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Professor Camilla Dawson, Consultant Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, has been appointed a visiting professor at Leeds Beckett University. She is believed to be the first Allied Health Professional at the Trust to be awarded a Professorship. She will remain a practicing Consultant Therapist at the hospital, whilst also undertaking research and education.

Camilla, who joined QEHB in 2008, has a long list of clinical and academic achievements. Her doctoral research, which was a world-first study on what support patients in hospital recovering from head and neck cancer need from their surgical and rehab teams, has resulted in new patient pathways and changed the care given post-surgery.

Camilla has presented on this internationally with colleague Sat Parmar, Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon at QEHB. She also created one of the UK’s first international post-doctoral fellowship for a speech and language therapist, with support from UHB Charity and University of Birmingham. After completing the fellowship, which focused on tracheostomy and swallowing at the University of British Colombia in Canada, Camilla returned to QEHB as a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist – a new role for the hospital and one of only three Consultant SLT posts within this specialism in the UK.

Just last year, Camilla was awarded a fellowship to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists for her clinical and research contributions to exploring the impact of Covid-19 on swallowing and airways, specifically for patients with tracheostomies. This work went on to inform national and international interventions. Camilla, who also works for NHS England as a Head and Neck Cancer ‘Get it right first time’ Lead, said: “This Professorship, and my other research and educational work, is all borne out of my clinical work as a speech therapist here at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. “I work with incredible teams at the hospital, within therapies, but also in Critical Care, and in our Maxillofacial, and Ear, Nose and Throat specialties.

“I’m incredibly passionate about improving outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer and with altered airways, and hope both my clinical and academic work can go some way in doing that, both for patients now and in the future.”

Clare Hassan, Director of Allied Health Professionals at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, added: “I want to wish Professor Dawson a huge congratulations. Her passion for research, innovation and education is incredible and not only do our patients benefit from her commitment and expertise, we, as her colleagues, do too. “We are very lucky to have Professor Dawson working with us at the hospital and hope her huge list of achievements, including her recent Professorship, inspires more Allied Health Professionals to consider similar opportunities and career paths.”