The faculty are very proud and delighted to announce that Professor Laura Serrant has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to health policy

Laura is a professor of nursing in here in HWB. She was named as one of the UK’s most influential people of African and Caribbean heritage in the 2018 Powerlist. Laura qualified as a nurse in 1986 from the then Sheffield City Polytechnic (now SHU) and was the first person in her family to go to university. She is one of our leading academics in nursing, with an exceptional career as a researcher, clinician and policy adviser. Laura’s been recognised for her work on health disparities, and on supporting the needs of marginalised communities, which has directly informed policy development in the UK and internationally.

Named as one of the most inspirational women in healthcare by the Health Services Journal, Laura is one of only six black professors of nursing in the UK. She is also chair of the Chief Nursing Officer for England’s BME Strategic Advisory Group, a member of the Government’s independent advisory group on black and minority ethnic issues and an ambassador for the Equality Challenge Unit for Higher Education.

Receiving this OBE for my work on health policy is an honour,” said Laura. “My contribution is one of many made by BME nurses to healthcare which has been made even more special in 2018 as we celebrate the NHS’ 70th birthday and 70 years since Empire Windrush brought black people from the Caribbean to rebuild the country post-war. I would like to dedicate this award to my parents who travelled from Dominica to do the same. It is through their endeavours that I am here.

Huge congratulations also go to our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Chris Husbands, on being awarded a knighthood for his services to higher education, and Professor Sam Twiselton of our Sheffield Institute of Education who also received an OBE.

You can read more here.