Naaz Coker, chair of the Refugee Council, receives honorary doctorate from Leeds Metropolitan

22 July 2005

From the Leeds Metropolitan University website

The chair of the Refugee Council's trustees, Naaz Coker, has received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Leeds Metropolitan University. Naaz was awarded the Doctorate to honour her service to the NHS and for her work with refugees and asylum seekers.

At the conferment ceremony, on the 14th July, Naaz, said: “I’m delighted and privileged to receive this doctorate especially from a university so committed to diversity and pioneering work in the developing world.

“I was in the Leeds office of the Refugee Council this morning and I heard nothing but praise for Leeds Met. I met one young member of staff who said Leeds Met had given them a new story to tell and a new life and an Iraqi refugee, who was studying a part-time degree at the University, said that Leeds Met was helping him to achieve his dreams and aspirations and at such a young age of 52!

“To receive an honorary degree from such a university is certainly an honour and a privilege.”

Naaz Coker grew up in Tanzania and completed her university studies in the UK. She graduated in 1971 with an honours degree in pharmacy and in 1974 gained a masters degree in pharmacology from the University of London followed by an MBA from the Open University Business School some years later.

Her career spans thirty years in the public and voluntary sectors. She spent twenty years in the National Health Service where her roles ranged from Pharmaceutical and Clinical Director to General Manager in acute NHS trusts in London. This was followed by ten years at the King’s Fund, a charitable foundation working in the field of health and social care, where she was Director of the Race and Diversity programme and fellow in leadership development.

She is currently Chair of St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust. She has written widely on racism and ethnic health inequalities in the NHS and on the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in the West.

As well as being Chair of the Refugee Council - a post she has held since 1998 - she is currently a trustee of the Media Trust, a director of the Community Channel, a trustee of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures & Commerce and a member of the Oxfam Association. She is also a member of the Home Office Race Equality Advisory Panel.

In May 2004 Naaz Coker was awarded ‘Asian Woman of the Year’ by the Asian Guild and won the Asian Woman of Achievement award in the public sector category earlier this year.

Other information:
Leeds Metropolitan University