From curious undergraduate community nurse to Professor of Palliative Care; my thousand mile journey that began with a single step by Professor Catherine Evans.
Catherine Evans is a Professor in Palliative Care and Honorary Nurse Consultant. Since 2011, she has held a joint post between the Cicely Saunders Institute and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. She has pursued a successful clinical-academic career as a nurse securing NIHR personal fellowships on the integrated clinical academic programme. She was appointed in 2022 as Deputy-Director of the King’s Clinical Academic Training Office.
Catherine leads a programme of research on new models of care integrating palliative care in community healthcare and social care for older adults with multimorbidity, including dementia and frailty. Catherine co-leads a major research programme called Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care (EMBED-Care), and the CovPall Care Homes study on the care home response to meet palliative care needs during COVID-19. She is the executive lead for public and community involvement in research at the Cicely Saunders Institute. Her work has built novel infrastructure for meaningful involvement in research for people affected by serious illness.