Welcoming new trustees for RCVS Knowledge

We are pleased to welcome four new trustees to the RCVS Knowledge trustee board this September. With varied backgrounds in veterinary care, they will each play a pivotal role in shaping our work and supporting us to deliver on our charitable mission of advancing the quality of veterinary care for the benefit of animals, the public and society.

David Charles is an experienced production-animal veterinary surgeon with a keen interest in business development, entrepreneurship and quality improvement. He has recently joined NoBACZ Healthcare as International Business Development Manager, a role that he combines with his work in veterinary education, as an external interviewer and lecturer, as well as regularly giving talks at a range of events across the UK.

Alex Kearsley-Fleet has had a varied and extensive career as a veterinary surgeon in 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. Alex is responsible for large-scale clinical commercial development projects to advance veterinary diagnostics, treatment, and welfare. She has a particular passion for new technologies and pharmaceutical innovations as well as ESG development and risk assessment strategies.

Racheal Marshall is an experienced veterinary nurse. She started her career in a busy mixed practice and after a short period as a lecturer, she became a clinic nurse before becoming principal nurse manager and then district manager. Racheal is currently head of nursing standards at Vets Now, where she is a member of the Clinical Standards team.

Tim Parkin has an extensive background in equine clinical science and epidemiology. His work on the epidemiology of fractures in racehorses started with his PhD and continued as a post-doc at the University of Liverpool. Since then, he has held roles at the Animal Health Trust, the Equine Hospital at the University of Glasgow and more recently Bristol Vet School, where he is currently head of school. He continues to work with racing jurisdictions around the world, providing data-driven, evidence-based solutions to welfare issues faced by racehorses and sports horses alike.

Amanda Boag, RCVS Knowledge chair of trustees, said: “I am delighted to welcome David, Alex, Racheal and Tim as our new trustees. Between them they have a wealth of experience in the veterinary sector and will bring highly valuable insights to our work as we embark on our new strategy next year. I am particularly looking forward to working with them to consider how we reach and engage even more veterinary teams in Quality Improvement efforts at a time when we know the profession is feeling stretched for time and resource.” 

You can read full biographies of our new trustees here.