Professor Sheila Leatherman Honoured by Queen

Washington, DC, Thursday, 17 May 2007 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has awarded Professor Sheila Leatherman, a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Research Professor of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina the award of an Honorary CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). The British Ambassador to the United States will present Professor Leatherman with her insignia of the order on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen at an investiture ceremony at his Residence in Washington DC.

Professor Leatherman has received this honour in recognition of her enormously valuable contribution to reform of the British National Health Service. In particular she has carried out valuable research in the field of healthcare quality, where her publications have become the principal source for policy makers, medical professionals, and health service managers looking at health quality issues. Her work has been invaluable in the areas of measuring clinical effectiveness and comparing the UK's performance with the best achieved in other countries.

Through this work Professor Leatherman has made a major contribution to how the National Health Service can be improved to the real benefit of patient and the wider public.

Professor Leatherman is Research Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, a Visiting Fellow of the London School of Economics & Political Science, and a Distinguished Associate of Darwin College at the University of Cambridge. She is also an elected member of the Institute of Medicine at the US National Academy of Sciences where she serves on the Global Health Board and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in the UK. Professor Leatherman conducts research internationally on comparative health systems and health policy.

For the past ten years, she has evaluated the impact of the health reforms on the National Health Service, supported by two UK Foundations, The Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation. Her research has been published in numerous forms including two books titled The Quest for Quality in the NHS (2003 and 2005).

Note for Editors
British Honours are awarded on merit for exceptional achievement or service. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was founded in 1917, initially to recognise civilians in the First World War. This award now honours civilians and service personnel for public service or an outstanding contribution to society. Honorary awards are made to non-British citizens.

For further information contact:
Patricia Lee
312-970-3807
patricia.lee@fco.gov.uk