Dr Fiona Donald is re-appointed President, and Dr Russell Perkins and Dr Helgi Johannsson are elected Vice-Presidents of the Royal College of Anaesthetists 

The Royal College of Anaesthetists is delighted to announce that Dr Fiona Donald has been re-appointed after an unopposed call for nominations as the College’s President for a second year. 

The RCoA is further pleased to announce that Dr Russell Perkins has been re-elected for a second year as one of the College’s two Vice-Presidents, and will be joined by Dr Helgi Johannsson, who was newly elected after an open call for nominations from Elected Council Members. 

Terms of office for all Officers will start in September 2022. Until then, Fiona and Russell will continue in their roles as President and Vice-President respectively alongside current Vice-President Professor William Harrop-Griffiths. 

Fiona has been the President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists since September 2021, having previously served as a Vice-President from 2019 to 2021.  

Fiona was appointed as a Consultant at Southmead Hospital in Bristol in 1997. Her main area of clinical and research interest is obstetric anaesthesia. She also has a longstanding commitment to teaching and training. 

Fiona said: “I am honoured to serve the Royal College of Anaesthetists as President for a second year, placing members and Fellows at the heart of what we do and championing our specialities. When I came into post, I had a clear focus on supporting the membership both to recover from the effects of the pandemic and to achieve the best health outcomes for patients. I knew this couldn’t be done without such measures as advocating for more training posts, identifying barriers to retention, providing high quality educational materials or simply making the College more responsive. There is still much to do but I’d like to thank my Council colleagues and all the staff and volunteers for helping to get us started on that journey.” 

“We remain committed to the development of integrated perioperative care as the default for all surgical procedures, helping patients prepare for surgery and improving health outcomes while also addressing the surgical waiting list.” 

Welcoming Fiona’s re-appointment, Vice-President Will Harrop-Griffiths said: “Fiona is an excellent person to lead the College as we embark on a new five-year strategy to enable safe more-effective patient-centred care, delivered by a well-trained, supported and valued workforce.  

“Fiona is approachable, she cares about people and strives to enable everyone with whom she comes into contact to flourish. She works hard for the College and for our specialties and embodies a strong leadership that shows inclusivity, openness, willingness to change, collaboration and trust.” 

Dr Russell Perkins was re-elected to the post of Vice-President for a second term. Russell has worked as a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist in Manchester for over 20 years, through which he is a proud advocate for children and young people’s services. He is also a co-opted member of the Council of the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists. 

Russell is committed to quality improvement and advancing the perioperative care agenda. He is a past Chair of the College’s Clinical Quality and Research Board and Chair of the Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation Committee. Russell leads the College’s response to the Glenda Logsdail report, focussing on education and quality issues for the specialty. 

He is also a member of the College’s SAS Committee, the Finance and Resources Board and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. 

Russell said: “I am delighted to be given another term as a Vice-President. I am looking forward to continuing to work alongside Fiona, our President. We will all be working to improve standards of care for our patients and provide the best service that we can to our trainees and fellows. Helgi will be a valuable addition; but both he and I have to fill the void left by the departure of Will Harrop-Griffiths, which will require all of our combined endeavours!” 

Dr Helgi Johannsson will take up the post of Vice-President for the first time. Currently Chair of the College’s Membership, Media and Development Board, Helgi is passionate about communications and is editor of the Bulletin publication. 

Helgi is the Associate Medical Director for Medical Education at Imperial College Healthcare where he has been a consultant anaesthetist since 2007, having trained at St Bartholomew’s, then anaesthetic training in North and East London. His clinical work is based at St Mary’s and Hammersmith hospitals and includes a wide variety of disciplines, including trauma care, oesophagogastric surgery, obstetrics, bariatrics.  

He said: “I’m thrilled and honoured to be taking up the post of Vice President. I want to make a difference to our members and our patients, and I’m proud of how the College has changed in recent years.”