Update in medicine – Brighton 2026

Dr Kath McCullough

Dr Kath McCullough is a consultant in diabetes and endocrinology with a specialist interest in bariatric medicine at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals and the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. 

Kath has a long-standing interest in weight management and completed her PhD on GLP-1 analogues in obesity at Imperial College London. She is currently the national specialty adviser for obesity for NHS England and the special adviser on obesity at the Royal College of Physicians.

Dr Ben Warner

Dr Ben Warner has been a consultant gastroenterologist since 2018 and currently practises at Darent Valley Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. His work spans a wide range of gastroenterology, with particular expertise in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), hepatobiliary medicine and advanced endoscopy.

Ben graduated from the Royal Free and University College London Medical School in 2006. He completed much of his training in the south-east of England, followed by a research fellowship at Guy’s and St Thomas’. His research focused on IBD, and he was awarded an MD from King’s College London for work on thiopurines and liver toxicity.

In addition to Ben’s clinical work, he is passionate about medical education. He is a senior lecturer at Kent and Medway Medical School and received the ‘Best first-year lecture’ award in 2022. In 2019, he was recognised as ‘Most supportive consultant’ for his mentorship of junior doctors.

Dr Roger Wellesley Duckitt

Dr Roger Duckitt is a consultant physician in acute internal medicine working on the south coast of England. His former roles include training programme director for acute medicine, board member of the Society for Acute Medicine and chair of the RCP Trainees Committee.

Roger is the clinical lead for the Worthing Emergency Floor, an RCP Future Hospital development site exploring the benefits of co-locating acute frailty, acute medical and surgical assessment units. 

He was a founding member of the Assembly of Young Internists of the European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) and has enjoyed a long partnership with the organisation. He is interested in quality improvement that is accessible to all and can be applied to day-to-day practice across all health environments.

Roger is the regional clinical adviser for NHS England (NHSE) in the South West of England, supporting the development of acute medicine, same-day emergency care and integrated care across healthcare providers. 

Professor Nik Patel

Professor Nik Patel is a consultant cardiologist based in Eastbourne, working at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. He is deputy chief of medicine and cardiovascular lead (stroke, diabetes and cardiology) and also serves as head of the School of Medicine for Health Education England Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Nik is a former chair of the Academic Board at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and past president of the RSM Cardiology Section. His subspecialty expertise includes complex pacing, including cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT), implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) and coronary intervention.

He continues to undertake research into cardiac device management, exercise and detection of atrial fibrillation following stroke. He is a committed educator with a focus on clear, practical teaching.

Dr Charlotte Long

Dr Charlotte Long is a consultant intensivist at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. Having graduated from St George’s Hospital Medical School in 2010, Charlotte undertook her first intensive care post at St George’s before completing specialty training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine in Sussex.

Charlotte’s clinical interests include sepsis, haemodynamic monitoring and the use of point-of-care ultrasound to guide decision making and improve patient care in the intensive care unit. She is passionate about integrating bedside ultrasound into everyday critical care practice and education.

Dr Sarah Bowers

Dr Sarah Bowers is a SCREDS (Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme) clinical lecturer at the University of St Andrews, and works clinically as a palliative medicine and general internal medicine registrar in NHS Forth Valley.

Sarah recently completed a PhD through the Wellcome Trust-supported Multimorbidity PhD Programme for Health Professionals, titled Experiences of healthcare and support for people with multimorbidity approaching the end of life. This involved a mixed-methods research programme including a scoping review, data analysis and qualitative research.

Her ongoing research focuses on multimorbidity and palliative care, with particular interests in inequity and person-centred care. 

Dr Claire Turner

Dr Claire Turner is a consultant in public health at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, focusing on health protection, population health and reducing health inequalities.

Claire has extensive experience working across NHS and system-wide settings to prevent disease, protect communities and improve health outcomes through evidence-based approaches. Her interests include communicable disease control, outbreak response and vaccination programmes to improve population health and reduce inequalities.

She works closely with system partners to respond to emerging risks and protect vulnerable populations, and contributes to education and workforce development.

Dr Henry Alexander

Dr Henry Alexander trained in geriatric medicine in the 1990s and has been a consultant since 2002. 

Henry has extensive experience in intermediate care and has developed a strong interest in newer models of care, including virtual wards. He has also worked as an expert witness in geriatric medicine and life expectancy for over 10 years.

Dr David Hargroves

Dr David Hargroves is a consultant stroke physician, national clinical director for stroke medicine at NHS England and national clinical lead for Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT). David visited every acute stroke service in England and co-authored the 2022 national GIRFT stroke report, which set out 29 recommendations to improve stroke care. He subsequently designed and co-delivers the multidisciplinary GIRFT Leadership Academy for Stroke Services (GLASS) with The King’s Fund and the RCP.

David co-produced the National Stroke Service Model, Integrated Community Stroke Service Model and National Optimal Stroke Imaging Pathway, supporting the nationwide adoption of AI-assisted stroke imaging. He led the Thrombolysis in Acute Stroke Collaborative (TASC), achieving more than a 50% improvement in thrombolysis rates in the lowest-performing stroke units in England.

He co-chairs NHS England’s Thrombectomy Implementation Group (TIG) and led the national review of mechanical thrombectomy services. He has also championed prehospital stroke video triage, expanding rapid specialist stroke assessment across England.
David holds the Stroke Association’s Life After Stroke Award for professional excellence, becoming the first stroke physician to receive the honour.

Dr Sanjay Suman

Dr Sanjay Suman is clinical director and consultant geriatrician at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, with over 18 years of experience delivering high-quality care for older adults in acute and community settings.

He specialises in frailty, sarcopenia, falls, osteoporosis and complex ageing, and is recognised nationally for translating evidence into practical models of care. Since 2018, he has led the geriatrics department at Medway, improving pathways, patient flow and integration across services.

Sanjay’s research on community-based falls assessment has been published and cited in a Cochrane review, and he has authored multiple peer-reviewed papers on frailty, nutrition and geriatric syndromes.

Sanjay is a sought-after educator; he is a regular invited speaker at national conferences and is known for making complex topics accessible to generalist clinicians.