Career
She is the wife of British sociologist Garry Runciman, as such she can be styled as Viscountess Runciman of Doxford, a title she does not use. Her son David is a political scientist and writer She served for more than three decades with the Citizens Advice Bureau and made significant contributions to work on drug misuse, for which she was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1991, which was later elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Ruth Runciman was an early trustee of the National Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Trust (now known as NAT), and served as its Chair from 2000 to 2006.
She was responsible for setting up a full-time Citizens" Advice Bureau in Wormwood Scrubs, the first full-time independent advice agency in any prison.
She is also a Trustee of the Pilgrim Trust. She was Chair of Central and North West London National Health Service Foundation Trust for more than ten years, retiring at the end of 2013.
