Optometrist appointed Dean at RSM

Professor Julia Manning appointed Dean of Education

Professor Julia Manning has been appointed the next Dean of Education at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM). She will take up her post on Monday 2 September 2024.

With a distinguished career spanning three decades, Professor Manning has established herself as a leader in ethical innovation and technology-enhanced healthcare.

She has a strong track record of improving healthcare, including through delivering high-quality, cutting-edge and accessible education grounded in dignity and trust. Currently, she serves as President of the RSM’s Digital Health Section.

Professor Manning’s career began as a hospital and community optometrist in 1990 including roles at the Royal Free Hospital and City University. In 2004, she founded Julia Manning Eyecare, pioneering digitised domiciliary optometry until 2009. She also established the think tank 2020Health in 2006, providing leadership until 2021. From 2014 to 2018, she co-founded and directed the Health Tech and You Awards with AXA PPP and the Design Museum. Julia undertook her PhD in human-computer interaction (HCI) at UCL and was appointed an Honorary Professor of Practice in Computer Science at UCL in 2023. She is actively involved in digital health leadership, including coordinating projects between the NHS and academia.

As Dean of Education, Professor Manning will provide strategic leadership to advance the RSM’s mission of sharing learning and fostering innovation in healthcare.

Michele Acton, Chief Executive of the RSM, said: “Julia joins the RSM at a crucial and exciting time, as we look to build our reputation as a leading provider of innovative learning for healthcare professionals. Her clinical and health technology expertise, combined with analytical, management, and relational skills, means that she brings a rich breadth of talent to the role of Dean.”

Professor Manning said: “It is a privilege to be appointed to this role, to pick up the baton from Professor Leng and work with the team at the RSM. I am excited about building on the RSM’s historic success of delivering multi-disciplinary, relevant, consistent and trusted training for clinicians. There are great opportunities ahead to explore immersive education and intelligent innovation in collaboration with stakeholders committed to both improving healthcare and equipping tomorrow’s health professionals with responsible technologies.”

Professor Manning succeeds Professor Gillian Leng CBE, who assumed the position of RSM President on 23 July 2024.