Meet the team

We are a not-for-profit organisation supported by prominent members of the chiropractic profession and other lay individuals from the worlds of education, regulation and healthcare. Our Management Board and the Advisory Boards are drawn from leading lights from the field of chiropractic globally as well as educationalists and from the field of healthcare professionals’ regulation. Our Management Board has a former Chairman and a previous Chief Executive and Registrar of the GCC.

Our Patron

George Freeman MP

George  Freeman is a keen supporter of chiropractic and recognises the role chiropractors need to play in the wider healthcare system in treating a wide range of musculoskeletal disorders. These disorders are a huge burden on the NHS and innovative solutions have to be found to address this growing problem.

George Freeman is widely respected in Parliament as well as in the business community. He was first elected to Parliament in May 2010. He was re-elected in 2015 with an increased majority of 17,000 and again in the 2017 General Election. George has served as a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, PPS to the Minister for Energy, Government Advisor on Life Sciences, UK Trade Envoy and Minister for Life Sciences at the Department of Health and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He has served as Chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board and Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum.

Management Board

Tim Lang

Chairman
Tim Lang is head of Weightmans’ London office. Weightmans are one of the UK’s leading healthcare practices and Tim has for many years specialised in healthcare regulatory law acting for a number of healthcare regulators including the GMC (General Medical Council). Tim has also been a key advisor to the PSA (Professional Standards Authority) from its inception and has successfully advised and represented numerous chiropractors in cases brought against them by the GCC (General Chiropractic Council).

Tim is a member of the Association Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers, Health & Safety Lawyers Association, Disciplinary Lawyers Association, a committee member of the Institute of Directors (West Midlands) and former world-ranked tennis player.

Satjit Singh

Chief Executive
Satjit is a well-established chief executive with a background in finance; he has operated at board level in a range of organisations in the public and voluntary sectors. His most recent role was as CEO of the British Chiropractic Association. Prior to that, he worked in a range of professional bodies including as CEO of the General Optical Council and the General Chiropractic Council. He has also been a Director at the Professional Standards Authority.

Satjit had previously worked at Board level in the NHS, including as Director responsible for Health Education Commissioning at a predecessor body of Health Education England. He was also Lead Commissioner for healthcare for the London 2012 Olympics. Satjit has also held senior roles at PwC Consulting and was responsible for establishing and leading the UK Government’s biggest China Programme.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Freeman of the City of London, Satjit is an economics graduate, a chartered accountant and has an MBA from Imperial College London.

Peter Dixon DC FRCC FBCA FAECC

Director
Peter graduated from the Anglo-European College of Chiropractors (AECC) in 1984, from a cohort of 37 students, and joined a profession of less than 200 practising chiropractors in the UK with no regulation and little recognition or structure.  He joined the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) Council in 1986 and served on the Council through the political campaign that saw the Chiropractors Act passed in 1994, and then as President of the BCA from 1995 -1999.  He has also been President of the European Chiropractors’ Union (ECU) from 2000-2004 and Chairman of the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) in the UK from 2006-2013.

When he was President of the BCA he established The College of Chiropractors, now The Royal College of Chiropractors (RCC) of which he is currently President, and during his time on the BCA Council, he served as Chairman of the Board of Governors at AECC.  Peter has always striven for, and supported, improving the standards of the Chiropractic profession in the UK, and Europe, especially in the fields of undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Grahame Pope

Grahame is a registered Physiotherapist, having qualified in 1985. He is an experienced educator having worked in Higher Education for over 26 years and was previously Head of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences education at the University of Nottingham.

During his career, he has Chaired the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) and the Allied Health Professions Forum (AHPF) and been involved in a number of international health education organisations.

Recently he completed 8 years as an appointed member of the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) and Chair of the GCC Education Committee.

Matthew Bennett DC FRCC FBCA FRSA

Director
Matthew is a trustee of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance. He was previously President of the British Chiropractic Association and Director Post-Registration Training (PRT) at the Royal College of Chiropractors responsible for management and implementation of national first-year graduate education programme. He has been a PRT Tutor and Trainer responsible for mentoring new graduates. He is also a member of the course evaluation team for the European Council on Chiropractic Education.

