The BMA UK council is the principal executive committee of the trade union. It sets the strategic direction of the association in line with policy decided by the representative body. Council is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policy throughout the year between annual representative meetings.
Our people
BMA council currently has 69 voting members. Each is directly elected by the membership to give a geographical and branch of practice mix as well as five seats for ethnic minority members.
There are also a number of ex-officio non-voting members, including those who chair some of the many committees reporting to council.
UK council members
Council chair - Professor Philp Banfield
Chair of representative body - Latifa Patel
Treasurer - Trevor Pickersgill
President – Professor Sir Ian Gilmore
Northern Ireland council - Tom Black
Scottish council - Ian Kennedy
Welsh council - Iona Collins
Consultants committee - Vishal Sharma*
General practitioners committee - Dr Andrew Buist/Dr Alan William Stout
Junior doctors committee - Dr Robert Laurenson/ Dr Vivek Trivedi
Medical academic staff committee - David Strain
Medical ethics committee - Jan Wise
Medical students committee - Shivani Ganesh / Chinelo Nnadi
Private practice committee - Jeremy Lawrance / Jennifer Yell
Public health medicine committee - Dr Penelope Toff
Staff, associate specialists and speciality doctor committee - Ujjwala Mohite
Board of the BMJ Publishing Group - Peter Vicary-Smith
Board of science - David Strain
Organisation committee - Jamshid Khan
Patient liaison group - Chrissie Douglass
Retired members committee - Peter Curry
Alphabetical last name list of members elected in the 2022 election to serve until the close of the ARM in 2026 (2024 for medical student seats)
Becky Acres (Junior doctors, East Midlands)
Raymond Agius (Occupational Medicine North West)
Shah Ali (Junior doctors, West Midlands)
Shohaib Ali (Junior doctors, London)
Jackie Applebee (General practice, London)
David Bailey (General practice, Wales)
Philip Banfield (Consultants, Wales)
Becky Bates (Medical Students, East Midlands)
Stuart Blake (General practice, Scotland)
Katie Bramall-Stainer (Eastern Region)
Corey Briffa (Medical Students, London,)
Ollie Burton (Junior doctors, West Midlands)
Hannah Cagney (Junior doctors, Scotland)
Anne Carson (Consultants, Northern Ireland)
John Chisholm (Other, London)
Christine Clayton (General practice, South East Coast)
Emma Coombe (Junior doctors, South West)
Cristina Costache (Junior doctors, Yorkshire)
Vassili Crispi (Junior doctors, Yorkshire)
Adam Daneshmend (Junior doctors, London)
Jacky Davis (Consultants, London)
Thomas Dolphin (Consultants, London)
Louis Downland (Medical Students, London)
Paul Evans, (General practice, North East)
Sam Everington (General practice, London)
Alex Freeman (General practice, South Central)
Preethi George Pandeth (Junior doctors, West Midlands)
Raanan Gillon (Academics, London)
Gaurav Gupta (General practice, South East Coast)
Sara Hedderwick (Consultants, Northern Ireland)
Michael Henley (Consultants, East Midlands)
Peter Holden (General practice, East Midlands)
Ian Martyn Hume (General practice, Eastern)
Shan Hussain (General practice, East Midlands, Ethnic minority)
Alphabetical last name list of members elected in the 2022 election to serve until the close of the ARM in 2026 (2024 for medical student seats).
