Officers and Executives
The leadership team at the RCGP includes the President, Chair, the CEO and directors across the UK.
Officers
Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown OBE, Chair of Council
Prof Victoria Tzortziou Brown is the Chair of RCGP Council and an ex officio member of Trustee Board. She has been an East London GP for over 20 years, and has worked across health and social care, academia and with communities. She has worked towards identifying innovative solutions for improving health and care services and narrowing health inequalities.
She combines research and extensive clinical commissioning experience. She is currently the Research and Innovation lead of North East London Integrated Care System, which serves around two million people. She collaborates with NHS, public health, academic and VCSE partners towards increasing engagement in research and innovation.
Victoria has served as the College's Vice Chair External Affairs, Honorary Secretary and RCGP London Faculties Chair, and more recently has co-chaired the RCGP`s Health Inequalities Standing Group. She is a Founding Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and a non-executive director at Turning Point, with an OBE for her services in general practice. In her academic role at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, Victoria undertakes health policy and systems research. She has a particular focus on the design and evaluation of healthcare interventions and impact on professional behaviour and health inequalities. She also supervises GP Academic Clinical Fellows and early career researchers in Global Health.
Professor Margaret Ikpoh, Vice Chair - Professional Standards, Training and Development
Margaret Ikpoh is a GP Partner at Holderness Health, a practice for 36,000 patients in East Yorkshire and has worked there for 12 years. She is also a GP Trainer and the former Associate Director for Primary Care for Hull York Medical School.
She is a lead researcher and has had previous roles with the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber as a research champion for First5 GPs and AITs. She is the current National NIHR Settings lead for Primary Care.
Margaret is a Trustee for the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. She is the former co-Chair for the regional Primary Care Workforce Group with NHS England and Improvement for the North-East and Yorkshire Regional People Board and is still an active member.
Her achievements include being voted the Fellow of the year at the RCGP Inspire awards in 2021. In 2022 she was voted one of HSJ's top 50 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic figures in health. In 2024 she was awarded the Caribbean and African Health Network Special Recognition Award for Leadership in Primary Care.
In 2025 Margaret Ikpoh was appointed as Patron of the Caribbean and African Black Healthcare Awards, in recognition and celebration of her leadership, advocacy, and longstanding contributions to advancing equity within healthcare. She was also appointed as Patron of the National BAME Health and Care Awards, reflecting her profound commitment to serving communities that have long been marginalised or overlooked. Additionally, she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire by the Lord-Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Mr James Dick, OBE.
Dr Jamie Hynes, Vice Chair - Member Standards
Dr Jamie Hynes is an enthusiastic & fulfilled GP Partner & Trainer at Horseley Heath Surgery, Tipton in the Black Country, the practice where he completed training in 2007.
He qualified from University of Birmingham Medical School in the 50th year of RCGP in 2002. He has been involved with Midland Faculty since 2015 and is currently Faculty Chair.
He maintains a keen interest in GP education from his days as a GP Registrar, working as a Training Programme Director for over 12 years before taking a sabbatical for this role. He was previously Clinical Lead for the local Rapid Diagnostic Clinic for Non-Specific Cancer symptoms.
Jamie loves being creative and his artistic work has featured in GPFrontline, InnovAiT and at RCGP Annual Conference, as well as illustrating a couple of books by Roger Neighbour. Video creation has been part of his association with RCGP over the last decade and his focus on positivity and continuity of care became themes of his videos, including The National Health, The Night Before CQC, GP in 150 words, GP Kipling, GP’s a Wonderful Life, and These are the GPs.
He is a proud father of two wonderful boys, aged 13 and 10, and also celebrated his 15th Wedding Anniversary in 2025.
Dr Munro Stewart, Vice Chair - Policy
Dr Munro Stewart is a five-session partner at Westgate Medical Practice, a large busy surgery in Dundee. He has been a GP for eight years and studied and taught at The University of Dundee. He has also worked in Glasgow, the Isle of Man, New Zealand and in remote and rural practice around the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
He has been involved in research on air pollution, green prescribing and social prescribing in recent years. He was awarded fellowship of the College in 2023, and RCGP Sustainability Champion in 2024.
Up until taking on the Vice Chair for Policy post he was Chair of East Scotland Faculty Board and has been their representative at UK Council for four years. He has worked particularly on health inequalities, environmental sustainability, and on mental health - contributing to the Strang Report, and later the Scottish Government Quality and Safety Board for mental health services as a College representative.
Dr Thomas Patel-Campbell, Vice Chair - Finance and Member Value
Thomas completed his GP training in 2016, moving to York where he works as a GP partner. He qualified from UCL in 2011 with an MBBS in Medicine and a B.Sc. in Infection.
In addition to his clinical sessions, he is his partnership's Director of Clinical Operations. He has clinical interests in respiratory medicine and contraceptives/sexual health. His other interests include the development of at-scale practices and multi-disciplinary teams, and digital transformation.
He was elected as a Member Trustee of RCGP Trustee Board in 2023. He previously held roles as the honorary treasurer and then chair of the Humber and the Ridings faculty. He was awarded First 5 of the year at the 2019 RCGP Inspire Awards, and RCGP fellowship in 2024.
Professor Sir Sam Everington, RCGP President
Sam has been a GP since 1989 and is President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, having previously served on the College’s Council. He has spent his GP career in East London at the Bromley By Bow Centre which 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.
