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Postgraduate Deans

Professor Russell Smith

Postgraduate Dean - Midlands

Russell originally trained in and around London in cardiology and general medicine and continues in clinical practice as a cardiologist at University Hospitals Birmingham. He is also a Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills examiner and advanced life support instructor. His research interests have been varied, most recently involving device management of heart failure. He is an honorary professor at the University of Birmingham and Aston University.

Professor Jane Mamelok

Postgraduate Dean - North West

Jane has been involved in medical education for 30 years working in the north west prior to her appointment as GP director for Mersey in 2011. She took over as the north west deputy postgraduate dean (primary care and public health) in 2015 and was appointed as postgraduate dean in October 2016. Jane’s main areas of interest are medical revalidation, assessment and quality assurance.

Dr Jon Cooper

Postgraduate Dean - Yorkshire

Jon qualified in Liverpool before undertaking medical training in Merseyside and Yorkshire and the Humber. He has been a consultant geriatrician/stroke physician at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) since 2005 where he has led the stroke service, overseeing opening of the region's first hyper-acute stroke unit.

Jon has held training programme director roles and in 2014 was appointed as director of postgraduate dental and medical education at LTHT, overseeing a transformation of education delivery. He chairs the Stroke Medicine sub-Specialty Advisory Committee and Geriatric Medicine Specialty Certificate Examination Standard Setting Group and is an honorary clinical associate professor of medical education at the University of Leeds.

Professor Geeta Menon

Postgraduate Dean - South London

Geeta is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey, and the clinical director for the National Institute for Health Research Kent, Surrey and Sussex Clinical Research Network. In addition to high-volume cataract surgery, she has developed a major interest in medical retina, particularly novel treatments for age-related macular degeneration. The mobile macular unit at Frimley, which she designed as the first of its kind in the country, won ‘Best example of efficiencies’ award at the prestigious Building Better Healthcare Awards.

She has set up diabetic retinopathy screening in Zambia and won the ‘Excellence in Patient Care Award’ hosted by the Royal College of Physicians for outstanding clinical activity that contributes to excellent patient care overseas.

Dr Geoff Smith

Postgraduate Dean - South West

Geoff qualified from the London Hospital Medical College and trained in gastroenterology and general internal medicine in central and east London. He was a consultant gastroenterologist and associate medical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust before moving to the south west in 2019 where he is a screening colonoscopist at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton.

Geoff is chair of Joint Advisory Group (JAG) training on endoscopy and up until recently was chair of European specialty examination in gastroenterology and hepatology.

Professor Graeme Dewhurst

Postgraduate Dean - South East

Graeme qualified from Cambridge University and Guy’s Hospital and worked as a consultant General Physician at Western Sussex Hospital for over 20 years. He was previously the undergraduate lead and director of medical education in Western Sussex trust, head of the Kent, Sussex and Surrey School of Medicine and the senior examiner of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Dr Jonathan Corne

Postgraduate Dean - East Midlands

Jonathan graduated from Cambridge University and King’s College London and undertook respiratory training in Southampton, where he completed his PhD, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University. He was appointed a consultant respiratory physician at Nottingham University Hospitals in 2000.

Jonathan has a long history of involvement in healthcare education, teaching medical students, postgraduate doctors and allied health professionals as well as leading educational supervisor courses.

Professor Namita Kumar

Postgraduate Dean - North East

Namita was appointed as a board member of the Postgraduate Medical and Education Training Board, the first UK regulator of postgraduate medical education, in 2003. She was made an honorary clinical professor by Durham University in 2014, and University of Central Lancashire in 2017.

Namita was a council member of the Academy of Medical Educators from 2014-2017 and elected as a trustee councillor for the Royal College of Physicians in 2019. She undertakes a general rheumatology clinic at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Paul Sadler

Postgraduate Dean - Wessex

Paul spent over 16 years in the British Army before he moved to work as a consultant in intensive care medicine and anaesthesia in Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. During his military and NHS career he has undertaken many educational and leadership roles as tutor, clinical director, programme director, local advisor, director of education, and deputy medical director, before becoming postgraduate dean in late 2018. He continues to be an active clinical teacher and course director.

Professor Bill Irish

Postgraduate Dean - East of England

Bill previously worked as a GP near Bath, where he also had a parallel career as a medical educator, college examiner, GP dean and national chair of the Committee of General Practice Education Directors.

Bill has research interests in high-stakes assessment and recruitment and holds professorial appointments at a number of universities. He is a fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge University and is currently lead dean for general and orthopaedic surgery, academic training and clinical genetics.

Outside of work Bill enjoys rowing, cycling and spending time with his grown-up children and stepdaughter.

Dr Gary Wares

Postgraduate Dean - North London

Gary is a consultant in critical care medicine at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the national clinical lead for sepsis as part of the HEE infection management group. He has an interest in medical leadership and the care of oncology patients requiring critical care support, including patients suffering from the complication of bone marrow transplants.

Gary was appointed to the first director of medical education post in the Trust in 2014. At the same time, he became one of the first training programme directors for the London intensive care training programme.. He was subsequently appointed to deputy postgraduate dean for north central and east London in October 2017 and during this time he co-led the implementation of the supported return to training initiative and led the delivery of the study leave reform work.

He maintains an interest in developing medical leadership capabilities in trainees as well as the management of trainees with complex progression or fitness to practice issues.