He graduated from the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in 1987 and is in private practice in Brighton.

Advisory Panel

Sir Graeme Catto FRCP, FRCGP, FFPM

Sir Graeme is a Scottish doctor who was President, later Chair, of the General Medical Council until April 2009. He is also currently Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Universities of London and Aberdeen and was an honorary consultant nephrologist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. He was previously Vice-Principal at King's College London and Dean of Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' Hospitals' Medical & Dental School. He was knighted in 2002 for services to medicine and medical education.

Sir Terence English KBE, FRCS, FRCP

Sir Terence was appointed Director of the British Heart Foundation Research Group at Papworth, and under his leadership, the hospital achieved an international reputation for heart, and later, heart-lung and lung, transplantation. For this and other contributions to surgery, he was made Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1991.

Sir Terence was previously President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, President of the British Medical Association and Master of St Catharine’s College in Cambridge.

Major General David Howell CB, OBE

David is a barrister and retired British Army officer who was, until January 2011, Director General, Army Legal Services. He was previously CEO and Registrar of the General Chiropractic Council and before that Director of Regulatory Services at the General Optical Council.

Richard Brown DC, LL.M, FRCC, FBCA, FEAC

Richard is the Secretary-General of the World Federation of Chiropractic and has held this role since 2015. Previously he served as Secretary-General of the European Chiropractors’ Union and President of the British Chiropractic Association. During his Presidency, the Chiropractic Research Council was founded as a UK charity and Richard served for four years as its Chair of Trustees. Richard remains registered with the General Chiropractic Council and was in private practice for 25 years. He is a former senior lecturer at the Welsh Institute of Chiropractic and has served on the Board of Governors at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic. In his current role, he works closely with chiropractic educational institutions and international student organisations around the world. Richard has a Master of Laws degree from Cardiff University, consults on professional standards and international chiropractic legislation and acts as an expert witness in the UK and Ireland.

Ken Vall DC MA(Ed.)

Ken graduated from the Anglo European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in 1974. After many years of private practice, he joined the teaching staff at AECC becoming Vice Principal in 2000 and served as Principal from 2004 to 2012. In 2004 he completed his Masters in Education at Southampton University and in 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Education by Bournemouth University for his work in developing chiropractic education in collaboration with the university. Ken was Vice President of the Council of Chiropractic Education International (CCEI) from 2010 to 2014 and is the current President of the European Council on Chiropractic Education (ECCE) elected in 2016.

Ian Hutchinson DC,  FBCA, FRCC

Ian served in various roles in chiropractic. His main work was as a British Chiropractic Association Council member for over 20 years. Twice President, he began work in 1982 towards gaining statutory regulation which eventually resulted in David Lidington's 1994 Chiropractors Act. The resultant General Chiropractic Council, at the request of Ian's peers, awarded him with the first registration - “in recognition of your unique contribution to the development of a unified profession and the passing of the Chiropractors Act”.

Michael Copland- Griffiths DC, FRCC, FBCA, FEAC

Michael has served his profession in several capacities since first joining the British Chiropractic Association Council in 1978, progressing to President of the Association in 1985. A key member of the team that secured statutory regulation, he chaired the Chiropractic Registration Steering Group that followed the Chiropractors Act and led to the establishment of the General Chiropractic Council, which he chaired from 2002 to 2006. He taught at the Anglo-European College from 1977 to 1982 and for many years supported the Chiropractic Patients Association in its role of representing the interests of patients. His three years on the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (now the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care) broadened his experience of healthcare regulation and standards. He practises as a chiropractor in Wiltshire.

