow board members; challenging each other to deliver the most effective governance and the highest standard of services to the members. Playing a humble role supporting the Board in shaping and improving the future of FPM and influencing strategy, policy and vision is an enormous privilege.

Having graduated from Ain Shams University, Egypt and being able to benefit from the opportunities to continue my training and education in Europe, my personal mission – currently – is to improve the health of patients and the public globally through my membership of the FPM Global Forum. This has led to my co-founding of The Middle East Association of Pharmaceutical Professionals (MEAPP), a non-profit charity organisation aiming to promote global equal healthcare practices through developing Pharmaceutical Medicine awareness and education in the Middle East and Africa.

I am very much looking forward to continuing to promote Pharmaceutical Medicine and FPM to expand its membership internationally beyond the UK shores!”

“My career has been somewhat eccentric. I started off in anaesthesia and intensive care, realised I wasn’t of the right stuff to be anaesthetist and changed over to academic pharmacology and therapeutics, worked in research and development in university and pharma. I then joined MHRA as a medical assessor and as I approached retirement qualified as a barrister. I’m now in chambers in Lincolns’ Inn specialising in all aspects of medical law. I can’t resist advertising our textbook the Law of Medicines and Medical Devices, 2nd edition just published by Oxford University Press.

We have a role to counsel FPM on the broader aspects of pharmaceutical medicine and its relationship with the whole spectrum of stakeholders in medicine and life science products, including the wider medical community, the Royal Colleges, the government and its regulatory bodies and those representing the patient community. As well as a role as educators in medicine we also have a very important role in the governance of FPM.

From a personal perspective I enjoy bringing my knowledge as a lawyer to the charitable and financial aspects of the work of FPM – but I’m not yet professing to be a quasi accountant!”

“I’m a medical doctor but equally a lab bench scientist with an MSc Med in cardiovascular pathophysiology (myocardial ischaemia) and PhD in dynamic lung compliance measurements in respiratory distress syndrome during high frequency oscillatory ventilation. I regard myself as primarily a pharmacovigilance pharmaceutical medicine physician, having worked 20+ years in Industry within the area of drug safety. My main interests are in medicines/medical devices benefit-risk assessment and in pharmacovigilance process improvement. I’ve been an affiliate member of FPM for 20+ years, an appraiser for the FPM revalidation programme and a member of FPM’s Policy and Communications group. Being MFPM by Distinction has enabled me to become a trustee in Nov 2021 with an eye to the current rapidly changing landscape of pharmaceutical medicine.
My interest in the FPM Member Trustee role is to contribute to FPM’s continued evolution, by taking what is already great about FPM and adding to that an enhanced strategic plan compatible with what is now arguably the fastest pace of change in Pharmaceutical Medicine possibly in history (due to the simultaneous cluster of e.g. digital tech expansion and AI; gene and immuno-therapeutics; combo medical devices/diagnostics; expansion into global geographies, etc.), so that FPM and its Membership are proactively well positioned to be the leading body following what is an imminent paradigm shift in pharmaceutical medicine over the coming few years.

I’m looking forward to working closely with both “like-minded” trustees who support FPM’s evolution as well the many FPM members with similar ambitions for FPM’s continued success.”

“I was elected to the role of Trustee at FPM this year, and this will be my first foray into sitting on a Board in any capacity. I joined industry in 1999 from the NHS and was somewhat naive about what Pharma was all about but had been told by a friend I would be ‘good at medical affairs’. I was fortunate to join a company which actively encouraged all medics to sit the DPM exam and HMT (PMST now). I have worked in a number of companies across several therapy areas but really enjoy the small company environment and working in rare diseases.

In recent years I decided to get more actively involved in FPM having been an ES, an appraiser and a member of the Policy and Communications Group up to 2020, and now being an active member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Forum, I am committed to making both FPM and Pharma generally more inclusive. The role of the Trustee is to ensure the organisation represents all its members, delivers on its promises to its members whilst setting a clear set of affordable strategic objectives.

