Diabetes heroes awarded OBEs in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Diabetes champions awarded OBEs

Two champions in the fight against diabetes have been awarded OBEs in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Dr Fiona Campbell, a Consultant in Paediatric Diabetes in Leeds for 27 years, and multi award-winning paediatrician Professor May Ng have both received the prestigious honour.

Dr Campbell received her award for services to children and young people with diabetes. She has been Chair of the National Children and Young People’s Diabetes Network in England and Wales since 2009 and leads the award-winning Children and Young People’s diabetes service at Leeds Children’s Hospital.

She said: “I am accepting this honour on behalf of all my wonderful and supportive colleagues that I have been so fortunate to work with over the years. They have worked tirelessly alongside me to try to ensure that all children and young people living with diabetes access the best care possible in our country and lead long and happy complication free lives.”

Dr Campbell has a particular interest in quality improving (QI) clinical services for young people living with diabetes. She has held clinical leadership roles at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), been a member of the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit Project Board and since 2018 has been the Clinical Lead for the National CYP Diabetes Quality Programme. She is also a member of the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes and has supported the development of QI collaboratives countrywide.

Prof May Ng received her OBE for her commitment to improving the care of people with diabetes and people with autism.

She has made a huge difference to individuals, families and communities by improving and delivering high-quality patient-centred diabetes care, raising autism awareness and developing online e-learning education to healthcare professionals.

She has served more than two decades in the NHS, written over 150 publications and authored three books, ‘Me and My Hormones - what can go wrong’ and ‘A Journey with Brendan’ which details the personal struggles she faced raising her autistic son. Her latest book, ‘A guide to Type 1 Diabetes Management, Technology and Everything else you need to know’ will be out this summer.

Prof Ng has raised more than £50,000 for her local diabetes charity. Over the last year, she has also raised more than £10,000 to increase autism awareness.

She is the UK Chair of the Association of Children’s Diabetes Clinicians, Chair of the NIHR Diabetes research steering group for children and sits on the NICE Diabetes Committee as well as the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and International Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) Council leading on international efforts to increase free access to education and training using e-learning platforms.

She has also led on several initiatives such as setting up the first Southeast Asia Regional Diabetes Network and webinars program as voluntary Chief Medical Advisor for Action4Diabetes.

Prof May Ng said: “I wish to express my immense gratitude for the support from my family, my parents, my team, colleagues, the children and families whom I work with. Throughout my career, I have always been driven by a passion to improve the care of people living with diabetes and other endocrine conditions, and to advocate for autistic people due to my own personal experiences.

“My greatest hope is that the recognition afforded by the OBE focuses attention on the continued efforts to improve diabetes care and raise autism awareness globally.”