Clinical professor of palliative medicine appointed at University of Kent

The Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent has appointed a clinical professor of palliative medicine.

Professor Claire Butler, a consultant and clinical lead in palliative care at Medway Community Healthcare, will combine her clinical role with research at Kent into the best care for patients with a terminal illness with working on the NIHR funded Hospice at Home project.

Professor Butler trained in medicine at Newnham College, Cambridge and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. She qualified as a doctor in 1985 and joined the then new speciality of palliative medicine as a trainee in 1990, becoming a consultant in 1996.

She has worked as consultant and clinical lead in palliative care at the Wisdom Hospice, Rochester since October 2015, and will continue with this role. Previous to that she was a consultant at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and then consultant and director of medicine and research at Pilgrims Hospices in East Kent.

Professor Stephen Peckham, Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies, said  palliative care ‘is an important but under-researched area of health care in the UK’.

Welcoming Professor Butler, he said she ‘will bring a valuable mix of research and clinical expertise in the key area of palliative medicine’.