Speaker Profile

Dr Caroline Hoffman

CEO, Paul’s Cancer Support, Integrative Oncology Specialist, Mindfulness-Based Approaches Teacher and Retreat Leader, UK.

Caroline has specialised in integrative healthcare for over 35 years in the NHS, voluntary and private sectors. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her contribution to breast cancer support services in 2014. She is part-time CEO of Paul’s Cancer Support. Before that she was Clinical and Research Director at Breast Cancer Haven and led the integrative support teams there for 20 years. Her previous NHS role was as the first Nurse Consultant in Cancer Rehabilitation at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Caroline’s 35 years of expertise in complementary therapies and integrative medicine and research has made her a leader in this field.

She has a degree in social work, is an intensive care trained nurse, traditional Chinese acupuncturist, shiatsu practitioner, aromatherapist, reflexologist and mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher and certified mindful self-compassion teacher and retreat leader. Her doctoral research showed significant benefits from the mindfulness-based stress reduction programme (MBSR) in people affected by breast cancer and was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2012 and she has published 15 research or service evaluations on the effectiveness of integrative approaches in breast cancer. Caroline continues to teach 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) courses and lead retreats nationally and internationally. Her evaluation of MSC in women affected by breast cancer has been accepted for publication in a peer reviewed international journal.