I am looking forward to supporting FPM to grow and evolve whilst also being a role model for other members to come forwards, be actively engaged with and represent FPM.”

“I served as chairman of the FPM professional Standards Committee for six years, was elected Vice-president and Trustee for three years in 2016, and ultimately President of FPM, and chair of the Board of Trustees in 2019.

A Trustee of a charity is a non-executive director on the board. As such they are collectively responsible for the strategy and governance of the FPM. Their over-arching activity is to ensure the financial sustainability of the organisation and to look after the collective interests of the shareholders, which in the case of the FPM as a company limited by guarantee means the members who all hold a £1 share in the organisation.

I became a trustee/NED director to support the standards of practice and science of pharmaceutical medicine.

I have enjoyed working via the Board of Trustees to encourage greater membership involvement and freedom to contribute to the FPM. The introduction of our increasing digital capabilities has brought great joy to me as it has freed the members to be able to join more meetings, contribute to the committees and guest-author on our digital publications.”

“After a career in clinical and academic medicine, I spent 21 years as a medicines and medical device regulator, heading up the UK Agency, serving for 16 years as a CPMP/CHMP member. I have worked for a period in the EMA and the EU Commission. I was involved in the creation of ICH in 1990 and the medical device equivalent GHTF. Since 2005 I have worked in the pharmaceutical industry as Senior Vice President for Eisai, with wide responsibilities for regulatory, patient safety and public policy and government affairs. In this period I have served on the ICH Management Board and the IFOMA Council and currently chair the ABPI Regulatory Science Committee and IFPMA RSC. I have been the President of TOPRA and of RAPS amongst many other bodies and I was involved in the creation of FPM, being elected as a founding Fellow in October 1990. Since then I have attended numerous FPM events, been a member of working parties, and spoken at and chaired many symposia. I was appointed as a Trustee in 2016 and am in my second term in office.

The role of a Trustee is in effect to serve as a Board member of FPM. As I see it, we have two duties. Firstly, to set the strategic direction for the future development of FPM and secondly to oversee the standards and the career path for Pharmaceutical Physicians. As non-executive directors we also operate as critical friends to the CEO and her team. Being a trustee gives you a wide view of what goes on across FPM and allows you to help develop the profession. The pandemic has provided a unique opportunity for us to showcase what we do.

The Board acts as team and our meetings generate great discussions. As you would expect we are task orientated. I am in my second term and it does take a time to be an effective contributor. I am excited about the future and the opportunities provided by the explosion in both molecular science and big date and artificial intelligence. The pandemic has shown the importance of public health and of medical science. We are the people you provide the means to deliver both and have been recognised for this. These are exciting times for FPM and for the Life Sciences sector.”

“I became a lay trustee after retiring – I was a civil servant, a prison governor by trade but I also worked on operational policy and legislative development. I knew the late Professor Tim Evans who encouraged me to apply to join the FPM Board. I was fortunate to be appointed four years ago. I am a member of a REC and am a trustee of three other charities: one works in prisons; one is responsible for 15 academy schools; and one is a religious body. I read a lot, play the flute badly and take pleasure in walking on the South Downs where I live.

Being a trustee is a privilege. It gives you the chance as part of a team on a Board to contribute to the good works a charity does – and FPM does such fantastic work. Trustees do this by not meddling (!); by offering supportive challenge; by shaping strategy; and by ensuring the charity operates efficiently and effectively within the statutory framework of good governance.

I most enjoy working with my hugely skilled colleagues on the Board whose contributions to society and science dwarfs whatever I might have achieved. The collegiate nature of the Board and its breadth and depth of expertise and experience mean I learn loads. If periodically I can make a small contribution to its deliberations, I will be doubly rewarded.”

“I began my career in the NHS in general medicine then moved into Medical Affairs. I have worked in medicine development, medical affairs and research policy within the UK and internationally, across multiple therapy areas and now have my own consultancy, Actaros. My interests are in medicines development and medical affairs policy, with the aim of developing new medicines for all patients in a responsible and sustainable way. I’m looking forward to becoming a trustee at FPM next week.

