ADA Vice-Chair Professor Rob Sneyd receives international lifetime achievement award
From developing anaesthetic medicines to surviving a life-threatening aortic dissection, Rob’s story brings together a career in medical science and the experience of being a patient.
Professor Rob Sneyd, Vice-Chair of Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Anaesthetic Pharmacology (ISAP).
The award recognises a distinguished career advancing anaesthetic pharmacology through research, patient care and teaching. Rob received it at ISAP’s 35th annual meeting in San Diego on 16 October.
Rob’s work in anaesthesia spans research, medicine development and clinical practice. Since working in the pharmaceutical industry in the 1980s, he has contributed to the development of new medicines and technologies. He led the first human administration of three novel intravenous anaesthetics and has worked on several others.
He has also held senior roles across the medical profession. At the University of Plymouth, where he is Emeritus Professor, he served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. He was Vice-President of both the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and the Royal College of Anaesthetists, and a Director of the European Society of Anaesthesiology.
In 2013, Rob led the UK national sedation review for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which helped shape the country’s sedation guidelines. He continues to work internationally to support the development of new medicines and contributes as a scientific reviewer for leading journals.
Rob’s connection to aortic dissection is also personal. In 2022, while in Nepal, he suffered a Type A dissection and underwent a ten-hour operation in Kathmandu. In a talk earlier this year, he described the challenges of recovery and how, after returning home, ADA UK & Ireland’s patient guide and conversations with other survivors helped him find his way through it.
Now serving as the charity’s Vice-Chair, Rob brings his experience as both a medical professional and a survivor to ADA UK & Ireland’s work to raise awareness of aortic dissection and support patients and families.
Everyone at ADA UK & Ireland congratulates Rob on this significant recognition of his contribution to anaesthesia, research and patient care.
