University honours five at graduations

The ceremonies take place on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 December in the Great Hall of the city campus, where Chancellor Kate Swann and Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Cantor will present the honorary degrees.

Receiving honorary degrees from the University will be:

Professor Nicholas Barber (Wednesday 5 December, 10am ceremony)Professor Nicholas Barber is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacy at University College London School of Pharmacy.

A Bradford alumni, having studied Pharmacy between 1972-1975, Nick is a former Vice-President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society GB and has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

As well as spending several years as a hospital pharmacist, Nick has been involved in research around the prescribing and use of medicines. The NHS New Medicines Service – where pharmacists support patients with new medicines to use them safely and to best effect – was derived from Nick’s research.

His work, which is estimated to have saved the NHS £0.5bn, has led to national policy changes in care homes, community pharmacy and in hospitals.

Sandy Needham (Wednesday 5 December, 1.15pm ceremony)

Yorkshire woman Sandy Needham is the Chief Executive of the West and North Yorkshire Chamber, the leading business organisation for the Bradford, Leeds, York and North Yorkshire. Previously she was Chief Executive of the Bradford Chamber.

A champion for business Sandy led a regeneration project to provide offices and industrial units on easy terms for start-up and growing businesses. Another innovation has been the development of the Raising the Bar initiative to encourage companies to support the wider community and measure their social impact. Sandy has also been heavily involved with the Business Enterprise Fund. The fund lends money to enterprises that cannot obtain bank finance and has helped some great business ideas become a reality.

Sandy has a strong affinity with the local area. This is reflected in her roles as a member of the Bradford Economic Partnership, non-executive director of Bradford City of Film and interim director of the Bradford Business Improvement District (BID). The Bid plans to raise £2.5million, over the next five years, to spend on projects to boost the city centre.

Sir Gary Verity (Wednesday 5 December, 4pm ceremony)

Sir Gary Verity DL is a British businessman and Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.

He is most well-known for spearheading the successful campaigns for the Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France to be held in Yorkshire and the UCI Road World Championships which will come to Yorkshire in 2019 and will see Bradford host the start of the Women’s Elite Road Race.

Sir Gary created the Tour de Yorkshire, now the best attended sporting event in the UK, credited with bringing a £252million boost to Yorkshire’s economy over the last four years.

As well as a Knighthood, Sir Gary was awarded a top honour by the French Government, a chevalier medal in the Ordre National du Mérite for his work with the Tour de France. This year he was also appointed Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.

Jonathan Philips (Thursday 6 December, 10am ceremony)

Jonathan Phillips, OBE, is a qualified social worker. For many years he worked in social services – including in Bradford – carrying out a number of frontline, training and management roles.

After a stint in the voluntary sector, as a Director with National Deaf Children’s Society, Jonathan worked for the social services inspectorate. He then moved to the Commission for Social Care Inspection as a National Director. His final job before retirement was director of Adult Social Services at Calderdale.

Since retiring 7 years ago he has chaired the Safeguarding Adults Boards for both Bradford Council and North Yorkshire, as well as providing other consultancy services. Jonathan is very interested in disability rights and is a strong believer in people’s rights to choose their own lifestyle and social workers’ responsibility to support them.

Dr Hassib Sahyoun (Thursday 6 December, 1.15pm ceremony)

Dr Hassib Sahyoun is a member of our Bradford alumni community, having received both his MSc in 1976 and PhD in 1979 from the University.

An entrepreneur, Dr Sahyoun’s vision has always been to transform the one-man-show culture in Laboratory Medical Diagnostic Services in Jordan, to a Group Practice culture to best serve physicians and their patients, as well as ensuring long term sustainability. In 1993 Dr Sahyoun along with four doctor colleagues co-founded MedLabs Consultancy Group, forming the first private “Group Practice” in Laboratory Medicine in the Region.

MedLabs is now the fastest growing network of private medical diagnostic laboratories in the Middle East with 50 branches across three countries and a regional Reference Laboratory in Jordan that has achieved the highest international quality accreditations and awards. By introducing Group Practice, Dr Sahyoun made a difference in Laboratory Medicine in Jordan and the Region.

As Chairman and CEO, Dr Sahyoun has overseen the company’s provision of free-of-charge testing to underprivileged communities, as well as launching many national health awareness campaigns.

He is currently head of the Medical Laboratory Specialists Syndicate in Jordan as well as a member of several committees which oversee national standards of quality for the Jordanian Ministry of Health.