Following a successful nursing career in the UK, Claire Bertschinger worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross as a nurse in over a dozen war zones across the world including: Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Since retiring from full time field work, she has trained other medical professionals to work in low to middle income countries and settings and has continually sought to raise awareness of the key issues in global public health.
Claire now works at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as Assistant Professor and Director for the Diploma in Tropical Nursing. She was honoured as Dame Commander of British Empire by the Queen in 2010 New Years Honours List, for services to Nursing and to International Humanitarian Aid and was made a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire in 2012.
Dame Claire became a Patron of St Clare Hospice in 2017 and is keen to promote hospice services after St Clare cared for her mother. Claire regularly endorses our work and services by supporting Hospice campaigns and hosting events for other clinical professionals.