Patron: King Charles III
His Majesty King Charles III graciously accepted Patronage of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund in 2024, after the sad passing of his mother and our former Patron, Queen Elizabeth II. We are extremely grateful for His Majesty’s kind Patronage.
In addition to his official and ceremonial duties in the United Kingdom and overseas as The Prince of Wales, His Majesty has taken a keen and active interest in all areas of public life for decades. The King has worked closely with many organisations, publicly supporting a wide variety of causes relating to the environment, rural communities, the built environment, the arts, healthcare and education.
The RMBF is honoured to have had the Patronage of the reigning monarch since it was first granted to the charity by King George V in 1912.
President: Professor Dame Jane Dacre DBE, MD, FRCP
Dame Jane is a recognised leader in medicine. She is Emeritus Professor of Medical Education, the former Director of UCL Medical School and honorary consultant physician and rheumatologist, at Whittington Health in London. She is the President of the Medical Protection Society and a specialist advisor to parliament on the Health and Social Care Committee, chairing their Expert Panel which evaluates Government pledges. She is past president of the Royal College of Physicians and was also vice chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, medical director of MRCPUK examination, academic vice president of the RCP and a GMC council member. Her research is in medical education focussing on assessment and equality, especially in relation to women.
She was the lead for the Department of Health and Social Care review of the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine, with Professor Carol Woodhams from Surrey University Business School. This review ‘Mend the Gap: The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England’ was published in December 2020. She now chairs the gender pay gap implementation advisory group. Recently, she has been Co-Chair of the Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership, and chaired a review of the Prescribing Safety Assessment for the Medical Schools Council and the British Pharmacological Association.
CEO: Steve Crone
Steve Crone is an experienced CEO with a strong track record in the health charity sector, having held senior positions at the national charities QUIT, College of Health, Asthma + Lung UK and Counsel and Care. Steve was formerly Chair of the European Network of Quitlines, building capacity across Europe and receiving recognition from the WHO for its achievements. Steve was also appointed as a member of the European Commission’s Help Advisory Board.
Steve is currently a Director of DocHealth, which provides a confidential, not for profit, psychotherapeutic consultation service for all practising doctors. DocHealth is a joint initiative between the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund (RMBF) and the British Medical Association (BMA).
Treasurer & Trustee: Professor Greg Rubin
Greg Rubin was a GP in the North East of England for 35 years and is Emeritus Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at Newcastle University. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, his research is in the diagnosis and management of cancer in primary care and at the interface with secondary care, and the configuration of health services to enable this.
He chairs the Cancer Research UK-funded CanTest Collaborative, and has advised the Department of Health and CRUK on the implementation of cancer strategy. He was the Royal College of General Practitioners’ first Clinical Lead for Cancer and is the clinical lead for the English National Cancer Diagnosis Audit. In 2017 he was awarded the CRUK Jane Wardle Prevention and Early Diagnosis Prize for world-leading research in the field of prevention and early diagnosis of cancer.
Chair of Grants and Awards Committee & Trustee: Dr Rachel Liebmann OBE
Dr Rachael Liebmann OBE graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1991 and is a past vice President of the Royal College of Pathologists, a specialist breast pathologist at the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Chief Medical Officer at The Doctors Laboratory and Health Services Laboratories.
As well as holding many senior regional and national roles in the recent past, Dr Liebmann has held roles at the Royal College of Pathologists, and has over 20 years’ experience as an NHS consultant. She has been shortlisted for the National Patient Safety Awards and Health Service Journal Clinical Leader of the Year, and was awarded the College Medal for Distinguished Service.
Dr Liebmann was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2020 in recognition of her services to pathology.
Trustee: Angela Attah
Angela Attah has more than 25 years’ governance experience and has spent much of her career in the NHS, including at Great Ormond Street NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health trust, and several general hospitals. Before joining the NHS she was Head of Central Administration at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
She is currently the Director of Legal and Governance at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), responsible for compliance, risk management, and wider legal and governance issues. She also worked at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as Deputy Company Secretary.
As well as healthcare, Angela is passionate about education and has spent many years as a governor/Vice Chair of local church primary schools, and chaired school admission/exclusion appeals hearings for her local authority. She is currently a member of the Girls Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust in south-west London.
Angela is also a Director on the Board of Love Wimbledon Business Improvement District, and is on the District Church Council of her church, having served as a church warden for many years.
Trustee: Robin Banerji
Robin Banerji is an experienced PR consultant and director of communications. He has advised senior cabinet ministers in Whitehall, plus Chairs and Chief Executives in a range of high-profile organisations. As a consultant, Robin has worked with numerous NHS and charity sector clients on reputation management, brand building, fundraising, marketing and stakeholder engagement.
Robin is also a professional video producer, photographer and multi-media journalist. He has a keen interest in the history and development of visual language and the impact of modern visual communications.
Trustee: Professor Derek Bell
Professor Derek Bell MD FRCP OBE is a physician by background with 40 years’ experience in the NHS, including service design and delivery as well as research and education. His remit has included working as an external advisor to Government in England, Scotland and Ireland as well as internationally.
He has led a number of initiatives including the development of a new medical specialty (Acute Medicine), and the development of a nationally adopted clinical scoring system to assess acutely unwell patients.
Derek is currently Chair to the Board for both North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, and South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and is a past President of the Royal College of Physicians.
Trustee: Aliyah Hussein
Aliyah Hussein is a London Surgical Trainee. Prior to qualifying as a doctor from the University of Cambridge she was a Health Economist, following completion of an MSc in Health Economics at the University of York. Before that, Aliyah read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. Aliyah won the ASiT Swann-Morton Medal for her work on deceased donor livers in the UK. She is also a keen and competitive player of tennis and chess.
Trustee: Juliet Oliver
Juliet Oliver is Deputy Chief Executive and General Counsel at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Juliet is responsible for legal advice and support on the development of strategic and regulatory reform, as well as matters of governance and compliance. She also leads the SRA’s investigation, enforcement and legal functions, as well as its dedicated anti-money-laundering directorate. Her work has included developing the SRA’s approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession. Prior to joining the SRA, Juliet was a partner at Fieldfisher where she acted for regulatory bodies across sectors including healthcare and law, building on her previous experience in-house at the General Medical Council, which she joined in 2003.
She is a non-executive board member of the Professional Standards Authority, and previously held the roles of Chair of the Investigation Committee and a Case Examiner at the General Optical Council, member of the Professional Standards Committee of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants as well as the Audit and Risk Committee of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She also spent 10 years as a member of the Law Society’s Mental Health and Disability Committee.
Trustee: Mr Peter Szatmary
Mr Peter Szatmary is a consultant general and pancreatic surgeon in Liverpool. Having grown up in Vienna, Austria and qualified from the University of Cambridge in 2005, he developed an interest in medical education and research into pancreatic diseases. He obtained a Masters of Education from Imperial College London in 2007, and a PhD in Pancreatology from the University of Liverpool in 2019. He represented the interests of junior doctors and clinical academics in employment matters as a member of local and regional negotiating committees in the North West of England. Outside of medicine, his interests include travel, martial arts and good food.