Call for BTS President-Elect
NOTICE OF VACANCY: BTS PRESIDENT ELECT 2025 AND BTS PRESIDENT 2026
Professor Nick Maskell will take up the role of BTS President 2025 when Professor Jon Bennett steps down at the AGM in November.
We are now inviting applications for President-Elect for 2025. The successful candidate will take up the role of President-Elect at the AGM in November 2024 and take up the role of BTS President in November 2025 for their Presidential year in 2026.
More information about the role can be found here, or by contacting sally.welham@brit-thoracic.org.uk
Applications
Applications, which should include a brief statement outlining suitability for the role, plus a short CV (2-3 pages) should be sent to sally.welham@brit-thoracic.org.uk by Tuesday 27 August 2024. The application should be proposed and seconded by two members in good standing.
BTS Past-President, Professor Onn Min Kon, had this to say about his time as President:
"It was a real honour to have been able to serve as the President of the BTS and I found this to be an immensely satisfying and enjoyable role.
It was rewarding but also refreshing to be working with the senior Officers who are completely committed to promoting and supporting our specialty. This is in conjunction with a highly efficient, professional and responsive Chief Executive and Head Office team who support, advise and operationalise what the Board wishes to pursue. They are a real asset to us as a Society and the BTS team made my tenure feel very well supported and remarkably straightforward.
Chairing Council and Nominations Committee meetings in addition to the regular Officer meetings allows a unique overview of the entire breadth and depth of what respiratory medicine is delivering and further developing. To have been able to see the very important national and international efforts and impacts of our membership makes one immensely proud of this Society.
I can only highly recommend this opportunity to serve as President."
BTS Past-President, Professor Mohammed Munavvar, has commented:
"It has been an enormous pleasure and honour to be President of BTS, arguably one of the most enjoyable and educationally rewarding roles I have ever played in my career. This is largely because of the opportunity to make a contribution to and see, at close quarters, the difference that BTS initiatives make to the quality and safety of respiratory care provided to our patients, not just in the UK, but across the globe.
The job is made simpler, pleasurable and all the more productive by the presence of tons of experience within the BTS HQ, especially at CEO level, and also the other BTS Officers who are all equally enthusiastic and determined to drive forward changes in a dynamic and co-ordinated fashion. This was evident when we had to ‘up the ante’ at very short notice, with the unannounced arrival of the COVID Tsunami and the consequent complete change to the way we worked, with the creation overnight of a plethora of guidance statements, which needed to be reviewed at a rapid pace, for wide circulation.
When I took up post as President, I had a few ideas and innovations which I wanted to explore, especially in relation to education and making respiratory medicine even more attractive to students and trainees. However, with the advent of COVID, all this had to be parked to one side. Nevertheless, the COVID related work round the clock has indeed been gratifying, with the regular collaboration and weekly meetings with various other key organisations, including NHSE and RCP London.
Besides the above, as the President, you have to chair meetings of the BTS Council and Nominations Committee, and also deliver the coveted Presidential Address at the BTS Winter Meeting, which is of course a privilege.
In short, a hugely satisfying role, if you enjoy the aspects that I have described briefly above. Considering the popularity of BTS, you can expect competition when you apply, but if you possess the skills, energy and experience required, it is worth considering this incredibly important post."