GAT Committee
The Committee comprises elected members, the AAGBI Honorary Secretary Elect and co-opted members including trainee representatives from Royal College Council, the BMA and the Anaesthetists in Training in Ireland Group. Officers are elected annually by the Committee.
The Committee conducts its day-to-day business electronically but meets four times a year for a group discussion and formal meeting.
During these meetings, reports are received from committees and working parties upon which GAT has representation; and current projects are discussed, such as the ASM, GAT Handbook, and annual surveys.
Officers
Elected Members
Co-opted
AAGBI Council Representative
Officers
Dr Felicity Howard (Chair)
SpR, Wales
 Felicity left her London roots for the Welsh Principality to do her medical training. On graduation day she told her mum “I’ll never be an anaesthetist.” Fortunately she came to see the error of her ways and was swiftly guided towards the light of the laryngoscope. She has done anaesthetic training in Swansea and South West Wales.
She joined the GAT Committee in 2006, and is the current Chairman and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Anaesthesia. She also tries to keep the GAT web pages up-to-date. She is keen to ensure that anaesthesia remains a productive specialty in which the trainee voice continues to be taken seriously.
She is happily married to Martin, a GP and the only Welshman who can’t sing. They are the proud owners of 2 adorable house-rabbits called Poppy and Maisie. Her other ambition is to run the London Marathon.
Dr Liz Shewry (Vice-Chair)
SpR, Wessex Rotation
After training in Cardiff, Liz spent a year in Perth, WA and returned to South Wales to begin a medical rotation. She then moved to Wessex to undertake her anaesthetic training and is currently a SpR in Salisbury, living in Bournemouth. Liz has been on the GAT committee since 2006 and in July 2009 was elected Vice Chair.
Liz has recently completed the 'Core Survival Guide' which has been submitted for publication. She is the RCoA Council Representative Liaison for GAT and sits on the RCoA Training Committee. She understands the importance of GAT maintaining strong links with the Royal College and is also the GAT representative on the RCoA Trainee Advisory Group. She believes it is important to not only relay the anaesthetic trainee viewpoint but also communicate vital information back to trainees. Finally Liz is delighted to be representing GAT at the 68th National Scientific Congress of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists in Darwin this Autumn.
Liz is interested in patient safety, medical education/ management and spending as much time by the sea as possible!
Dr Susan Williams (Honorary Secretary)
SpR, South Wales
 Susan finds herself entering her 5th year on the GAT committee and becoming the longest standing member. She works on a Less Than Full Time basis on the Welsh rotation attempting to juggle a demanding career with family life.
She was born in Wales, went to medical school in Wales, trains in Wales and hopes to continue working in Wales!
Her duties in the past have included representation on the Anaesthetic Practitioner Project, the Anaesthetic Standards committee and Editor of the GAT Handbook 2007-2008.
Currently she is Honorary Secretary (elected this year), sits on the Welfare committee (concerned with Anaesthetists well-being) and is the Less Than Full Time GAT Trainee Representative.
Her ambition is to complete her training before 2020 and aim not to be the oldest standing Anaesthetic trainee.
Elected Members
Dr Rob Broomhead
4 SpR, North Thames region
 I am a Year 4 SpR in the Central London School Of Anaesthesia with clinical interests in HPB and Cardiac Anaesthesia. This is my 3rd Year on the GAT committee and I am looking forward to new responsibilities organising Events and Seminars for GAT with the team at Portland Place. I have seen real progress made in the organisation of postgraduate medical training since the mess of MTAS and am hoping that we can continue to improve. Outside of anaesthesia I enjoy anything sporty and non-academic although following a recent broken leg playing cricket (!) my wife is trying to stunt my international sporting ambitions.
Dr Alex Beckingsale
ST2, Newcastle
 Alex is a soon to be an ‘ST2’ in MMC training in Anaesthesia. She graduated from the University of Dundee and moved to Middlesbrough and Stockton before starting SHO jobs in Newcastle and Sunderland.
