Trust staff named in New Year Honours
Dr Gillian Chumbley, a consultant nurse, and Professor Shehan Hettiaratchy, a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon, have been named in the New Year Honours List 2025. Gillian, who has been part of Imperial College Healthcare for over 20 years, has been awarded an OBE for services to nursing. Shehan, who is also the Trust’s major trauma director, has been at the Trust for about 15 years and was also awarded an OBE, in the overseas and international honours list for services to the UK’s emergency health response overseas.Gillian
Gillian is a clinical academic with a national reputation in pain management. In almost 47 years working in the NHS she has divided her time between research, teaching and clinical practice within the Trust's pain services across our hospital sites.
Gillian qualified as a nurse in 1981, joining the same profession as her mother. She was appointed as a ward sister at St. Bartholomew’s in 1984 and began her research career in the 1990s, becoming the first nurse to obtain a PhD at St Georges Medical School, investigating patients’ experiences of patient-controlled analgesia. She joined Imperial College Healthcare in 2003 and, as a lead nurse and then consultant nurse, set up a nurse-led model of specialist pain management for inpatients at the Trust.
Gillian is most proud of her pioneering work in bringing low-dose ketamine into widespread use as an analgesic for the management complex acute pain in hospitalised patients. In 2020, she was appointed as the nurse representative to the European Pain Federation (EFIC) working party responsible for producing recommendations for appropriate opioid use in chronic pain management.
Gillian is passionate about passing on her knowledge and skills, and promoting the role of advanced nursing. She has acted as a supervisor for MSc and PhD students at King's College London and has supported nurses in her team at the Trust to gain their MScs in pain management, in addition to leading monthly day-long teaching sessions for nurses at the Trust and being one of the organisers of the annual National Acute Pain Symposium.
Dr Gillian Chumbley, consultant nurse at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “I feel incredibly proud to receive this honour and the recognition is a wonderful way to mark my long career. It would not have been possible without the many brilliant and generous colleagues who have given me support and encouragement throughout this journey.
“I cannot help but wonder what the 18-year-old Gill would have thought on her first day as a student nurse at St. Thomas’ in 1978 if she’d been told that she would achieve this. She would have been incredulous.”
Shehan
Shehan (or H as he is often referred to) has been a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare since 2009 and director of major trauma since 2016, overseeing London's busiest major trauma centre. He is also a professor of practice at Imperial College London, focusing his research on systems improvement in trauma care, in both the UK and in humanitarian settings. He leads the Traum@IC Research Group.
He has been involved in humanitarian healthcare for over 20 years, most recently working with UK-MED, deploying to Ukraine and Gaza. Shehan has strong links to the military healthcare having been a regular and reservist in the British Army for over 20 years. He has been deployed to Afghanistan twice and spent four years as a senior lecturer at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, conducting military research.
Shehan is also NHS England's national specialty adviser in armed forces health. He set up the first veterans physical health and wellbeing service in the UK, Op RESTORE (previously known as the Veterans Trauma Network), which is hosted at Imperial College Healthcare.
Professor Shehan Hettiaratchy, consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon and director of major trauma at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "I am stunned to be recognised in the New Year Honours, alongside many incredible friends and colleagues working in the humanitarian sector, especially those I have worked with in UK-MED.
“My award is recognition for not just me but for all of those who have supported the UK's emergency health response overseas, many of whom work in the Trust. These are often difficult and dangerous missions and it's great to see that dedication recognised. I could not have achieved this without the direct support of the Trust to deploy on humanitarian missions overseas, as well as the willingness of the Trust to host healthcare workers from warzones for training and education.
“We have all seen how war has impacted communities around the world and I am proud that we, as an organisation, continue to strive to alleviate the suffering war causes. I'm passionate that we can improve the care of war injured populations, both immediately and for the long term, through direct care, teaching and research. It's not just about saving lives, it's also about helping people rebuild their lives and come to terms with what's happened to them."
Professor Tim Orchard, chief executive at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “Many congratulations to Gill and Shehan for their deserved honours.
“Gill and Shehan have been part of Imperial College Healthcare for a collective 35 years and have been with the NHS for even longer. Alongside the passion, expertise and leadership they bring to the Trust and our patients, they are both significant and influential figures in their fields nationally and internationally.
I know colleagues across our Trust, are incredibly proud of what they have achieved and the difference they’ve made to many, many people in the UK and across the world.”
Dame Janice Sigsworth, chief nursing officer at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "I'm delighted to see Gill's huge achievements in forging clinical academic career pathways and expertise in pain management being recognised in the New Year Honours.
Congratulations also to Shehan, our major trauma director, who has been named in the overseas and international list of today’s honours for his outstanding leadership in the management and care of war injured civilians and military colleagues."
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