Ysbyty Gwynedd doctor recognised at national award ceremony
25 May, 2023
A doctor described as a ‘visionary leader’ has been recognised at a national awards ceremony that honours the best and brightest ethnic women in Wales.
Dr Kakali Mitra was appointed as Consultant Interventional Radiologist at Ysbyty Gwynedd in 2007 and has been the Clinical Director for Radiology at the Health Board since 2018. In this role she has overseen the transformation of Radiology services in North Wales.
Dr Mitra was nominated by her colleague, Consultant Chemical Pathologist Dr Yee Ping Teoh for the Management and Leadership Award at this year’s Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement Association Awards in Cardiff.
The mother-of-two was awarded a Highly Meritorious Contribution certificate at the ceremony in Cardiff City Hall and also had the chance to meet with the First Minister Mark Drakeford and the founder and chairperson of EMWWAA, Professor Meena Upadhyaya OBE.
Dr Teoh said: “Dr Mitra is an extremely hardworking and passionate leader with a clear vision, she has been instrumental in transforming Radiology services in our Health Board for nearly a decade.
“Together with her team in Radiology, she has steered the department through some of the most challenging periods in recent times, modernising Radiology services throughout the COVID pandemic to cope with escalating demands across all specialities which require some form of Radiology imaging.
“With the current massive cost pressures to the NHS services, she has transformed her departmental services to make significant efficiency savings while ensuring that her department can deal with the backlog of urgent suspected cancer diagnoses and monitoring of chronic medical conditions.
“This is such a wonderful achievement for Dr Mitra – we are very proud of her.”
Dr Mitra, together with other clinical colleagues, was also instrumental in helping to establish the one-stop Rapid Diagnostic Clinics across the Health Board to allow direct GP referrals of patients with suspected cancer diagnosis so that they will have urgent diagnostic scans including CT scans done on the same day as their hospital consultation.
Dr Mitra said: “It is very humbling and rewarding to be acknowledged on an all Wales basis. For me it was an amazing opportunity to be around Wales’ female leaders and hearing about what they do so well.
“I am incredibly passionate about Radiology and North Wales so this certificate is great recognition of our work and what we are trying to do for our patients.
"Also having two daughters myself I think this award is a way of showing that women, no matter where in the the world they come from, if they work hard then they can achieve anything."