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MRCPCH Part 1 Lecturing Team Biographies

Dr Clarissa Pilkington
Dr Pilkington trained as a general paediatrician and specialised in paediatric rheumatology in 1985. She is a Consultant in Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology at Great Ormond Street and University College Hospitals. Her areas of research interest are juvenile dermatomyositis and systemic lupus erythematosus. The patients she treats at Great Ormond Street suffer from arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, vasculitis, hypermobility and chronic pain syndrome. They are transferred to the adolescent unit at UCH around the age of 14.

Dr Philip Zack
Dr Zack worked as a clinical cytogeneticist prior to entering medicine. He then worked in various areas of paediatrics before entering clinical genetics at Yorkhill Sick Children’s Hospital in Glasgow. He spent time at the University of Cape Town Medical Genetics department, where he described a rare skeletal dyplasia. His research at Great Ormond Street was on the management of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). He has published papers on several aspects of OI, and has an interest in hereditary deafness. Dr Zack developed and managed the UK National electronic Library for Clinical Genetics project for 3 years. He completed his CCST in Clinical Genetics at Guy’s Hospital in 2006. Dr Zack is also a trained hypnotherapist, and helps people manage exam stress and performance anxiety.

Dr Ameeta Mehta
Dr Mehta trained in Paediatrics and Neonatology at Seth G.S. Medical School & King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, University of Bombay, India and completed the DCH and postgraduate qualifications of MD and DNBE. She finished her Specialist Registrar training in the London Deanery doing 3 years in General, Community and Neonatal Paediatrics and 2 years of Paediatric Endocrinology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and Middlesex and University College London hospitals. During this, she also obtained a MSc in Endocrinology and Diabetes (University of London) for a 2-year part-time course with research, and submission of a thesis entitled “Role of knemometry in assessment of postnatal catch-up growth of babies born small for gestational age: 6 month follow up of SGA babies”. She has just recently obtained her MD (University of London) in research (3 years) in Paediatric Endocrinology, at the Institute of Child Health, London, with a thesis titled “Phenotypic spectrum of patients with congenital disorders of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis”. She received the Novo Nordisk Scholarship towards the Msc in Endocrinology and Diabetes for 2 consecutive years and the Medical Research Council and Child Growth Foundation (Novo Nordisk) grants toward the MD in Paediatric Endocrinology. Dr Mehta has a special interest in Pituitary disorders in children and has published several papers and a chapter in this field. Dr Mehta has been a teacher on the PasTest courses since 1997.

Dr Keith Patterson
Dr Patterson is a Consultant Haematologist at University College London Hospitals and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Haematology at University College London. Prior to this he had five years experience as Consultant in a District General Hospital. He participates in the teaching of Haematology to the undergraduate medical students of University College London and teaches regularly on courses for the MRCP and FRCS postgraduate examinations and the ILMS Haematology exam. He is an examiner for the University of London MB.BS exams and has been an examiner for the Royal College of Pathologists.

Dr Rachel Andrews
Dr Andrews trained at Oxford and Imperial, and qualified in 1993. After house jobs she did an SHO rotation in paediatrics at St Mary's, and passed her MRCPCH in 1996. She was then a paediatric SpR in Kent until 1999, when she did an LAT in paediatric cardiology and to her great surprise found that she loved it! She applied for an NTN in paediatric cardiology, and then had to go back to year 1 as paediatric training cannot be counted towards a CCST in this specialty. She is now a year 5 SpR, having trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital. Her interests are fetal and perinatal cardiology, and she has written a number of papers in these and related fields. She also enjoys teaching, both for written and clinical exams, and on echocardiography courses.

Dr Johnnie Cohen
Dr Cohen studied medicine at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, before moving to London to specialise in Paediatrics. As a National Grid Specialist Registrar he has trained in Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Great Ormond Street and St Mary’s hospitals. Jonathan has undertaken several research projects in this field, including EBV infection in immunocompromised hosts and the use of bone marrow transplant to cure immunodeficiency disorders. In addition to MRCPCH, he has an MSc in Clinical Paediatrics, and is currently an MRC Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Child Health, exploring novel ways to induce protective immune responses against pneumococcal infection.

An experienced lecturer, Jonathan is a passionate teacher on a range of both written and clinical courses for paediatric examinations.

Dr Nikhil Thapar
Dr Thapar undertook his medical training at the University of Southampton. Within this he also completed an Intercalated BSc in Biomedical Sciences. After graduating from Southampton in 1993, he completed his pre-registration house officer posts in Southampton General Hospital and Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. 

Next, he completed an Accident and Emergency Senior House Officer post in Portsmouth before embarking upon his chosen career park of Paediatrics. His SHO training rotated him through Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester and Poole. Having attained the MRCP and MRCPCH he went on to complete my core Specialist Registrar training in Portsmouth. He developed an interest in Gastroenterology and left region to train in the sub-speciality by virtue of the National Treasure sub-specialty rotation based in the North Thames London region.

