Members

Professor Val Wass OBE
BSc (Hons), FRCGP, FRCP, MHPE, PhD, PFHEA, FAoME

Val Wass retired as Professor of Medical Education in Primary Care at Aberdeen Medical School and from her international work on the World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) Executive in October 2024. 

She worked clinically as a GP for 40+ years across a range of UK practices of varying demographics. Simultaneously, she developed a career in medical education completing a PhD in the Netherlands at Maastricht University. This led to education roles in undergraduate and postgraduate institutions working extensively across the UK and internationally in more than fifty countries. She was appointed Dean of the School of Medicine at Keele University (2009-2015). In 2016 she chaired for Health Education England the report on careers for GP in medical schools, “By Choice Not by Chance”.

Awards include the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) William Pickles and President’s International Medals and the Association of Medical Educators (ASME) Gold Medal for an outstanding contribution to medical education. In the 2015 New Year’s Honours she received the royal honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). 

John was a senior leader in two large local authorities, where he was responsible for the strategic commissioning and resourcing of adults’ and children’s social care, education, and community services. This included overseeing performance management, business improvement and efficiency, change programmes, capital investment, schools resourcing, risk management, and governance.

John now serves as a leader in school governance, is an active educational researcher, and is an executive coach. John is committed to ensuring the best education and inclusion for all students.

Involved with the schools in Cottenham since 1988 as Governor, and Director of an Educational Consultancy from 1994 to 2010, Anne has considerable experience of visiting schools across the country and involvement with best practice in many areas of classroom delivery. She continues to have an interest in the delivery of high-quality education in today’s changing educational climate.

On retirement from teaching at secondary level in 2018, Gina joined the local governance committee at the newly built all-through Astrea Academy Sheffield, later becoming Chair and supporting the academy through its first OFSTED inspection in November 2022.

During her career, she worked in both the maintained and independent sectors, teaching English up to A-Level and delivering PSHE Education as a non-examination subject. Gina believes strongly in offering all children the best possible educational opportunities, regardless of background, to enable them to achieve their potential in a safe and supportive educational environment.

Gina is married with two grown up children and lives in a small village north of Sheffield. She is a enjoys travel and keeping fit through Pilates, walking and gym work.

Having read History at Cambridge, Robert spent several years in Paris, both researching his PhD and working for the OECD. He then returned to Cambridge as a research fellow at St John’s and was appointed to Junior Lectureship in the History Faculty. He has held various Faculty and College posts and served as co-editor of the Historical Journal. He also served on the Franco-British Council. He remains a Fellow of St John’s and has a particular interest in 19th century French history and Franco-British relations since the 17th century.