It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of our well-loved and respected colleague, Professor Anne Kennedy, who passed away at home last month after a long illness, surrounded by her family.
Anne professionally moved across and between disciplines. Her early career began with a bio-chemistry degree at the University of Manchester in the mid-1970s; followed by a nursing degree at the Nightingale School of Nursing at St Thomas’ in London. In 1985, she returned to Manchester to undertake a PhD supervised by John Brocklehurst, Professor of Geriatric Medicine on the Problems in the Nursing Management of Elderly Patients with Long-term Indwelling Catheters. After finishing her PhD, she was appointed to the post of Research Sister in the Department of Geriatric Medicine. With a family move to Singapore she became Nurse advisor to the Society for Continence in Singapore.
On her return to the UK in 1995, she was appointed as a Research Associate to the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester and later promoted to Senior Research Fellow in the School of Primary Care. Anne joined the University in the Faculty of Health Sciences in 2012 as a Principal Research Fellow. She was promoted to Professorial Research Fellow in 2016 and on retiring from the University in 2019 she remained a Visiting Professor.
Anne was a leader in the field of person-centred self care support. She was the main architect of the Wise approach to long term condition management. Anne led trials and process evaluations of the implementation of policies designed to support people living everyday life with a long term condition through accessing relevant knowledge, community resources and enhancing person-centred professional practice. The use of health information and social networks was central to her work. Her research was interdisciplinary; she worked nationally and internationally with psychologists, nurses, medical practitioners, sociologists, health economists and trialists. Her key interest was on bringing together clearly accessible health guidance and knowledge that included and worked with the creative strategies that people develop to manage their conditions.
She was a fantastic colleague friend and mentor. Her, wisdom, kindness, wit, help, warmth and enthusiasm will be remembered by those who worked with her in both the inaugural CLAHRC Wessex and the academics, researchers, PhD students and members of patient groups she worked with in Health Sciences.