These included posts at the Royal London and Great Ormond Street Hospitals as well as hepatology training at the King’s College Childrens Liver Unit. During this time he became especially interested in the management of gastro-intestinal neuro-muscular disorders and went on to complete doctoral (PhD) training at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, where he researched the development of the gut nervous system and use of stem cell therapies. He returned to the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2004 where he is pursuing my academic career and research interest, currently as a clinician scientist. He is also an honorary Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Dr Michael Schachter
Dr Schachter qualified in medicine at University College and University College Hospital London, where he also obtained a degree in Biochemistry. After postgraduate general medical training he did research on the Clinical Pharmacology of Neurological Drugs, especially in Parkinson's Disease and Narcolepsy. In the department of Clinical Pharmacology in Oxford he worked in Cellular and Biochemical aspects of Pharmacology, relating to drugs acting on the central nervous system and also on the platelet. Subsequent work in the Clinical Pharmacology department headed by Professor Peter Sever at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London (now part of Imperial College School of Medicine) combined Cellular and Clinical Pharmacological studies, predominantly in the Cardiovascular System (Hypertension and Atherosclerosis), with Vascular smooth muscle cell Biology as a common theme.

He was a British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellow from 1989 to 1994, and subsequently Senior Lecturer in the department, as well as an Honorary Consultant Physician at St Mary's Hospital. He is also extensively involved in the Medical School where he is the head of the 3rd year and Senior Examiner and Course Organiser in Clinical Pharmacology. He has published extensively on the subjects mentioned, both original research and reviews. He is an author, contributor and editor of several books on Cardiovascular Pharmacology, General Therapeutics and adverse effects of drugs and editorial involvement in several journals.


Dr Rukshana Shroff
Dr Shroff qualified with honors from Bombay University, India and obtained an MD in Paediatrics. Having completed her CCST in Paediatrics and Paediatric Nephrology, she is now doing a PhD on vascular diseases in children on dialysis at Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Child Health. She has a keen interest in paediatric dialysis, and has published research articles, reviews and educational material relating to this and other paediatric issues. She has been teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate exam courses (PLAB and MRCPCH Parts I and II) since 2002. She plans to pursue an academic career and maintain a strong interest in research and medical education.

Dr Caro Minasian
Dr Minasian is a Year 5 North Thames trainee in Paediatrics, with very broad training and experience in a number of specialties, including general paediatrics, neonatology, A&E, cardiology & respiratory paediatrics. She has decided to pursue a career in respiratory paediatrics & has just completed her clinical training in this. She is currently working at the Royal Brompton & Great Ormond Street Hospitals as a cystic fibrosis research fellow working towards an MD. She enjoys teaching and has been a lecturer on a number of MRCPCH courses since 2004. 

Dr Angie Wade
Dr Wade completed her BSc at Chelsea College, University of London in 1985 and MSc Applied Statistics at University College, London in 1986. After 3 years as a statistician for a care of the dying project funded by Help the Hospices, she joined the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital as a lecturer in Medical Statistics in 1990. Her PhD, ‘Likelihood-based methods for the construction of age-related standards’ was completed in 1997 and in 1999 she was promoted to Senior Lecturer. She is a member of the Royal Statistical Society, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Learning

Dr Sharon Taylor
Dr Taylor completed her medical training at University College London and during this time did an intercalated BSc in psychology. After graduating from London in 1992 she completed her pre-registration house officer posts at the Whittington Hospital, and Edgware General hospital, London. She is dual qualified in both paediatrics and child psychiatry, and has worked in the paediatric department St Marys Hospital, the neonatal unit at University College Hospital and the intensive care unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital. She also worked for 2 years in the New Children’s Hospital in Sydney. Following her training in paediatrics she commenced training in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. 

Her higher speciality training in psychiatry took place in Great Ormond Street Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital London. During this time she was appointed a Lecturer of Imperial college and completed qualitative and quantitative research on the Paediatric Consultation. She is currently in a consultant post at St Mary’s Hospital London and Barnet General Hospital where she has set up two paediatric liaison services looking after the mental health needs of the physically ill. She also holds and Honorary Clinical Lecturer Position at Imperial College.

Dr Austen Worth
Dr Worth undertook his medical training at Oxford University and qualified in 1997. He has trained in Paediatrics at St George’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital and at various South Thames Hospitals and currently holds a South Thames NTN. From 2003 he spent 15 months as an RCPCH / VSO fellow in The Gambia, where he worked as a consultant at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital and as a Paediatric advisor to the Department of State for Health. He is currently working as a Clinical Research Training Fellow in the Molecular Immunology Unit at the Institute of Child Health, and is working on the molecular pathology of Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome and its role in dendritic cell function. His other professional interests include Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome, International Child Health, TB and HIV infection.