12
May
2023
|
10:59
Europe/London

Founder of Manchester medical aid charity to deliver annual lecture

Written by: Joe Stafford

The founder of a frontline medical aid charity based at The University of Manchester who spent 35 years responding to wars and major disasters around the world is to deliver this year’s Cockcroft Rutherford Lecture on Tuesday 16 May.

The Cockcroft Rutherford Lecture is the flagship annual event for alumni and friends of The University of Manchester, which has the largest global alumni community of any-campus based university in the UK and has graduates in over 190 countries.

Previous Cockcroft Rutherford lecturers include former Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Dame Sally Davies, Head of News & Current Affairs at Channel 4 Television Dorothy Byrne, former Greater Manchester Chief Constable Professor Sir Peter Fahy and astrophysicist and TV presenter Professor Brian Cox OBE.

This year’s lecture will be given by Professor Tony Redmond OBE, who recently stood down as Chair of UK-Med after 29 years in the role. Tony, who originally studied medicine at The University of Manchester, founded the organisation in 1994 which subsequently became one of the world’s leading disaster response charities.

From an initial register of 100 volunteer clinicians, the charity - which is based in the University’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) now has more than 1,000 highly-trained doctors, nurses, paramedics and allied health professionals on its books, aided by a central team of over 40. It has responded to emergencies in 21 countries over the past two years including Ukraine, Lebanon, Myanmar and Yemen. 

In his talk, he will reflect upon the years he spent responding to wars and major disasters and the lessons the world has – and has not – learnt.

The University of Manchester’s President and Vice Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell will chair the lecture, which will be followed by an audience Q&A.

“We’re very excited to welcome hundreds of our alumni on to campus for the lecture, especially our community of generous volunteers and donors who all help Manchester make things happen,” said Richard Screaton, Deputy Director (Alumni Engagement) at The University of Manchester. “We know that hundreds more graduates around the globe will be joining us online to watch the lecture.”

Professor Redmond, UK-Med and the HCRI are committed to working towards a world where everyone has access to health expertise when crises or disasters hit. We hope that the lecture will motivate our communities of alumni to be champions of these goals, wherever they are in the world.

Richard Screaton, Deputy Director (Alumni Engagement)

The lecture can be streamed live on YouTube from 6pm on Tuesday 16 May, where it will also be available afterwards for those unable to watch it live.

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