University professor handed MBE at royal ceremony

A university professor from Staffordshire has been officially presented with her MBE by the Prince of Wales.

Elaine Hay was awarded the honour for services to medical research during a recent ceremony at Windsor Castle.

She said it was a "wonderful" day and one she and her family would remember for many years to come.

"After we shook hands and he congratulated me again, I walked away feeling quite overwhelmed by the experience," she said.

She added: "It was great to get the opportunity to talk to Prince William about my workplace, Keele University and Staffordshire."

Prof Hay said he was interested to hear about the research she had carried out into the causes and consequences of back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders.

Her career has involved making improvements to patient care by testing new treatments.

She is also the author of about 400 peer-reviewed papers in publications, including The Lancet and British Medical Journal.

Her work has contributed to national policies and international guidelines, and has led to services in the NHS being redesigned to reduce wait times.

In the last 30 years, Prof Hay has secured almost £40m in external grants to support new research into diseases and conditions, like osteoarthritis and tennis elbow, leading to Keele University and its partners becoming internationally renowned in the field, university bosses said.

She first came to north Staffordshire in 1994 as a consultant and senior lecturer in community rheumatology at the Haywood Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent and Keele University.

In 2004 she was promoted to professor of community rheumatology at Keele and was one of the three founding members of the university's research institute for primary care and health sciences.

She led a clinical trials programme which bosses said was influential in transforming research at the university.

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