International collaboration for enhancing patient advocacy

Project overview

When we talk about blood donation, the focus is often on donors and the generosity of giving. Far less visible are the experiences of those who receive blood – the patients navigating complex healthcare systems, cultural expectations and often linguistic barriers while managing life-changing diagnoses. 

For Dr Jieun Kim, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, attending more closely to patients’ stories is key to strengthening blood donation cultures and, more broadly, healthcare systems. In 2025, funded by the University of Leeds’ Impact Acceleration Account, Dr Kim took forward a new project that built on her AHRC Fellowship, ‘Hematopolitics: Blood Donation and Contested Belonging in East Asia’, and focused on strengthening blood patient advocacy. 

“Throughout 2025, we brought together partners in the UK and South Korea – including  Blood Cancer UK, the Korea Leukaemia Patients Organisation and the Thackray Museum of Medicine - to support blood patients in sharing their experiences and strengthening advocacy across borders and languages,” Dr Kim explains. 

One strand of the project focused on international exchange. In May, Dr Kim facilitated a workshop bringing together seven members of Blood Cancer UK and five representatives from the Korea Leukemia Patients Organisation. The event created space to share best practice, discuss advocacy strategies and explore the similarities and differences between patient support structures in distinct national contexts. By enabling sustained conversation rather than one-off contact, the workshop laid the groundwork for longer-term collaboration which continues to this day. 

The project also prioritised public engagement and included a collaborative exhibition at Leeds’ Thackray Museum of Medicine which reached nearly 10,000 visitors. Attendees expressed deep gratitude for the lifesaving impact of blood donation and often shared personal stories: “You have saved many lives including mine,” one wrote in a message. Dr Kim also engaged with the public through the University’s Be Curious festival in 2025, where she ran an interactive stall titled ‘How Far Blood Travels Outside the Body’ and spoke to nearly 200 visitors – including more than 100 children – about the journeys blood makes and the stories attached to it. 

Meanwhile, central to the project’s legacy is the creation of the Hematopolitics Medical Interpretation and Community Engagement Group at the University of Leeds. Through two specialist workshops led by a certified medical interpreter, seven students completed training and formed a volunteer group providing interpretation and cultural liaison support at collaborative events.  

By bringing these organisations, institutions, and the University of Leeds into closer collaboration, Dr Kim's IAA project has helped to enhance capacity for multilingual, patient-centred advocacy in healthcare and public engagement contexts. “Blood cancer patients, advocacy organisations, museums, and student volunteers in the UK and Korea are really benefitting from these new networks, from sharing knowledge, and from improved cultural mediation,” Dr Kim says. 

Going forward, the team will be focusing on using their experience and evidence to engage with policymakers in South Korea and to enable lasting social change. Plans include further collaboration between UK and Korean organisations, dissemination of Dr Kim’s children’s book Amazing Blood Ties! in Korean and Japanese translations, and new funding bids. 

“I’m incredibly excited by the possibilities this project brings,” Dr Kim says. “It links communities across different languages and societies, empowers patients, and opens up new ways to work together, learn, and transform healthcare conversations.” 

Project team

Dr Jieun Kim (School of Languages, Cultures and Societies) 

Thackray Museum of Medicine 

Korea Leukemia Patient Organization 

Blood Cancer UK