Prof Mahendra G Patel OBE has been conferred an Honorary Doctor of Health by the University of Bradford.
In a message to this newspaper, he said: “Bradford and the University is always with me, wherever I have been in the world or in my career. It makes me proud to receive this honorary award. I don’t have the words to express the magnitude of what it means to me.
“My message to the graduates is to be inclusive in what you do and always bring people with you. Don’t think of your career in terms of working for others, but rather working with them.
“Reach for your dreams but make sure they are realistic and if you do have times when you fall, just remember there’s always the next day to pick yourself up and be ready to go again.”
Starting his career as a pharmacist, he went on to work with the British Heart Foundation, developing the national educational toolkit, Healthy Hearts, to improve heart disease in the community, which won the British Medical Association Patient Information Award in 2010. Over the years, he has helped raise over £400,000 for the charity along with other national charities.
Working with NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), Mahendra pioneered a programme of Student Champions which became a national programme in 40 universities across nursing, medical, pharmacy and dental faculties, enabling students to engage with the institute and gain opportunities to further their careers. He was among the first cohort to gain a fellowship from NICE (2010-2013).
In 2010, Mahendra became a founding member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and in subsequent years became its elected national board and assembly member, as well as treasurer. He was awarded the prestigious fellowship of the Society in 2016 and later the President’s Charter Award for Outstanding Services to Pharmacy.
Among his many achievements, Mahendra is also Patron of the Commonwealth Pharmacy Association, a Teaching and Faculty Member of UNESCO, a BMJ Team Diabetes Award winner, the first International Fellow of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and International Honorary Ambassador of Lebanese Pharmacists.
Mahendra is currently national lead supporting inclusive and representative recruitment to clinical trials for Covid-19 at the University of Oxford, and has now established the Centre for Research Equity, the first such centre of its kind. To top it off, last year, he was awarded an OBE for services to pharmacy.
