With over 45 years of experience in her field, Rose dedicated her life to addressing cancer inequalities faced by global majority and low-income communities, and worked tirelessly to improve cancer care for all.

Rose was born in Nottingham, UK to her parents Samuel and Monica Miller, who came to Britain from Jamaica as part of the Windrush Generation. Born as one half of a set of twins, Rose was one of a total of eight siblings and spent her early years growing up in a lively Caribbean home.

Rose's journey with cancer started when her mother died of breast cancer at age 47 while Rose was training at Nottingham School of Radiotherapy. Sadly, Rose went on to lose two more sisters to the disease, including her twin sister Maureen. These experiences, as well as Rose’s observations of global majority communities being diagnosed with cancer at young ages ignited Rose’s passion for improving cancer awareness and care for those in society who had been frequently overlooked.

During her 40 years of work, Rose was invited to become the national Black and Minority Ethnic Cancer Information Specialist at Europe’s leading cancer information and support charity, Cancerbackup (now integrated with Macmillan Cancer Support). Rose eventually went on to co-found her own organisation BME Cancer Communities (now The Rose Thompson Foundation) with her husband Lindsay in 2009. During her 14 year tenure as CEO, she went on to found two cancer support groups (Friends and Bredrins and Sista's Against Cancer), authored the ground-breaking ‘Hear Me Now’ reports addressing the high rates of prostate cancer in African-Caribbean men, and established the prostate cancer community clinic ‘Check Tings Out’. In 2017, Rose received an honorary doctorate in Social Science from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of her significant contribution to global majority community engagement in preventative cancer care.

In 2015, Rose sadly became the fifth member of her family to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite this, Rose never stopped working, continuing to lead  her beloved charity, and serve as a trusted adviser and trustee for organisations like Can-Survive UK, and  the Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer Screening. In 2017, Rose received an honorary doctorate in Social Science from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of her significant contribution to community engagement in preventative cancer care.

After a valiant 8 year battle, Dr Rose Thompson passed away from breast cancer on the 14 June 2023. She continued to provide cancer support and advice right up until the day before her passing. The loss of Rose has been felt deeply, not only by her loved ones, but by the many patients, friends and colleagues’ lives she touched across the globe. While Rose is no longer with us physically, The Rose Thompson Foundation exists to serve as a symbol of her legacy, and to continue pushing forward the vital work she started.