Scottish charity leaders recognised in King’s Honours for life-saving work
A HIGH-PROFILE Scottish husband and wife have been jointly awarded MBEs in the King’s Birthday Honours List for their remarkable contribution to children’s healthcare across the globe.
Garreth and Nicola Wood have been recognised for services to health and charity, particularly surgery for children internationally- a nod to their transformative work through the charity they co-founded, Kids Operating Room.
Founded in 2018, Kids Operating Room is a Scottish-based global health organisation creating permanent paediatric operating rooms in low- and middle-income countries. With projects in more than 40 countries, the charity has helped build capacity for nearly 200,000 life-saving operations annually.
Professor George G Youngson CBE, Trustee of Kids Operating Room, said: “The impact that our charity has had on the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of children across the world is a testament to the leadership, commitment and energy shown by our co-founders, Garreth and Nicola Wood.
“Kids Operating Room is delighted that Garreth and Nicola have both been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2025, a richly deserved recognition.”
As co-founders, Garreth and Nicola have helped guide the charity from an ambitious idea into a globally recognised organisation working to solve a critical and largely hidden global health emergency – the lack of access to safe surgical care for children in low-resource countries.
Garreth Wood MBE, Executive Chairman of Kids Operating Room, said: “From co-founding Kids Operating Room together, to championing causes close to our hearts here in Scotland and around the world, our journey has always been about giving every child a fairer start in life.
“Nicola and I were deeply honoured to each receive an MBE for ‘Services to Health and Charity, particularly Surgery for Children internationally’.
“It’s humbling to be recognised in this way, and even more special to share this moment side-by-side with Nicola.”
Kids Operating Room invests in building local capacity for paediatric surgery by installing state-of-the-art surgical infrastructure, providing training and equipment to local teams, and pioneering the use of solar-powered operating rooms to combat unreliable power supply in remote regions.
Over the past seven years, the charity has installed close to 100 paediatric operating rooms across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Its innovative solar surgery systems have been deployed in over 200 hospitals, allowing uninterrupted life-saving operations even during blackouts.
It recently installed solar panels at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya to avoid disastrous power outages that resulted in the hospital only able to use one theatre, causing huge back logs.
Nicola Wood MBE, Co-founder and Trustee, said: “We’re so incredibly grateful to everyone who has been a part of this journey. The dedication, passion and belief of our colleagues around the world, who are working tirelessly to build a fairer world for children, inspires us every day.
“These awards are a tribute to the entire team at Kids Operating Room. We are more motivated than ever to keep going.”
Kids Operating Room achievements include preventing more than 11 million years of disability and generating over $20 billion of economic benefit for partner countries.
The charity’s long-term vision is to become redundant – a world where every nation has the infrastructure and expertise to care for its children without relying on external aid.
David Cunningham, CEO of Kids Operating Room said: “I cannot think of two more worthy recipients of an honour. Each and every day, both Garreth and Nicola transform the lives of children around the world.
“It takes tremendous generosity to work so tirelessly to make the lives of complete strangers so significantly better. Everyone at Kids Operating Room is extremely proud to be part of their team and of the work they have inspired and continue to lead with such energy and enthusiasm.”
Kids Operating Room has ambitious plans to scale further. In 2019, it pledged to install 100 operating rooms by 2030. That goal was met four and a half years early. Now, the charity is doubling down with a new pledge to install another 100 rooms by the end of 2030.
Despite ongoing challenges in the global funding landscape, the charity continues to grow. Garreth and Nicola have personally pledged to underwrite core running costs for the next six years, helping ensure that every external donation goes directly to front-line projects.
With headquarters in Edinburgh and a Global Operations Centre in Dundee, Kids Operating Room continues to punch well above its weight on the world stage. The charity remains a shining example of Scottish innovation and global solidarity in healthcare.
For more information about Kids Operating Room, visit: https://www.kidsor.org/
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