Board of Trustees
We are an independent charity governed by our own Board of Trustees.
The majority of current Trustees are experienced veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses, and some are non-veterinary experts in their own fields. Amanda Boag was appointed Chair of the RCVS Knowledge Board of Trustees in 2020.
Ms Amanda Boag MA VetMB DECVECC DACVECC DACVIM FRCVS (Chair)
Ms Mary Bawn Dip CIPR, MCIPR
Dr Sam Bescoby BVSc CertAVP(EP) (ESO) (ED) FHEA MRCVS
Dr David Charles CertHE(Biol.) BVSc CertAVP(Sheep) PGCertVPS MRCVS
Ms Lucie Goodwin BVetMed DipACVIM MRCVS
Dr Alex Kearsley-Fleet BVetMed CertAVP PGCertVBM MRCVS
Mark Knight BA FCA (Treasurer)
Dr Timothy Parkin BSc, BVSc, PhD, DipECVPH, FHEA, FRCVS
Dr Susan Paterson MA VetMB DVD DipECVD FRCVS
Amanda Boag MA VetMB DECVECC DACVECC DACVIM FRCVS (Chair)
Amanda Boag has been Chair of the RCVS Knowledge Board of Trustees since 2020. She graduated from Cambridge University in 1998. She then undertook two consecutive small animal internships first at the Royal Veterinary College, London and then at the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to the RVC to do a residency and remained as a Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care from 2003-2008.
Amanda is currently Vice Principal (Clinical Services) at The Royal Veterinary College. Amanda's previous roles include; Chief Medical Officer at IVC Evidensia, Clinical Director at Vets Now, a Veterinary Consultant for Pet Blood Bank and President of the European Society of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (EVECCS) from 2011-2014 and was Founding President of the European College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ECVECC) from 2014-2018.
Amanda is currently a board member of the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation representing ECVECC and was previously a Founding Trustee of the British College of Veterinary Specialists (BCVSp) from 2014-2018.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Mary Bawn
Mary Bawn (Dip CIPR, MCIPR) joins us as a Digital and Communications Trustee. Mary is a multi-award-winning PR, Communications and Marketing expert with over 20 years of experience working across charitable and commercial sectors. She has a particular specialism across veterinary and animal welfare sectors, having led the communications function at PDSA for over 18 years. In her current role, she is the co-founder of communications and marketing consultancy, The LaunchBox, which specialises in veterinary, charity and animal welfare work.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Dr Sam Bescoby BVSc CertAVP(EP) (ESO) (ED) FHEA MRCVS
Dr Sam Bescoby BVSc CertAVP FHEA MRCVS is a veterinary surgeon with extensive experience across clinical practice, education, business ownership, and regulation. After graduating from the University of Bristol in 2008, he worked in mixed practice, completed an equine internship, and later led the equine dental referral service at Langford Vets. He now runs his own equine dentistry practice.
His career spans both private and academic sectors, including roles in first opinion and referral practice, and as a clinical teacher at UK universities. He has also served on the Farriers Registration Council’s panel and mentored veterinary students and paraprofessionals.
He advocates for evidence-based regulation, fair oversight, and alignment between university curricula and clinical practice. He is particularly focused on issues such as paraprofessional inclusion, EMS placement pressures, and barriers to specialist training.
Dr Bescoby regularly engages with colleagues to understand shared concerns and aims to represent the diverse needs of veterinary professionals across all sectors.
He lives in the Southwest with his two children.
Dr David Charles CertHE(Biol.) BVSc CertAVP(Sheep) PGCertVPS MRCVS
David is an experienced production-animal veterinary surgeon. During his time in practice he became one of a small handful of vets to complete the CertAVP(Sheep) and developed the small ruminant side of the business. Whilst also enjoying all aspects of production-animal practice with a truly varied caseload across dairy, beef, small ruminants and camelids.
In 2021 he secured funding to establish Midlands Advanced Breeding Services (MABS), offering services and bespoke advice to farms across the Midlands. In 2022, he received an RCVS Knowledge Award for his ovine obstetrics clinical audit and the subsequent evidence-based resources he produced for the profession.
In 2023 he joined Nimrod Veterinary Products Ltd as their Veterinary Sciences Manager developing their educational support offering, offering technical support, and product development. He now works for NoBACZ Healthcare Ltd as their International Business Development Manager (Ruminant), and undertakes consultancy work for a number of other companies. He also undertakes on-farm consultancy and carries out some locum work for local practices.
A past President of the Association of Veterinary Students, he retains a keen interest in veterinary education and supporting new graduates. Acting as an external interviewer for Harper-Keele veterinary school, an external lecturer at two of the UK veterinary schools, and is regularly invited to talks at AVS & FAVS events across the UK.
Prior to his veterinary career, David was heavily involved in securing commercial partnerships for a number of organisations and events.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Lucie Goodwin BVetMed DipACVIM MRCVS
Lucie graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2004 and spent the following two years working in a busy small animal hospital in Bristol. Having developed a love of internal medicine, she returned to the RVC in 2006 to undertake a residency in small animal medicine, and following completion returned to the West Country to work for the University of Bristol and Langford Veterinary Services as a teaching fellow and internal medicine clinician. Following this, she worked as an Internal Medicine Consultant for Axiom Veterinary Laboratories before joining the BSAVA as Head of Education in June 2018.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Dr Alex Kearsley-Fleet BVetMed CertAVP PGCertVBM MRCVS 
Alex is a 2010 graduate of The Royal Veterinary College - with a varied early career from small animal general practice to animal health pharmaceutical industry roles across technical, sales and leadership positions she now works for IVC Evidensia in a strategic development role.
