Congratulations to Professor Barbara Wilson, the President of the Encephalitis Society, who has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in a prestigious competition to mark the NHS’s 70th birthday.

We are delighted to announce that she was named the champion of the Midlands and East region in the NHS70 Parliamentary Awards for her work as a clinical neuropsychologist and as the founder of the Oliver Zangwill Centre at Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust.

As one of four regional champions, she was shortlisted for the national Lifetime Achievement Award which was open to people who had worked in the NHS for 40 years.

The NHS70 Parliamentary Awards were designed to recognise the massive contribution made by individuals who work in and alongside the NHS. And with more than 750 nominations submitted by Members of Parliament, the regional champions represented a wide variety of people who make the NHS such a special institution, including NHS porters, volunteers, patients, chief executives and local health teams.

Professor Wilson's nomination read:

Known as ‘the grandmother of neuropsychological rehabilitation’, Barbara Wilson is esteemed for her care for patients, building bridges between practice and theory, and team work between psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and brain injured people. She is founder of the Oliver Zangwill Centre, founder and editor of an international journal Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, author of 26 books and several instruments for testing patients, including a memory test translated into sixteen languages. She is loved by students who appreciate her devotion and encouragement.

Professor Wilson attended the national awards ceremony at the Palace of Westminster in London on July 4 as one of four shortlisted finalists but lost out on the national award to Rose Bennett from Solent NHS Trust.

It was an interesting day. I didn’t win the overall award which went to Rose Bennett, a domestic worker who has spent working for the NHS in Solent. I felt pleased for her as it is not often that domestic workers get such recognition.

Professor Wilson’s stellar career has seen her work in brain injury rehabilitation for 40 years, earning her many awards, including an OBE for services to rehabilitation in 1998.

In 1996, she founded the Oliver Zangwill Centre for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, has published 26 books and is, of course, the President of the Encephalitis Society.

We would like join everyone in congratulating Professor Wilson for this honour which adds to an already incredible career supporting people who have been affected by a brain injury.

Read more about Professor Wilson