Executive Committee
Chair
Dr Thomas Pols, Global Health & Wellbeing Director, Heineken
Marketing and Communications Work Stream Lead
From rural clinics in Pakistan’s North West and refugee camps in South Sudan to the world’s largest offshore facility in Australia and remote sites in Iraq, Thomas has combined frontline medical practice with strategic health leadership across humanitarian, corporate, and global health arenas. He is currently Global Health & Wellbeing Director at Heineken, managing health teams across 20+ countries and multiple remote clinics. With over 15 years’ experience in emergency medicine, clinical governance, and occupational health, he previously held senior roles at Shell, overseeing remote site healthcare, crisis response, and medical governance. Thomas has also advanced global vaccination and health initiatives through public–private partnerships with COVAX and UN agencies. He is a Fellow of the Faculty and holds degrees in medicine and law & diplomacy from the University of Amsterdam and Tufts University.
Deputy Chair
Andy Kent, Orthopaedic Surgical Consultant, NHS Highland , Surgical Director at UK-Med, Medical Advisor at Halo Trust
Andy was born in Malaysia and brought up and schooled in Fife, Scotland. He attended Edinburgh University Medical School and whilst there become a commissioned army officer in the Royal Army Medical Corp. He graduated in 1987. He trained in the services to become a consultant orthopaedic surgeon and was deployed throughout the globe including active duty is several austere and hostile environments. He completed a fellowship year in Baltimore, USA, specialising in trauma management. He was appointed as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in NHS Highland in 2002 and continues to deliver both elective and trauma surgical services. Andy has always been engaged in training and humanitarian work. He continues to teach on Advanced Orthopaedic, ATLS, and primary trauma courses and recently has been appointed as the Surgical Director for UK-Med. Andy is a medical advisor for the HALO trust and in 2021 completed a deployment to Mosul for two months to support Iraqi colleagues manage battlefield civilian injuries. He is the recipient of the RCSEd 2020 Tuanku Muhriz Fellowship.
Honorary Secretary
Phil Sharples, Former Senior Medical Director, United Global Healthcare Solutions
Governance, Purpose and Structures Work Stream Lead
Phil brings considerable knowledge of the requirements of providing healthcare within a diverse range of remote, rural and humanitarian settings. Phil gained this experience from a career spanning service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, general medical practice and international assignments for a major energy company. In 2006, Phil joined the world’s largest healthcare company supporting globally mobile populations. Phil was responsible for overseeing and implementing quality driven clinical services to corporate clients which delivered customer-centric solutions and enabled better outcomes even in the world’s most challenging environments. Phil retired from his position as Senior Medical Director at United Global Healthcare Solutions in 2022.
Honorary Treasurer
Ross Haworth, Managing Director, RH Limited
Membership, Sponsorship and Accreditation Work Stream Lead
Ross brings to the Faculty a strong insight into the health tech sector and the innovations and developments emerging within remote, rural and humanitarian healthcare as well as providing exceptional strategic foresight for future FRRHH activity. He is a Non-Exec director on a number of UK healthcare companies, including private equity/angel investor backed digital health start-ups, mature occupational health services companies, global health tech businesses. He has also provided ad-hoc advice to a number of projects involving the NHS in Scotland and NHS Digital in England re health innovation, remote and rural health and public health prevention strategies.
Other Executive Committee Members
Mark Egan, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Mark Egan has been with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh since December 2022 and took over as interim Chief Executive at the beginning of January 2023. He was the senior official responsible for running Jersey’s parliament (known as the Greffier of the States of Jersey) from 2015-22 and prior to that worked in senior roles in the House of Commons. Mark is an independent adviser to the Welsh Senedd Commission and an associate of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.
Professor Tony Redmond OBE is Professor Emeritus of International Emergency Medicine at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester and Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine at Keele University
Tony is a registered specialist in emergency medicine with a special interest in the management of severe injury. He has been involved in international emergency humanitarian assistance for over thirty-five years, organising and leading medical support to sudden onset disasters, major incidents, conflicts, and complex emergencies throughout the world.
He is the founder of UK-Med, an International Emergency Medical Charity that developed out of the South Manchester Accident Rescue Team (SMART). SMART, a prehospital care team working in support of the rescue and ambulance services in Manchester.
He is co-founder of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, and has been a member of the WHO Emergency Medical Teams Initiative since its inception.
Professor Angus Watson, Consultant General and Colorectal surgeon and is Director of Research and Development at NHS Highland
Angus Watson is a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness and Caithness General Hospital, Wick. He has been Director of Research, Development and Innovation in NHS Highland since 2010 and holds honorary chairs at the Universities of Aberdeen, Stirling and the Highlands and Islands. He is a national Clinical Advisor for Health and Social Care Innovation. He has over 170 peer reviewed publications and a grant income of over £8.7 million. Angus was the recipient of the RCSEd 2019 Tuanku Muhriz Fellowship.
Dr Colville Laird, MBE Former Faculty of Pre Hospital Care Chair and Former Medical Director, BASICS Scotland
Colville was a GP in Auchterarder for 31 years and brings a plethora of experience from his exceptional career and contributions to immediate care. He holds the Fellowship and was an examiner in Immediate Care from The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh was Chairman of the Faculty of Pre-hospital Care for 4 years. Also, Pre-hospital Care editor of The EMJ for 6 years, is an associate editor of The Scandinavian Journal Of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine and is an Honorary Professor at The University of Central Lancashire. He is the Examination convenor for the Diploma in Urgent Medical Care Of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Josette Morrison, Occupational Health Nurse, International Criminal Court
Education, Capabilities and Accreditation Work Stream Lead
Josette is a qualified Registered General Nurse, Intensive Care and Aviation Nurse. She has more than 10 years’ experience in Occupational Health and Healthcare Management and is specialised in Remote Healthcare, Tropical Medicine and Travel Health.
Since joining the International Criminal Court in 2008 Josette is responsible for managing and coordinating the provision of Field medical support in remote and often high risk and hazardous locations. Josette carries out Health Risk Assessments in the Field in close coordination with the United Nations. She develops and implements Medical Emergency Response Plans and MEDEVAC procedures and assesses preparedness in case of communicable diseases, outbreaks/ pandemics (Public Health Emergency of International Concern). She is also responsible for the deployment of Paramedic support to Field missions when necessary.
Through her knowledge on Remote healthcare Josette brings to the faculty the hands on experience, skills and capabilities from both a user (medic on the ground) and provider perspective.
Alistair Fraser, Director of NeuHealth Ltd and Co-Chair of FRRHH Interim FAB
Alistair is a physician and previous Vice President of Health for Shell globally and the first Chair of the Faculty of Remote Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare. He was heavily involved with the team that created the Faculty. Since May 2022 he became Founder, and Director, of the mental fitness start-up, NeuHealth.
Alistair has worked as a doctor, and as a health leader in multiple locations from Scotland to the Antarctic, via offshore Madagascar to Search and Rescue in the North Sea, desert clinics in Oman, offshore Sarawak, corporate USA, Nigeria and the Netherlands. His experience includes the cycle of working in, designing, planning, budgeting, and implementing remote healthcare systems. He has also worked in the humanitarian space in Nigeria and Gabon redesigning sustainable community healthcare systems and has also created public private partnerships and links to global Health NGOs. Alistair initially became involved in the Faculty as a structure to broaden and improve individual practitioner capability and create career structures for remote practitioners. He has a great interest in human performance: neuroscience, metacognition, emotional management, critical thinking, growth mindset et al, and how individuals and teams can improve this critical area of their health. In his opinion, this is a skillset that is often acknowledged as important, but rarely specifically targeted in education and training.
