Sophie Wintrich

Those members who have been involved with MDS UK since the early days will no doubt have spoken to Sophie at some stage via the national MDS Helpline, or met her at one of the many patient forum or fundraising events in the UK, called in to see her in the original office in Kings College Hospital, or ‘met’ her online at one of the Zoom support meetings that were first introduced during the pandemic.

Alongside a small group of patients, including David Hall, Fiona Pirilla and Kes Grant, Sophie co-founded and helped establish the official group, the aim of which was to provide information and advocacy previously unavailable to MDS patients in the UK.  Early on, together with Chairman Prof Rodney Taylor, the group ensured that the first two MDS drugs were approved by NICE and made available to patients in England.

Sophie developed long-lasting connections to dedicated MDS specialists, clinical research groups and pharmaceutical companies all over the UK, placing MDS UK firmly on the map of blood cancers.  Indeed for many years, as far as members, clinicians and major stakeholders were concerned, MDS UK was Sophie!

After a decade and a half at the helm (including a very challenging time during the Covid-19 pandemic) Sophie moved on to pastures new in 2023.