Dr Olivia Hum – Joint Chair, Programme planning group

GP and Menopause Specialist, Foundry Healthcare Lewes, Myla Health; Member – British Menopause Society medical advisory council Biography

Professor Anne MacGregor – Joint Chair, Programme planning group

Associate Specialist in Sexual & Reproductive Health, Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Barts Health NHS Trust, London Biography

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Professor Anne MacGregor

Anne is a Specialist in Headache and Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare at Barts Health NHS Trust, London and has an academic post at the Centre for Neuroscience, Surgery and Trauma at Queen Mary, University of London. Her clinical work crosses the boundaries between neurology and reproductive medicine. She is a recognised trainer for the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Medicine for the Diploma, Letters of Competence and Menopause. She has undertaken research in all aspects of primary headaches but her main interest focusses on the effects of sex hormones on headache. In addition to her work in headache she is active in Medical Education, is a Fellow of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare and a British Menopause Society specialist and trainer.

She has been a member of the BMS for more than 25 years.

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Dr Paula Briggs

Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust; Chair and Trustee – British Menopause Society Biography

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Dr Paula Briggs

Paula Briggs is a Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health based at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust.

She is Chair of the British Menopause Society.

Paula qualified from University of Glasgow in 1987.

She trained as a GP before moving to Liverpool in 1993 and worked in General Practice and Sexual Health until 2012.

She is now devoted to delivery of women’s health care, research and education. Her main interest is menopause management with a particular interest in urogenital atrophy.

She has co-edited 3 books, co-written an undergraduate textbook in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a revision guide for MFSRH and a book specifically for men about female hormones. She has also written a patient booklet on menopause (second edition).

She is married with four children and enjoys golf, yoga/pilates, reading and cooking.

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Co-chair: Dr Katie Barber

Clinical Lead Community Gynaecology, Oxfordshire; Founder and Clinical Director, Oxford Menopause Ltd; Member – British Menopause Society medical advisory council Biography

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Dr Katie Barber

GP with a special interest in Gynaecology and Menopause
Member – BMS Advisory Council

Clinical Lead Community Gynaecology, Oxfordshire

Founder and Clinical Director, Oxford Menopause Ltd

Dr Katie Barber qualified from the University of Oxford in 2002 and has worked as a GP in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire for more than 15 years. Katie worked as a GP specialist in the Gynaecology and Menopause departments at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford before leading the NHS Specialist Menopause Service until 2021. Katie became Clinical Lead for the Community Gynaecology Service (NHS) in Oxfordshire where she successfully incorporated menopause services to enable women to have timely access to menopause specialist advice and expertise.

She was awarded the Advanced Certificate of Menopause Care by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare in 2019 and is an Accredited British Menopause Society specialist and PPMC trainer based in Oxfordshire. Alongside her NHS roles, Katie teaches and lectures in the NHS, public and private sector, and undertakes private menopause and women’s health clinics at Oxford Menopause, a private menopause and women’s health service which Katie founded in 2020, providing individualised, evidence-based advice, care and treatment for all aspect of women’s health and menopause.

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Co-chair: Dr Kate Panter

Consultant Gynaecologist, Menopause trainer, Member – British Menopause Society medical advisory council Biography

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Dr Kate Panter

Kate is a Consultant Gynaecologist in South-West London and works in the Menopause Clinic at Guy’s Hospital. She is also a BMS Menopause Specialist and trainer. Having rowed for Cambridge and GB in the 1984 Olympics, Kate is an advisor to the English Institute of Sport and was an accredited doctor for the 2012 London Olympics.

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Professor Nick Panay

Consultant Gynaecologist, Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London; Professor of Practice, Imperial College London; President – International Menopause Society; Member – British Menopause Society medical advisory council Biography

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Professor Nick Panay

As director of the Menopause & PMS Centres at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Nick leads a busy clinical and research team which publishes widely, presents at scientific meetings and trains health professionals at all levels.

He set up his Gynaecological Endocrinology (Gynae Endo) Research Unit within the Women’s Health Research Centre of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. He and his team of research fellows and research nurses run an active research programme consisting of translational, clinical and pharmaceutically sponsored research in menopause, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), premenstrual syndrome, androgens and contraception.

