New Year Honours for Guy’s and St Thomas’ staff

Two members of staff from Guy’s and St Thomas’ have been recognised in the 2024 New Year Honours List.

Professor David Edwards, consultant neonatologist at Evelina London Children's Hospital and Professor of Paediatrics & Neonatal Medicine at King's College London, was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and Moses Ayoola, Director of Estates and Facilities, was made a BEM (British Empire Medal).

Professor Edwards was recognised for his services to health research. Over his 40-year career, Professor Edwards has made an enormous impact not just on the survival of babies, but on the quality of life of some of the sickest newborns cared for in neonatal units around the world.

He spent over 20 years working on the discovery and implementation of the first, and still the only, effective treatment for oxygen starvation in newborn infants. This intervention, called therapeutic hypothermia, works by reducing the temperature of the brain to mitigate the damaging effects of oxygen deprivation at birth. This is now used globally and doubles the chance of normal survival while dramatically decreasing health care costs.

More recently, Professor Edwards and his team have completed the largest-ever study looking at how connections form in the brain during the months and weeks around birth. The data, collected in the Developing Human Connectome Project, is being used to make new discoveries by researchers across the world which are providing a greater understanding of how the brain develops and of conditions like autism and cerebral palsy.

Professor David Edwards said: “This is really recognition of the work done by my scientific and clinical colleagues past and present which I have had the pleasure to be associated with.”

Moses Ayoola was recognised in the New Year Honours list for his services to leadership in the NHS. With almost 20 years of experience working in and supporting the NHS, Moses has been an inclusive and values-based leader in estates and facilities management, championing patient experience.

Moses, who has worked at the Trust for the past 2 years and is currently on secondment at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, said “I am honoured and humbled to have been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Leadership in the NHS.

“I would like to thank those that have helped me along the way, my various teams (past and present), colleagues at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. Also, a big thank you to all the great leaders that have helped shaped my leadership style along the way.”

In addition to two staff members being recognised, one of the Trust’s patients became the youngest ever recipient of a New Year Honour. Tony Hudgell, 9, was made a BEM for his services to the prevention of child abuse. He received specialist and life-saving treatment at Evelina London and is a dedicated fundraiser for Evelina London Children’s Charity. He has raised over £1.8 million for the charity which supports the hospital to deliver compassionate, trailblazing care for its young patients and their families. 

Find out more about Tony's incredible fundraising in this video.