Health Communicator of the Year winner's showcase

Health Communicator of the Year

 Category sponsored by:

 Dr Ann McPherson, Medical Director, DIPEx Health Experiences Research Group, University of Oxford, UK

Dr Ann McPherson is a GP who in 2001 cofounded a web based resource in which patients describe their experiences of health and illness. Ten years on, the site, which aims to enable patients, families and health professionals to benefit from the experiences of others, has sections on 60 illnesses and every month receives two million hits and attracts 80 000 unique users.

Dr McPherson was inspired to set up the site, originally knows as DIPEX but now renamed Health TalkOnline, after she was diagnosed as having breast cancer. The judges were hugely impressed at the way Dr McPherson has sought to overcome the inadequacies of other resources for health information on the internet by using the same degree of rigour in the collection and analysis of the narrative interviews as is expected of evidence based medicine.

Over the past year, Ann, who has pancreatic cancer, has appeared in the media arguing in favour of assisted dying.

 Ann McPherson said:

 "Winning the BMJ Group's ‘Health Communicator of the Year' award would be the most fantastic boost to, and acknowledgement of, the hundreds of people, including young people, who, as patients, trustees, researchers, and others – have contributed so much  to making the patient experiences websites www.healthtalkonline.org  and www.youthhealthtalk.org the most popular of the ‘patient experiences  sites’ on the web: covering, as they do, over 60 different illnesses and health issues to help support and meet the needs of patients, their families and their carers, as well as providing an invaluable resource for commissioners about patient’s needs. "