Laura Muñoz’s name hints at a rich multicultural background. A Spanish and British national, educated in the French school system, having studied medicine in Paris and married to a Franco-British man, Laura is a true product of the French-speaking world!

Having qualified in general practice in the early 2000s, she also specialises in preventive medicine, nutrition, smoking cessation and women’s health. Laura first worked in Paris and the surrounding region, combining hospital work and consultations. Her interest in smoking cessation arose after a few months in a cardiology department, at a time when anti-smoking laws were emerging in public spaces, workplaces and so on. Once qualified in smoking cessation, she also became involved with the Office Français de prévention du Tabagisme (OFT), the association behind the Tabac Info Service helpline.

When she moved to London in 2007 with her husband and one child, while pregnant with her second, she quickly got in touch with French-speaking doctors, through whom she discovered the Dispensaire Français.

She began her career in the UK by holding a few volunteer GP clinics at the Dispensaire, then started working for Roodlane Medical, since acquired by the major private group HCA Healthcare, where she still practises. She explains her many-hatted volunteer role at the Dispensaire:

• Laura holds a clinic once a week as a GP;
• She has also been Head of the Medical Area since 2023, which means she recruits, supervises and appraises all medical and paramedical staff (excluding the psychology area). In this capacity she chairs the quarterly meetings of the medical committee, covering patient matters, training, audit, organisation and operations;
• Finally, Laura is a trustee, in other words a member of the Dispensaire’s board — the board that ensures the organisation’s good governance and compliance, and decides on its direction and investments (for example: training on violence against women, purchasing an electrocardiogram machine, etc.).

🏆 In 2022, Laura Muñoz received HCA’s humanitarian award (the Frist Humanitarian Award) for her volunteer work with the Dispensaire Français!

Extremely tolerant and resilient, Laura admits she learned volunteering and management ‘on the job’, but is keen to highlight the immense kindness of all the Dispensaire’s administrative and medical staff, which makes it, in her words, ‘quite a magical and exceptional place’.

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☀️ Next month, you will be able to read the profile of Olivier Nicolay, our Chair.

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Many thanks to Delphine Gourgues, volunteer copywriter, for creating this series of profiles!