Dr Suhana Ahmed

2026 candidate for Dean

Dr Suhana Ahmed, Consultant Psychiatrist - Older Adults & Deputy Chief Medical Officer, West London NHS Trust

Please note that the College has not edited information provided by the candidates.

Summary statement

I am standing for Dean to strengthen psychiatric training and workforce wellbeing, drawing on senior leadership, education and lived experience. I have led College programmes, mentored doctors and championed equity. I aim to rebuild training foundations, support resident doctors and trainers, reform recruitment, embedding compassionate, sustainable careers for all psychiatrists.

Election address

I am standing for Dean out of a deep commitment to psychiatric training, workforce wellbeing, and developing compassionate psychiatrists. I bring together my professional experience, personal journey, and dedication to education to advocate for residents, support trainers, and strengthen the foundations of high quality training.

My experience encompasses senior medical leadership and education roles, including Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Higher Resident Leadership Tutor, and Chair of RCPsych London. I have also served as Director of Medical Education, but my most valued work remains supervising resident doctors at all stages and supporting their development into confident consultants.

My work with RCPsych spans leadership, education, and mentoring, first starting with leading the London StartWell programme supporting new consultants. I have since contributed extensively to College leadership development through co-leading the Leadership and Management Fellowship Scheme, diploma teaching in older adult mental health, national and international speaking, and delivering training across all career stages.

Equity, mentoring and authenticity sit at the heart of my leadership. Beyond the College, I work with Leaders Plus, delivering sessions on work–life balance and contributing to leadership fellowships. I am an ambassador for The Careers Office, working with them to offer opportunities to young people who have a background of social deprivation; having come from a similar background myself.

My journey into psychiatry, shaped by stigma, significant personal adversity and a return to training less than full-time, has deeply informed my values. Support from exceptional supervisors sustained me, driving my ongoing commitment to advocate for and support others facing similar challenges.

Working closely with residents and trainers, I have witnessed the significant pressures they face: access difficulties to psychotherapy, financial burdens, inequitable opportunities, increasing bureaucracy and limited time for meaningful supervision. Many feel unheard and undervalued.

I want to change this. I believe we must rebuild the basics, listen openly, invest in medical students, resident doctors, SAS doctors, educators and trainers. I bring experience, humility, compassion and determination. I believe that meaningful change happens when we put people at the heart of everything we do.  
 

Key commitments

  1. Lead and accelerate the review of the psychiatry recruitment process.
  2. Create resources that develop all psychiatrists regardless of geography.
  3. Streamline the portfolio pathway to achieve consultant equivalence.
  4. Develop a professional skills’ programme for all psychiatrists.
  5. Provide robust guidance around job planning, including SPA time.
  6. Strengthen StartWell ensuring new consultants get off to the best start.
  7. Develop resources, frameworks and support mechanisms for all educators and trainers.
  8. Work across the College to enhance leadership and management training resources for all psychiatrists, including digital, data and AI skills.
  9. Create a leadership and management framework for all psychiatrists.
  10. Strengthen regional communication and collaboration by convening regular interface meetings with all key partners across the four nations.
  11. Ensure that members can book group drop-in sessions with the Dean regularly.
  12. Lead a training agenda shaped by those who know it best —our trainers, educators, resident and SAS doctors.

For more details, please see https://sites.google.com/view/suhanaahmed/home