Who's Who
Officers of the Medical Womens Federation 2010 - 2012
President - Dr Clarissa Fabre
Clarissa Fabre is a full-time principal in general practice. She initially trained in paediatrics, but moved to general practice following the birth of three children and a career gap of seven years. Her surgery has changed from being a sleepy single handed village practice to a 3-partner, part-dispensing, training practice with 2 registrars, and 2 part-time salaried doctors (previously on the flexible career and retainer schemes.
Ensuring that flexible training is available to all who need it at critical stages of their careers is one of her main concerns. Obtaining national agreement on maternity locum cover, ensuring that salaried doctors are not exploited (especially in practices run by private companies) and correcting the anomaly in widowers’ pensions are other areas on which she is working.
Clarissa has been active in medical politics for many years, on the Local Medical Committee, the Primary Care Trust and, most recently, the BMA General Practitioners Committee, as the elected member for East and West Sussex.
She joined the Medical Women’s Federation in 1978, when barriers appeared in her career, with few opportunities for flexible training in paediatrics and geographical isolation. The most important objective of her involvement in MWF is to ensure that women doctors are provided with the opportunities to combine a fulfilling family life with maximum achievement in their professional careers.
Her two daughters are junior doctors.
President Elect - Dr Fiona Cornish
Fiona Cornish is a graduate of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and St Thomas's. She returned to Cambridge in 1985 and has been a GP Principal at Newnham Walk Surgery, one of the University practices, since 1990. Fiona is also a GP Trainer, is involved with teaching undergraduate students, and is a member of the University Health Services Committee. She is involved with Careers Talks at schools, and is School Doctor for King’s College School in Cambridge, and is often to be found bicycling around Cambridge.
Fiona is married to Paul, who is Professor of International Security at Chatham House, and they have four children ranging in age from 14 to 19. The eldest is now a medical student. She has first hand experience of most types of child care, and has worked half time, full time and three quarter time. She is a Trustee of Medical Support in Romania, and the Paragon Trust.
Fiona has been a member of the Medical Women’s Federation
(MWF) for many years and has been Local Secretary and President of the Cambridge
Branch, as well as Honorary Treasurer from 2005 to 2008. Her aim in MWF is
to ensure that women doctors are provided with the opportunities to combine
a successful family life with an equally successful professional career.
Vice President - Dr Caroline Sheldrick
Caroline Sheldrick is a graduate of St. Thomas’ Hospital, London and works as a speciality doctor in ophthalmology based in Colchester. She is involved in teaching ophthalmology to undergraduate medical students and is also an examiner for Barts & the London Medical School.
Caroline is local secretary of the Ipswich & Colchester local group. An MWF member for 11 years she has links with the University of East Anglia Medical School; Along with local members she considers applications for elective bursaries; arranges careers and elective bursary evenings for medical students and sixth formers.
She is married with 2 children. Her particular interest is in overseas development and she has recently helped set up 2 eye clinics at hospitals in Northern Malawi.
During her 2 years as MWF Vice President she hopes to develop the MWF web-site.
Honorary Secretaries - Dr Rosalind Ramsay and Dr Beryl De Souza
Rosalind Ramsay
Rosalind Ramsy (right) is a consultant psychiatrist in the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. She is a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge where she was in the second year of women students. She did her clinical training at the Royal London in the East End where she was an active member of the London Medical Group. She qualified in 1986. After house jobs at Whipps Cross and the Royal London she joined the Middlesex/UCH SHO psychiatry rotation and then the Maudsley and Bethlem SpR rotation. She began work as a consultant psychiatrist in adult mental health in Lambeth in 1996 and has since held posts in this area with a variety of teams. From 2001 she has been an associate director for clinical governance and Trust NICE implementation lead. Throughout her career she has been involved in writing, editorial and research work with an interest in service development and has also taken part in College based activities.
In 1995 she was a founding member of the Women in Psychiatry Special Interest Group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has been newsletter editor, secretary and most recently chair of the group. From 1998-2000 she was editor of the MWF London Association newsletter.
Ros is married to a GP and has three children. She was a flexible trainee as an SpR and now works part-time (7 PAs).
Dr Beryl De Souza
Beryl De Souza is a Registrar in Plastic Surgery in London. She started off in Biochemistry as a graduate of Chelsea College, University of London. This was followed by a Masters of Philosophy in Nerve Regeneration at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, University of London. This prompted her to study Medicine and she is a graduate of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, University of London. She qualified in 1992. After house jobs at St Bartholomew’s and Whipp’s Cross she went onto a joint Demonstrating post at Royal Free Hospital and worked in Accident and Emergency. She then joined the Middlesex/University College Hospital surgical rotation. She went onto specialise in Plastic Surgery and has completed training time on the London Pan-Thames rotation and at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She spent a six month period as a flexible trainee in Plastic Surgery and experienced the difficulties of setting up a flexible training post.
She was appointed member of the Opportunities in Surgery Committee at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2003. She is also on the Medical Student Liaison committee and has worked on setting up selected study modules specifically in Plastic Surgery. She has been actively involved in Women in Surgical Training (WIST) and has been on the conference organising committee from 2004. She joined MWF in 2005 after attending and presenting at the Autumn meeting.
The important reasons for her involvement in MWF is to try and facilitate a knowledge base and networking opportunity for women to provide the tools necessary to have satisfying professional careers and a healthy work-life balance
Beryl is married to a Consultant General Surgeon and has two children
Honorary Treasurer - Dr Anita Holdcroft
Dr Anita Holdcroft has been a consultant anaesthetist and academic since 1977 when she finished her training at the Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London.
Her posts since then have been in London at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School as their first Senior Lecturer in Anaesthesia in the Department of Surgery, a locum post at St Georges Hospital, followed by a Senior Lecturship and then Readership at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. She left the UK in 1980 to take up a new appointment as the Professor of Anaesthesia at the University of Jos and Consultant at the Jos Teaching Hospital in Plateau State Nigeria receiving an honorary Fellowship of the West African Medical College. On her return to the UK she secured academic career posts in anaesthesia at all levels of training an unprecedented achievement.
Anita is internationally recognised for her work in gender medicine, particularly in pain medicine and she has written many books, chapters and scientific publications. A recent spin off is her political activity for women in medicine.
Anita qualified MB ChB in 1969 and MD in 1983 from Sheffield
University and chose anaesthesia because it seemed to offer part time work
for married women. She migrated to London to seek the best training and met
her husband, an ophthalmologist, on the way south. She started her family
after her FRCA in 1973 but during her later training years, and in quick succession
had four daughters. The opportunities for part time work came and went briefly.
Anita could often be seen journeying to international conferences or anaesthetic
examination venues accompanied by one or more of her daughters (when young
for breast feeding, when adult for sightseeing). It is only in the last decade
that Anita has had time for political activity following the slow realisation
that dreams of equality generated in the 1970s by the Sex Discrimination Act
were not reality. Anita enjoys walking and is a life member of the Youth Hostels
Association; she has been a Methodist Local Preacher since 1971.
