Professor Mick Peake Awarded OBE

We are delighted and proud to announce that Professor Mick Peake has been awarded an OBE for his services to medicine in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Without a doubt, lung cancer services in the UK would not be where they are today without Mick. He has made an outstanding contribution to improving outcomes for lung cancer patients and worked tirelessly throughout his long career championing early diagnosis and driving the issue of lung cancer up the political agenda.

Mick has been involved in the development of national policy for lung cancer and cancer intelligence in many roles including Clinical Lead for the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) and for the National Lung Cancer Audit Programme (NLCA), which he set up amidst a great deal of scepticism. He was also National Lead Clinician for Lung Cancer in NHS Improvement where he was also the secondary care lead for the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI).

Mick currently holds the roles of Clinical Director, Centre for Cancer Outcomes, North Central and East London Cancer Alliance; Honorary Clinical Lead, National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS); Specialist Clinical Advisor, Cancer Research UK; and he is also Emeritus Consultant and Honorary Professor of Respiratory Medicine, at the University of Leicester, where he was based for much of his career.

Mick launched the UK Lung Cancer Coalition (UKLCC) in Westminster in 2005. It has been a major force in lobbying NHS Trusts to submit data for the NLCA, driving up best-practice and standards. The UKLCC to date has published more than ten, well-respected, national reports.

He also had a significant hand in starting the National Lung Cancer Forum for Nurses (now Lung Cancer Nursing UK), and the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG).

Mick has been widely published and been in receipt of many lifetime achievement and service awards.

Everyone who knows Mick will know him as a modest, self-less and lovely man who deserves this wonderful reward for his achievements. As he steps down from his role as chair of the UKLCC Clinical Advisory Group at the end of this year, we want to thank him for everything he has done, his vision and ongoing dedication.

We will miss him, but we know Mick will continue to support the UKLCC and be involved in championing the needs of lung cancer patients.

Martin Grange – Chair, UK Lung Cancer Coalition

Dr Robert Rintoul – Reader in Thoracic Oncology, University of Cambridge and Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, Royal Papworth Hospital; incoming Chair UKLCC Clinical Advisory Group