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Acclaimed consultant histopathologist Dr Suzy Lishman CBE is making history with her new post as president of the Association of Clinical Pathologists (ACP).

Suzy, the brains behind the popular ‘Living Autopsy’ event, steps into the ACP hot seat in June.

And as a former president of the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath), North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust consultant Suzy is the only person to hold both esteemed positions.

President elect Suzy (pictured) has been a member of the ACP for over 20 years.

She said: “I am delighted and honoured to be elected President of the ACP and look forward to contributing to the organisation’s work on training, member and public engagement and leadership development.

“My aim is to build on my previous roles and support closer working between the ACP and the RCPath, and I would like to engage with members on a more personal level, celebrating their professional and personal achievements.

“I also want to use the opportunity to reinvigorate links between the ACP and NHS Trusts around the country, identifying a dedicated pathology ‘champion’ in every Trust to raise the profile of the ACP and promote the free meetings and training it provides, and the many travel and research grants that are available to members.”

Suzy has won awards for her huge public engagement efforts and was instrumental in introducing National Pathology Week in 2008 and International Pathology Day in 2014, which is now celebrated across the world.

She is well known locally, and across the UK, for her unique approach to public engagement through the Living Autopsy, with one of her videos reaching over two million views on YouTube!

Using a live model, Suzy guides attendees through the process of a post-mortem examination, showing the real instruments used, explaining where incisions are made, how each organ is examined, and what tests might be carried out to discover the cause of death.

Suzy took this unique event on a UK tour in 2022. She said: “From a relatively simple event in 2008, which described what a post-mortem examination involved using a live model and a set of autopsy instruments, the Living Autopsy has grown and evolved to cover a range of different themes, including the death of Richard III, the death of an astronaut and the festive Santa dissection.

“It has also led to several television appearances, describing the features of conditions including bubonic plague, arsenic poisoning and radiation sickness.”

In addition to working full time in the Trust, and her new role as president of ACP, Suzy holds several other posts. She is a Trustee of the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, a national organisation that reviews areas of patient care and how they can be improved.

Suzy also has a national role in the implementation of a new medical examiner system in England and Wales and has trained more than 2,000 senior doctors and hundreds of coroners.

As well as being a pathologist, Suzy is the Trust’s Lead Medical Examiner, overseeing the review of deaths in hospitals and the community in the area. She is also chair of the Research Ethics Committee of the Royal Veterinary College, and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the charity Bowel Cancer UK.