Our leadership team

Kamran Abbasi FRCP Edin Lon was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of The BMJ, one of the world’s most influential medical journals this year. He succeeds Fiona Godlee, who stepped down at the end of 2021, after more than 16 years in the role.

Previously Executive Editor of The BMJ, since 2016 Kamran led the journal’s content team and international growth strategy. During this time, he contributed to the expansion of international editions of The BMJ.

A qualified doctor, Kamran studied medicine at Leeds University and joined BMJ after postgraduate training in general medicine.

Throughout his 25 year career in medical editing and publishing, he has developed wide digital, international, senior management, and Board level experience. Kamran is also a visiting professor in the department of primary care and public health at Imperial College, London, and a patron of the South Asian Health Foundation.

Outside of medicine, Kamran has a love of cricket, which he has covered extensively on social media, television and in national newspapers. He has also authored best selling books, including Zindabad; The English Chronicles: a Modern History of Pakistan Cricket, published in 2012 and Englistan: An immigrant’s journey on the turbulent winds of Pakistan cricket in 2020.

You can follow Kamran on Twitter: @KamranAbbasi

Anca joined BMJ in 2013 and she is responsible for the development of the company's strategic priorities as well as partnerships and acquisitions. Anca started her career in Sales with Thomson Reuters and then held various strategy and portfolio management roles with Thomson Reuters, Shell and GSK. Anca holds an MBA degree from INSEAD and is on the Board of Trustees of the Strategic Planning Society.

Louise has a thorough understanding of the clinical decision support and education markets from specialising for several years as an industry consultant following a career at Elsevier as Publishing Director. Having been with BMJ since 2017, Louise is responsible for driving the work that produces multi-award winning clinical decision support tool BMJ Best Practice, and medical educational resources BMJ Learning and OnExamination.

The BMJ Best Practice app and website receive consistently positive user feedback and recognition from leading industry bodies. In 2018, it was named winner in the “Best Mobile App” and “Best Global Reach” categories of the WalesOnline Digital Awards, W3 Awards - Silver winner for both “Mobile Features - Best User Experience” and in “Website Features - Best Practices”, and double-Gold winner in the “Best User Experience B2B” and “Digital Change & Transformation” categories at the UK Digital Experience Awards.

Since Jennie joined BMJ in 2012, she has made a very significant impact through her leadership of core business services teams, and also in delivering several complex company-wide transformational projects.

She led the creation of our Cardiff Service Centre in 2015, drove our transition to remote-first hybrid Smart Working in 2020, and successfully delivered our new Smart Space at BMA House in 2021.

Currently, she ensures the continued representation of our People function by leading the HR team and overseeing all staff-focused processes and policies to ensure they align with the strategic priorities of organisational effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Caroline has been with the company since 2014, first as Marketing Director and then becoming Sales and Marketing Director in July 2017. More recently, she became Global Commercial Director, responsible for overseeing BMJ's Events, Careers, Marketing and Sales business areas across EMEA, Americas and APAC.

Her vast expertise stems from a long and accomplished career in professional information marketing, having fulfilled senior marketing roles since the late 1990s for prominent publishing businesses, including McGraw-Hill, Harcourt Publishers and Elsevier Health Sciences. At the latter, Caroline was Head of Market Intelligence for the strategy division, where she focused on the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America (EMEA) markets.

Caroline's aptitude and interest in content, data, analytics, and Pragmatic Marketing Principles provide unparalleled expertise. She also has a deep understanding of audience needs and knowledge of the markets within which BMJ operates. As Global Commercial Director, Caroline's work positively impacts the organisation and supports its continued success as one of the world's most trusted and leading healthcare knowledge providers.

Appointed amid the covid pandemic in April 2020, Chris joined BMJ as CEO with a wealth of knowledge and experience from a very successful career in the publishing and learning sectors.

He was previously the CEO of the City & Guilds Group for 12 years, leading its transformation from an examinations board operating in the UK to a work-based learning company operating globally. During this time, the group made a number of acquisitions, most notably in digital learning.

Before joining City & Guilds Group, Chris held senior leadership positions in the US and UK with Harcourt Education and LexisNexis Group.

Allison has been with BMJ since 2010, where she has led the successful growth and development of BMJ's publishing business. She has recently been reelected to the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) Council and took up her role as Director of ALPSP from January 2020.

