Thirty years ago Laura Serrant was one of the first nursing students to graduate from Sheffield City Polytechnic. Now, she's back as Professor of Nursing, aiming to inspire future generations of nurses.

Professor Laura Serrant's long and varied career in healthcare has seen her work to tackle social attitudes towards HIV and AIDS in the early 1990s and travel to America and the Caribbean to research prostate cancer among black men.

She has helped to shape national healthcare policy in high-profile roles with the government and NHS England.

And now the woman named one of the 'most inspirational women in healthcare' has returned to the institution where she first qualified as a nurse to become the University's new professor of nursing.

Born in Nottingham to Dominican parents, Professor Serrant qualified in 1986 after studying on one of the few nursing degree programmes in the country. Based in Collegiate Hall at Collegiate Campus, Laura was the only black student amongst the 30-strong cohort that had enrolled onto the four-year course.

Laura says: "Being the only black student was a source of pride for me as I was the first person in my family to go to university. I always felt well supported by the university, especially Peter Twomey my personal tutor -  it was also sometimes difficult - especially when patients refused to be touched by 'that black nurse'. But I always knew this was what I was meant to do."

Laura's first job after qualifying was in gynaecology at the Jessop Hospital and during that time she returned to the University to study a part-time Masters degree in Women's Studies.

But when the HIV and AIDS pandemic struck in the early 1990s, Laura went to work in sexual and reproductive health - a move that would inform a huge part of her career.

Following the birth of her son in 1990, Laura returned to Nottingham to work as a nurse and outreach worker around HIV and AIDS.

She recalls: "I remember people were terrified of everything at the time and we had no idea what caused it. People were dying within two weeks of diagnosis and I witnessed individuals and communities being disrespected, abused and vilified for simply belonging to what were termed 'risk groups'.

"I did a lot of outreach work with prostitutes, BME communities, drug and alcohol dependents and the homeless and my early years as a newly qualified nurse working in sexual health were shaped by the affects and effects of AIDS on society."

Laura's unconventional move into academia came after she was asked to cover a health education evening at Arnold and Carlton College in Nottingham following a friend's skiing accident.

"It was only supposed to be for six weeks but I continued in Further Education for 8 years whilst continuing as a nurse," says Laura. "I was eventually offered a full-time role in the college and by the time I came to leave in 1998, I had worked my way up to become director of care, health and childcare services."

After having three children, Laura secured her first job in higher education in 1998 at the University of Nottingham where she spent nine years, including time as head of Adult Health.

She then went on to undertake a number of research roles at the University of Lincoln and the University of Wolverhampton followed by an 18-month secondment as head of evidence and strategy at NHS England, informing the development of the new nursing and midwifery strategy that launched in April this year.

She was also part of the Government's Independent Advisory Group on BME issues relating to sexual health and HIV which saw the development of the first national strategy for sexual health and HIV for England in 2001.

Yet despite these high-profile roles and the Health Service Journal naming her as one of the most inspirational women in healthcare, a top clinical leader and a 'pioneer' for BME groups, Laura's two most stand-out moments of her career were the unveiling of the Mary Seacole statue outside St Mary's Hospital, London - the first ever to a named black woman in England and the result of 12 years of fundraising and campaigning - and the election of the first black president of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

"I was almost moved to tears," says Laura as she recalls the moment Cecilia Anim made history at the RCN congress in 2014. "It marked a great turning point in nursing, not only because of the diversity which is now represented at the highest level of this professional body, but because it signified that, at last, the importance of selecting a candidate who can represent nursing and looked beyond the visible differences that often separate us. It was an incredibly special moment."

Various research scholarships and awards funded the pilot for her PhD study which identified a gap in sexual healthcare services for black men. A Winston Churchill Fellowship meant she was able to travel to America and the Caribbean to explore how effective their community initiatives were and whether they were transferable to the UK.

Laura explains: "In the UK, black Caribbean and African men have a very high death rate from prostate cancer, higher than they should have. Early diagnosis is key as well as sticking with treatment. Black men tend to have late diagnosis because they don't go to their GP early enough and they don't stick with treatment.

"The fellowship looked at why this is and whether it was an issue because they are a minority. In both countries, they had regular recall screening and caught people earlier and was very much normalised over there whereas it's not in the UK."

Following the death of her father to prostate cancer five years ago, Laura now has an even bigger incentive to improve outcomes for men with the disease and is exploring how she can collaborate with colleagues in the University to develop services and innovative ways to encourage men to go to their GP early and stick with treatments.

"It's really is great to be back in this incredibly diverse city," said Laura. "I am one of less than 10 BME professors of nursing in the UK so the fact one of us is in Sheffield is a big thing and it's important to be seen and important for people to see that.

"I absolutely loved being a student here and I think it's brilliant for our students to have a professor here who used to be a student and was in the exact same position as they are now.

"It really is a privilege to be back at Hallam."