Tim Jay FRCC MRCC (Pain)

Tim graduated from the Anglo European College of Chiropractic and later becoming the Chairman of the Board of Governors. He was the late President of the Royal College of Chiropractors and has been granted the status of President Emeritus. He has been an education member of the General Chiropractic Council and an External Examiner on the GCC’s Test of Competency. He has also been the External Examiner at the Welsh Institute of Chiropractic, the Vice President of the British Chiropractic Association and Chairman of the RCC Severn Faculty and the course organiser for a number of years. He is currently a member of the RCC’s Health Policy Unit.

Julie McKay DC

Julie graduated in 1999, she became Director of Impact Integrated Medicine Partnership and was awarded an NHS Alliance Acorn award in 2006. She works in private practice.

Julie served as Chair of the Health Policy Unit for the Royal College of Chiropractors for four years and was a member of General Chiropractic Council for the last 8 years. Most recently, she has been chair of the GCC’s Audit Committee and has chaired various panels.

Julie has always been a keen advocate of Chiropractic and has represented the profession to a wide audience including debates at the Houses of Parliament, NHS Live, the Royal College of GP’s, Social Enterprise East Midlands and the NHS Trust Association at the House of Lords.

Raine Makela DC

Raine graduated from the Anglo European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in 1995. Prior to his studies in the UK he studied Business in the University of Turku, Finland and served in the Finnish Air Force. Raine was the President of the Finnish Chiropractors’ Union from 1996-2001. He served on the Board of Governors at the Anglo European College of Chiropractors from 1997 – 2001. In 2003 he was elected Admin Council member of the European Chiropractors’ Union and he held the post of the Chairman of the Professional Council until 2005. Raine also worked as a Senior Clinical Tutor at the AECC from 2001-2002 and as a senior lecturer in 2004. He is currently in private practice. Raine has been a City Council Member of his hometown in Finland and has served in the Board of Education from 2008-2012.

Prof. Kim Humphreys DC, PhD

Dr. Humphreys was the first Professor and Head of the Chiropractic Medicine programme in Switzerland at the University of Zürich, Faculty of Medicine which he held until recently.

Professor Humphreys was previously Assistant to the President and Dean of Graduate Education and Research at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College from 2000 until 2008. Professor Humphreys started his academic career in 1987 at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic (AECC) in Bournemouth, England. During the last 5 years at AECC he was head of the academic programme.

Professor Humphreys holds a BSc in human biology from the University of British Columbia, a Doctor of Chiropractic from CMCC and a PhD in medical education from the University of Southampton, UK. His research interests include clinical outcome studies for low back and neck pain as well as fMRI studies investigating changes in brain activation in back pain patients.

Cynthia Peterson RN, DC, DACBR, M.Med.Ed.

Dr Peterson has worked as a chiropractic radiologist and educator in 4 different countries.  She held faculty positions in Switzerland as a researcher, Department of Radiology, Orthopaedic University hospital Balgrist; and in the Chiropractic Medicine Programme, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zürich. She is the recent past Director of the accredited full-time post-graduate programme for chiropractors in Switzerland. She has published numerous research studies in a variety of journals including ‘Spine’, European Spine Journal, ‘American Journal of Roentgenology’, ‘JMPT’ and ‘Skeletal Radiology’.  She is currently Vice President of the European Council on Chiropractic Education.

Sumaya Ahmed MSc

After completing five years at the Welsh Institute of Chiropractic, Sumaya was awarded a distinction in her Masters of Chiropractic degree. She won the award for leadership in her year, which led her onto the Leadership Development Programme with Teach First through University College London. Sumaya is currently working towards a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education, whilst teaching science to secondary school children in London. Her mission is to help close the educational gap, so all young people regardless of their background, are given the same opportunities to reach their full potential.

Nigel Hunt DC FRCC FBCA

Having graduated from the Anglo European College of Chiropractic in 1982, Nigel chaired the British Chiropractic Trust Fund which helped to establish chiropractic education at the AECC. He later served as Vice-President of the British Chiropractic Association running a campaign to inform GPs and the NHS about the role of chiropractic care. He was Director of Continuing Professional Development and set up the Health Policy Unit for the Royal College of Chiropractors. He was a member of the first General Chiropractic Council Education Committee accrediting the undergraduate colleges.