General Practice Matters

Our Presidents

Our President represents our organisation and its' members. Acting as a Trustee, the President is responsible for our charitable activities and oversees governance.

Originally the role was an honorary one, but over time it has developed so that the existing incumbent of President nows contributes in active participation of many of our education and membership activities.

The role is elected and there is no fixed duration of appointment. At times, appointment was made of a vice-president, an honorary role, but again, more recently appointees play an active role on Council. The current President writes a weekly blog which can be viewed by clicking on the button below;

Read the latest Presidents' Blog

Our Current President

Myra Upton

CSMgr FAMS FIPC MGHT

2008 -

Myra is our current President.

Our Past Presidents

Sir Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt

GCMG GCVO CBE FAMS

1965 - 1968

Arthur Espie Porritt, athlete, surgeon, colonial administrator: born Wanganui, New Zealand 10 August 1900; OBE 1943, CBE 1945; Surgeon to King George VI 1946-52; KCMG 1950, GCMG 1957; Sergeant-Surgeon to the Queen 1952-67; KCVO 1957, GCVO 1970; President, Royal College of Surgeons 1960-63; President, British Medical Association 1960-61; Bt 1963; President, Royal Society of Medicine 1966-67; Governor-General of New Zealand 1967-72; created 1973 Baron Porritt; Chairman, Arthritis and Rheumatism Council 1973-79, President 1979-88; Chairman, African Medical and Research Foundation 1973-81, Vice-President 1981-89, President 1991-93; (10 August 1900 – 1 January 1994)

Lord Cohen

CH FRCPS FFARCS LLD FAMS

1968 - 1977

Henry Cohen, 1st Baron Cohen of Birkenhead CH FRCP was a British physician, doctor and lecturer. He was famous for his Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians in 1970, on the motion of blood in the veins. Cohen was elected to the chair of medicine at the University of Liverpool in 1934. When the Central Health Services Council was formed in 1949, he became its vice-chairman, and chairman in 1957. Knighted in 1949, he was President of the British Medical Association from 1951. After a coronary thrombosis in the following year, Cohen decided to devote his life to the greater work of teaching. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Cohen of Birkenhead, of Birkenhead in the County Palatine of Chester, on 16 June 1956 and was elected President of the General Medical Council in 1961. In 1964, he became President of the Royal Society of Medicine, receiving the society's gold medal in 1971. He also opened the assembly hall of the King David School, Liverpool. (21 February 1900 – 7 August 1977)

Sir Cyril Clarke

KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, FRC Path, FRS FAMS

1977-1992

KBE(1974) CBE(1969) MRCP(1935) MD(1937) FRCP(1949) ScD(1963) FRCOG(1970)FRS(1970) Hon DSc Edin(1971) Hon DSc Leicester(1971) FRACP(1973) FRCPI(1973)FRSA(1973) Hon DSc East Anglia(1973) FFCM(1974) FACP(1974) Fellow CeylonCollege of Physicians(1974) Hon DSc Birm(1974) Hon DSc Liverp(1974) Hon DScSussex(1974) FRCP Edin(1975) FRCPC(1977) Hon DSc Hull(1977) Hon DSc Wales(1978)Hon DSc Lond(1980) FLS(1981) Hon FRCP Edin(1981) Hon FRCPath(1981) Hon FRSocMed(1982)Hon DSc College of William and Mary(1992) Hon FRCPCH(1997) FIBiol. Sir Cyril Astley Clarke, KBE, FRCP, FRCOG, FRC Path, FRS was a British physician, geneticist and lepidopterist. He was honoured for his pioneering work on prevention of Rh disease of the newborn, and also for his work on the genetics of the Lepidoptera. (22 August 1907 - 21 November 2000)

Sir Michael Drury

KT, OBE, FRCP, FRCGP, FRACGP FAMS

1992 - 2004

Professor Sir Michael Drury was a GP in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire for 38 years, the first professor of general practice at the University of Birmingham and President of the Royal College of General Practitioners from 1985–1988. He was a towering figure in general practice; unassuming, approachable, patient, a superb listener, unflappable, and interested, all combined with a wonderful wit and sense of humour. He graduated in 1949 with Honours from the University of Birmingham. After National Service he returned to Bromsgrove, his home town, in 1953 and started in general practice.

He developed an interest in how general practice could be better managed and in particular the role of colleagues in the then emerging primary health care team. He wrote The medical secretary’s handbook, etc (London, Baillière, Tindall & Cassell, 1965), which went into six editions, followed by The new practice manager (Oxford, Radcliffe Medical, 1990), which went into three editions. He was elected chairman of the practice organisation committee of the Royal College of General Practitioners, which facilitated a whole raft of new ideas.

He became involved with the newly-established Royal College of General Practitioners in the Midlands and, later, nationally. He was a passionate advocate of the importance of the multidisciplinary team in general practice, and he established the first bespoke training courses for them. In 1973 he was appointed as a part-time senior clinical lecturer in general practice at Birmingham, where his teaching was innovative and influenced the curricula of all UK medical schools. He was one of the first people to recognise the importance of teaching and assessing communication skills. In 1981 he became one of the first professors in general practice, pursuing his academic vision of holistic generalist medicine at the heart of caring, cost-effective general practice. He retired in 1991. (5 August 1926 - 11 June 2014)