Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Neville Carter has been appointed as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) new chief education and membership officer.
Carter will join the RPS from his current role as director of engagement at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), which he has held since 2019.
During his time at the RSM, he led the development of a digital education strategy and launched professional development training programmes for the society’s members.
He has previously worked at the British Medical Association as director of product and sales, and has additional management experience with the RAC and British Airways.
In a statement published by the RPS on 27 July 2022, Carter said he was “incredibly honoured and excited to be joining the RPS at such an important time for pharmacy”.
“I have been fortunate enough to work in the health sector for a number of years and the RPS has an amazing reputation for professionalism and impact,” he said.
Paul Bennett, chief executive of the RPS, said he was “delighted” that Carter would be joining the executive team.
“Having a single senior executive leader responsible for ensuring functional integration and a laser-like focus on what’s important to members professionally and for their career development will be of huge benefit to RPS and I look forward to working closely with him,” Bennett said.
Carter will take up the position in October 2022. He will be the first to hold this role, after the RPS announced in April 2022 that it would be bringing the two functions of education and membership together into a single role as part of an executive restructure.
This week it was also announced that Ravi Sharma, RPS director for England, will be leaving the RPS for a new role as head of pharmacy at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital.
Sharma has been director for England since November 2018 and became a Fellow of the Society in 2022. He said in a statement on 25 July 2022 that it had been an “honour and a privilege” to hold the RPS role.
“I want to pay tribute to the dedication of my colleagues who have been instrumental in supporting the profession through COVID-19, raising the profile of pharmacy with NHS leaders and politicians and bringing our strategy on inclusion and diversity to life.
“Our recent collaborative work on co-creating a vision for pharmacy in England will provide the profession with a blueprint for the future. This work will continue; I look forward to seeing it develop from my new vantage point within the NHS.”
Bennett said that Sharma had “made a significant contribution to the organisation during his time with us”.
“His drive and enthusiasm for advancing the recognition of the role of the Society itself and of pharmacists and professional practice is probably best reflected by his desire to ensure a real focus on personalised medicines and his work on equality and diversity, workforce wellbeing, and most recently the development of a new vision for pharmacy in England.”
Sharma will take up his new role in October 2022.
