Prof Sam H AhmedzaiAcademic

Biography

Prof Sam H Ahmedzai FRCP FFPMRCoA is Emeritus Professor in the Medical School at the University of Sheffield, with 30 years of experience as a consultant physician in palliative medicine covering both acute hospital and hospice settings. In 1994 he was appointed to the first Chair of Palliative Medicine at Sheffield, and remained as Chair and Head of the Academic Unit of Supportive Care until his retirement in 2015. He chaired the NICE guideline committee for NG31 (2015) on Care of the Dying Adult in the Last Days of Life and served as clinical adviser to NICE guideline NG142 (2019) on End of Life care – service delivery. His research covers the biology of pain, cancer symptom management, quality of life assessment, and patient and public involvement in cancer research. He has served as NIHR National Specialty Lead for supportive care and hospice research and co-chaired the NCRI Living With and Beyond Cancer research group. He gave oral and written evidence to the House of Commons committee examining the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in January 2025, expressing support for the Bill from a palliative medicine perspective.

References

1. 1.Professor Sam Ahmedzai – LexMedica — Current emeritus role, Sheffield career history, NIHR and NCRI roles, research interests
2. 2.Professor Sam Ahmedzai – Written statement to House of Lords Select Committee (TIA0012) — 40 years of palliative medicine experience, NICE NG31 chair role, NG142 clinical adviser role, continued academic activity
3. 3.Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – Third Sitting, Hansard, 28 January 2025 — Oral evidence to House of Commons committee; description as emeritus professor of palliative medicine, University of Sheffield
4. 4.Development of the guideline – Care of Dying Adults in the Last Days of Life, NCBI Bookshelf — Confirms Sam Ahmedzai chaired the NICE NG31 guideline committee
5. 5.Emeritus Professor Sam H Ahmedzai FRCP FFPM – SCAS

Expertise

Cited on

• Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Stated areas of expertise

• Palliative and end-of-life care
• Cancer pain and opioid management
• NICE guideline development
• Supportive care in cancer and chronic illness
• Assisted dying policy
• Patient and public involvement in research

Notable achievements

• Chaired the NICE guideline committee for NG31 (2015) on Care of the Dying Adult in the Last Days of Life Source ↗
• Served as clinical adviser to NICE guideline NG142 (2019) on End of Life Care for Adults – Service Delivery Source ↗
• Appointed to the first Chair of Palliative Medicine in the Medical School at the University of Sheffield in 1994 Source ↗
• Gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, January 2025 Source ↗
• Submitted written evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, October 2025 Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “As a physician and academic who has worked in this area for 40 years, I would like to raise three underlying issues.”

  Emeritus professor of palliative medicine, University of Sheffield · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · End-of-life care needs a fundamental review, not just more funding | Letters ↗

Source references

1. End-of-life care needs a fundamental review, not just more funding | Letterstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://lexmedica.co.uk/professor-sam-ahmedzai/
• Websitehttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sam-Ahmedzai
• Staff pagehttp://www.scas.org.uk/about/governance-and-staff/emeritus-professor-sam-h-ahmedzai-frcp-ffpm/

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.