Elizabeth Louise O'Riordan (née Ball; born 1974) is a British retired breast surgeon, known for her work in

breast cancer awareness Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raising awareness, raise awareness and reduce the Social stigma, stigma of breast cancer through education about Breast cancer screening, screening, Cancer signs and symptoms, symptoms, and Breast cancer ...

by openly discussing her personal experiences in being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. O'Riordan trained in oncoplastic breast surgery at the

Royal Marsden Hospital The Royal Marsden Hospital is a specialist National Health Service oncology hospital in London based at two sites in Brompton, in Kensington and Chelsea, and Belmont in Sutton. It is managed by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and supp ...

, London. In 2015 she was appointed consultant in oncoplastic surgery at

Ipswich Hospital Ipswich Hospital is a large district general hospital in Heath Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It is now managed by East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust which was formed on 1 July 2018 by the merging of Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust w ...

in Suffolk. Two years into that post she was diagnosed with breast cancer and since then regularly blogs, tweets, creates podcasts, and in 2016 delivered a

TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

. In addition, having experienced being a patient, she talks to physicians about it. Her self-help book completed with professor of primary care

Trisha Greenhalgh Patricia Mary Greenhalgh (born 11 March 1959) is a British professor of primary health care at the University of Oxford, and retired general practitioner. Early life and education Trisha Greenhalgh was born on 11 March 1959. She attended Folk ...

, titled ''

The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer ''The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer'' is a self-help book, published by Vermilion (imprint of Penguin Random House) in 2018, and written by Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary health care and retired general practitioner, and Liz O'Riordan, ...

'', was published in 2018. That year, a statue of her showing her topless was unveiled in her home town of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

. Around the same time she retired from her surgical job following a recurrence of the disease and further treatment that resulted in an inability to properly use her left arm. Her memoir '' Under the Knife'' was released in July 2023, around the same time as discovering she had breast cancer for the third time. O'Riordan was also recognized as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Louise O'Riordan née Ball, was born in 1974 to surgeon and

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

Keith Ball and his wife Isobel, a nurse. She has one brother. After observing

colorectal surgery Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices rela ...

during

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

work experience, she decided she wished to be a surgeon. She gained admission to the University of Wales College of Cardiff and subsequently received her medical degree in 1998.

Surgical career

O'Riordan completed her early surgical training in South Wales, where her first junior post was in

paediatric surgery Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of surgery involving the surgery of fetuses, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. History Pediatric surgery arose in the middle of the 1879 century as the surgical care of birth defects required ...

. Under the supervision of David Wynford-Thomas 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 ...

, she studied the

molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the st ...

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck, ...

, completed her

doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

and received her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 2008. In 2011 she was granted a

fellowship A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

in oncoplastic surgery at the

, London. During her time there, she began a master's in that same specialty at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, subsequently appointed her consultant surgeon in oncoplastic surgery in 2013.

Breast cancer

In 2015, O'Riordan was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. She had previously had two harmless

breast cyst A breast cyst is a cyst, a fluid-filled sac, within the breast. One breast can have one or more cysts. They are often described as round or oval lumps with distinct edges. In texture, a breast cyst usually feels like a soft grape or a water-filled ...

s in 2010 and 2014, and thought this third lump would be the same. Tests revealed a cancer, following which she completed

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

and underwent a

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

. Throughout her treatment and recovery, O'Riordan turned to exercise and started raising awareness about breast cancer. She began engaging in public speaking, and delivered a

in Germany, titled "The Jar of Joy", in 2016. She also took to

blogging A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, posting about breast cancer, among other topics. Having experienced being a patient, she also talks to physicians about it. Following treatment, she returned to work in November 2017. In 2018, due to local recurrence of the cancer, she required further surgery followed by

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle ...

. Having been called "incredible" for her efforts in

, she decided to attend her last radiotherapy session dressed as

Elastigirl Helen Parr (née Truax), also known as Elastigirl or Mrs. Incredible, is a fictional character in Pixar's The Incredibles (franchise), ''The Incredibles'' franchise. A superhero with superhuman elasticity, she can stretch and Contortion, contor ...

, also known as Mrs Incredible, a character from the film ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

''. In an interview for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, she noted that, as she walked through the hospital in her outfit, children attending their cancer treatments looked at her and laughed. She said:

...it was the scariest thing I've ever done, walking through Addenbrooke's from the car park, through the concourse past all these strangers – it was really daunting, but felt amazing knowing people were thinking, 'who is she, what's she doing and where is she going?

O'Riordan retired later the same year, due to an inability to properly use her left arm as a result of cancer treatment. After retirement, she has continued to speak in public. ''

'', authored by O'Riordan and professor of primary care

, was published in 2018. Her

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

"Don't Ignore The Elephant" was created in 2020. Her memoir '' Under the Knife'' was released in 2023. In 2023, O'Riordan was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time.

Awards and honours

O’Riordan was nominated for two awards in 2016; a ‘Woman of the Year’ award, and the Health Education England Patient Leadership award. In 2017, the UK Blog Awards highly commended her for her blog ‘Breast Surgeon with Breast Cancer’. In the same year she was nominated one of

Medscape Medscape is a website providing access to medical information for clinicians and medical scientists; the organization also provides continuing education for physicians and other health professionals. It references medical journal articles, Con ...

's best physicians of the year. In 2018 O’Riordan unveiled a statue of herself in her hometown of

. It was created by Non zero one following her mastectomy, and shows her topless, holding a cyclist's helmet and wearing a triathlon medal.

Personal and family

O'Riordan is married to consultant surgeon Dermot O'Riordan. Following her mother's diagnosis of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an neoplastic, abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as benign, noncancerous (benign) or malignant, cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body su ...

and subsequent death due to spread of the disease, O'Riordan has campaigned to raise awareness of more rare cancers.

Selected publications

Books

* (Co-author) * (Co-author) *

Articles

* (Co-author) * (Co-author) * (Co-author) * (Co-author)

References

External links

* * *{{cite web , title=GlobalData reveals top 20 oncology influencers in Twitter during H1 2023 , url=https://www.globaldata.com/media/business-fundamentals/globaldata-reveals-top-20-oncology-influencers-in-twitter-during-h1-2023/# , website=

GlobalData GlobalData Plc is a data analytics and consulting company, headquartered in London, England. The company was established in 1999, and, under different names, has been listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) since ...

, access-date=6 September 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906074302/https://www.globaldata.com/media/business-fundamentals/globaldata-reveals-top-20-oncology-influencers-in-twitter-during-h1-2023/ , archive-date=6 September 2023 , date=31 July 2023 Living people British surgeons Alumni of the University of East Anglia People from Suffolk British cancer researchers British women surgeons 21st-century British medical doctors British health and wellness writers Alumni of Cardiff University 1974 births British bloggers British public speakers