Dr Rupert Whitaker
Over the past four decades, Dr Rupert Whitaker OBE has made significant contributions to the fields of HIV, health justice, and health service advocacy, including co-founding Europe’s first HIV charity.
Biography
Over the past four decades, Dr Rupert Whitaker OBE has made significant contributions to the fields of HIV, health justice, and health service advocacy, including co-founding Europe’s first HIV charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.
A biobehavioural scientist and forensic psychiatrist with international experience, Dr Whitaker is also a publicly recognised patient advocate, known for his dedication to HIV and LGBT advocacy. His remarkable journey includes personal battles with AIDS, stroke, and epilepsy, which have deeply influenced his vision of person-centred medicine and better health services for all. Rupert founded The Tuke Institute to influence policy and research on how better health services can become possible today.
In 2021, GQ magazine named him an LGBTQ+ icon. In 2022, he won an Attitude Pride Award. In the same year, Queen Elizabeth conferred on him an OBE for his services to charity and public health. For his work, he has also been awarded academic honours, including Honorary Fellowships at several universities and an honorary DSc from the University of London, which described him as ‘a tenacious advocate for people with HIV and other chronic conditions’.