Media Centre

04 February 2010

First female professor of emergency medicine

An academic from the University of Sheffield has become the first woman to be awarded a Personal Chair in Emergency Medicine in the UK.

Professor Suzanne Mason, from the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield, was conferred the title of `Professor´, which denotes the highest academic rank within an institution.

Professor Mason´s research interests focus on emergency medicine and care and include evaluating complex interventions in urgent care. She is particularly interested in the organisation and evaluation of health services in relation to emergency care and the evaluation of performance, quality and safety of emergency medicine.

In addition, Professor Mason has worked on numerous projects including a trial to evaluate community Paramedic Practitioners managing older people calling 999 with minor conditions, an investigation into waiting times in the emergency department and an assessment of the effectiveness of providing self-help information to Emergency Department users.

Professor Mason qualified in medicine from London University in 1990. She pursued her training initially in surgery and then specialised in Emergency Medicine. After spending a year as a Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellow, she was awarded an MD whilst undertaking higher training in Emergency Medicine. Professor Mason joined the University of Sheffield as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in 2001 and was promoted to Reader in 2007. She divides her time between the University and as a consultant at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust emergency department.

Professor Mason said: "I am delighted with my promotion. This is excellent for the ongoing development of academic emergency medicine in Sheffield. As well as my professional work, I am also a Mum to two young daughters aged three and seven and wife to a very supportive husband John, a consultant urological surgeon. I hope that the achievement will encourage other woman, both within the specialty and also within UK academia, that breaking through the `glass ceiling´ is possible alongside raising a family."

Professor Ron Akehurst, Dean of the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield, said: "We are delighted to have the first Chair in Emergency Medicine to be awarded to a woman in the UK. Being both an active clinician and conducting the quality of research necessary to win a Chair in a Russell Group University is challenging and is doubly so if the requirements of maternity leave and consequent breaks in career are taken into account. Sue Mason is to be congratulated on the achievement."

For further information please contact: Lauren Anderson, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 or email l.h.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk

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