The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) today announced that Dr Jerry Hill has been appointed to the role of Chief Medical Adviser (CMA) for BHA.

Dr Hill, 49, is a Senior Racecourse Medical Officer (SRMO), a member of the Football Association Medical Committee and former Sports Physician at the 2012 London Olympics.

The CMA role on behalf of BHA is responsible for setting the standards for raceday medical care, monitoring jockeys’ health and recovery from injury, overseeing the implementation of the policy for the testing of jockeys for prohibited substances and working to enhance safety standards for all jockeys.

Paul Bittar, Chief Executive for BHA, said:

“I am delighted Jerry will be joining us in the role of Chief Medical Adviser. He brings to the role not only his extensive experience as a physician in sport and trauma incidents, but also years of working with jockeys from his time operating on racecourses here in Britain.

“Jerry was the chosen candidate from a number of strong applications. We were impressed not only by his CV but also his commitment to, and ideas for, further enhancing jockey health and safety.

“I would like to offer my thanks to Dr Guy Staight who has done an excellent job in the interim CMA role while the recruitment process was ongoing. Dr Staight worked very hard to ensure that the level of service provided to jockeys remained consistent while we were without a CMA, a role he has fulfilled for 17 years in periods when the previous CMA was unavailable.”

In addition to more than 10 years' work on racecourses, most recently as SRMO at Lingfield Park, Dr Hill has extensive experience including delivering care both at the frontline and in a managerial role as a Medical Incident Officer for Sussex, Surrey and Kent Ambulance services.

He will also continue to work in football at Club level as well as for the Football Association, where he provides medical cover for some of the England Development Squads based at the National Football Centre at St George’s Park, as well as sitting on the FA Medical Committee.

During the London Olympics Dr Hill acted as Sports Physician at Greenwich for the Equestrian events, before moving into the Athletes' Village Polyclinic for the duration of the Paralympics. He is also helping to implement a Sports Medicine Service for Nuffield Healthcare and has a teaching interest in Sports Concussion and Pitchside trauma in his role in the Department of Sport and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary’s University of London.

Dr Hill said:

“I am delighted to have been appointed by BHA to the role of CMA and look forward to working in a collaborative way with colleagues from all areas of the racing community, to build upon the ground-breaking work of my predecessor.

“With the aim of delivering optimum care to the jockeys at all stages of their careers, I am keen to identify relevant best practice in our Sport, and in trauma, general and sports medicine by consulting widely both in and outside of racing. Any changes should be subject to regular review and a programme of educational support.”

The Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) and Racecourse Association (RCA) provided input into the drafting of the job description.

Paul Struthers, Chief Executive of the PJA, said:

“Having met Jerry since he was offered the role we are very hopeful about the appointment. He’s clearly very well qualified, seems passionate about jockey health and wellbeing, has a number of good ideas and we look forward to working closely with him. We also welcome the BHA’s flexible approach to the scope of the role and will maintain dialogue with the BHA and Dr Hill in this regard.

“We’d also like to echo the BHA’s thanks to Guy Staight, for all the time and effort he’s put in over the last few months, whilst also managing to run a private practice.”