Dame Clare Lucy Marx (15 March 1954 – 27 November 2022) was a British surgeon who was president of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. The ...

from July 2014 to July 2017, the first woman to hold the position, and former chair of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. From January 2019 through July 2021, Dame Clare was chair of the

General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by c ...

, the first woman to hold this role. She had worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at

Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Ipswich Hospital is a large district general hospital in Heath Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It is now managed by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which was formed on 1 July 2018 by the merging of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust w ...

from 1993.

Personal life

Marx was born in Coventry on 15 March 1954. She was the daughter of a teacher and an industrial chemist and grew up in Warwick and then Cheltenham. She decided to become a doctor after a work experience placement at Coventry Hospital. In her spare time, Marx enjoyed gardening and walking in Scotland and the Alps. She also enjoyed opera. Marx was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in 2021. She died from the disease on 27 November 2022, at age 68.

Biography

Marx qualified in medicine from the

University College London Medical School UCL Medical School is the medical school of University College London (UCL) and is located in London, United Kingdom. The School provides a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes and also has a medical educatio ...

in 1977. Her surgical house jobs were in the London area and later she completed an arthroplasty training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. She became a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Mary's and St Charles's hospitals with particular interest in early surgical education. In 1993 she became clinical director of the combined A&E, Trauma & Orthopaedics and Rheumatology directorate at

Ipswich Hospital Ipswich Hospital is a large district general hospital in Heath Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It is now managed by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which was formed on 1 July 2018 by the merging of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust w ...

. Later she chaired the LNC, the Medical Staff Committee and was extensively involved in many of the Hospitals groups for governance and new projects. She was elected to RCS Council in 2009. She was elected to the

British Orthopaedic Association The British Orthopaedic Association is a professional association in Britain for doctors who specialize in orthopaedic surgery. History The British Orthopaedic Association was founded in 1918. One of the founders was Harry Platt, who went on t ...

(BOA) Council and became president of the BOA for 2008–09. She was made chair of the RCS invited review Mechanism in 2011. In 2013 she became associate medical director at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust with a special remit for revalidation and appraisal, and continued in that role having stopped active orthopaedic practice in March 2014. She became president of the college in July 2014 and held this role for three years. Dame Clare was chair of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management from 2017 to 2018. In 2019 she became chair of the GMC. After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in the June 2016 referendum, Marx posited in an interview with ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' that Brexit was an opportunity to improve safety standards in the NHS by strengthening medical device legislation and language testing for non-British workers. She felt the

European Working Time Directive Working Time Directive''2003/88/ECis a European Union law Directive and a key part of European labour law. It gives EU workers the right to: *at least 28 days (four weeks) in paid holidays each year, *rest breaks of 20 minutes in a 6 hour peri ...

which restricts working hours in the NHS needed to be relaxed to enable more hours of training. The

later sent out a press release clarifying that they did not endorse a return to excessive hours for NHS workers. Marx resigned as chair of the GMC at the end of July 2021 due to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She had been chair from January 2019 and was the first woman to hold the position since the founding of the organisation in 1858.

Honours

* 2007 Appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) for services to medicine ( 2007 Birthday Honours) * 2008 Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk * 2016 Honorary degree from the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

for services to medicine * 2017 Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland's first private university. It was established in 1784 ...

(FRCSI) * 2018 Appointed

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) for services to surgery in the NHS (

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

)

References

External links

Profile page: Clare Marx
Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management
List of staff: Clare Marx
Orthopaedics, Ipswich Hospital {{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Clare 1954 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British medical doctors 20th-century women physicians 21st-century British medical doctors 21st-century women physicians Alumni of the UCL Medical School British surgeons British orthopaedic surgeons Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deputy Lieutenants of Suffolk Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons People associated with the University of Exeter People from Coventry Women surgeons