Michelle has led CRUK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world, since November 2018, the culmination of a career dedicated to public service. She has previously led charities, including the MS Society and Age UK with distinction. She has served as a Non-Executive Director of NHS England, the King’s Fund, the Power to Change Trust and the Fawcett Society.
She grew up in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, where she attended a comprehensive school. She was the first in her family to go to university. Issues of social mobility, social change, and social justice have always motivated her, and in every organisation, she has worked to realise the potential of people from all sorts of backgrounds. She has said, “We need a team of all talent from most diverse backgrounds to make progress for the future – we won’t meet the world’s greatest opportunities and challenges otherwise.”
Aged 25, Michelle joined the democratic change campaign Charter 88, and while there, met Simon Woolley, now Lord Woolley and Principal of Homerton College, then a volunteer for the organisation. Simon and others set up Operation Black Vote from within Charter 88 in 1996.
Lord Woolley said:
“I have known and respected Michelle Mitchell for nearly three decades, and I am so pleased she is joining our community here. What stands out is not just the energy and the dynamism she brings to everything she does, but the level of decency and integrity, which resonate so strongly with our values at Homerton. I have no doubt that her involvement with the College will enhance life for everybody here, and will lend weight to our activities in healthcare as well as social justice”.
Michelle Mitchell said:
“I am delighted to join Homerton – not only to make common cause with Simon Woolley again, but because of Homerton’s values of fairness, openness, responsibility and excellence, and the unique position Homerton has forged for itself, since becoming a full College in 2010.”
Michelle is the 15th person to be elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Homerton, a number which includes Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, chair of Cancer Research UK, and a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Sir Leszek said:
“As an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College myself, I am delighted that Michelle will be joining us at the College. Michelle brings huge expertise both from her charity sector and NHS experience but also in terms of the broader issues of equity and access that are such an important part of Homerton’s contribution”.
Image: Sir Leszek Borysiewicz (L), Michelle Mitchell (C) and Lord Woolley (R)
