GMC announces new Council Chair

Professor Peter Rubin has been elected Chair of the General Medical Council and will take up office on 20 April 2009

Professor Peter Rubin has been elected Chair of the General Medical Council. He will take up office on 20 April 2009 and succeeds Sir Graeme Catto who has been President of the GMC (now Chair of Council) since February 2002.

Professor Rubin is a leading figure in UK medicine. He is Professor of Therapeutics at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Consultant Physician at Nottingham University Hospitals. Professor Rubin has spent much of his career specialising in the medical disorders of pregnancy and continues to be involved in front line medicine. He was Chair of the GMC Education Committee from 2002 - 2008, Chair of the Post Graduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) from 2005 - 2008 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham from 1997 - 2003. He also has considerable experience of other professions. As a Board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, he co-Chaired the Dental Joint Implementation Group and he also chaired the project group in Nottingham that developed the first new Vet School in the UK for over half a century.

Professor Rubin said: “It is an honour and a privilege to become Chair of the General Medical Council. The next few years for the GMC will be challenging and exciting as we continue to deliver a major agenda of change.

“The GMC has a hugely important role in maintaining and assuring patient safety through the highest standards in medicine. I am looking forward to working with doctors, patients, employers and educators alike to ensure we continue to fulfil that role.”

The GMC’s reconstituted Council that took office on 1 January 2009 has, for the first time, an equal representation of lay and medical members. The Chair is elected by the Council from among its members. The composition of the Council reflects the GMC’s key interest groups: patients and the public; doctors; the NHS and other healthcare providers; and medical schools and medical Royal Colleges.