Sir Michael Dixon
CVO OBE MA FRCGP
Michael is an NHS GP at the Culm Valley Integrated Centre for Health in Cullompton, Devon. He is Co-Chair of the College of Medicine and former Co-Chair of the National Social Prescribing Network and NHS National Clinical Lead for Social Prescribing. He was previously a leader in the GP Commissioning movement as Chair of NHS Alliance (1998-2016) and President of NHS Clinical Commissioners (2012-2014), which aimed to give GPs and their patients a greater say in the services available to them. Michael is a Visiting Professor at Westminster University and Head of the Royal Medical Household. His recent book “A Time to Heal – Tales of a Country Doctor” describes his views on general practice – past and present.
Professor David Peters
MB ChB DRCOG DMSMed FLCOM
David Peters is Clinical Director in the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Westminster and leads the Westminster Centre for Resilience. He has been a GP, a GP trainer and trained as an osteopath. From 1990 until 2005 he directed the complementary therapies programme at Marylebone NHS Health Centre. He has led on a series of projects delivering non-drug treatments in the NHS, the most recent being the Atlas Men’s Mental Wellbeing Project.
Professor Debbie Sharp
Debbie was appointed to the Foundation Chair of Primary Health Care at the University of Bristol in 1994 and spent nearly 20 years developing what has become one of the foremost academic departments of primary care in the UK. She has had many national roles in academic medicine including membership of GMC council, GMC education committee, many NIHR and MRC grant bodies and the original ‘Walport’ Committee. She has undertaken several major research studies in the field of CAM and is currently undertaking a DH funded scoping review looking at the potential of an integrative medicine approach for patients with multimorbidity in primary care
Dr James Fleming
James is a GP in Padiham, near Burnley. His social enterprise, ‘The Green Dreams Project’, exists to make ideas in healthcare become reality, something it has been doing on a fairly large scale for 6 years. He is committed to equality of opportunity in health and social care, and to providing solutions for those patient who existing agencies are unable to help.He really likes being a GP and is very committed to the town in which he works’.
Sir Sam Everington MBBS, MRCGP, Barrister, OBE
Sam has been a GP in East London, England since 1989 at the Bromley By Bow Centre. The centre has over 100 projects under its roof ranging from art and garden therapy and financial and jobs advice, all supporting the wider determinants of health. The social prescribing delivered at the centre, is now part of a network of thousands across the country and a growing movement across the world. Its focus is on what matters to patients rather than what is the matter with them. East London is a poor community but rich in diversity with over 150 different ethnic group. We are proud to say we have the world in our East End.
Sam is an Honorary Vice President of the British Medical Association. In 1999 he received an OBE for services to inner city primary care in 2006, The International Award of Excellence in Health Care and in 2015 a Knighthood for services to primary care. In 2022 he received the Albert Medal from the Royal Society of Arts (Previous recipients include Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking, Winston Churchill). He is a member of the East London foundation Trust board (mental Health Hospital), an Associate Director of NHS Resolution and is a Fellow and Honorary Professor of Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Vice President of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing. He is a member of the Royal College of GPs Council and the Knight’s Society, and as well as being our co-Chair is also Chair of Trustees, and a Council Member of the College of Medicine. He is a non-executive board member of NHS England and is the Provost of the RCGP from November 2025. In 2026 he became an Honorary Professor of the University of East London. He is a trained woodcarver, day skipper, and speaks Norwegian. He trained originally as a cadet pilot in the RAF and lives with his wife and children in the East End of London in the heart of his community.
Professor Dame Donna Kinnair
DBE RGN HV LLB MA
Donna is a Non-executive Director at East London Foundation Trust, and Vice-Chair of the College of Medicine. She was the General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) until June 2021.She was responsible for delivering the RCN’s strategic and operational plans and promoting patient and nursing interests on a wide range of issues. Donna held various roles, prior to joining the RCN, including clinical director of emergency medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust; Executive Director of Nursing, Southeast London Cluster Board; Director of Commissioning, London Borough of Southwark & Southwark PCT. She was the Strategic Commissioner for Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority’s Children’s Services. Donna advised the PM’s Commission on the future of Nursing and Midwifery in 2010 and served as nurse/child health assessor to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry.
