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10. Dr Nikita Kanani

Pulse earmarked Dr Kanani as ‘one to watch’ in the 2013 Power 50, when she was one of our up-and-coming GPs.

This year she has shot up the list. She has stepped into the shoes of former NHS England director of primary care Dr Arvind Madan – after he resigned following Pulse’s publication of comments made by him suggesting GPs should be pleased when small practices close. Dr Kanani is no doubt set for a challenging year.

However, the former chief clinical officer of NHS Bexley CCG – who still works as a GP in Welling, south-east London at the same practice where she originally trained – has already made a strong start in her national role.

Listing her achievements to date, she says she has ‘begun to create a more joined-up vision for primary care, helped drive through the delivery of the GP Forward View, build the future model through primary care networks and launch a new general practice bulletin for the profession’.

Dr Kanani says the 12 months ahead ‘feels like the biggest year for general practice for many years, and potentially the most exciting’. She explains that she began her post at NHS England ‘with a focus on developing the vision and narrative for primary care’ but that this has ‘quickly encompassed being part of the GP partnership review, the GMC contract negotiations, the QOF review and much more’.

‘Most of my time this yea,r though, will be spent on developing the long-term plan for primary care, in response to the proposed funding settlement, which I am delighted to be a part of,’ she says.

Dr Kanani’s work is being recognised more widely outside  the profession; she picked up an MBE for her services to primary care in the past year.

As the daughter of a refugee and an economic migrant, she says this was ‘incredible’ and gave her ‘a great opportunity to talk about how essential primary care is with Prince Charles’.

Why influential: Helping to steer NHS England’s long-term plan for general practice

What others say: ‘Passionate, honest and committed’

Random fact: Can lift double her body weight