Sam is a non-executive board member of NHS England, an Associate Director of NHS Resolution and is a Fellow and Honorary Professor of Queen Mary University of London. A Patron of The National Academy of Social Prescribing, he also holds Honorary Vice President roles with the Queen's Institute of Community Nursing and the British Medical Association, is a member of the Knight’s Society, and is co-chair of the Charity, the College of Medicine.
Sam was awarded a Knighthood for services to primary care in 2015 and an OBE for services to inner city primary care in 1999. He has also been the recipient of The International Award of Excellence in Health Care and the Royal Society of Arts’ Albert Medal.
Executives
Mark Thomas, Chief Executive Officer
Mark was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in 2025, having previously been Executive Director of Policy and Communications for eight years.
During his time at the College, he has worked with successive Chairs to fight for better funding and support for general practice. He led in developing the College’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also authored the College’s last two strategies.
Before joining the College in 2011, Mark worked in a range of policy and advocacy roles for organisations including Unison, Shelter and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Mark was a local councillor in Wandsworth for eight years, where he led in scrutinising local housing, health, and adult care services. He has also served as an associate hospital manager with the South West London mental health trust, reviewing decisions taken under the mental health act.
Ben Clacy, Executive Director of Membership and Development
Ben has joined the College from NHS Providers, where he was Director of Development and Operations, looking after membership, finance, IT, HR, member programmes, commercial partnerships and events. NHS Providers is the membership organisation and trade association for the NHS acute, ambulance, community and mental health services that treat patients and service users in the NHS.
Previous to that, Ben was Chief Executive of itSMF UK, a not for profit focused on best practice in the IT Service Management industry. As part of this role, he also sat on the board of the Skills Framework for Information Age (SFIA) acting as their Treasurer and on the board of itSMF International as their Company Secretary.
His background prior to this was in a variety of roles within the commercial sector including business development, operations, programme management and procurement.
With over 12 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector, Ben is also a Trustee and Company Secretary of a charity, MS Research treatment and education. This national charity is dedicated to furthering understanding of MS and in then helping to develop better treatments.
Calum Mercer, Executive Director of Corporate Services
Calum brings a wealth of experience in finance, governance, and strategic transformation across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
He joined the College as Executive Director of Corporate Services following senior roles at the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Change Grow Live.
Calum has also held board-level roles in defence, infrastructure, financial services, housing, higher education, health and social care. He has chaired Audit & Risk and Finance committees for several national organisations, including the Legal Aid Agency and Solent NHS Trust.
He is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and has raised over £4 billion in bank and capital markets and led major programmes in finance, IT, estates, and digital strategy.
Calum is also the Treasurer of the University of Bath and a Senior Fellow at the Housing and Finance Institute and has a keen interest in social value, innovation, strategy, and inclusive leadership.
He’s passionate about the role professional bodies play in supporting excellence and accountability in public services.
Mike Browne, Interim Executive Director of Policy and Communications
Mike Browne is an interim Director with a background in Membership Bodies, Health, Justice and Education.
His recent roles have been during times of change and transition, for example he worked at the Crown Prosecution Service with the outgoing and incoming Directors of Public Prosecutions and with the new Dean of London Business School to ensure a smooth transition and rapid establishment of new leadership.
He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and sits on their Council and Risk and Audit committee. He has also written a guide for the Institute “From Comms Pro to CEO.”
Mike’s portfolio includes our devolved nations and international work as well as our policy and communications teams.
RCGP Devolved Council Chairs
Dr Chris Provan, Chair of RCGP Scotland
Dr Chris Provan has been a GP partner at the Elmbank Medical Practice in Aberdeen for over 25 years. His practice covers a city centre community, and he works with patients who often have multiple and complex health problems. Chris is the substance misuse lead at his practice, takes an interest in tackling health inequalities, and was previously a GP trainer.
As the Chair of RCGP Scotland, Chris' priority is promoting the value of a career in general practice to both policymakers and the wider medical profession. Chris is keen to see enhanced support for GPs at all career stages, and for international medical graduates. By highlighting the unique value that general practice provides, it is Chris' hope that policy makers will act to improve GP recruitment and retention and deliver more investment.
Dr Rowena Christmas MBE, Chair of RCGP Wales
Dr Rowena Christmas is a GP Principal at Wye Valley Practice in Monmouthshire where she has worked for 22 years.
Rowena is a passionate advocate of the importance of Primary Care to the NHS and the value of continuity of care for both patients & doctors. She serves on the RCGP Committee of Medical Ethics and has been RCGP Lead for Safeguarding in Wales.
Outside the College, Rowena is Vice Chair of the Welsh Medical Committee, leading on Safeguarding & Advance Care Planning and a Bevan Exemplar for the establishment of Safeguarding Supervision Groups across Wales. She has been an active advocate for general practice in the media.
Dr Ursula Mason, Chair of Northern Ireland Council
Dr Ursula Mason took up the role of RCGPNI Chair in November 2022. She is a GP partner in Carryduff Surgery. She is a former Chair of South Belfast GP Federation and Associate Director of GP training at NIMDTA.
Ursula is passionate about training the future generation of doctors and acts as a GP trainer and undergraduate GP tutor.
Her Chair’s priority during her tenure with RCGPNI will be building a GP workforce that is fit for the future.
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