BSW 2021 Faculty: Tessa Richards

Dr Tessa Richards is a senior editor at The BMJ and leads the BMJs patient partnership initiative. She was trained at Guy’s hospital in London and worked as a general physician and  rheumatologist in the NHS before joining the BMJ editorial staff. Here she has led the journals GP, Education and Analysis sections and established the Overdiagnosis series ( part of the BMJs Too Much Medicine campaign) and one on High Integrity Health.

She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, a BMJ columnist and writes regularly on patient perspectives. Series she has co-ordinated include ones on medical education, medicine in India, HMO’s and medicine in Europe.

BMJ theme issues commissioned include Health in the Middle East, Partnering with Patients, and Patient Centred Care. She has a long standing interest in global health and European Health policy and is a regular writer and speaker on the importance and potential of patient and public partnership in healthcare and health research

She lives since 2004 with stage IV adrenal cancer, hyperparathyroidy and pernicious anemia, and is a carer for close family members with rheumatoid arthritis, dementia, and blindness.

Her own experience as a professional and a patient makes her the ideal person to talk about patient’s involvement in medical care.

Tessa’s talk “ Sharing ideas, decisions and power with patients” will  be  set on Thursday’s September 9th plenary session between 11am and 1 pm.