Happy International Women’s Day

07 Mar 2019
Sarah Clarke

Happy International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating three of the amazing women key to C3’s success.

 

Christine Hancock, C3 Founder & Director

When Christine Hancock started C3 in 2009 her dream was for a world where people find it easier to live healthy lives, and where loved ones aren’t prematurely dying from preventable chronic disease.

A clinician, manager, and economist from the London School of Economics, Christine enjoyed an illustrious career in nursing, including many years as CEO in the NHS, CEO of the Royal College of Nursing for 12 years, and as president of the International Council of Nurses. But she came to realise that healthcare was intervening too late in a person’s life. This delay meant that people were suffering and dying from illnesses that could have been prevented.

In a time when healthcare was largely equated with disease and sickness, she made a bold decision: to shift the focus to prevention and wellbeing by addressing chronic disease and their risk factors before people fall sick or need care. Today there is much more recognition of prevention’s importance, but sadly global progress continues to be slow.

About to celebrate its 10th anniversary, C3 and Christine have shown that making it easier for people to live healthy lives cannot be addressed through traditional approaches. Instead it requires bringing together communities of people – be it workplaces, neighbourhoods, or health professionals – to identify what can be changed to make healthy choices the easy choices. And C3/Christine have boldly shown that this work requires partnering with those historically overlooked for public health initiatives – including businesses.

C3’s nursing associate, Pat Hughes (centre), accepts the Archon Award on behalf of C3.

In 2017, the Honor Society of Nursing Sigma Theta Tau International recognised C3 and Christine’s impact with its internationally renowned award for exceptional leadership in advancing health in the world. Through this Archon Award, C3 joined the ranks of previous award recipients His Highness the Aga Khan, Save the Children, Sir George Alleyne, Dame Cicely Saunders and Dr Jonas Salk.

Read more about C3’s work.

 

Denise Stevens, Global Health Associate

Denise Stevens is C3’s global health associate and was president and founder of the US-based social enterprise, MATRIX Public Health Solutions. She has an international reputation as a leader in health systems change initiatives related to chronic disease. Denise Stevens

Denise helped design and then evaluate the first and most comprehensive multinational pilot study based in India, China, Mexico and the United Kingdom, that focused on the use of structural interventions and community coalition building to impact the burden of chronic disease. This work established the foundation for the development of the innovative community-engagement strategy CHESS (Community Health Engagement Survey Solutions), central to C3’s community-engagement programme.

As an epidemiologist and public health practitioner, Denise has designed programs, integrated evidence-based practices into health care, conducted needs assessment and evaluation studies, as well as developed strategic plans for small and large health departments and health focused consortia nationally and internationally. Her work has led to international presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals. She received her doctorate from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University’s School of Medicine. For the past 17 years, she has taught at the Yale University School of Public Health and has worked with C3 and Christine Hancock for the past 10 years on community-engagement projects using CHESS.

Community members use CHESS in Poplar, East London.

In the UK, CHESS has been implemented in 7 London Boroughs and two communities in Halifax, England and Girvan, Scotland. Communities have been awarded over £2 million from external funders to implement proposed solutions based on the strength of CHESS evidence. Our recently completed project in Halifax and Girvan was also shortlisted for the Food & Drink Federation 2018 Awards. This project engaged about one-third of the local populations (5,000 individuals) and led to significant changes in the communities.

Read more about C3’s community-engagement programme.

 

Michaela Nuttall, Nursing Associate

Michaela is C3’s nursing associate and a cardiovascular nurse specialist with a unique and varied experience across the NHS and beyond. She developed her passion from prevention 20 years ago and has worked within it ever since.

In 2016 she left public health after working in the field for 16 years and now focuses on three main areas, as a director for Smart Health Solutions, an associate in nursing for C3, and an associate in the National Association of Primary Care. She has worked alongside Public Health England on NHS Health Check Competency Framework Review, dementia offering and development of recommended data set. Michaela also provides trouble-shooting support for local authorities around the NHS Health Check Programme.

She is the chair of the Health Care Committee of Heart UK and an invited member of both the Nurses and The Guidelines and Information working party of the British and Irish Hypertension Society, a variety of editorial boards and the Global Cardiovascular Nursing Leadership Forum. In 2018, Michaela was elected to become a member of the education committee of the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Healthcare Professionals (part of the European Society of Cardiology). She has also recently been invited to join the British and Irish Hypertension Society Journal of Human Hypertension Editorial board.

Some of Michaela’s proudest achievements are being the founding chair of the Prevention Group for the South East London Cardiac Network and the Cardiovascular Nurse Leaders Group (CVNL), establishing the HEART UK NHS Health Check Awards and writing for the World Health Organization. She has also been health director for HeartAge and a Trustee of MyTime Active.

Being a Trustee at PoTS UK keeps her firmly rooted in the challenges patients face in living with life-altering conditions.

Often not lost for words, she was delighted and overwhelmed when she won the Nutrition and Health Nurse of the Year Award in 2013.

NURSING YOU logo

At C3 Michaela leads our innovative nursing programme, including NURSING YOU, a programme designed by nurses, for nurses. As part of this programme C3 partnered with MAXIMUS UK to use their digital wellbeing platform to create a customised app for nurses. Over 1,000 nurses registered with the app during its 6-month pilot period, with 71% remaining active.

Read more about C3’s nursing programme.

 

You can read more about C3’s team, including our core team and associates on our staff page. We’re also proud that 5 of our 7 Trustees are women and leaders representing the world of finance, law, sustainability, strategic communications, nutrition, and clinical leadership.

Happy International Women’s Day to our wonderful network members and those working tirelessly to make it easier for all to live healthy lives.