30 November 2022 News
In the final month of her tenure as Chief Executive of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Sally Light has been recognised with an international award honouring her work in the field.
Sally has been presented with the 2022 Humanitarian Award by the International Alliance of ALS / MND Associations at its meeting in San Diego, California. This prestigious award honours Sally’s leadership in raising awareness and action around motor neurone disease.
When Sally joined the MND Association in 2012, multidisciplinary care of people living with MND was inconsistent across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Using her extensive experience in neurological care management, Sally successfully led a campaign to establish a national clinical guideline (NICE) for MND. This has improved the quality and consistency of care within the UK and influenced service provision globally. It led to the expansion of dedicated MND Care Centres and Networks, which provide care for people with MND and sites for research trials.
During Sally’s decade at the MND Association, the charity has invested in multinational programmes and become one of the largest research funders in the world with around £17 million currently invested in 80 projects.
“Sally has always put people with MND and their families at the centre of everything the Association has done and believed in the community. She has championed greater empowerment of volunteers, a more participative membership, and continuous development of co-production and co-creation of our work and priorities. Despite the growth in size and complexity of the charity she has never lost sight of who we exist to support.”
Association’s Director of External Affairs Chris James