Trustees are a vital part of a charity to ensure the charity does what was intended and works to its mission. In the case of FPM, this means advancing the science and practice of pharmaceutical medicine for the benefit of the public. I’m really keen to support FPM to continually remember that the specialty exists for the benefit of the public, which means FPM helping to explain what pharmaceutical medicine is and the new developments in pharmaceutical medicine to the public and reflecting the public perspective in how we work.

I’m passionate about pharmaceutical medicine and appreciate the support and guidance I received when going through PMST, and beyond. So I am really looking forward to being able to give back to the specialty, and to drive the specialty forward through being a trustee of FPM.”

“After qualifying in medicine and training in adult and paediatric haematology, I worked as a Consultant Paediatric Haematologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Edinburgh until June 2017. I am an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh and a former president of the British Society for Haematology.
I have been involved in the regulation of medicines at a national, European and international level since 2002 including the position of vice-chair of the UK’s Commission on Human Medicines and chair of its Clinical Trials, Biologicals and Vaccines Expert Advisory Group. In 2018, I was awarded an OBE for my services to the Regulation of Medicines.

I have been an active Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh since 1994, and was delighted to be invited to represent the College as an FPM trustee.
A charity trustee must understand the purpose of the charity and ensure that it is able to deliver what it was set up to do through good governance, careful management of resources and compliance with charity law. As an FPM trustee I can use the expertise that I have gained through clinical work and drug regulation to support the practice of pharmaceutical medicine from drug development through to clinical use.

I enjoy interacting with members of FPM whose background is different from mine but whose experience and skills allow a wider understanding of what pharmaceutical medicine encompasses. This diversity of membership requires a complementary board of trustees and I look forward to contributing my expertise to the work of FPM.”

“I think a Trustee needs to provide an outside perspective, based on their own experience and thinking, and of course, help to ensure that the right things are being done correctly in the interests of members and staff, and to support the efforts of the President and Faculty board members in achieving their educational, training and financial goals, especially in the case of FPM, in which the educational remit is so important and prominent.

It is about commenting on the information provided at board meetings and making constructive suggestions; but also, for a less experienced board member like me, it is still something of a learning exercise, which is why I wanted to join and participate.

I am a longstanding clinical academic and relatively new to pharmaceutical medicine, which has always seemed something of a Cinderella specialty from the outside, and I wanted to understand it better and to help not only in fostering wider interactions between the pharmaceutical industry in its many forms (which is also something I was not so well aware of – what constitutes pharmaceutical medicine) and clinical, particularly academic, medicine, but also to raise its profile, relevance and appeal to young medical graduates and scientist as a worthwhile and stimulating career option. I believe there is considerable value and potential in having a perhaps more formalised joint working relationship between industry and academia in developing new drugs and in defining areas of unmet need; however, this will need political support too. The recent work with vaccines is a case in point, even if a special case in the circumstances.”

“I’m Chris Worth and will become the new Registrar as from the 2021 AGM after an appointments process. I’ve had an ‘eclectic’ career as both a GP and NHS Director of Public Health, together with 20+ years in Industry where I’ve worked in Pharma, Vaccines, Consumer Health and Biosimilars/Generics. Deep down, I regard myself as a “population medic” (public health) working in Pharma Medicine. Until November 2019 I had previously been an FPM Trustee (Treasurer) for six years, but also for a term about twelve years ago.

In my view, Trustees are working collectively for the interests of their members, and ensuring all legal and compliance standards are met. For FPM, agreement and implementation of our strategy and adherence and development of policies are paramount. I wanted to be a contributing voice to further improve and deliver on our Faculty aims, and also to meeting member expectations.

It’s the working and thinking together of great minds, active Physicians, and widely differing experiences that can be drawn to further the aims of our Faculty. As a Trustee, I am most looking forward to working with my sixth President, being one of the Officers, to meeting new (and as many) members and to expanding our overall membership as much as possible!”