Work of Trust staff is honoured by the Queen

Three members of staff from Guy’s and St Thomas’ have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Professor Charles Wolfe, Director of Research and Development at Guy’s and St Thomas’, has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Stroke and Public Health Medicine.

Professor Wolfe, who is also Professor of Public Health at King’s College London (KCL), said: “I was surprised to find out about my OBE. This isn’t just for me – it’s for people I’ve worked with over the years, particularly those I’ve worked with at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in the field of stroke. It’s a team effort.”

Professor Wolfe, from New Buckenham in Norfolk, joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ in 1985 as a clinical research fellow. He trained in public health and obstetrics and gynaecology at the Trust and at KCL and then moved into academic public health as an honorary consultant. He was the first Director of Women’s Services at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and then became the Director of Research and Development in 2000.

Professor Wolfe said: “The highlight of my career has been being able to bring research into practice. I worked with Professor Anthony Rudd at Guy’s and St Thomas’ to carry out and publish research on early discharge after stroke. Now more than 80% of hospitals use the guidelines from our research.

“Seeing research that can take many years to carry out help patients and improve care is the most important aspect of my job.”

Dr David Craig, consultant and head of sedation and special care dentistry at Guy’s and St Thomas’, has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to dental patients.

Dr Craig said: “I’m delighted to receive this recognition. It's lovely for our department too. Training students and providing care for our patients is what makes our jobs so worthwhile.”

Together with KCL, the Trust’s dental services make up King's College London Dental Institute.

Dr Craig, from near Battle in East Sussex, joined the Trust in the early 90s. He said: “I feel so fortunate to have been at Guy's and St Thomas’ and to have had the opportunity to work alongside so many wonderful colleagues. Every day here has been a real pleasure."

“In the time I’ve been here the ethos of training students to the very highest standard and treating patients to the best of our ability hasn’t changed - but improvements in educational and clinical techniques have altered the way we now achieve these goals." 

“My specialist interest is conscious sedation. We use this to relax patients who are anxious or undergoing potentially stressful dental treatment."

Meanwhile, Dr Nadine Hachach-Haram, a specialist registrar in plastic surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’, received a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to surgery and innovation.

She co-founded Proximie, an award-winning augmented reality healthcare technology company, which allows specialists to virtually transport themselves into any clinical setting around the world to assist local medical teams during consultations or procedures.

Dr Hachach-Haram, who is also a lecturer and NHS clinical entrepreneur, said: “I am incredibly proud and humbled to receive this award so early in my career. I’m passionate about innovation in healthcare and how we can leverage technology to improve the care our patients receive here in the UK and across the world. The innovation of Proximie has been very much a collective effort and it wouldn’t have got to where it is now without the contributions of the whole team.

“I see access to high quality healthcare as a fundamental right of every individual wherever they live. The most exciting thing today is that with emerging technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality that right doesn’t have to be something that is out of reach. We really can make it happen.”

Dr Hachach-Haram outlined her vision of the future of surgery at the TedWomen 2017 event and the clip of her talk has received over 1.1 million views online.