Meet the team
Mr. Robert Becker – Consultant Editor, MSc Dip N (Lond) RMN RGN Cert Ed (FE) FETC 730
Bob is trained as a nurse in mental health and adult nursing and has held a number of clinical posts across the UK. He moved from a position of charge nurse into education in 1986 as an in-service training officer with a variety of professional development responsibilities which included palliative care. In 1992 he was appointed to the position of Macmillan Senior Lecturer in Palliative Care, as a joint education post between Staffordshire University and Severn Hospice Shropshire in central England, a post he still holds today. He was awarded a Masters degree in psychosocial palliative care with a distinction in 1996 from Southampton University and is an experienced external examiner to several UK universities.
Bob has published widely, and has research interests in e learning, competency development and ethics. He is currently Chair of National Association for Palliative Care Educators and has developed an academic and humanitarian teaching and advisory role in a number of European countries and regularly leads palliative care study tours of China for health care professionals.
In 2008 he became a recipient of the ‘Educationalist of the Year Award’ at the International Journal of Palliative Nursing Awards at the Café Royal London in recognition of his contribution to palliative care education in the UK and overseas.
Bob lives in the market town of Shrewsbury in central England with his wife Christine the occasional visiting trainee guide dog and his motorcycle.
Laura Dean-Osgood - Editor
Laura graduated from the University of Sussex in 2003 with a BSc in Experimental Psychology. She worked in healthcare recruitment for 3 years before joining MA Healthcare as editorial assistant. She worked across several MA Healthcare titles before moving on to become editor of NRC in May 2007 and IJPN in October 2009.
Editorial board
Africa
Julia Downing - Deputy Executive Director, African Palliative Care Association, Uganda
Australia
Donna Drew - Clinical Nurse Consultant, Paediatric Oncology/Palliative Care, Prince of Wales Children’s Hospital, New South Wales
Kate White - Associate Professor Cancer and Palliative Care, Head, School of Nursing and Public Health, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia
Canada
Wendy Duggleby - Associate Professor, College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Saskatchewan
Doris Howell - Chair, Oncology Nursing Research, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto
Eire
Philip Larkin - Programme Director, Higher Diploma in Nursing Studies (Palliative Care), National University of Ireland, Galway
Julie Ling - Nurse Adviser for Older People and Palliative Care, Department of Health and Children, Hawkins House, Dublin
Hong Kong
Cecilia Chan - Professor and Director, Centre of Behavioural Health, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
South Korea
Myung Ok Cho - Professor, Nursing Department, Dongeui University, Busanjingu, Busan
Sweden
Elizabeth Hanson - Research Fellow, ÄldreVäst Sjuhärad Research Centre, University College of Health Sciences, Borås
United Kingdom
John Costello - Head of Primary Care, University of Manchester
Susan Holmes - Director of Research and Development and Professor of Nursing, Canterbury Christ Church University College, Canterbury
Bridget Johnston - Senior Research Fellow, Cancer Care Research Centre, University of Sterling
Daniel Kelly - Reader in Cancer and Palliative Care, Middlesex University, London
Diane Laverty - Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care, St Joseph's Hospice, London
Carole Mula - Macmillan Nurse Consultant in Adult Palliative Care, Christie Hospital NHS Trust and North Manchester Primary Care Trust, Manchester
Brian Nyatanga - Macmillan Senior Lecturer, University of Central England, Birmingham
Dion Smyth - Lecturer-practitioner in Cancer and Palliative Care, University of Central England, Birmingham
Anna-Marie Stevens - Clinical Nurse Specialist in Palliative Care, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London
United States
Patricia Berry - Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, University of Utah
Nessa Coyle - Director, Supportive Care Program, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Betty Davies - Professor, UCSF School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco
