John Tooke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir John Tooke MA MSc BM BCh DM DSc (Oxford) FRCP FMedSci is the Inaugural Dean of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Tooke graduated in Medicine from St John's College, Oxford in 1974 and went on to become a Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer in Medicine and Physiology and Honorary Consultant Physician at Charing Cross & Westminster Medical School before moving to Exeter in 1987. In 1998 he led the bid for the development of the Peninsula Medical School and was appointed Inaugural Dean in 2000. Tooke also successfully led the bid for the creation of the Peninsula Dental School, of which Professor Tooke is the inaugural Executive Dean.

Professor Tooke's clinical interests in diabetes and vascular medicine continue, as do his research interests in these fields.

Professor Tooke was Knighted in the 2007 New Years Honours for Services to Medicine.

[edit] MMC Report

Professor Sir Tooke led the inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), the new and current post-graduate training structure for medical doctors in the UK. MMC has become extremely unpopular amongst the majority of medical professionals in the UK, forcing the Government to set up an independent inquiry into the situation or face revolt by the medical establishment. Professor Tooke's report strongly criticises the UK Government's disastrous and embarrassing handling of the MMC implementation. The "Tooke report" suggests scrapping MMC and starting with a new system which is based on extensive consultation with medical professional bodies and practitioners. Sir Tooke's report has been uniformly welcomed by the medical establishment, who are keen to bury the Government's MMC fiasco.

Despite the widespread acknowledgement that Professor Tooke's report addresses several flaws in the government's reforms of medical training, the Department of Health do not wish to see the Tooke report fully implemented and this is demonstrated in their response to Professor Tooke's inquiry into MMC. The Department of Health's response accepts only a quarter of the Tooke review's recommendations, and attempts to resist the remainder to some degree. There promises to be further revolt if the government continue to resist some areas of this work while trying to force through their unconsulted reforms.