19 July 2023

A founding neonatal and paediatric surgeon at Evelina London Children’s Hospital says she is ‘honoured’ following recognition by the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng). 

Dorothy Kufeji is one of six people to be elected to the prestigious College Council. 

She says: “I am honoured to be elected to the Council of RCSEng. I am particularly grateful to my Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT surgical colleagues and surgeons from across the UK for their support and for giving me the mandate.  

“I look forward to this new opportunity to advocate for the interests of fellows and members across the nation having previously served two terms as regional director of the college.”  

Mrs Kufeji has strong background in medical leadership, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate surgical education. She has been the training and education lead for paediatric surgery, Royal College surgical tutor, and training programme director. She has served on the board of the London postgraduate school of surgery, and member of the specialty advisory committee in paediatric surgery. 

She currently sits on the Intercollegiate board of paediatric surgery as member of the Joint Committee on Intercollegiate Examinations, the Board of KHP Academic Surgery, and is the Trust Guardian of Safe Working for Guy’s and St Thomas NHS FT. She is a European Mentoring & Coaching Council accredited coach and mentor, where she works with the Guy’s and St Thomas NHS FT network of coaching and mentoring, NHS Leadership Academy and RCSEng Emerging Leaders Programme. 

A statement from RCSEng says: “We are delighted to share that the membership has elected six members to our College Council. We are delighted to welcome Ms Ginny Bowbrick, Prof Andrew Carr, Miss Bryony Lovett, Mr Ram Moorthy, and Mrs Dorothy Kufeji to the team.  

“We also welcome back Prof Peter Sagar, who will be returning to Council as an elected member following his first term as an ASGBI Representative. All six will be formally admitted to Council in the summer.” 

The Royal College of Surgeons in London was set by Royal Charter in 1800. In 1843, a new Royal Charter changed the name to ‘The Royal College of Surgeons of England’, and expanded the remit outside the city of London. The Charter also created a higher qualification, the Fellowship of the College (FRCS).  

As new developments in areas such as anaesthesia and antiseptics expanded surgical possibilities, the College exams became more rigorous. Specialist subjects were introduced, and from the 1880s the exams were held jointly with the Royal College of Physicians, resulting in the conjoint qualification ‘MRCS LRCP’. 

To find out more about KHP Academic Surgery, visit the webpages here.