The director and former chief executive of a leading charity specialising in the prevention of pregnancy loss have been made OBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Arri Coomarasamy, director of the Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, and Jane Brewin, the charity’s former chief executive, were among those honoured by King Charles III.
Both are being recognised for their work with the charity, including researching new ways to improve the safety of pregnancy.
Coomarasamy described the award as “recognition for the powerful work our research teams do in tackling miscarriage and childbirth related deaths”.
He said: “The impact of our research can be a matter of life and death for mothers and their children. I am delighted that maternal and child health are being celebrated.”
Last year, Third Sector revealed Tommy’s as the winner of its Big Impact Award for the charity’s Miscarriage Matters campaign.
The charity’s campaign led to a change in government policy, meaning that women and birthing people no longer had to endure three consecutive miscarriages before accessing care.
It also led to the government pledging to officially record miscarriages for the first time.
In 2021, research led by Coomarasamy formed the basis for new national guidance, which the charity said was estimated to have since prevented 8,450 miscarriages a year in the UK.
Brewin was chief executive from 2000 until her retirement last year, overseeing the introduction of the charity’s midwife support phone line in 2002.
Tommy’s chief executive Kath Abrahams said Brewin “steered us toward becoming the national charity we are today”.
Abrahams added: “Her determination to change the way people understand and talk about baby loss and her resolve to create a safer, more equitable, nation to give birth in – where every family has the best possible chance of taking a baby home – are truly deserving of recognition.”
Last year, Brewin was awarded an honorary fellowship from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Founded in 1992, Tommy’s work includes developing tests and treatments to prevent miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and pregnancy complications.
In 2016, it opened the UK’s first national centre dedicated to miscarriage research.
The charity’s total income for the financial year ending March 2022 was £8.6m, with expenditure of £7.8m.