She is fairly new to professional committees but has been active member of sports and social committees throughout University. She is the GAT representative on the Library, Museums and Archives Committee and the Research Committee at the AAGBI.
Dr Nicholas Love
StR3, Oxford
 Originally destined to be an urologist, a moment of clarity made me leave medicine for a year. After a rediscovery year I converted to the top end of the table. Born in Belfast, trained in Scotland, I worked my way around England and Wales and with MTAS, ended up in Oxford. I joined GAT as I thought I could help with training issues.
Dr Emma Anderson
ST4, Edinburgh
Dr Hannah Gill
SpR, London
 I've been doing anaesthetics since 2003 after leaving a career in Accident and Emergency. I'm now on The Barts and The London rotation developing my interests in paediatric anaesthesia and trauma, but still not sure where I'll end up.
I'm interested in photography, with limited success, and love snowboarding.
Dr Mike MacMahon
ST4, Edinburgh
 Mike is an ST 4 in South East Scotland. He was voted onto the committee in June 2009 after an impassioned statement about the maintenance of trainees’ rights and co-operation with the consultant body to enhance the quality of training in light of the reduced working hours. He will aim to achieve these aims by representing the Scottish trainees on the Standing Committee, and RCoA advisory board in Scotland.
External interests include sport of all descriptions and the organisation of sporting and social events. He hopes to incorporate this into his GAT role. The organisational side will be easier that the sporting, but you never know! GAT vs. the MCC? - GAT vs. MMC might draw a bigger crowd.
Dr Kate McCombe
SpR3, Dorset
 Kate trained at St George’s in London and didn’t move far to complete a medical rotation in South West Thames. After a very interesting, and mercifully brief foray into the world of psychiatry, serendipity led her to apply for an anaesthetic rotation, and she finally found a career that she loves. After starting her rotation in South West Thames, she recently transferred her number to the Wessex deanery.
Kate feels very strongly, and is very vocal, about the maintenance of standards throughout all medical specialties and feels excellence is gravely threatened by unrelenting changes to training and service delivery in the NHS. She will sit on the RCoA Professional Standards Committee and the BMA JDC.
Dr Simran Minhas
StR4, Hull
 Hailing from Manchester, Simran studied medicine in London and worked as an SHO in the South West. After spending two years in Sydney she is now an ST5 in East Yorkshire.
This is her first year on the GAT committee and her roles include trainee representation for the RCoA/AAGBI Joint Informatics Committee, the BMA Joint Specialty Trainee Committee, and the AAGBI SAS Committee.
She is really looking forward to working in the team over the next two years and hopes that we fulfil the expectations of all those who elected us.
Dr Claire Williams
SpR, Cambridge
 Claire will be the second Dr Williams on the GAT committee and also hails from South Wales. After qualifying from Oxford she started her anaesthetic training in Milton Keynes, is now a year 4 SpR in the Eastern Deanery and is about to complete a year of research at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.
Claire’s involvement with GAT started when she was volunteered to organise the 2009 GAT ASM in Cambridge. Her involvement as a co-opted member prompted her to stand for election and she is now a full committee member. Claire has an interest in management, education and safety and is the representative to Anaesthetists in Management. If GAT doesn’t keep her busy enough she is undertaking a PgCert in medical education.
Co-opted
Dr Ramani Moonesinghe (RCoA Council Trainee Representative)
Dr Christopher Smith (BMA JDC Representative)
Dr Stephen Frohlich (Irish Representative)
Dr Caroline Evans (GAT ASM 2010 Cardiff Representative)
AAGBI Council Representative
Dr Les Gemmell (AAGBI Honorary Secretary)
How to contact us:
By email: gat@aagbi.org
By post: GAT, 21 Portland Place, London, W1B 1PY
By phone: 020 7631 1650
By fax: 020 7631 4352
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