Ann McPherson

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.

Early life 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.

Career 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. McPherson chose to pursue General Practice and trained at Caversham Practice in Kentish Town, London and at Harvard, in Boston USA. 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. 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.

At the time McPherson died, she was fundraising towards establishing The Health Experiences Research Institute in Oxford with the aim of becoming "the world's first interdisciplinary academic research centre dedicated to understanding the attitudes, values and experiences of people coping with illness or making decisions about their health, and to use this to make a difference" at Green Templeton College.

McPherson was a champion of young people's health and held the position of Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners adolescent task group,

Author McPherson published 30 books including Women's Health in General Practice, written with Deborah Waller. The television comedy series Teenage Health Freak was based on the book.

Campaigning for Assisted Dying In 2009, McPherson wrote an article for the British Medical Journal in support of a change in the law to allow terminally ill patients the option of assisted suicide She received numerous emails and letters from other doctors in support of her position. and on the Today programme ) and Sky News. McPherson was also a Patron of Dignity in Dying.

Personal life Ann married Klim McPherson in May 1968. In 2011 McPherson received the British Medical Journal's Health Communicator of the Year award. The award was accepted on McPherson's behalf by her husband Klim and Hugh Grant, as Patron on The DIPEx Charity. In Hugh Grant's speech he described McPherson as "part Doctor, part campaigner, part stalker" in reference to her unyielding efforts to secure his support for The DIPEx Charity.

Publications

Diary of a Teenage Health Freak (1987) Women's Health in General Practice (1997) Adolescents: the Agony, the Ecstasy, the Answers: A book for Parents (1999) Sex: The Facts (2003) Drugs: The Facts (2003) Bullying: The Facts (2004) Relationships: The facts (2004) The Truth: a teenager’s survival guide (2007)