She sits on the Global Veterinary Medicine Board at IVC Evidensia and is responsible for large scale clinical commercial development projects to advance veterinary diagnostics, treatment, and welfare across the globe with a particular passion for international role out of new technologies and pharmaceutical innovations, cross-functional coordination in ESG improvement and risk assessment strategies and leading on collaborative external stakeholder projects.
She is a qualified PRINCE2 Agile practitioner and holds post graduate certificates in Advanced Veterinary Practice and Veterinary Business Management.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Mark Knight (Treasurer)
Mark is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and brings a non-veterinary perspective to the Board of Trustees
from his experience gained in the accounting profession as an auditor. Before retirement in 2021, he spent some 36 years with top-five firm BDO, mostly in London and Hatfield, with separate 2-year spells at various times in Hamburg and Vancouver. Latterly he was based in the Technical Standards department with responsibility for quality management and coaching audit teams. There is a veterinary connection as one of his grown-up daughters trained and qualified as a BVetMed at the Royal Vet College and, after various internships and a residency, is now back there as a staff surgeon.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box
Racheal Marshall RVN
Racheal qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2003 and subsequently worked in a busy mixed practice. After a short period working as a Lecturer in Veterinary Nursing she joined Vets Now in 2008 as a clinic nurse before becoming Principle Nurse Manager and then District Manager.
Racheal achieved the Veterinary Nursing Certificate in Emergency and Critical Care in 2011 and took up her current position as Head of Nursing Standards at Vets Now in 2014, where she is a member of the Clinical Standards team responsible for the clinical and professional standards within the clinics. Racheal was an elected member of RCVS VN Council from 2016-2020, was VN Council Chair and sat on RCVS Council 2017-2020, and was Chair of the VN Futures Board 2019.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Dr Timothy Parkin BSc, BVSc, PhD, DipECVPH, FHEA, FRCVS 
Tim is Head of School and Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology at Bristol Veterinary School (since Nov 2020). He qualified from the University of Bristol with degrees in Zoology (1992) and Veterinary Science (1998). He immediately took up a position at the University of Liverpool and completed his PhD on the epidemiology of fractures in racehorses in 2002.
Prior to returning to Bristol, he worked at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine from 2007, becoming Professor in 2017 and being appointed Head of the Division of Equine Clinical Science and Clinical Director of Equine Hospital between 2015 and 2018.
He became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health in 2006 and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2018. He is a past President of the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and served as Honorary Secretary on the Council of the European College of Veterinary Public Health from 2010 to 2015. He was also an elected member of the FEI Veterinary Committee from 2018 to 2022.
Dr Parkin has worked with numerous different racing jurisdictions around the world, including GB, Hong Kong, Australia, South America and the USA and more recently worked closely with the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) to optimise equine welfare in endurance rides and identify risk factors for falls in eventing. He is a veterinary data analyst with a focus on predicting risk and thus preventing equine (fatal) injury in racing and other equestrian sports.
Declaration of Interest is available in the 'Related documents' box.
Dr Susan Paterson MA VetMB DVD DipECVD FRCVS
Sue Paterson qualified from Cambridge in 1984. After a time in mixed practice in Devon she took her Certificate then British and European Diplomas in Veterinary Dermatology and has been an RCVS and European Specialist for more than 20 years. She has recently been elected as a Fellow of the RCVS for meritorious contributions to clinical practice.
She is the Veterinary Director of Veterinary Dermatological Ltd and Virtual Vet Derms, a veterinary telemedicine company.
She has published seven text books as well as writing numerous peer reviewed articles and contributing chapters to both small animal and equine text books. She lectures extensively in Europe and America.
Sue is a Past President of the British Small Animal Veterinary Association and also the European Society of Veterinary Dermatology.
Sue is currently Senior Vice President of the RCVS.
Sue is a keep-fit fanatic and is a keen long-distance walker, runner and cyclist.
Sara Purdy
Sara Purdy is an interim Chief Executive with extensive experience in leadership roles across both the charity and private sectors. She most recently served at the British Institute of Radiology (BIR), the world’s oldest radiological society, which supports professionals in radiation oncology and related sciences through education, events, webinars, and research published in its journals.
With a 30-year career that began in scholarly publishing, Sara has guided numerous societies and membership organisations in navigating the complexities of academic publishing - helping them achieve their charitable objectives while sustaining vital revenue streams. Her senior leadership background includes key positions at Sage, the British Society for Immunology, and the National Gallery Company.
Outside of work, Sara has welcomed two cats from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home into her home and strongly aligns with RCVS Knowledge’s vision for “healthier animals, people, and planet”.
Sarah Sim 
Sarah brings extensive experience in business development, commercial strategy, and global membership leadership. She is currently Executive Director for Membership and Commercial Services at Pensions UK, where she sits on both the Board and the Executive Leadership Team.
Prior to this, Sarah was on the Executive Leadership Team at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), a global not-for-profit, where she led a business group responsible for building and sustaining stakeholder ecosystems, supporting members in local markets, advancing the profession in both mature and emerging economies, delivering a global events programme, and growing the IFoA’s international influence, income, and membership base. With a strong focus on sustainable membership growth and financial resilience, she drove high-impact initiatives that strengthened the organisation’s global presence and long-term success.
Earlier in her career, Sarah was Director at ACCA, the world’s largest professional accountancy body, with responsibility for markets strategy and development, investment and prioritisation, and capacity building across global markets. She also spent over a decade in the British Diplomatic Service, with postings in Washington DC, and Montserrat during the volcanic crisis, working in press and public affairs.
With more than three decades of leadership experience across multiple continents, Sarah brings deep expertise in membership organisations, learned societies, and creating profit for purpose.