Prior to BMJ, Allison held publishing and leadership positions at Nature Publishing Group and in learned societies. She has nine years of medical research experience, and a passion for science communication.

Ian joined BMJ from SAGE Publishing, where, as head of transformation, he helped set up the company's methods innovation incubator SAGE Ocean following a lean product development approach.

Previously, he was head of technology at eLife Sciences, head of product at Mendeley, and product manager for a number of researcher oriented services at Nature Publishing Group.

Alex is responsible for all aspects of BMJ's finances and risk management, including international subsidiaries in the US, Chinese and Indian markets.

Peter was appointed as Chair of BMJ and a Non-Executive Director of the BMA in September 2022. He retired as the CEO of consumer organisation Which? in 2018 and now has two significant non-Executive commitments with Northumbrian Water and Oxford Brookes University.

In his current role, he contributes to the public policy aspect of the activities of the BMA, and help to drive the growth and innovation that BMJ wants to deliver.

Peter has a strong track record of working with organisations aligned to the healthcare sector, such as Cancer Research UK and has worked with high-profile medical executives, including Sir Paul Nurse.

Bev is a publishing specialist with over 25 years' publishing experience at Taylor & Francis, BioMed Central and SpringerNature, where she served as Vice President for the SpringNature global open access business development area.

Bev is currently the Executive Director at UKSG, the scholarly communications charity that provides a platform for all parts of the knowledge community.

Mark Davies is Chief Medical Officer for IBM and Watson Health for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Mark’s career spans healthcare policy, data and health technology and government consulting and he was a GP in Yorkshire for over 20 years. He has held a number of clinical leadership roles at the UK Department of Health, Cabinet Office and was the Executive Medical Director of the Health and Social Care Information Centre. He founded the community interest company Local Care Direct which continues to serve two million people.
Previously he worked in international health at global health informatics specialist MedeAnalytics as European Medical Director, developing population health management systems. He has a particular interest in the ability of digital capability to improve healthcare.

Dr Hemal Desai is Global Executive Director of Clinical Services for Aetna International, where he leads a global medical team to ensure the highest standards of care for members in areas such as emergency assistance, medical claims, telemedicine, and primary healthcare.

Dr Desai has significant leadership experience across the healthcare sector internationally, having led teams in the UK, Middle East and Asia. He has held senior roles in both the public and private sector, including Medical Director for Bupa Thailand, Medical Director for Hertfordshire NHS Community Trust, clinical adviser to the National Clinical Director for Pathology, and Clinical Lead for NHS Midlands and East.

He also still practices as a general practitioner in Urgent Care in London and is a specialist in family medicine.

Professor Wasim Hanif is an eminent authority on diabetes, obesity, and ethnic health. As well as holding several clinical and academic posts, he is Trustee of Diabetes UK and the South Asian Health Foundation (SAHF) and was instrumental in setting up UKADS (the United Kingdom Asian Diabetes Study).

As a leading figure in his specialty, Professor Hanif advises national bodies and professional groups including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

He is also involved in the International Diabetes Federation, World Health Organisation, and Global Policy Forum on Diabetes, and has received the prestigious South Asian Health Foundation UK Lifetime Achievement Award.

Neeta Major was the British Medical Association's (BMA) Group Chief Finance Officer until May 2022, when she was appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Rachel Podolak.

Neeta is responsible for implementing corporate and financial strategy across the organisation that represents, supports and negotiates on behalf of all UK doctors and medical students. Neeta is a graduate of the London School of Economics with 30 years' experience in finance across a range of sectors, including local authorities, financial services, academia, and one of the big four accountancy firms.

Brian is a finance specialist with more than twenty years in publishing. After completing his postgraduate education at Queen’s University in Belfast, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in Dublin, before moving to Cambridge where he is still based.

His publishing experience includes seven years in international finance and operations roles at Pearson Education and more recently as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Archant, the Norwich-based regional newspaper, magazine and digital publisher.

Brian is Chair of NLA Media Access, a news content licensing business owned by the National Newspapers and a Non-Executive Director at Norse Group, a support services business owned by Norfolk County Council.

Dr Trevor Pickersgill is a consultant neurologist at the University Hospital of Wales.

He was elected as treasurer of the British Medical Association in December 2018. He is a past chair of both UK and Welsh British Medical Association junior doctors and consultants branches of practice.

He is chair of the Hospital Medical Staffs Defence Trust.