Elspeth Whitby

Elspeth is a successful doctor who has helped to develop an MRI service for women who have problems with their pregnancy and for their newborn babies including collaborations with teams worldwide. She encourages junior staff and medical students to further their career encouraging them to lecture, publish and teaches small groups to help them beyond university requirements. She helped a PhD student to complete her PhD whilst being treated for cancer, offering both morale and practical support, including putting her up in her own home when she was really ill and continued to ensure she was awarded the PhD posthumously. She offers informal support to all her patients providing a telephone number and email address so that they can contact her at any time in the future. She is an active part of Science Week, a governor of a school in a less affluent part of Sheffield, regularly reads with children, helps on school trips, volunteers at guides and brownies especially when last minute help is required. She ran the after school club at the local infant school. In the wider community she organises welcome parties for newly moved in families, biennial street parties, Macmillan coffee mornings, particularly inviting retired neighbours, and held a Royal British Legion 90th birthday garden party. She regularly takes part in 10k charity runs and 5k swims encouraging her girls to join her along with helping to run a volunteer running group for local women of all abilities (Smiley Paces).