Victoria Hewitt is a specialist palliative care physician and educator based in England. Her career began as a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where she served on active duty in Bosnia and Guinea. While in the military she trained in primary care before making the move to civilian general practice and, then, community palliative care. She leads international, online master’s programs for qualified health professionals in palliative care, oncology, and oncology at Newcastle University. Dr. Hewitt’s inspiration is her students, and her teaching seeks to harness the learning that emerges when we share our lived experiences of caring for people at the end of their lives across the globe.
Prior to her formal move into education, Dr. Hewitt worked with National Health Service Improvement on an award-winning collaboration to develop palliative care day services, and led the regional cancer network’s palliative care group. She uses quality-improvement skills in her teaching to empower other professionals not only to champion palliative care but to effect change in their own clinical contexts. This led her into advocacy and a Policy Fellowship at Newcastle University, where her work centres on palliative care education for sustainable development.
Dr. Hewitt, a Lifetime Member of the IAHPC, joined the IAHPC Board in January 2023. She is also an IAHPC UK Advocacy Focal Point who is actively involved in advocating for palliative care internationally and nationally, including access to essential controlled substances for medicinal and scientific purposes, pandemic preparedness and response, and the role of palliative care in achieving the United Nation’s Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Hewitt is a Schwartz Rounds facilitator, a role in which she supports professionals to manage the emotional and social aspects of care. Outside of work, she likes to try fitness classes and cook produce grown by her husband on their allotment—both with varying degrees of success. She is the proud mother to two (more athletically-gifted) daughters.