Professor Mark TaubertFRCPFRCGPFLSW is a German-British
consultant doctor and professor of medicine at
Cardiff University.[1][2] He is a palliative care
physician in Wales, who according to the
Western Mail[3] and
Welsh Government website [4] has contributed significantly to the development of his specialty, and has received recognition as a doctor and campaigner, nationally and internationally.
He wrote to the late
David Bowie in January 2016 about a conversation he held with a dying patient, a letter that was shared across the world.[5][6][7][8]
He is founder of TalkCPR, an international information campaign about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions. He is national chair of the Advance & Future Care Strategy Group for the
NHS Wales Executive.
Media work
He has authored articles on medical topics and
palliative care in international newspapers such as the
Washington Post[9] and the
Guardian.[10][11] Taubert founded Talk CPR,[12][13] an international information campaign that discusses do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions, also known by the acronym
DNACPR. His explanatory Talk CPR resources have been viewed over a million times worldwide,[14] and he has been interviewed and spoken about the topic on
BBC News at Six and
BBC News at 10.
Taubert has delivered a TEDx
talk on the use of language in palliative care.[15] He has also featured on two palliative care themed recordings for the UK's BBC
Listening Project in 2019 [16] and 2020 [17] and on
BBC Horizon's 'We need to talk about Death' with
Kevin Fong.[18]
Awards
He has won national and international awards for his teaching and clinical work, including a
Bafta award as part of a care team featured in an ITV documentary.[19] He received the prestigious national BMJ/BMA Clinical Teacher of the year award,[20][21] the Best Trainer Award Wales 2016[22] and the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care Award.[23]
In 2016, he published a thank you letter to
David Bowie after the singer's death, with reference to Bowie's last album, Blackstar.[25][26] The letter was initially published in the
British Medical Journal[27][28] and then the Independent Newspaper[29] and was shared by David Bowie's son
Duncan Jones.[30] It went viral online and in worldwide newsrooms.[31][32][33] It was subsequently read out by actor
Benedict Cumberbatch[34] and singer
Jarvis Cocker[35] at public events. The letter addresses issues such as
palliative care and planning for the
end of life. Bowie's story became a way to communicate important aspects of dying with a palliative care patient.[36][37]
The letter was turned into a classical music string quartet composition for
BBC Radio 3, featuring Taubert reading the letter.[38][36] It toured, premiering at the
Royal Northern College of Music[39] and the
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. According to the Herald Newspaper Scotland it 'sound tracked a reading of an open letter to David Bowie by palliative care doctor Mark Taubert, which has been a celebrated part of the marking of the passing of the rock star, played here on the fourth anniversary of his death.' [40]
The open letter has also been printed in several books, including
Dylan Jones' David Bowie- A Life [41] and Letters of Note - Music [42] by
Shaun Usher, part of the Letters Live event brand, where the letter was read out twice.