Faculty Committees

The Faculty comprises of a number of operational and governance Committees to ensure the smooth running of its activities. The structure of these committees is outlined in the diagram below:

For more information on the constitution and remit of the each of the main committees please click on the links below:

• Board of Trustees
• Coordination Committee
• Education Committee
• Professional Standards Committee
• Advocacy Committee
• International Committee
• Board of Examiners
• Revalidation Steering Subcommittee
• Ethical Issues Subcommittee
• Trainees' Subcommittee
• Raising Awareness Working Party

Board of Trustees

With reference to the Faculty's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Board shall consist of the President, who shall be Chair, the Vice-President, the Registrar, the Treasurer, the Presidents of the three parent Colleges or their nominees, two Lay Trustees and five other eligible members of the Faculty. Members of the Board are Trustees and Directors of the organisation.

The Board meets four times per annum in London. A version of the latest confirmed minutes of the meetings of the Board is available to Faculty members from the Faculty office. The Board have ultimate control over Faculty activities and make the high level decisions over the use of the Faculty's resources and the direction of the Faculty's policies and partnerships.

The minutes of Board meetings are available to Faculty members upon request from the office.

Co-ordination Committee

The Co-ordination Committee works to implement the policies of the Board of Trustees through the various committees and, conversely, to advise the Board of the progress in the business of the committees.

The committee convenes at least every two months and consists of the Officers of the Faculty, the Chairpersons of the Advocacy, the Education, the International and the Professional Standards Committee and the Chief Executive who is the chairperson.

Education Committee

The Education Committee plans and implements the examinations, diplomas and training programmes of the Faculty. It is also a responsibility of the Committee to consider and approve applications for Membership, Associateship and Affiliateship of the Faculty on behalf of the Board of Trustees. The Committee is chaired by Prof Alan Boyd.

Professional Standards Committee

The role of the Faculty's Professional Standards Committee is to:

1. Set and promote the highest professional and ethical standards for pharmaceutical physicians, and

2. Ensure compliance with the policies and guidelines relevant to the practice of pharmaceutical medicine by the Faculty and its members.

The Professional Standards Committee will include approximately twelve members, which will include its Chairperson, and the Director of Continuing Professional Development, the Chairperson of the Revalidation Steering Subcommittee, the Chairperson of the Ethical Issues Subcommittee, a representative of the Specialty Advisory Committee on Pharmaceutical Medicine of the JRCPTB, the Chairperson of the PMST Courses Quality Management Group, and of any other Faculty Quality Management Group/s, two other members of the Faculty, one lay representative, and one trainee representative.

Advocacy Committee

The role of the Faculty's Advocacy Committee is to co-ordinate and facilitate liaisons with both the membership and with external bodies, including media and PR activities and consultation responses.

The Advocacy Committee co-ordinate the production of the Faculty's Newsletter and membership engagement. The Committee also oversees the running of Faculty symposia and meetings. The Faculty and particularly the Advocacy Committee aim to be as responsive as possible to comments and concerns received, either from the membership or patients/members of the public.

The Advocacy Committee, in co-ordination with the President and Faculty staff, deals with inquiries from the press and media on matters of importance to the Faculty and its members.

The Advocacy Committee is currently chaired by Dr Keith Bragman and is comprised of eight members. The Committee convenes approximately four times a year.

International Committee

Approximately 1/3 of the Faculty's members are from overseas and the International Committee exists primarily to support and encourage input to Faculty activities from non-UK based members.

The International Committee also seeks to promote the Faculty to relevant EU and global bodies and to support the development of pharmaceutical medicine as a specialty internationally.

The International Committee is currently chaired by Dr Ibrahim Farr and is composed of 16 members. Members are all based overseas in the EU, India, Japan, Singapore, USA and South Africa. The Committee normally convenes four times a year, usually by teleconference.

The Committee is currently coordinating the Pharmaceutical Medicine 'In My Country' project which aims to collate all the information on Pharmaceutical Medicine as a specialty across the World. We would encourage all international Faculty members to get involved in the project. For more information please click here. The Committee also has links with IMI PharmaTrain and the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians (IFAPP).

Board of Examiners

The Board of Examiners is responsible for the conduct of all examinations held by the Faculty, including the Diploma of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Certificate in Good Clinical Practice and the Diploma/Certificate in Human Pharmacology, in accordance with regulations agreed by the Board of Trustees of the Faculty.

The Board of Examiners consists of at least 50 members, who have experience across the whole syllabus, and set and maintain standards for all examinations.

Revalidation Steering Subcommittee

The Revalidation Steering Subcommittee was formed in 2003 to establish and coordinate the process by which pharmaceutical physicians will undergo revalidation. Please click here for more information on the current status of revalidation and the pilot projects in which the Faculty and some of its members are involved.

Ethical Issues Subcommittee

The Ethical Issues Subcommittee is a subcommittee of the Professional Standards Committee and exists to both proactively and reactively develop the Faculty's position on such ethical issues that may affect the Faculty and our members.

The Subcommittee first developed the Guiding Principles for Pharmaceutical Physicians in 2005 and at the time this was published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice. In 2010 this document was revised and updated and republished by the Faculty. The new document is available to download here. The Subcommittee is currently working on developing a 'patients and trial subjects' version of the document, which will be published shortly.

Trainees' Subcommittee

The Trainees' Subcommittee comprises of approximately ten Faculty members who are currently enrolled in Higher Medical Training or Pharmaceutical Medicine Specialty Training. Due to their first-hand insight, the principal responsibility of the Subcommittee is to advise the Education Committee on matters relating to specialty training in pharmaceutical medicine, with a particular emphasis on trainee issues.

Please follow this link for more information on the Trainees' Subcommittee.

Raising Awareness Working Party

The Raising Awareness Working Party is a working party of the Board and was formed in July 2011 with the remit of raising awareness of the specialty of pharmaceutical medicine among medical students and junior doctors. More information on the activities of the group will be posted on the website as the project develops.