Dr Annabel Sowemimo: Decolonising and the NHS

ILAS Global Challenge lecture series

Photo: Tom Trevatt photography

The latest in a series of Global Challenge lectures from the Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences and brought to you in partnership with the School of Medicine.

Title

Is Decolonising relevant to those working in the National Health service (NHS)?

Biography

Dr Annabel Sowemimo is a doctor, academic, activist, and writer. She is a London based Consultant in Community Sexual & Reproductive Health in the NHS, and founder of charity the Reproductive Justice Initiative (RJI) (formerly Decolonising Contraception), which aims to address health inequalities and racial disparities. RJI have been shortlisted for numerous awards, winning grassroots organisation of the year at the 2020 Sexual Health Awards and a National LGBTQ Health Advisor award in 2022. Annabel won the inaugural award for Health Equity Champion at the Curah-H Awards in 2024. 

Within her specialty, she is interested in tackling Gender Based Violence and improving access for marginalised groups. 

Annabel was a regular columnist for gal-dem, and is a freelance writer for numerous publications including the Independent andthe Guardian. She has also authored several academic publications in leading medical journals including the Lancet and British Medical Journal. She is frequently in demand for TV and radio, and has appeared on BBC Newsnight, BBC World Service, Sky News and the Guilty Feminist podcast. She was recently featured in the ITV1 documentary Our NHS with Dr Zoe Williams.

Annabel is a part-time PhD candidate and Harold Moody Scholar at King’s College London, with her research focusing on the experiences of Black women in Britain with fertility control methods. She is a regular lecturer at a number of institutions including the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University College London and King's College London. 

Annabel firmly believes that healthcare should be about empowering people with knowledge to make informed choices about their bodies. She spends her spare time campaigning on reproductive justice, against NHS cuts and improving healthcare for marginalised groups. 

Her first book Divided: Racism, Medicine and Decolonising Healthcare was published by Profile Books/Wellcome Collection in April 2023 and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. 

 

This lecture will be available in person as well as online via Microsoft Teams.  For those attending in person, refreshments will be available from 12.30pm onwards.  For those attending online, please register (by no later than 12.00pm on the day of the lecture) and joining instructions with further information will follow ahead of the lecture. 

This lecture is free and all are welcome to attend.


Event date
Event Time
1:00PM
Location
Salvin Room, Keele Hall and Online via MS Teams
Organiser
Steve Kilner
Contact email
ilas@keele.ac.uk
Contact telephone
01782 7 34449

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