Simon Y. Mills
MA FCPP FNIMH
Simon Mills is a University of Cambridge medical sciences graduate who has been a herbal practitioner in Exeter UK since 1977. Among many accomplishments he co-founded the world’s first University centre for studying complementary health at Exeter, was Special Adviser to the House of Lords report on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and coordinated a national Department of Health project ‘Integrated Self Care in Family Practice’ which pioneered many of the elements of ‘social prescription’. He is an acknowledged and widely published authority and teacher on the use of plants in medicine and is Self Care Lead at the College of Medicine.
Dr Catherine Zollman
Catherine is a GP, who works as lead doctor at Penny Brohn a multi-disciplinary charity which delivers integrated healthcare to people affected by cancer. She also works part time as NHS GP in Bristol and is a MacMillan GP facilitator for Cancer Services advising and working for the Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group. She is honorary clinical lecturer at the University of Bristol and regularly teaches medical postgraduates, undergraduates and the general public. In 2010 she completed a 2 year Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Catherine led the steering group to devise the programme for the Food Conference.
Mr Michael Dooley LVO
Women’s Clinical Lead, Harmony Lead, and College Trustee
Michael Dooley is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Dorset County Hospital. His special interest is reproductive endocrinology with particular expertise in infertility, menopause, premenstrual syndrome and sports gynaecology.
In 2024, Mr Dooley was made Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset. He has attended three Olympic Games as British Team Doctor. Mr Dooley has established The Poundbury Clinics as centres of excellence providing an integrated approach to women’s health.
Dr Naveed Akhtar
Dr Naveed Akhtar has been a principal GP for over 10 years, with Special Interests in Minor Surgery, Musculoskeletal Medicine and Mental Health. He is a Master NLP Trainer, a Hypnotherapist and a medical Acupuncturist.
Prior to becoming a GP, Dr Akhtar trained as a surgeon completing his MRCS in 2007. As a specialist in hand surgery, he was an advisor to the Royal College of Surgeons developing guidelines for the treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Dr Akhtar is also a Commissioner and Clinical Lead at West Essex CCG, Royal College of General Practitioner’s tutor and a parish councillor.
Whilst at medical school, He developed a keen interest in the workings of the human mind and its remarkable ability to self-heal, which led him to complete a B.Sc degree in Neuroscience. Having trained in NLP and clinical hypnosis and using these techniques to help his patients, Dr Akhtar started to train these principles to doctors and other health professionals. Together with Dr Toh Wong, they co-founded Neurolinguistic Healthcare Ltd and organised the UK’s first Integrative Health Convention. Dr Akhtar is also Treasurer and a Trustee for the College of Medicine.
Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca
With a total of 48 national and international prizes, Bogdan is an award-winning, newly qualified doctor in London (South Thames Foundation School) with a strong passion for medical leadership and management, public health, primary care, and innovation.
Bogdan has worked as part of the National Primary Care Team as a student voice and remains a Collaborator for the Harvard Global Health Institute. His work has influenced national healthcare policy and has driven key changes within the Undergraduate medical school curriculum. Throughout medical school, Bogdan has contributed to several peer-reviewed publications and policy documents, including the UK NHS Long Term Plan (a 10-year roadmap for the future of healthcare), the Personalised Care Model, GP Partnership Review, as well as authoring three books, including the most recent 350-pages ‘Unofficial Guide to Getting into Medical School’.
Working with a team of 5,000+ medical students internationally, Bogdan is the founder of multiple large-scale projects, including the NHS Social Prescribing Champion Scheme (https://collegeofmedicine.org.uk/social-prescribing/), International Social Prescribing Day (www.socialprescribingnetwork.com), TalkCancer (www.tctalkcancer.wixsite.com/talkcancer ), and Medefine Education (www.medefine.org), an organisation widening access to medical school globally.