Nyree Jackson (Junior doctors, West Midlands)
Anil Jain (Consultant, North West)
Gabrielle Jee (Junior doctors, Wales)
Terry John (General practice, London, Ethnic minority)
Omer Karim, (Consultants, South Central)
Iain Kennedy (General practice, Scotland)
Zain Khan (Medical Students, North East)
Amit Kochhar (Staff, associate specialists and specialty doctor, North West)
Sumi Manirajan (Junior doctors, London)
Kitty Mohan (Consultants, London, Ethnic minority)
Lewis Morrison (Consultants Scotland)
Anvarjon Mukhammadaminov (Junior doctors, South Central)
Kayode Oki (Medical Students, Scotland)
Serge Omanyondo (Junior Doctors, West Midlands, Ethnic minority)
Susan Overal (Retired members, South West)
Siddhant Parashar (Junior Doctors, North West)
Siobhan Quinn (Staff, associate specialists and specialty doctor, Northern Ireland)
Emma Runswick (Junior Doctors, North West)
Helen Salisbury (General practice, South Central)
Wendy Savage (Retired doctors, London)
Selvaseelan Selvarjah (Junior doctor, London)
Vish Sharma (Consultants, North West)
Arjan Singh (Junior doctors Ethnic minority)
Tom Stocks (Junior doctors, Eastern)
Alan Stout (General practice, Northern Ireland)
David Strain (Academics, South West)
Joanna Sutton-Klein (Junior doctor, Yorkshire)
Reshma Syed (General practice, South East Coast)
Penelope Toff (Public health medicine, South Central)
Richard Vautrey (General practice, Yorkshire)
Poh Jah Wang (Junior Doctors, North West)
Mark Weir (Armed Forces, South Central)
David Wrigley (General practice, North West)
Jennifer Yell (Consultant, North West)
Our meetings
The UK council meets six times a year. The meetings take place at BMA House in London or virtually from 10am to 5pm.
Next meetings of the 2023-24 session
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Wednesday 13 September 2023 – hybrid
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Wednesday 15 November 2023 - virtual
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Wednesday 24 January 2024 - virtual
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Tuesday 12 March development day - hybrid
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Wednesday 13 March 2024 - hybrid
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Wednesday 15 May 2024 - virtual
Post ARM enquiry
This enquiry report has been issued in response to concerns raised by members at ARM 2022.
The report is a review of lessons learned from the issues that arose during the International Medical Graduate (IMG) dinner held on Monday 27 July 2022.
Our terms of reference
The BMA UK council sets the strategic direction of the association in line with policy decided by the representative body at the annual representative meeting. It is responsible for the formulation of policy throughout the year and is the principal executive committee of the trade union.
The constitution
Council comprises 69 members elected from a single UK constituency covering geography, branch of practice and ethnic minority representation. Gender constraints are also applied.
The council electoral zones are: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, north eastern, north western, central, eastern, London, central southern, and south western.
The branch of practice categories are academics, armed forces, consultants, general practice, junior doctors, medical students, occupational medicine, public health medicine, retired doctors, staff, associate specialists and specialty doctors.
The full constitution of council is set out below:
- President of the association
- Chair of the representative body
- Deputy chair of the representative body
- Chair of council
- Treasurer
- Chair of Northern Ireland council
- Chair of Scottish council
- Chair of Welsh council.
And the chairs of those committees and boards as specified annually by council on the advice of the organisation committee, subject to the proviso that the number of ex-officio members (excluding the four chief officers: the president of the association, the chair of the representative body, the chair of council and the treasurer) shall not exceed half the total number of voting members.
Voting members are elected from a single UK constituency and are drawn from all UK electoral zones and from all branches of practice.
To ensure a spread of members from around the UK and from the various branches of practice, at least one member will be elected from each electoral zone and at least one from each branch of practice. Medical students will be limited to a maximum of two elected members and retired members to one elected member.
The UK electoral zones are: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, north eastern, north western, central, eastern, London, central southern, and south western.
The branch of practice categories are academics, armed forces, consultants, general practice, junior doctors, medical students, occupational medicine, public health medicine, retired doctors, staff, associate specialists and specialty doctors.
In accordance with the TULCRA 1992, only those members directly elected to council by the membership of the BMA are eligible to vote.
Elections
North East and West Midlands by-election
Voting in the North East and West Midlands regional by-elections to BMA Council closed on Tuesday 13 February 2024. The votes have been counted and verified. View the certified election result of our independent scrutineer Civica Election Services.
Upcoming
Nominations for three medical student seats on BMA Council open on Monday 19 February.
Elections for the whole council are scheduled for spring 2026.
Get in touch
We're happy to answer any queries, give advice or help on any matter related to the UK council. Email council secretariat.