DEBRA former Chair of Trustees Jim Irvine recommended for MBE

We are delighted that our former Chair of Trustees, Jim Irvine, is being recommended to His Majesty The King for the Honour of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the New Year 2026 Honours List.

The award is in recognition of Jim’s services to people living with epidermolysis bullosa (EB) over the past 25 years.

It was a DEBRA golf day that Jim attended where he first learned about EB. He was moved by what he heard that day and vowed from then onwards to do whatever he could to help improve quality of life for people affected by all forms of EB.

During his long association with DEBRA, Jim served as a Trustee, Treasurer and for the last 6 years as Chair of Trustees, including navigating the charity during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Jim’s leadership, significant progress has been made on our journey to a world where no one must suffer with EB. Our collective understanding of EB has advanced significantly, and we now have a clear research strategy that prioritises investment in drug repurposing. This is evidenced by our recent announcement of joint funding to secure the ART-EB project, the single largest investment yet, anywhere in the world, into EB research.

There is still much to do but thanks to Jim’s vision and leadership, effective treatments for EB are now within reach.

On the behalf of everyone at DEBRA, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to Jim for everything that he has done to support the EB community and congratulate him on this richly deserved award.

Commenting on this recognition, Jim said:

“I’m delighted to have been recognised for my work with DEBRA but want to dedicate this award to the EB community.

I’ve been inspired by and learned so much from the EB families that I’ve met over the years and have consistently been in awe of their stoicism. Those living with the daily challenges that come with having EB are the ones who deserve recognition and I thank them for everything they’ve taught me over the last 25 years.

Whilst we’ve come a long way, there’s still so much to be done. I look forward to help continuing the fight in whatever way that I can”.