Nick has authored more than >200 peer reviewed publications with more than 10000 citations to date and has a Google Scholar h index of 49. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences, as an invited keynote and plenary speaker.

Through his work with several societies, councils and women’s groups he campaigns actively for women’s health issues both nationally and internationally. His affiliations include:

President, International Menopause Society,
Past Chairman of The British Menopause Society (BMS),
Medical Advisory Council Member, BMS
Chairman of The National Association for Premenstrual Syndromes,
Clinical Advisory Board Member, International Association for Premenstrual Disorders,
Patron of Daisy Network
Past Honorary Director of Conferences and Past Council Member, RCOG,
Past President and Current Council Member, Royal Society of Medicine (O & G Division).

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Professor Kristina Gemzell Danielsson

Professor, Head, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant, gynecology and reproductive medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden Biography

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Professor Kristina Gemzell Danielsson

Kristina Gemzell Danielsson is professor, and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet (KI) and senior consultant at the Karolinska University Hospital. She is head of the research group at the WHO collaborating centre for Research and Research training in Human Reproduction at KI. She is Honorary Clinical Professor at Hong Kong University, Riga Stradins University,Latvia, and Honorary fellow FSRH, RCOG, UK. She is a member of the International Committee for contraceptive research (ICCR), Population Council, past president of the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health, and FIAPAC, and the FIGO council.

Her research is translational (experimental, clinical trials and implementation; “from bench-to bed-to the hands of women”) with a focus on reproductive medicine (endometrial function, embryo implantation, comprehensive abortion care, emergency contraception and development of new contraceptive technology and new methods for assisted reproduction) and Global Health.

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Co-chair: Dr Paula Briggs

Co-chair: Professor Janice Rymer

Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, King’s College School of Medicine, London; Consultant Gynaecologist, Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation, London; Chair Elect and Trustee – British Menopause Society Biography

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Professor Janice Rymer

Professor Rymer qualified with MBCHB in 1981 from the University of Auckland and commenced her specialist training in New Zealand. She moved to the UK in 1987 and became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) in 1987 and fellow of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) in 1990. She was awarded her MD thesis from the University of Auckland in 1994 and was made fellow of the RCOG in 2005. She was made Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at KCL in 2005 and Dean of Undergraduate Medicine in 2010 – 2013. In 2016 she became Vice President of the RCOG (Education) until 2019. She was National Specialty Advisor for Gynaecology for NHSE/I from 2020-2023. She is chair elect of the British Menopause Society, 2024.

Her current appointments are Professor of O and G , and Dean of Student Affairs at KCL, Consultant Gynaecologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals Foundation Trust.

Her areas of special interest are Minimal Access Surgery, Ovarian Failure, Medical Education and Female Genital Mutilation. She has published over 150 peer review papers and 18 textbooks.

Other extramural positions include: Member of the RCOG Council 1997-2003 and 2010-2016; Member of the British Menopause Society Council 1986-2002 and 2010-16; she is currently on the General Medical Council team for assessing new Medical Schools.

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Professor Walter A. Rocca

Professor of Epidemiology and Neurology and the Ralph S. and Beverley E. Caulkins, Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, USA Biography

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Professor Walter A. Rocca

Walter A. Rocca, M.D., M.P.H. is Professor of Epidemiology and Neurology and the Ralph S. and Beverley E. Caulkins Professor of Neurodegenerative Diseases Research at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minnesota (USA). Locally, he is Co-Director of the Rochester Epidemiology Project medical records-linkage system, Associate Director of the Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on Sex Differences, and a member of the Steering Group for the Women’s Health Research Center. Nationally, he has been member of the Science Committee of the American Academy of Neurology and Chair of its Clinical Research Subcommittee (2007-2014). Dr. Rocca previously worked for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, for the Italian National Research Council, and for other European institutions.

Dr. Rocca’s research focuses on brain aging and on the etiology of common neurodegenerative diseases such as parkinsonism and dementia. He has recently focused his work on the effects of surgical menopause and estrogen on brain aging in women and on multi-morbidity as a clinical marker of accelerated aging. He is also contributing to the emerging field of research on the impact of sex and gender on health and diseases.

