Clare Gerada is Medical Director of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme, a confidential service for doctors and dentists with mental health and/or addiction issues.
She qualified in medicine in 1982, and trained in psychiatry before starting in General Practice in 1992. She was the first female Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and has also been Director of Primary Care for the national Clinical Governance Team and Senior Medical Adviser to the Department of Health..
In 2000, she was awarded an MBE for for services to medicine and the wellbeing of drug users. In 2013, she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, and was voted by readers of the Evening Standard as one of the top 1,000 influential Londoners. In 2014, she was listed by Debrett’s and the Sunday Times as one of the 500 most influential people in Britain, and number 4 in the field of health.
She is also a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Trustee of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and a member of the Bevan Commission. She recently established the Founders Network, to restore compassion within and create a healthier NHS.