Following your decision in 2023 to seek to form a new College by uniting the functions of BASEM and FSEM into a new single entity, FSEM and BASEM are excited to announce the formation of a joint steering group as the next stage of this legal process. This group will be responsible for overseeing and guiding the strategic and operational aspects of the integration between BASEM and FSEM.
The steering group will be independently chaired by Dan Morris, who is an ophthalmologist and orbital surgeon based in Cardiff. He has held many leadership roles during his portfolio career which has spanned surgery, sport and exercise medicine, medical education, charitable work and expedition medicine. He was involved with BASEM during the early part of his career and more recently served on the FSEM Council as the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Representative. Dan commented:
“These are exciting times, and I am delighted to accept this role on behalf of all members of BASEM and FSEM to continue this evolution of our specialty towards a new College whilst respecting the heritage of its parent organisations”.
The steering group will act autonomously but will report to the existing boards of BASEM and FSEM. As Charities, BASEM and FSEM Boards will continue to retain full responsibility for the decisions taken by the steering group as we progress through these next stages.
The objectives of this group are as follows:
- Take key strategic decisions around naming and branding of the new College.
- Determine the overarching vision and mission for the new College.
- Ensure the structure of the new College is set up following the principles previously agreed through the outcome document. and also found at https://basem.co.uk/proposed-college/
- Manage the integration of resources that needs to be done prior to the formation of the new College.
Membership of the group will be deliberately small in order to achieve the objectives but there will be equal representation from trustees and operational staff from both BASEM and FSEM.
Both BASEM and FSEM consider this a key milestone in our journey towards becoming a new multidisciplinary college and will keep you updated as things rapidly develop over the coming months.