Ann McPherson
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Ann McPherson CBE FRCGP FRCP SCH |
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| Born |
22 June 1945 Golders Green |
| Died | 28 May 2011 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | St George's, University of London |
| Occupation | general practitioner |
| Known for | Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying |
Ann McPherson CBE FRCGP FRCP SCH (née Egelnick; 22 June 1945 – 28 May 2011) was a British general practitioner, author, health campaigner and communicator who co-founded The DIPEx Charity and founded Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying.
McPherson was born and grew up in Golders Green, North London. She was the only child of Sadie and Max Egelnick, a tailor. Both parents were secular Jewish Communists from Eastern European immigrant families. McPherson was a good student at Copthall County Grammar School in Mill Hill but found it difficult to get a place to study medicine owing to her political background and gender. However, she was offered a place at St George's Hospital Medical School where she excelled in her studies and busied herself with social, political and academic activities.
Throughout McPherson's career she aimed to communicate to the public about medicine, improve 'the patient journey' and help doctors and patients to understand each other.
Having graduated with a distinction in 1968, McPherson chose to pursue General Practice and trained at Caversham Practice in Kentish Town, London and at Harvard, in Boston USA. In 1979 McPherson became Principal at a practice in Oxford where she worked until 2007 when she retired for her own health reasons. As a GP, McPherson became known for having a 'sixth sense' in diagnosing her patients. McPherson was respected for being ready to fight her patients' corner with consultants and for being available to concerned patients by phone on evenings and weekends.
Following her own experience of overcoming breast cancer, McPherson co-founded the Database of Individual Patient Experiences or 'DIPEx', with the aim of providing a resource that would enable patients, families and health professionals to understand the experience of a variety of health conditions, by watching video clips of people talking about their experiences. The websites healthtalkonline.org and youthhealthtalk.org now cover over 60 health conditions. The research is carried out by The Health Experiences Research Group at Oxford University. The group was founded by McPherson herself and she held the position of Medical Director, until her death in 2011.
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