Winner
Baroness Tessa Jowell
Summary of work
Baroness Tessa Jowell has brought a new and much needed focus on brain cancer. This has been so powerful because she was a parliamentarian who was held with high regard across the House of Commons and House of Lords, across party divides. The fact that she continued to sit in the House and made passionate speeches while in the throes of treatment was heroic. She is also the first person to donate her medical information to a new global database, the Universal Cancer Databank, which has been established to help develop better treatments. Her endorsement of initiatives like this will hopefully mean that other people are inspired to do things like this too.
Testimonials and Judges’ comments
“Baroness Jowell, knowing her condition was terminal, shared her experiences, used her position to lobby for others in her position, and acted with the utmost integrity right up until her death. She brought her experience as a politician to bear on a disease that's so poorly understood, and is an example to us all.”
“Brave and articulate and someone who made a real difference.”
“Outstanding achievements at the most difficult time, Baroness Jowell used communications skills to make a huge difference re awareness of brain cancer and also the focus and understanding of the disease for future patients. Her outreach blended PR/PA and used all her skills as a politician. An inspiration to many including patients.”
“ I think that since her diagnosis of brain cancer she did so much to highlight the condition. She continued to participate in the House of Lords during treatment and gave a number of moving speeches. She also delivered tangible outcomes, including additional government funding for brain cancer and has highlighted the work of the Universal Cancer Databank.”
“A terminal diagnosis is in itself something huge to deal with, but to understand the challenges and see beyond her own situation to bring to public attention the desperate need for adaptive clinical trials in brain tumours is a legacy which will hopefully be realised and will have huge impact on a patient population with little hope.”
“What Baroness Jowell was able to tangibly achieve in the last months of her life was incredibly impressive and very brave. She was by some distance the standout advocate for healthcare of the past year even when death was just days away.”