For his work, Bogdan has been offered over £100,000 in scholarships and grants, has been named Student Leader of the Year (2017), Student of the Year (2017 and 2018, College of Medicine), as well as meeting HRH Prince of Wales on three occasions and receiving an honorarium for community impact.
Dr Simon Lewis
Simon is a child and adolescent psychiatrist working in paediatric liaison at University College London Hospitals focussing on young people with complex presentations. He is passionate about the unity of the bodymind in his work and teaching; and how this approach can lead to a more collaborative and compassionate doctor/patient relationship.
Simon led an NHS inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit in North London for more than 20 years. He lectures at UCL, teaching medical and other students. Simon is a trustee for an environmental charity (Global Generation),a keen cyclist and photographer.
Dr Matthew Hawker
MBChB FRCOphth DM MA
Matt works as a consultant ophthalmologist and also has a longstanding interest in whole person models of health. This led him into the field of lifestyle medicine where he led a social enterprise that trained healthcare professionals to coach a lifestyle medicine behaviour change programme to NHS patients to help control and reverse chronic diseases like diabetes. His fascination with spiritual dimensions of health and healing led to a MA in theology, spirituality and health and the privilege of working as a hospital chaplain during the pandemic seeking to meet the spiritual needs of patients. He has a longstanding vision to see a volunteer army on a mission for health mobilised from faith groups to transform the health of communities across Britain. He is excited to be working with college members and other groups towards this aim!
Dr William Bird
MBE
Dr William Bird is a GP with more than three decades’ experience in physical activity, nature and health. He has been instrumental in setting up nationally recognisable schemes such as Green Gyms and Health Walks (now called wellbeing walks).
William is co-editor of the recently published Oxford Textbook of Nature and Public Health and BBC Wildlife magazine voted him one of the top 30 influential conservationists in the UK.
As CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health, he has developed Beat the Street, a physical activity intervention programme delivered in towns and cities across the UK and Europe. In 2010, he was awarded an MBE for his services towards physical activity and health.
William is an honorary professor at The University of Exeter and chair of Active Essex, and also the College of Medicine’s Nature Lead.
Mr George Ampat
Mr. Ampat works as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Liverpool University Hospitals Foundation Trust and as a Clinical Teacher at the School of Medicine, University of Liverpool. Though a surgeon by training and practice, Mr Ampat now specializes in treating people with spine, feet and other musculoskeletal problems without surgical intervention and with lifestyle modification. He is alsog the College of Medicine Lead for Musculoskeletal Faculty.
Professor Jonathon Gray
Jonathon has an academic, medical and executive background, developed across several health systems internationally.
Jonathon’s career has included: medical training and PhD in Scotland; Clinical Genetics training, consultant, clinical director and Public Health Director roles in Wales; Health Foundation/IHI improvement Fellowship in Boston USA; Master’s in Public Health from Harvard; Executive Director of Innovation and Improvement in New Zealand at Counties Manukau District Health Board; CEO of the Academic Health Science Network in SW England; Director of Transformation, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board; Director of the Dragons Heart surge hospital development during Covid; Director of the newly established Commonwealth Leadership Institute -role established within University of Wales Trinity St Davids
Jonathon is particularly proud to play a small part in the Centre for Healthcare Innovations amazing work in Singapore, as a contributor to the CHI Innovate conferences, and as a support for the CHI Faculty and young leaders in FLYING. He is also the College of Medicine Director of the Commonwealth Institute, and College Lead for the Commonwealth.
Dr Fiona Butler
Dr Fiona Butler is a GP and Clinical Director for Brompton Health Primary Care Network and Chair of the West London GP Federation (LMA), supporting thriving general practice and primary care. As well as a strong provider interest she has a background in commissioning as the former Clinical Commissioning Group Chair for West London.
Fiona has a longstanding commitment to developing services for health and wellbeing outside hospital settings, championing prevention and person centered approaches, and for many years she has led on local integrated care strategies. Her work focuses on building collaboration across providers to create neighbourhood-based models of care that improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.