/ Dr Cathy Lawson

Dr Cathy Lawson

Dr Cathy Lawson is the first national Fellow in Environmentally Sustainable Anaesthesia for the Association of Anaesthetists and Centre for Sustainable Healthcare in collaboration with Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals. She has taken time out of her training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine to pursue this exciting opportunity and is currently working on national strategies to assist departments in delivering sustainable practice.

These include the creation of a national environmental champions network, library of case studies and development of e-learning sustainability modules. She has been a member of the Environment and Sustainability Committee since 2015 – firstly as part of her duties whilst an elected member of the Association’s Trainee Committee and more recently in her role as Fellow.

She proudly received the Association’s inaugural Green Star Award and was highly commended in her application to the Barema & Association Environment Award in 2018 for work on a regional plastics recycling project. On completion of her three year term on the Association’s Trainee Committee she also received the Association award for her commitment to training in anaesthesia and the committee.

Locally she has collaborated with Northumbria University and a small group of operating theatre staff to develop a five-year plan for embedding sustainability within the department which includes a pilot study for volatile capture technology, trialling initiatives to reduce the carbon impact of nitrous oxide and Entonox use, reducing single use items and waste in the operating theatres.