Dr. Rocca received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Padua, Italy, his Diploma of Specialty in Neurology from the University of Verona, Italy, his Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University and at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dr. Rocca served on several expert panels for the National Institutes of Health and for other institutions nationally (Institute of Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Defense) and internationally (national research agencies of France, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Canada). Finally, he has organized teaching activities on the methodology of clinical research in the United States and worldwide (Italy, Spain, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Panama, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, South Korea, Morocco, and Australia).

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Co-chair: Dr Shashi Prasad

GP & Menopause Specialist, Women’s Integrative and Functional Medicine Doctor, The Private GP Group, New Malden Biography

Co-chair: Dr Zoe Schaedel

GP and Menopause Specialist, Brighton and Hove NHS Community Menopause Clinic; Member – British Menopause Society medical advisory council Biography

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Dr Zoe Schaedel

Dr Schaedel has 16 years’ experience as an NHS GP with expertise in women’s health and sexual health and she is an accredited British Menopause Society Menopause Specialist. She leads the Brighton and Hove Community NHS Menopause and is a co-director of Myla Health.

Dr Schaedel is currently a member of the British Menopause Society’s Medical Advisory Council, the Primary Care Women Health Foundation’s Education Committee and NHS England’s Menopause Improvement Programme Clinical Reference Group.

Dr Schaedel has developed a special interest in sleep and lectures on the International Sleep Medicine Course. She sits on the British Sleep Society Education Committee and co-founded The Good Sleep Clinic. Dr Schaedel has published articles on Menopause in The Lancet and Post Reproductive Health.

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Dr Alison Macbeth

Speciality Doctor Breast Surgery, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Biography

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Dr Alison Macbeth

Dr Alison Macbeth is a Breast Surgical Speciality Doctor for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, a British Menopause Society Accredited Menopause Specialist and a Women’s Health GP for NHS Highlands. She is also a menopause specialist at Health in Menopause clinic, as well as a member of the British Menopause Society, International Menopause Society, and North American Menopause Society (now called The Menopause Society), Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Primary Care Women’s Health Forum. She also sits on the publications committee for the PCWHF.

She runs a specialised menopause clinic within NHS breast services in Glasgow for women with breast cancer, or a family history of breast cancer, and is passionate about meeting the often-overlooked needs of these women. She also has a special interest in the genetics of breast cancer and runs the family history clinic.

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Ms Melinda McDougall

Medical Herbalist, MSc, MNIMH, London Biography

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Ms Melinda McDougall

Melinda McDougall MSc, MNIMH is a registered medical herbalist who is passionate about improving health outcomes for women and safeguarding the use of herbal medicine. She has analysed hundreds of research papers on herbal medicine and menopause to find out what really works and uses that knowledge in her busy online clinic to help women find natural solutions to their health problems. She lives and works in London and is the former Vice President of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, which was established in 1864. melindamcdougall.com

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Co-chair: Dr Olivia Hum

Co-chair: Professor Anne MacGregor

Co-chair: Dr Kristyn Manley

Consultant Gynaecologist, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust Biography

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Dr Kristyn Manley

Dr Kristyn Manley is a Consultant Gynaecologist at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. She is an accredited Menopause Specialist and lead for the NHS service in Bristol; she was instrumental in the creation of this service which incorporates an multidisciplinary team menopause oncology and a complex medical clinic. She also has special interests in management of women who are undertaking risk-reducing surgery, vulval disorders and colposcopy (she completed her PhD thesis on improving cervical screening accuracy).

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Co-chair: Professor Nick Panay

For: Dr Heather Currie MBE
Associate Specialist Gynaecologist, Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary; Trustee – British Menopause Society Biography

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Dr Heather Currie MBE

MB BS, FRCOG, DRCOG, MRCGP

Gynaecologist at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, specialising in Menopause, Pre Menstrual syndrome and Cervical screening. Co- Editor of Post Reproductive Health, the Journal of the British Menopause Society (BMS), Trustee and past Chair of the BMS, Founder and Managing Director of Menopause Matters Ltd which runs the award winning website www.menopausematters.co.uk, and publishes the award winning Menopause Matters magazine. Author of the award winning book, Menopause, answers at your fingertips and of many original papers and review articles in scientific journals.

Previous national Clinical Lead for Gynaecology in Modernising Patient pathways Programme.

Clinical advisor to Scottish Government for development of the Women’s Health plan for Scotland.

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Against: Dr Olivia Hum