About
Co-founders & Director
MD Acumen Ltd was co-founded by Professor Rajesh Varma and Professor Tham Nimal-Raj. Professor Varma is the lead Director and Curriculum Author; Professor Nimal-Raj, Chancellor of New Vision University (UK Campus) and Founder of the Essex Medical Society, is co-founder.
Last editorial review: 6 June 2026 · Next scheduled refresh: 1 September 2026.
Clinician-led education, built on proof
MD Acumen School of Postgraduate Medicine exists to give primary-care clinicians education they can act on and evidence — credit-bearing, current, and accountable. In an era when current clinical information is everywhere, the value of education lies in what a question bank cannot give: academic credit, assessed competence, trusted clinical governance, and evidence that learning changes practice.
Two co-founders, three institutional bridges
MD Acumen Ltd was founded on a clinician-academic partnership that integrates three institutional bridges into one operating platform. The lead Director, Professor Rajesh Varma — a Hertfordshire NHS GP Partner, Cambridge Visiting Researcher and NICE Osteoporosis Guideline Committee member — is the curriculum authority and editorial anchor. The co-founder, Professor Tham Nimal-Raj, is Chancellor of New Vision University (Tbilisi, Georgia) — UK Campus, the academic-awarding partner for the CAS programmes, and independently Founder and Chair of the Essex Medical Society. Together they hold a single editorial standard: postgraduate-level UK primary-care education, anchored to current guidelines, delivered through a credentialled European Higher Education Area route.
Why these two co-founders. The platform requires three institutional bridges to operate at the standard it sets — a clinical authority who writes the curriculum and signs every editorial revision; an academic-awarding body that confers the FHEQ Level 7 credential; and an operational clinical network that supports the parallel observership for international students. Professor Varma supplies the first; Professor Nimal-Raj, through New Vision University (UK Campus) and the Essex Medical Society, supplies the second and the third.
Professor Rajesh Varma — Director & Curriculum Author
Professor Rajesh Varma
Lead Director & Curriculum Author · Professor of CVRM Medicine and Women’s Health · NHS GP Partner · Dual CCT (O&G and Primary Care) · Cambridge Visiting Researcher · NICE Osteoporosis Guideline Committee member
Clinical practice. NHS GP Partner and GP Trainer at The Colne Practice, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, with over twenty years of UK primary-care practice. Extended-scope expertise across the diabetes-cardiorenal-metabolic, menopause-andropause and clinical-headache domains, with osteoporosis and metabolic bone health as a parallel focus. Dual CCT specialist in Obstetrics & Gynaecology and in Primary Care (GMC 4196453).
Academic appointments. Professor of Cardiovascular–Renal–Metabolic (CVRM) Medicine and Women’s Health at New Vision University, Tbilisi; Visiting Researcher, Department of Public Health & Primary Care, University of Cambridge. Curriculum author for the three flagship CAS programmes — Integrated DCRM, Menopause & Andropause, and Headache & Migraine — and the Pivotal Guideline Bundle resource. He signs off every page revision under a Director-led peer-review gate.
Guideline-development role. Member of the NICE Osteoporosis Guideline Development Committee — sitting at the table where pivotal guidelines are written, while the credentialled curriculum he authors is aligned to those same guidelines.
Doctoral research. PhD, University of Birmingham (2009) — An investigation of basic science and clinical research methodologies to benefit clinical practice.
Credentials. MRCGP. GMC registration 4196453. Dual CCT in Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Primary Care. PhD (Birmingham, 2009).
Research interests. Postgraduate medical-education methodology, assessment validity, and the standards that keep a postgraduate credential rigorous and trustworthy; the cardiovascular-renal-metabolic continuum and its translation into primary-care decision-support; the timing-of-initiation hypothesis in menopause hormone therapy; the CGRP-era pharmacology of migraine prevention; and osteoporosis risk-stratification in the perimenopausal and andropausal patient. Full list at Research & publications.
