Cicely Saunders Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Cicely Saunders
OCCUPATION: Nurse, Philanthropist, Journalist
BIRTH DATE: June 22, 1918
DEATH DATE: July 14, 2005
EDUCATION: Oxford University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Barnet, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
PLACE OF DEATH: London, United Kingdom
AKA: Dame Cicely Saunders

Best Known For

Cicely Saunders was a nurse, social worker who founded the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's Hospice, in 1967 to provide palliative care to those in need.

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Cicely Saunders

APA Style

Cicely Saunders. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:53, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419.

Harvard Style

Cicely Saunders. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419 [Accessed 25 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Cicely Saunders." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 04:53 http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419.

MHRA Style

"Cicely Saunders," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419 [accessed May 25, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Cicely Saunders," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419 (accessed May 25, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Cicely Saunders [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419.

Bluebook Style

Cicely Saunders, http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419 (last visited May 25, 2013).

AMA Style

Cicely Saunders. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/cicely-saunders-9472419. Accessed May 25, 2013.

Synopsis

Nurse and social worker Cicely Saunders was born June 22, 1918, in Barnet, England. During the late 1940s, she started working with terminally ill patients. She founded the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's Hospice, in 1967 to provide palliative care to those in need, promoting the principle of dying with dignity. For nearly twenty years, she served as the hospice's medical director.

Profile

Nurse, social worker, writer, founder of the modern hospice movement. Born on June 22, 1918, in Barnet, Hetfordshire, England. She studied at Oxford University for a few years, and then trained as a nurse at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Saunders later finished her degree at Oxford and became a social worker.

During the late 1940s, Saunders started working with terminally ill patients. She founded the St. Christopher's Hospice in 1967 to provide palliative care to those in need. For nearly twenty years, Saunders served as the hospice's medical director. She also served as its chairperson and president. In her work, Saunders promoted the principle of dying with dignity, maintaining that death is a natural process and can be eased by sensitive nursing and effective pain-control.

During her career, Saunders received many awards for her pioneering work, including the Templeton Prize in 1981, and wrote and edited a number of books on her subject. She was made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1980.

Saunders died on July 14, 2005, at St. Christopher's Hospice in London.