Meet the UKFPO leads

Dr Mike Masding is co-chair of the UK Foundation Programme Office and the Lead Foundation School Director in England. He has previously been Head of Wessex Foundation School, and Foundation Programme Training Director and Director of Medical Education at the trust where he does his clinical work. The subject of his MA(Ed) dissertation at the University of Winchester in 2010 was workplace supervision of foundation doctors. He also continues his clinical work as a Consultant Physician & Diabetologist on the south coast, and in what’s left of the week spends time with his family, cycles as much as possible and continues to be senior crowd doctor at AFC Bournemouth.

Tom Lawson is Co-Chair of the UKFPO Board, and represents Wales on the UK Foundation Programme Board. He is Lead Dean for Foundation Training in Wales, and interim Deputy Postgraduate Dean for Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW).

Tom is also a Rheumatologist at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and has extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

He chairs standard setting groups for Cardiff University Medical School and for the Royal College of Physicians Rheumatology SCE. 

He is a PACES examiner and regional adviser for training for RCP Wales.

Professor Alan Denison is Dean of Postgraduate Medicine, NHS Education for Scotland (NES). A graduate of Aberdeen University (1996), he trained in Clinical Radiology and works clinically in NHS Grampian Nuclear Medicine and Radiology. Following 15 years in undergraduate medical education, including as a MBChB degree programme lead, he joined NES in 2019. Alan’s UK current responsibilities include oversight of Academic Training, and approvals of postgraduate curricula. In Scotland, his responsibilities include oversight of Foundation, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Radiology and Pathology Training, University Liaison, Medical Additional Costs of Teaching, and Forensic Medical Examiner training. He is a council member of the Academy of Medical Educators and a GMC Education Associate. He plays the accordion poorly and runs half marathons slowly, but enjoys both.