Profile links
Professor Tham Nimal-Raj — Co-founder & NVU Chancellor
Professor Tham Nimal-Raj
Co-founder · Chancellor, New Vision University (UK Campus) · Founder & Chair, Essex Medical Society · Senior Partner, Sai Medical Practice · Professor of Family Medicine and Anatomy · Fellow of the Royal Society of Health · Former Council Member, British Medical Association
Clinical practice. A distinguished senior clinician with over four decades in the UK NHS. Senior Partner at Sai Medical Practice, and previously Chief Clinical Officer within an NHS Clinical Commissioning Group with responsibility for clinical commissioning, primary-care development and regional service redesign. Clinical specialism in hypertension, diabetes and community diagnostics.
Academic leadership. Chancellor of New Vision University — UK Campus, the academic-awarding partner for the CAS programmes, overseeing clinical rotations and academic standards for the UK Campus route. Professor of Family Medicine and Anatomy — a prolific educator who has authored several textbooks on anatomy and ultrasound and is a frequent invited speaker at international medical conferences.
Founder, Essex Medical Society. Founder and Chair of the Essex Medical Society (EMS), a regional learned society and a forum for clinical intelligence and professional development across Essex. EMS is the operational clinical partner for the Acumen observership in Mid & East Essex — the host GP teaching-surgery network, the named cohort coordinators, and the academic-seminar infrastructure underpinning the international observership.
Credentials. Fellow of the Royal Society of Health. Former Council Member of the British Medical Association. Professorial appointment in Family Medicine and Anatomy. UK GMC registration. Forty-plus years of continuous NHS practice. His operational, governance and partnership-building experience supports the School’s collaborations across UK and international partner universities.
Institutional bridges
| Institution | Role | Contribution to MD Acumen |
|---|---|---|
| New Vision University — UK Campus | Chancellor | Academic-awarding partner for the CAS programmes (FHEQ L7 / EQF L7, ECTS-conformant) |
| Essex Medical Society | Founder & Chair | Operational clinical partner for the observership — host network, coordinators, seminar delivery |
| Sai Medical Practice | Senior Partner | NHS general-practice base; cardiometabolic and community-diagnostic authority |
| NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (former) | Chief Clinical Officer | Service-redesign and commissioning experience informing the partnership architecture |
One platform, two co-founders, a clean division of responsibility
| MD Acumen function | Lead | Institutional bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum authorship & editorial currency | Professor Rajesh Varma | The Colne Practice (NHS GP); Cambridge (research methodology); NICE (guideline-development) |
| FHEQ L7 award & ECTS conformance for the CAS programmes | Professor Tham Nimal-Raj | New Vision University — UK Campus (Chancellor) |
| Operational clinical network for the observership | Professor Tham Nimal-Raj | Essex Medical Society (Founder & Chair) |
| Forward research, publications & guideline currency | Professor Rajesh Varma | NICE Osteoporosis Committee; Cambridge; NVU professorial chair |
| Governance & partnership development | Joint | Both founders — Rajesh as Director, Tham as NVU UK Campus Chancellor |
Working alongside the co-founders
The operating team works alongside the co-founders on programme delivery, the New Vision University governance interface, the parallel observership through the Essex Medical Society, and the continuous clinical review that keeps the curriculum current. Programme-specific clinical leads and external examiners are appointed at each cohort intake under New Vision University (UK Campus) academic governance.
The early-career observership and student programmes are delivered through our sister school, the Acumen Institute of Primary Care, under the Memorandum-of-Understanding framework with international medical schools.
Education across the career
MD Acumen School of Postgraduate Medicine
This site — standalone, credit-bearing CAS programmes for practising primary-care clinicians.
Acumen Institute of Primary Care
Our early-career school — UK observership, the free Acumen Ascent portfolio programme, microcourses and finals/MLA preparation. Visit →
Work with us
Explore the programmes, read our research, or talk to us about a partnership.
Research · Quality & Governance · Legal & Regulatory · enquiry@mdacumen.com