College announces new Chair of Council

Dr Victoria Tzortziou Brown has been elected by RCGP Council as the next Chair of the College. She will take up office for a three-year term in November 2025, succeeding Professor Kamila Hawthorne.

Dr Tzortziou Brown trained as a GP in London and has spent over two decades working on the frontline in East London, caring for patients in one of the UK’s most diverse and deprived communities. She becomes the first International Medical Graduate (IMG) to be elected Chair of the RCGP. A longstanding Faculty and national College leader, she has previously served as RCGP Joint Honorary Secretary (with Dr Jonathan Leach) and London Faculties Chair. She is currently College Vice Chair for External Affairs and was awarded an OBE for services to general practice in the 2020 New Year Honours.

Alongside her clinical work, she brings a breadth of experience in research, education, commissioning and health policy. She is the Research and Innovation Lead for North East London Integrated Care Board and a senior academic in Primary Care and Health Policy at Queen Mary University of London - Wolfson Institute of Population Health, where she also supervises GP Academic Clinical Fellows.

Dr Michael Mulholland was the one other candidate standing for Chair in the election, run independently by Civica Election Services (formerly known as Electoral Reform Services).

Dr Tzortziou Brown said: “I am honoured to have been elected Chair of the RCGP. At a time of extraordinary pressure, I will be a determined and principled voice for our profession.

“Our patients deserve excellent, person-centred care, and GPs must be supported to provide it. This means valuing continuity, embracing innovation grounded in evidence, and ensuring that every GP has the opportunity to build a fulfilling, sustainable career.

“General practice is the foundation of a resilient and effective NHS. It must be recognised and valued not only for the care it delivers, but for the trusted relationships it builds and the deep connections it fosters within communities. I will work to ensure our contribution is respected, our expertise is fully understood, and our voice is placed at the heart of health system reform.”

She added: “Working in partnership with our members, Faculties, and stakeholders across the UK, we will shape a brighter future for general practice - one rooted in equity, compassion, and shared purpose. Together, we will ensure the College not only represents our profession, but drives its renewal.

“I would like to thank Professor Kamila Hawthorne for her dedicated leadership through a time of national change and uncertainty. I look forward to building on that work, strengthening our four-nation voice, deepening local and international partnerships, and ensuring the College reflects the values and aspirations of our profession.”

The College has also announced the election of Dr Jamie Hynes as Vice Chair Member Standards and Dr Munro Stewart as Vice Chair Policy.

Dr Hynes describes himself as an ‘enthusiastic and fulfilled’ GP Partner, Trainer & Training Programme Director at Horseley Heath Surgery, Tipton in the Black Country, the practice where he completed training as a Registrar in 2007. He is the current Midland Faculty Chair. He qualified from University of Birmingham Medical School in the 50th year of the RCGP in 2002 and is a proud father of two boys, aged 12 and nine.

Dr Stewart is a six-session partner at Westgate Medical Practice, a large busy surgery in Dundee. He studied and now teaches at The University of Dundee, and 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 in air pollution, green prescribing and social prescribing in recent years. He was awarded a Fellowship of the College in 2023 and became RCGP Sustainability Champion in 2024. He is Chair of East Scotland Faculty Board, which he has represented 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 Scottish Government Quality and Safety Board for mental health services as a College representative.

Chair of Trustees Professor Mike Holmes, a GP in Yorkshire, was confirmed in post to serve for a further three years.

Nominations also closed last week for the election of the next RCGP President, six Nationally Elected Council members and the GP Registrar Chair and Vice Chair.

The ballot opens for these elections on 4 August and closes 8 September 2025 at noon. All voting members will receive an email from the College’s independent election partner, Civica, with details of how to vote once voting has opened.

Following agreement at the Annual General Meeting in 2024, subject to Privy Council approval, the titles of Officer roles will change in the near future as follows:

• Chair of Council will become President;
• Vice Chair Policy will become Vice President Policy;
• Vice Chair Member Standards will become Vice President Member Standards; and
• RCGP President – a ceremonial role at the College – will become Provost.

The proposed changes align with the structure of other Medical Royal Colleges where the President sets the strategic and policy direction of their respective College.

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.