University of Leicester School of Healthcare

3rd year student midwifery student has been given the prestigious Daisy Award - making her the first student ever to receive the award. Well done, Katherine!

Neonatal Nurse, Dr Katie Gallagher, is hoping to secure thousands of pounds towards new sensory equipment for babies born critically unwell or preterm in Leicester’s hospitals with the public’s help.

Dr Gallagher, The University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust’s (UHL) Clinical Associate Professor in Neonatal Nursing, has applied for £25,000 from charity, Lifelites, which provides sensory technology to children with complex or life-limiting conditions.

She is hoping to secure equipment which will help parents to bond with their baby during extremely challenging times. This includes a multisensory unit, with bubble tube lights and calming sounds, and sensory pods and mats, which can also be used with older siblings to bond with their new brother or sister.

Please help us get out the vote! Anyone living in the UK and Ireland is eligible to vote for their favourite project. The vote opens at 10am on Thursday 12 March and is open until 6pm on Monday 23 March by visiting Lifelites webpages.

https://www.lifelites.org/lifelites-25/community-voting/

It’s our Chancellor’s birthday – and National Barbie Day. The timing could not be better! 🎂

Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock’s life story reads like something from fiction: a childhood spent moving between thirteen schools, told she should “aim lower”, and ending up helping shape world-leading space missions.

Her new memoir STARCHILD is warm, honest, and powerful – about ambition, prejudice, motherhood and never losing your sense of wonder. There’s even a Barbie in her likeness (yes, really).

Read more about the book here 👉 https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468362/starchild-by-aderin-maggie/9781785949449

Happy birthday, Dame Maggie – and thank you for reminding us that science belongs to everyone. 💪

A chilly start to our term here in Leicester! ❄️

Empathy really does have no borders. 🌍 The Global Empathy in Healthcare Network, led by Professor Jeremy Howick, is shortlisted for International Collaboration of the Year at the . Six continents, countless lives impacted. Watch how they’re humanising healthcare 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtjvROIJrE8

October marks Black History Month here in the United Kingdom and we would like to celebrate some of the pioneers in healthcare.

Mary Seacole (1805-1881)

Born in Jamaica, Mary Seacole travelled to England following the outbreak of the Crimean War where she applied to be an army nurse. However, despite her medical background, her application was refused. Not allowing this to stop her, Seacole travelled to Crimea alone where she established a refuge for soldiers, the British Hotel.

A memorial statue of Seacole was erected at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London in 2016 following a long campaign led by Lord Soley and Dame Elizabeth Anionwu.

Dr Harold Moody (1882 – 1947)

A physician, humanitarian and anti-racist campaigner, Moody was born in Jamaica and in 1904 travelled to England to study at King’s College London. Despite his academic achievements, he was denied work due to racial prejudices. This led to Moody establishing his own practice in Peckham in 1913.

The Race Relations Act 1965 – the first legislation in the UK to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity, or national origins – was credited to him because of his campaigning.

Dame Elizabeth Anionwu (1947-)

Dame Anionwu's tireless dedication to nursing saw her travel to the US to study counselling for sickle-cell and thalassemia. Upon her return, Anionwu worked with Dr Milica Brozovic to create the UK’s first sickle-cell and thalassemia counselling centre in Brent, a model for over 30 centres across Britain.

She later became a professor and dean of the nursing school at the University of West London and established the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice in 1998; addressing the racial inequalities in the profession. In 2017, she was honoured with a Damehood for her outstanding services.