Mark Taubert is a German-British

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

doctor and professor of medicine at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. He is a palliative care

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

in Wales, who according to the Western Mail and

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

website has contributed significantly to the development of his specialty, and has received recognition as a doctor and campaigner, nationally and internationally. He wrote to the late

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

in January 2016 about a conversation he held with a dying patient, a letter that was shared across the world. He is founder of TalkCPR, an international information campaign about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and '' do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions''. He is national chair of the Advance & Future Care Strategy Group for the

NHS Wales NHS Wales () is the publicly-funded healthcare system in Wales, and one of the four systems which make up the National Health Service () in the United Kingdom. NHS Wales was formed as part of the public health system for England and Wales crea ...

Executive.

Media work

He has authored articles on medical topics and

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

in international newspapers such as the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

and the

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

. Taubert founded Talk CPR, an international information campaign that discusses ''do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions'', also known by the acronym DNACPR. His explanatory Talk CPR resources have been viewed over a million times worldwide, and he has been interviewed and spoken about the topic on

BBC News at Six The ''BBC News at Six'' is the BBC's evening news programme on British television channels BBC One and BBC News (British TV channel), BBC News (UK feed), broadcast weeknights at 6:00pm and produced by BBC News. It is normally broadcast for 30 ...

and BBC News at 10. Taubert has delivered a TED
talk
on the use of language in palliative care. He has also featured on two palliative care themed recordings for the UK's BBC Listening Project in 2019 and 2020 and on BBC Horizon's 'We need to talk about Death' with

Kevin Fong Kevin Jeremy San Yoong Fong (born 21 May 1971)Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 atabase on-line Provo, Utah, US: Ancestry.com Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. ...

Awards

He has won national and international awards for his teaching and clinical work, including a

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award as part of a care team featured in an ITV documentary. He received the prestigious national BMJ/BMA Clinical Teacher of the year award, the Best Trainer Award Wales 2016 and the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care Award. In 2014, he was elected to become a Fellow of the

Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales () is a national academy, learned society and Charitable organization, charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the W ...

Open letter to David Bowie

In 2016, he published a thank you letter to

after the singer's death, with reference to Bowie's last album, '' Blackstar.'' The letter was initially published in the

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and then the Independent Newspaper and was shared by David Bowie's son

Duncan Jones Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971) is a British film director, film producer and screenwriter. He directed the films ''Moon'' (2009), ''Source Code'' (2011), '' Warcraft'' (2016), and '' Mute'' (2018). For ''Moon'', he won the BAFT ...

. It went viral online and in worldwide newsrooms. It was subsequently read out by actor

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Benedict Cumberbatch, various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurenc ...

and singer

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

at public events. The letter addresses issues such as

and planning for the end of life. Bowie's story became a way to communicate important aspects of dying with a palliative care patient. The letter was turned into a classical music string quartet composition for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, featuring Taubert reading the letter. It toured, premiering at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

and the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

. According to the Herald Newspaper Scotland it 'sound tracked a reading of an open letter to David Bowie by palliative care doctor Mark Taubert, which has been a celebrated part of the marking of the passing of the rock star, played here on the fourth anniversary of his death.' The open letter has also been printed in several books, including Dylan Jones' David Bowie- A Life and Letters of Note - Music by Shaun Usher, part of the Letters Live event brand, where the letter was read out twice.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taubert, Mark 21st-century German physicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people NHS Wales British palliative care physicians 21st-century Welsh medical doctors Welsh medical researchers Academics of Cardiff University 21st-century British medical doctors Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales

Media work

Awards

Open letter to David Bowie

External links

References