King’s Birthday Honours for Trust’s director of nursing and critical care consultant
Professor Janice Sigsworth CBE, director of nursing at Imperial College Healthcare, has been awarded a damehood for her services to nursing, specifically for her significant contribution to embedding genomics into nursing and midwifery practice. Janice is also the national professional lead for nursing and midwifery genomics.
Janice - who started her nursing training at Charing Cross Hospital in 1984 - has been the Trust’s director of nursing since 2008, coming from the Department of Health where she was deputy chief nurse. Janice was previously awarded a CBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to nursing.
Dame Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: “Congratulations to Dame Janice on her well-deserved recognition. Her contributions to the nursing profession, including spearheading the integration of genomics into nursing practice, inspire us all and set a shining example for our future nurses.”
Professor Dame Sue Hill DBE, Chief Scientific Officer for England, said: “I am delighted that Janice has been honoured in this way. This honour recognises her dedication to the NHS, to the nursing profession and for leading the way in embedding genomics into the nursing and midwifery practice.”
Commenting on receiving her award, Janice said: “Throughout my career I have been fortunate to work with many wonderful people and I am both humbled and delighted to receive this honour. I would like to thank all of my colleagues, I am extremely grateful for their support and for all the opportunities I have had to lead nursing and midwifery in different areas across the NHS.”
Professor Anthony Gordon, consultant in critical care at the Trust has also been recognised and has been awarded an MBE for his services to critical care. Professor Gordon is also an NIHR senior investigator and chair in anaesthesia and critical care at Imperial College London. His work in critical care focuses largely on sepsis, leading innovative clinical trials to improve care for critically ill patients and developing personalised treatment approaches, including the use of novel diagnostics and artificial intelligence to adapt treatment strategies.
Speaking on receiving the award, Professor Gordon said: “Working in critical care for the last 30 years, looking after and developing better treatments for the sickest patients in hospital has been a privilege. It is wonderful now to be recognised with this award.
“I am very grateful to all my colleagues in the UK and internationally for their support and particularly to my superb research team, without whose support none of this would be possible. It is always challenging undertaking research in critical care and the pandemic pushed us all to the limit. Through the team’s tireless hard work and dedication, we were able to find treatments that saved many lives around the world and we continue to find innovative ways to improve care for other severely ill patients.”
Professor Jonathan Weber, director of the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre and former Trust consultant specialising in HIV, has been awarded a CBE for services to global medical science. Professor Jonathan Weber is a renowned HIV/AIDS researcher and has been working for over 40 years looking after and researching treatments for patients with HIV and AIDS.
Professor Tim Orchard, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare said: “Many congratulations to Dame Janice on this much deserved recognition. It is a reflection of nearly 40 years of outstanding dedication to nursing and midwifery throughout a distinguished NHS career. The whole organisation is incredibly proud of what she has achieved.
“Many congratulations also to Professor Tony Gordon on being appointed an MBE. He has been at the forefront of research before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic to develop novel treatments and models of care to improve outcomes for seriously ill patients. It is wonderful to see his expertise and dedication recognised in this way.
“It Is also wonderful to see Professor Jonathan Weber recognised with a CBE. A pioneer of HIV and AIDS care and research at St Mary’s, a former dean of the faculty of medicine at Imperial College and now AHSC director, his whole career has been devoted to advancing clinical practice.”
