Three Queen Mary University of London professors are included in The King’s New Year Honours list 2025, which recognises the extraordinary achievements and service of individuals.
Emeritus Professor Jack Cuzick received a Knighthood for services to epidemiology, Professor Peter Sasieni received a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to cancer early detection and prevention and Professor Paul Heritage received a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to UK/Brazil collaboration through creative practice.
Emeritus Professor Jack Cuzick receives a Knighthood for services to epidemiology
Emeritus Professor Cuzick has made major contributions to breast, cervical and prostate cancer prevention, prediction and screening in his 40-year career. Before retiring in 2023, Emeritus Professor Cuzick was the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at Queen Mary and served as Director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine from 2013-2021.
His Knighthood recognises his work on demonstrating that anastrozole, a hormone blocker used for many years to treat breast cancer in post-menopausal women, is also safe and effective at preventing the disease. Professor Cuzick’s work led to anastrozole becoming the first drug to be repurposed through the world-leading Medicines Repurposing Programme, a multi-agency initiative in the UK that helps realise the full potential of existing medicines in new uses to save and improve more lives on the NHS.
A statistician by background, Emeritus Professor Cuzick’s career has had a transformative impact on breast and cervical cancer services in the NHS and throughout the world, saving the lives of millions of people.
On receiving his Knighthood, Emeritus Professor Cuzick said: “I am deeply honoured to receive a Knighthood for my contributions to cancer prevention. I am proud to have dedicated my career to cancer prevention, and I’m grateful that my research has made important and useful contributions to this field. I hope that this award raises the profile of cancer prevention as an important field for scientific research and public interaction.”
Professor Peter Sasieni receives a CBE for services to cancer early detection and prevention
Professor Sasieni is Professor of Cancer Epidemiology and joint lead of the Centre for Cancer Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis based in Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Population Health. He is also Director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Prevention Trials Unit at Queen Mary.
Professor Sasieni is internationally recognised for his transformational work on the design and execution of clinical trials in cancer early detection and prevention. He is best known for his work on cervical screening and HPV infection and was the lead author of a landmark study that showed a dramatic reduction in cervical cancer following HPV vaccination.
In addition to his practice-changing research in cervical cancer prevention, he has also worked on several large projects in bowel cancer, e-cigarette trials, early detection of Barrett’s oesophagus and the prevention of oesophageal cancer. He currently leads or co-leads several large projects including two trials to discover ways to find heartburn-related health problems and prevent oesophageal cancer, and the NHS-Galleri trial, which is looking at whether a blood test can be used in the NHS for the early detection of multiple cancers when used alongside existing cancer screening.
On receiving his CBE, Professor Sasieni said: “I am greatly honoured to receive a CBE for services to cancer early detection and prevention. This award provides a tremendous boost for me and my team as we continue our research to improve cancer control in the UK and around the world.
"I would like to recognise and thank the many colleagues whose contributions have enabled me and my team to make great progress in cancer detection and prevention. I am especially grateful to my team, Queen Mary University of London and Cancer Research UK for their long-standing support that has made this research possible.”
Professor Paul Heritage receives an MBE for services to UK/Brazil collaboration through creative practice
Professor Heritage is Professor of Drama and Performance at Queen Mary University, and Director of People’s Palace Projects. Since Professor Heritage’s connection with Brazil began in 1991, he has been involved in developing, leading, creating and managing various collaborative projects between Brazil and the UK.
These include creating arts-based prison projects in Britain and Brazil which included award-winning HIV/AIDs education and Human Rights work that reached tens of thousands of prisoners, guards, and their families; setting up the Favela to the World programme, a partnership between People’s Palace Projects, Grupo Cultural Afroreggae, and a range of UK partners; and co-curating the Olympic and Paralympic Cultural Forum and Arte sem Limites, a festival celebrating UK disability arts.
In 2014, Professor Heritage began making connections with Brazilian indigenous communities, artists and cultures, which has now become one of his four main research themes. Other areas of research Professor Heritage is developing are strengthening arts-based resources for public health, the just measurement of cultural value and the use of arts as a means of transforming social and climate injustices.
On receiving his MBE, Professor Heritage said: “20 years ago I was made a Knight of the Order of the Rio Branco by the Brazilian government for services to Brazilian/UK cultural relations. It now feels all the more special to receive this honour from my home country and I am incredibly proud to have received an MBE in The King’s New Year’s Honours list for 2025, a year which marks 200 years since Brazil and the UK first established diplomatic relations.
“This honour is of course a recognition of the dedication of the whole team at People's Palace Projects and the extraordinary support I have received at Queen Mary University since I came here in 1996.”
Professor Colin Bailey CBE, President and Principal of Queen Mary University, said:
“I am delighted to congratulate Professor Jack Cuzick on receiving a Knighthood, Professor Peter Sasieni for receiving a CBE and Professor Paul Heritage on receiving an MBE in The King’s New Year Honours. I am incredibly proud that these inspiring people are part of our community and that their contributions to their respective fields have been celebrated.
"These extraordinary individuals and the work they do has had a profound impact on staff and students here at Queen Mary University, but also on the lives of millions of people living in the UK and across the globe. They are pillars of our community, and exemplars of the leadership and research quality that makes our University what it is.”
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