We are delighted to send congratulations to Dr Lewis Owens on the announcement of his MBE in the New Year’s Honours List. As well as being one of the most dedicated fundraisers for the research at the CBU, Lewis has given enormously to society through his charitable works including the Rays of Sunshine charity, Prisons’ Education Trust, and foundation of the “Saint Martin’s Challenge” organisation which supports over 50 charities now. As well as fundraising, Lewis’s own voluntary work includes prison reform and education, neurology and neurosurgery, and hostages and detainees just to name a few. He is very committed to both his longstanding mentoring for young offenders at HMPYOI Feltham and supports the chaplaincy work at HMP Pentonville. And in more recently times he also took up voluntary on a weekly basis on the stroke wards at Hillingdon Hospital and other local hospitals. Finally and more formally, Lewis is a former Trustee of the Prisoners’ Education Trust, of the Autism Research Trust, and of the Autism Centre of Excellence. Given this amazing array of societal contributions, Lewis’s MBE is more than thoroughly deserved. Here at the CBU, we are honoured to count Lewis as one of the CBU ‘family’.

 Lewis said: “It has been a tremendous privilege for me to support the work of the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge. This Unit, expertly led by Professor Matt Lambon Ralph, covers so many vital areas, from aphasia and stroke rehabilitation to adolescent mental health. As such, it is one of the most important Units not only in Cambridge but throughout the world. Many of us will be affected by neurological and psychological complications at some point in our lives and we owe a huge debt to the potentially life-saving work of CBU.”