Introducing our fantastic
PACES Lecturing team
Name: Dr Sam Allen BSc (Hons), MBChB, MRCP, DTM&H, MFTM-RCPSG, FRGS, CCST
Dr Sam Allen graduated in 1991 after attending St Andrews and Manchester Universities. He is now a Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at Crosshouse Hospital, Scotland, with special interest in general medicine, infectious diseases, tropical medicine and dermatology. Dr Allen has over 12 years of experience teaching for PACES and has also acted as the host Registrar for the PACES exam
Name: Dr Justin Davies PhD, MRCP, MBBS, BSc
Dr Justin Davies graduated in 2000 from Imperial College London. He now holds the post of Walport Clinical Lecturer in Cardiology at the St Mary’s Campus of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. His clinical special interests lie in intervention and imaging, whilst his research is dedicated to cardiac and large artery physiology in health and disease.
Dr Davies has over 5 years of experience teaching for MRCP, joining PasTest’s PACES course and PacesCases teaching teams in 2009.
Name: Dr Mahinda Yogarajah BSc, MBBS, MRCP
Dr Mahinda Yogarajah graduated in 2001 from University College London. He now works as a Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Dr Yogarajah has over 3 years of experience as a PasTest PACES tutor, and is an OSCE examiner for final year medical students.
Name: Dr Jonathan Birns BSc MBBS MRCP PhD
Dr Jonathan Birns is currently an SpR in Geriatrics and General Internal Medicine in North West Thames and has been a Clinical Tutor on Pastest MRCP PACES courses since 2002. He was the Clinical Lecturer in Stroke Medicine at King’s College London, 2002-2005, where he undertook his PhD and accredited as a Consultant in Stroke Medicine. He has completed teaching courses at the Academic Centre for Medical Education, University College London and lectures to a wide range of health professionals' undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Name: Dr Ian Giles BSc (Hons), MBBS, PhD, MRCP
Dr Ian Giles graduated in 1992 from The Royal London Hospital Medical College. He is now a Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant in Rheumatology at University College London Hospital, with scientific and clinical interest in the study of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Dr Giles has over 13 years of experience teaching MRCP candidates
Name: Dr Vikas Kapil MA Hons (Cantab) MBBS MRCP (UK)
Dr Vikas Kapil trained at the University of Cambridge and University College London and is currently an SpR in Clinical Pharmacology and Cardiovascular Medicine at the Royal London Hospital and Queen Mary, University of London. His particular research interests are ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk. He has provided teaching materials and lectured on Pastest MRCP Part I and Part II courses, as well as various MRCP PACES courses.
Name: Mr Anthony Khawaja MA (Cantab), MRCOphth
Dr Anthony Khawaja graduated in 2000 after attending Cambridge University and University College London. He now works as a Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology at Central Middlesex Hospital, London, with special interest in education and evidence based medicine. Dr Khawaja has been lecturing for PasTest for 2 years on both our PACES and MRCP II (written) courses.
Name: Dr Suvankar Pal BSc MBBS (Dist) MRCP(UK)
Dr Suvankar Pal is a neurology registrar at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh. He completed general medical training at the Hammersmith Hospital, National Hospital for Neurology and Royal Free Hospitals before pursuing a MD within the MRC Prion Unit at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square. He has been a Clinical Lecturer on the Pastest PACES course since 2005.
Name: Dr Helen Paynter MB ChB DRCOG MRCP MA
Dr Helen Paynter qualified in Bristol in 1992 and obtained her MRCP in 1996. She has worked at many hospitals in the South West and South Wales, and most recently spent three years as Associate Specialist in nephrology at Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend.
Name: Mr Andrew Scott MD MRCOphth MRCSEd
Andrew Scott is a Specialist Registrar in Ophthalmology at Moorfields Eye Hospital London. He is currently doing a Clinical Research Fellowship at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology after being awarded a Fight for Sight Grant. He is researching neovascularisation in the retina and its association with hyoxia and inflammation. He has also recently received the Society of European Ophthalmologists Award for his clinical research in pigment dispersion glaucoma. He has completed teaching courses at UCL and has been a lecturer at MRCP PACES courses as well as MRCOphth courses at Moorfields and MSc Optometry at City University. He has also been an OSCE examiner for MSc Optometry.
Name: Dr William Alazawi
Dr William Alazawi is an Academic Specialist Registrar in Hepatology at the Royal London Hospital. He qualified from Downing College, Cambridge and conducted his PhD in Viral Carcinogenesis at the MRC Cancer Cell Unit. He has worked across London and East Anglia.
Name: Dr Shahir Hamdulay
Dr Shahir Hamdulay graduated from the Royal Free Hospital in 1999 and is currently a Specialist Registrar in general medicine and rheumatology in North West London. He regularly teaches on the MRCP Part 1, Part 2 and PACES courses.
Name: Dr Will Knight
Dr Will Knight is a clinical research fellow in neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology and an honorary SpR at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Will’s chief research interest is in neurodegenerative cognitive disorders. He has also taught on PasTest MRCP PACES courses for about two years.
Name: Dr Anil K Taneja BSc MBBS MRCP(UK) MRCP(Ire) MSc MD Paces course director
Dr Anil K Taneja works at the Imperial College NHS Trust in acute general (internal) medicine and is a course director for PasTest. He completed his MSc in cardiology with a distinction from the National Heart and Lung Institute, and did his MD in cardiology at Royal Brompton Hospital, with research in heart failure. He has presented extensively at national and international [European and American Cardiology Society] meetings, has published papers in various peer review journals and contributed book chapters. He has vast and long experience of teaching, research and acute clinical work, and has contributed to, and been involved in, multinational research projects