Laura Maria Serrant, CBE FRCN (born 1963) is a British nurse and academic. She is currently Regional Head of Nursing for North East and Yorkshire at Health Education England and Professor of at Manchester Metropolitan University where she was previously Head of Department.
Early life and career
Serrant was born in Nottingham in 1963, the daughter of John Serrant and his wife, born Eudora Toussaint.[1] She was not only the first in her family to attend university,[2] but also one of the first nurses to qualify through a degree, graduating in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in nursing from Sheffield City Polytechnic.[3][4][5][6]
Serrant's work specialises in sexual and reproductive health, including research into working with sex workers, alcohol and drug dependent individuals and tackling attitudes towards HIV and AIDS alongside policy development nationally and internationally with an emphasis on racial inequalities and cultural safety.[7] In 2016, Serrant appeared in BBC Four documentary Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS, discussing the contribution and celebrating the influence of Black nurses in the NHS.[8]
In 2018 Serrant was appointed as the Head of the School of Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan University becoming the only black head of nursing in UK Universities.[11]
Outside of her work in Nursing, Serrant has appeared on BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives where she nominated poet and activist Audre Lorde as deserving of the title of having lived a 'Great Life'.[12] Furthermore, her relationship with poetry continued with the inclusion of a poem written by Serrant in a theatre production titled 'Windrush' which toured the UK in 2018.[13][14]
Serrant became Chair of Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust in January 2024.
Honours
In 2014, the Health Service Journal compiled a list of the 50 people from Black & Minority ethnicities working within the NHS that are inspiring and making a difference and included Serrant for her work in community and public health nursing at the University of Wolverhampton.[15]
In 2017 it was announced that Serrant was recognised in the 2018 Powerlist as the eighth most influential black person in the United Kingdom,[16][17] and in the same year she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Abertay University.[18]
In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to health policy.[19][20] She was awarded fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2023.[21] Serrant has also been included on the 2019, 2020 and 2021Powerlist of the 100 most influential Britons of African/African Caribbean descent in recognition of her contribution to medicine.[11][22]
In 2021 she received the Prestigious Nursing Times UK Chief Nursing Officers' Lifetime Achievement award for services to Nursing.
Selected works
Serrant-Green, L. (January 2001). "Inequality in provision of sexual health information". Professional Nurse. 16 (4): 1038–42. PMID12029731.
Serrant-Green, Laura (November 2001). "Transcultural nursing education: a view from within". Nurse Education Today. 21 (8): 670–678. doi:10.1054/nedt.2001.0663. PMID11884181.
Higginbottom, G. M. A.; Mathers, N.; Marsh, P.; Kirkham, M.; Owen, J. M.; Serrant-Green, L. (August 2006). "Young people of minority ethnic origin in England and early parenthood: views from young parents and service providers". Social Science & Medicine. 63 (4): 858–870. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.03.011. hdl:2436/29495. PMID16678322.
