Doctor who treated Pauline Cafferkey receives knighthood
The consultant who treated three Britons with Ebola said he was ``honoured and humbled'' to receive a knighthood for services to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
The consultant who treated three Britons with Ebola said he was honoured and humbled'' to receive a knighthood for services to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Dr Michael Jacobs, of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, is one of many Britons celebrated in the New Year's Honours for their efforts in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in west Africa.
Dr Jacobs successfully treated nurses Pauline Cafferkey and Will Pooley, and Army Reservist Anna Cross, after they contracted Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone.
Ms Cafferkey fell ill again in October with meningitis caused by the deadly virus and was readmitted to the Royal Free.
"It is the nature of honours systems that they recognise individuals, but this truly was a team effort and I can't praise too highly my exceptional, dedicated and skilful colleagues at the Royal Free," said Dr Jacobs.
"I am particularly grateful for the tremendous support and opportunities that they have given me.
"This has been a devastating two years for Ebola-affected countries in west Africa. The patients who we cared for at the Royal Free London exemplify the extraordinary courage and humanity of everyone who went to west Africa to help with the international aid effort.
"We are privileged and proud to have played a small part in the NHS humanitarian response to this medical emergency."
Other recipients of awards include a CBE for Dr Timothy Brooks, who directs Public Health England's (PHE) Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL), which led the UK laboratory response to the outbreak in Sierra Leone.
It was the largest deployment to an outbreak of an infectious disease, and involved establishing and opening three modern diagnostic laboratories in the field in record time.
These were credited with saving many lives and contributed to the eventual control of the epidemic, which also hit Liberia and Guinea, killing more than 11,000 people.
Meanwhile in the UK, the Imported Fever Service, a partnership established by Dr Brooks and his team with the London and Liverpool Tropical Disease Units, evaluated more than 460 travellers for possible Ebola, of whom 300 were directly tested by RIPL or satellite centres established in London, Edinburgh and Newcastle.
Professor Paul Cosford, PHE's director for health protection and medical director, led its contribution to the international response to the Ebola crisis both in west Africa and at home in the UK, and is made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, or CB. Neil Bentley, head of PHE's Microbiology Technical Services, receives an OBE after spending more than four months in Sierra Leone managing the logistics of establishing and running the PHE diagnostic laboratories.
Putting himself at significant personal risk, he travelled extensively to often remote locations, visiting community holding and treatment centres to train and educate people on sample collection, transport and result reporting, ensuring accurate and rapid testing.
Also receiving an OBE is Dr Jenny Harries, PHE's regional director for the South of England, who led the response to David Cameron's request to establish Ebola screening at the main UK ports of entry.
Working with UK Border Force and other partners, Dr Harries delivered a core part of the UK's resilience for Ebola, with more than 14,000 passengers screened and all returning workers from affected areas monitored for 21 days to ensure they remained well.
A CBE is also awarded to Professor Christopher Bulstrode, Emeritus Professor at Green Templeton College, Oxford, and volunteer with the charity Doctors of the World, while Grace Jackson, Sierra Leone Programme Manager at the Department for International Development (Dfid), gets an OBE. Shaun Edgerley, adviser to the Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Operations Team (CHASE OT), which is contracted by Dfid, and Helen Richards and Michael George Robson, who are both district advisers to the team, receive OBEs for services to the Ebola crisis response, along with John William Raine, head of Port Loko District Ebola Response Centre in Sierra Leone, and Dr Gillian Margaret Ring of the Ministry of Defence.
Katherine Foster, senior humanitarian adviser at Dfid, Edward Davis, adviser at Dfid, and Professor William John Edmunds of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, also receive OBEs.
And an MBE is awarded to Jonathan Haveloch Barden for humanitarian services to the Ebola Crisis Response, particularly through the charity UK-Med.