Patient Advocate, Trustee, The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust, England

In 2022 Catherine received an Honour from the British Citizen Awards at Westminster Palace for her outstanding contribution to aortic dissection healthcare across Great Britain over the last 7 years.

Catherine’s father lost his life to a misdiagnosed aortic dissection in 2015, resulting in the launch of a petition and awareness campaign requesting the NHS and HSE to implement changes across four key pillars: policy, diagnostics, education, and process. The petition currently has over 10,000 supporters and is growing daily.

Catherine is a relentless campaigner to improve aortic dissection patient outcomes, appearing on national radio, television and at medical conferences throughout the UK, Ireland, and Europe.
She founded The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust in 2020 The UK and Irelands first charity dedicated to aortic dissection, her mission is to shape a safer future for people impacted by aortic dissection through education, research, and policy change.

Catherine is also the current public and patient voice for NHS England’s Cardiac Clinical Reference Group, the Cardiac Pathway Improvement Program (which includes shaping the design and implementation of the acute aortic dissection NHS England toolkit from a lives experience perspective) and the Clinical Policy Unit. Catherine is also actively working with NHS England to reinvigorate Patient Public Engagement nationally and across all regions of NHS England.

Her work continues to be a catalyst for change across the aortic dissection diagnosis and treatment pathway.