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In a time when a system of “revalidation” is being developed, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is evolving at a rapid rate as one of the tools in the armoury keeping professional knowledge updated.

The BGS says farewell to Ian Taylor who was BGS Director of CPD for many years, who singlehandedly developed the extensive CPD web pages on the BGS website, and who navigated the growing demands of CPD during a time of considerable change. Ian left us in 2006 because of increasing commitments elsewhere.

We are pleased to welcome Prof Alan Sinclair as the new Director. He formerly held Chairs in Geriatric Medicine in both Birmingham and Warwick, is Associate Dean at the recently established Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School and is Professor of Medicine at the University of Bedfordshire. In his clinical roles, he is a consultant geriatrician and diabetologist at Luton PCT and at the Luton & Dunstable Foundation Hospital NHS Trust.

Alan has an impressive track record in postgraduate medical education having been Chair of both the West Midlands Regional Training Committee and Specialist Advisory Committee at the Royal College of Physicians where he was instrumental in delivering an objective-based curriculum in geriatric medicine. He has also served as a Regional Speciality Adviser in both Geriatric Medicine and Stroke and was part of the initial SubSAC in Stroke at the RCP in London which produced the core curriculum for stroke training in the UK. Alan has examined both MDs and PhDs widely throughout the UK and is a senior examiner (NVE) for PACES (London and Edinburgh). In his European roles, Alan was an Executive Director of EAMA (European Academy of Medicine of Ageing) and also Academic Director of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) which has been actively promoting postgraduate medical education for specialists across the EU. Alan sits on various geriatric and diabetes editorial boards and is Editor of the Geriatric Science Section at the Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging (JNHA).

Several other recent achievements for Alan point to 2007 being an extremely busy year. He was recently invited to be part of an International Task Force on the Metabolic Syndrome by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) in Brussels, based on his considerable work on geriatric diabetes and he has also been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board of the 2009 IAGG World Congress in Paris. In 2007, He will also chair and moderate the BMJ Masterclass in Geriatric Medicine with meetings scheduled in Manchester and London.

Alan said, “ I aim to carry on the excellent work of Ian Taylor and over the next few months want to firm up my priorities for CPD. In the wake of the Donaldson Report and issues such as revalidation and recertification, CPD will be an important tool to assist the Society in adapting to change. I also want to turn some of my attention to developing new ways of CME for geriatricians”.

We would like to wish Alan all the best in his new post and the Newsletter looks forward to hearing from him regularly about CPD matters.

Alex Mair
Chief Executive