Pro Chancellor Baroness Finlay

The Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, FRCP, FRCGP, FLSW, FMedSci (Hon 2002).

Baroness Finlay became the first Consultant in Palliative Medicine in Wales in 1987, has taught palliative care through Cardiff University distance learning courses to doctors and other health care professionals around the world, and set up palliative care teams in France and the Netherlands. She has been an Honorary Fellow of the University since 2002, was President of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2006 to 2008.  She has published over 245 papers in peer reviewed journals.

In 2001, she entered the House of Lords as a life peer as Baroness Finlay of Llandaff. Thereafter, she advocated for ban on smoking in public places in Wales three years before such a ban was introduced, and has sponsored legislation to regulate the use of sunbeds and to regulate high street cosmetic procedures. She is Honorary President of the Carbon Monoxide Research Trust and has been active in many All Party Parliamentary Groups, including co- chairing the Dying Well Group, promoting palliative care.  She also led the Commission on Palliative Care inquiry and report, published in 2025.

Baroness Finlay is a patron to a number of charities. In 1996, she was awarded ‘Welsh Woman of the Year’ and has been listed amongst the 100 most influential people in Parliament.