President elect 2020

Dr Graham Burns will take up his position as BTS President Elect today Wednesday 5 December, following the AGM held at the Society’s Winter Meeting. He becomes a member of the Board of Trustees and will take over as President at the Society’s AGM in 2020.

Dr Burns is a Consultant Respiratory Physician in Newcastle, and a great asset for the BTS. He has been Chair of the BTS Professional Standards  and Speciality Workforce Committees for the last 15 years. His projections led to a dramatic increase in respiratory training posts in 2003 (resulting  in 450 more consultants to date).  He has been involved in chair and advisory capacities in the Department for Health and Social Care Respiratory Strategy Group; RCP London workforce activities; GMC revalidation; and  NHSE diagnostics.

He works full time in the  NHS yet is very research active and supervises many successful PhD students. Graham has made a  huge contribution to medical education, leading undergraduate and postgraduate national and international courses and inspiring the next generation of medical professionals. For his contributions to respiratory medicine, he received the  BTS Meritorious Service Award in 2012.

Graham champions respiratory medicine and will no doubt be a great ambassador for the specialty.