(She/her) 2026
Katie Callaghan BCAv is a youth health advocate and charity founder. While spending four months in hospital as a teenager, Katie founded Cards for Bravery, a lived experience led charity supporting children, young people and families affected by serious and chronic illness. The charity provides handmade cards, activity packs, care packages and resources designed to improve emotional wellbeing and create brighter moments during illness, working with over 90 NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations across the UK.
Alongside her charity work, Katie advocates for better healthcare experiences and greater inclusion of young people’s voices, using lived experience to inform policy and healthcare decision-making, particularly around the transition from children’s to adult services.
Her work has been recognised nationally and internationally, including being named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Impact, receiving a National Diversity Award and the British Citizen Award. Across her work, Katie is passionate about turning lived experience into meaningful change and creating better, more inclusive systems for the next generation.