Dr. Phillip Barnes BSc, PhD, BMBCh

Dr. Barnes is a British physician with extensive experience both as a clinician and clinical manager within the UK National Health Service and related academic institutions. He was Consultant Neurologist at King’s College Hospital London from 1995-2009 and Hon Senior Lecturer in Neurology at King’s College London. He was Clinical Director for Neurology from 1995-98 and then Director of the King’s Neurosciences Centre until 2008. During this period he oversaw the completion of the merger process that had resulted in the Centre’s formation and then led its growth into the largest Regional Neurosciences Centre in the UK. He was the National lead for the NHS Action On Neurology service modernization programme from 2004-5 and between 2000 and 2009 was involved in a number of national and regional advisory groups for the Department of Health, NHS and pharmaceutical industry.

In 2009 Dr. Barnes became the Executive Medical Director of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, newly formed from the merger of two predecessor organizations. He led the medical aspects of merger, implemented the necessary changes in clinical culture to focus on quality improvement across the new organization and was part of the Board team that secured Foundation Trust status. He also had Board responsibility for Research and Development. In 2013 he moved to Medway NHS Foundation Trust and was employed as Executive Medical Director (including a year as Acting CEO) until his retirement from the NHS in 2016.

Dr. Barnes undertook his basic medical sciences training at King’s College London winning a number of scholarships and prizes. He holds a BSc and PhD from the University of London. His doctoral research at King’s studied the phenomenon of fatigue of neurohypophysial hormone secretion in vitro. He completed his clinical medical training as a Hobson Memorial Scholar at the Oxford University Clinical School graduating BMBCh in 1987. He undertook his postgraduate medical training in general medicine and neurology in Birmingham UK, Oxford and Nottingham and was a subspecialist in neuromuscular diseases. From 1991-1993 he was Neuromuscular Fellow in Oxford and EP Abraham Research Fellow and a member of the MRC Clinical and Biochemical Magnetic Resonance Unit, Oxford examining skeletal muscle bioenergetics in health and disease.