GHW AGM & Meet The Author

Guild AGM 2024

Date: 24 April 2024

Time: 6pm

Venue: Medical Society of London Lettsom House, 11 Chandos Street, London

RSVP: 17 April 2024, admin@healthwriters.com

Come and support your Guid.  We look forward to seeing you there.

The AGM will be followed by Meet the Author: Victor Hoffbrand (Emeritus Professor of Haematology, University College London)

Time: 7pm (after AGM)

Victor Hoffbrand is Emeritus Professor of Haematology, University College, London. His medical career, is matched by his prolific output as a writer. He has authored hundreds of scientific articles, and his book, now in the 8^th edition, Hoffbrand’s Essential Haematology, is branded with his name.

But his most recent project is different. Victor has written The Folate Story: A vitamin under the microscope, which considers the history and the many human factors behind the description of this nutrient. His early research had been in folate, and when he got a new job at the Royal Free Hospital in 1973, he noticed some battered old books in his smart clean office. They were the works of Lucy Wills, written in 1931. She had first observed a dietary factor in yeast extract could cure anaemia in pregnant women, and so ‘discovered’ this vitamin. Victor considers it a scandal, that her observations have never been appropriately credited.

His book describes seven other scandals that are the footprints behind the medical debates and policy decisions on folate, leading to the most recent UK government decision announced in 2024, requiring mandatory fortification of flour.

Refreshments & networking after.

RSVP: admin@healthwriters.com

We look forward to seeing you there.