Pam Rhodes - TLM Hero

Writer and broadcaster Pam Rhodes is the Vice President of The Leprosy Mission Great Britain. Pam has presented the BBCs Songs of Praise for almost 40 years, visiting thousands of churches and communities, and interviewing Dolly Parton, Rev Jesse Jackson and members of the Royal family along the way. On the day Princess Diana tragically died, Rhodes was proud to present a special Songs of Praise from St Paul’s Cathedral, honouring another great supporter of our cause.

It took just one visit to a hospital in Nepal to inspire Pam to support the Mission. Ananaban Hospital just outside Kathmandu is a centre for groundbreaking research into the condition, where staff care for tens of thousands of patients each year. Rhodes was shocked by the stigma and shame still attached to the disease, and galvanised by the chance we have to eradicate it during our lifetime: a cause she has remained committed to ever since. “I’d like to work to a point where The Leprosy Mission isn’t needed anymore,” she told a journalist in 2019, perfectly highlighting the unique opportunity we must rise to.