Portrait of Dame Stephanie Shirley for the Academy of Medical Sciences

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH DBE FRFng FMedSci – Entrepreneur & Philanthropist

I photographed Dame Stephanie (also known as Steve) recently for the Academy of Medical Sciences work/life project – #MedSciLife. Dame Stephanie arrived in England almost 80 years ago in 1939 as an unaccompanied 5 year old refugee from Nazi Germany. Since then, it has been her goal to prove that her life was worth saving. Having donated in excess of £50 million to autism projects through her own charity the ‘Shirley Foundation’, she has most certainly accomplished this.

This shoot took place at her home to capture her life outside work but in Dame Stephanie’s own words she is a ‘rabid workaholic’. She continues, ‘I have never had, nor ever aspired to, what other people call a work/life balance. I am defined by my work. It’s not just something I do when I’d rather be doing something else. We create our most lasting legacy not in what we leave behind but in the way we live’.

I read Dame Stephanie’s biography ‘Let it go’ prior to this shoot and found it both inspiring & profoundly moving.

The Academy of Medical Sciences do amazing work representing the diversity of medical science. Their #MedSciLife project can be found at medscilife.org.