Professor Sir Denis Pereira Gray OBE, FRCP, FRCGP, FMedSci, (DSc)
Sir Denis Pereira Gray worked for 38 years in the St Leonard’s Medical Practice Exeter, following his father and grandfather. He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Hunterian Society, London, the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of Public Health, and Honorary Doctorates by three British universities.
He established the first postgraduate university department of general practice in Europe at the University of Exeter and was later appointed Professor and Director of the Exeter University Postgraduate Medical School, serving for ten years. He was twice elected by the registered medical practitioners in England to the General Medical Council. He has written/edited four books and has had over 200 articles published in scientific medical journals.
He was elected Chairman of Council and later President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Chairman of the JCPTPGP a medical regulatory body, and Chairman of the Trustees of the Nuffield Trust. He was knighted for services to quality assurance in medicine.
Sir Denis is the only General Practitioner ever elected Chairman of the Academy of the Medical Royal Colleges of Great Britain and Ireland. He is one of 23 British doctors who have been elected to the Institute of Medicine, of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USA.
He is currently an Assessor for the Queen’s Award for Higher and Further Education, Patron of the National Association for Patient Participation, and President of the children’s charity, What About the Children?
Dr Patricia Wilkie OBE, PhD, FRCP (Hons), FRCGP (Hons)
On June 15th 2013, we were delighted to see the citation below in the Birthday Honours list of those awarded the OBE, adding this to her impressive list of honorary degrees.
Dr Patricia Anne Wilkie. President, National Association for Patient Participation – For services to healthcare and patient involvement in the NHS.
Many who know her history over more than 40 years as a pioneer and champion for patient involvement in both Scotland and England, suggest that this honour is long overdue. Starting her career in research in ethical and patient issues, mainly in the field of genetic counselling, Patricia has been a founder member of Patient Liaison Groups of several medical Royal Colleges. She has been awarded Honorary Fellowships by two, the RCGP and the Royal College of Radiologists (possibly the only person ever to achieve two such honorary awards). She has also served on the Ethics Committees of a number of bodies including the Association of Medical Royal Colleges and Dr Foster Intelligence, which first sounded the alert about the Mid Staffordshire crisis.
Patricia has chaired the Patients Association and is now President and Chair of N.A.P.P. We are fortunate to have the benefit of her experience and wisdom.
Patricia Wilkie has been a major force in developing patient partnership in British medicine over more than thirty years. Currently President and Chair of the National Association of Patient Participation, she has chaired the lay committees of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Radiologists and the Royal College of GPs. as well as many other medical and pharmaceutical organisations. She has served as a fitness to practice member of the General Medical Council and a lay member of the Committee on Safety for Medicines where she chaired the working group on patient reporting of adverse drug reactions. She is currently a member of many government and professional organisations and publishes widely.
Dr Folarin Majekodunmi, PhD
I bring almost two decades of experience working with the health system, covering: commissioning, primary care and out-of-hospital services. I completed my doctorate in General Healthcare at King’s College University of London in 2004. I am passionate about the health system and ensuring, irrespective of the politico-economic environment, that it continues to deliver cost-effective services which improve people’s health and wellbeing. I firmly believe that this can only be achieved consistently by asking patients what they want from health and care services and proactively supporting them to be partners in their own care. As a result, I am particularly honoured to have been appointed the Chair of N.A.P.P.; it is an excellent organisation, which works tirelessly to amplify and represent the voice of the patient in relation to policy, service design, service delivery and technology & innovation.
As Chair, my vision is to explore further ways of using the patient voice to inform decision-making across government, health and care providers and the public and private sector organisations, who create the services and products patients use. This means working with the president and my fellow trustees to continually improve the support we are able to offer to our member PPGs. It also means exploring ways of celebrating excellence in patient participation and in encouraging providers of health/ care services and products to be more proactive in this respect. Finally, it means working more closely with partners who share our values and our commitment to making sure that the patient voice is heard and that our health and care services remain amongst the best in the world.
