Celebrating healthcare heroes for their innovation and grit Despite being a legend herself , Nolan has a few healthcare heroes of her own – starting with Edward Jenner , who discovered smallpox vaccination .
“ But a more recent hero is obviously the British professor , Sarah Gilbert , who was very determined to get the AstraZeneca – the Oxford vaccine – out to the market as soon as possible . I think that has been an amazing achievement over the last two years ,” says Nolan . “ Other people , I think a shout-out for people who ' ve spent their careers looking at health inequalities and the social determinants of health , and how we promote equal access for all . So , I guess we would start with Aneurin Bevan , obviously , the founder of the NHS after the Second World War .
“ But again , I think looking for a hero today , it would have to be Sir Michael Marmot , who is a leading epidemiologist at University College London and has spent his career promoting health , equal health for all , and doing a lot of research into the gap in access to healthcare globally .
“ A last one – and a collective hero – it has to be all of those health workers in Ukraine .” healthcare-digital . com 17