Dame Parveen June Kumar (born 1 June 1942) is a British doctor who is a Professor of Medicine and Education at

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, commonly known as Barts or BL, is a medical school, medical and dental school in London, England. The school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal ...

. She worked in the NHS for over 40 years as a consultant gastroenterologist and physician at Barts and the London Hospitals and the

Homerton University Hospital Homerton University Hospital is a teaching hospital in Homerton in the London Borough of Hackney. It is managed by Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Homerton Fever Hospital, which opened at ...

. She was the President of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

in 2006, of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

from 2010 to 2012, of the

Medical Women's Federation The Medical Women's Federation is the largest United Kingdom, UK body of women doctors. The organisation is dedicated to the advancement of the personal and professional development of women in medicine and to improving the health of women and t ...

from 2016 to 2018 and of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund from 2013 to 2020. She was also Vice President of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

from 2003 to 2005. In addition, she was a founding non-executive director of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, chaired the Medicines Commission UK until 2005, and also chaired the BUPA Foundation Charity for Research until 2013. Kumar co-founded and co-edited '' Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine'', which is now in its 10th edition, a standard medical textbook that is used around the world. She has also held several leadership roles in medical education. She set up the first MSc course in

Gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- "belly", -énteron "intestine", and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, sometime ...

in the UK and continues to teach, lecture and examine medical students and doctors across the globe. Apart from medical education, she is also very interested in global health and set up the Global Health Initiative at the

when she was President. Kumar was appointed DBE in 2017, having been appointed CBE in 2000, and was awarded the BMA Gold Medal in 2007. She was the first Asian Professional Woman of the Year in 1999. She also has several other honours and honorary degrees.

Early life and education

Born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

(then

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, now Pakistan), Kumar was initially educated in the famous The Lawrence School, Sanawar in India. Kumar moved to the United Kingdom and studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, then training as a gastroenterologist under Sir Anthony Dawson and Michael Clark.

Career

After qualifying, Kumar worked at St. Bartholomew's,

and the

Royal London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

as a gastroenterologist. Specialising in

small bowel The small intestine or small bowel is an organ in the gastrointestinal tract where most of the absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intestine, and receives bile and pancreatic juice through the p ...

diseases, such as

coeliac disease Coeliac disease (British English) or celiac disease (American English) is a long-term autoimmune disorder, primarily affecting the small intestine. Patients develop intolerance to gluten, which is present in foods such as wheat, rye, spelt ...

, she was an elected member of the British Society of Gastroenterology's Council, and started the first gastroenterology MSc course in the UK. Interested in education, Kumar became academic sub-dean at Barts, then accepting the job of Director of Post-Graduate Medical Education. She co-founded and co-edited the textbook ''Clinical Medicine'' with Clark. ''Clinical Medicine'' is now a standard work and is used worldwide: the 9th edition was released in 2017. In 1999, Kumar was appointed a non-executive director of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, resigning in 2002 following her appointment as Chairman of the Medicines Commission UK. In 2006 she became President of the British Medical Association, and in 2010 was appointed President of the Royal Society of Medicine. She served as Vice-President of the

, and also held the positions of the Director of CPD, and International education. She was a trustee of The Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Trust and of CancerBackup. Kumar is a trustee of the British Youth Opera and healthcare funder Barts Charity, and the BMA Foundation for Medical Research.

Awards and honours

In 1999, she became the first recipient of the Asian Woman of the Year (Professional) award, and in 2000 was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in recognition of her services to medicine. She was also a recipient of the British Medical Association's Gold Medal for "services to Medicine and Education". She was 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours were awarded a ...

for services to medicine and medical education. In 2017, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement for contributions to Medicine by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) and in 2019 she won the BMJ Award for Outstanding Contribution to Health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Parveen 1942 births British women medical doctors 21st-century British medical doctors Living people Presidents of the British Medical Association Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Presidents of the Medical Women's Federation Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Academics from Lahore