Our trustees and non-execs
Our trustees are responsible for the overall control and strategic direction of the charity. We have other non-executives, who are people with specialist experience who provide independent advice and recommendations to the trustees.
Our trustees
Our trustees are all unpaid volunteers who give their time and expertise to help achieve our goal of bringing brilliant ideas, ground-breaking research and transformational healthcare to life in East London. They meet regularly throughout the year to discuss strategies and policies and to monitor activities, and to receive reports and updates from the management team.

Steve Bonnard

Steve Bonnard
Steve was a Partner and former Head of Healthcare at Bridgepoint Development Capital, a mid market private equity fund manager and part of the FTSE listed Bridgepoint Group, where he spent 15 years. He has 25 years of finance and investing experience, focused on investing in growth companies in private markets across the UK and Europe. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant and is a CFA charterholder.

Ian Hart

Ian Hart
Ian is Co-Chair of UK Investment Banking at UBS. He was recently seconded for three years to the Takeover Panel as its Director General. He is a qualified chartered accountant and has previously worked at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

Dr Lorna Williamson OBE

Dr Lorna Williamson OBE
Lorna is a haematologist specialising in Transfusion Medicine. After 20 years as an academic clinician in Cambridge, she became national Medical and Research Director of NHS Blood and Transplant. She has held many national and international advisory roles on transfusion safety and research, and has recently been Clinical Director for Communications to the Royal College of Pathologists. She is currently a Non-Executive Board member of the Human Tissue Authority and a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Sally Flanagan

Sally Flanagan
Sally is Director of Unquoted Investments at Caledonia Investments plc and formerly Head of Healthcare Investment teams at private equity investors, Permira and PPM Capital (now Silverfleet). Her non-executive directorships include Gala Bingo, Choice Care Group and the Sloane Club.

Nimesh Patel

Nimesh Patel
Nimesh is CEO at Spirax Sarco Engineering plc, a FTSE100 company. He was formerly CFO of the De Beers Group and Group Head of Corporate Finance at Anglo American plc. He has also spent 14 years in investment banking at both JP Morgan and as a Managing Director at UBS.

Professor Catherine Godson

Professor Catherine Godson
Catherine is Full Professor of Molecular Medicine at University College Dublin (UCD) where she heads up the Diabetes Complications Research Centre at the Conway Institute. She is on the board of the Health Research Board Ireland, the European Medical Research Council and the Physiological Sciences Committee of the Wellcome Trust, and has served as Vice President, Innovation UCD.

Professor Ian Jacobs

Professor Ian Jacobs
Ian is chair of Barts Health NHS Trust and by virtue of holding that post also becomes a trustee of Barts Charity. A cancer surgeon, he has held senior roles at a number of universities in the UK and Australia, including Queen Mary University London. He is currently a nonexecutive director of Cambridge University NHS Trust and founded Eve Appeal, the gynaecological cancer charity.

Jean Murphy

Jean Murphy
Jean has spent her career in wealth management roles at a number of city firms such as Goldman Sachs, ACPI Investments Ltd and Morgan Stanley and led her own wealth advisory business providing investment consultancy and management services. She is also a member of the Investment Committee of Jesus College Cambridge.

Dr Richard Lewis

Dr Richard Lewis
Richard is an independent health strategy consultant and a former partner and health leader at Ernst & Young LLP. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Nuffield Trust and has formerly worked at the King’s Fund and Cabinet Office.

Professor Sarah Purdy OBE

Professor Sarah Purdy OBE
Sarah is Vice Chair of North Bristol NHS Trust and Emeritus Professor of Primary Care at the University of Bristol. Until recently Sarah was a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bristol where she previously held the role of Head of Medical School and Associate Dean. Having trained and practiced as a GP, Sarah was awarded an OBE for services to general practice in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Other non-executives

Dr Kanchan Rege Thrasher

Dr Kanchan Rege Thrasher
Dr Kanchan Rege Thrasher is Associate Medical Director of the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, having previously held the role of Executive Director. While in the Chief Medical Officer role, her focus areas have been medical education, research and development, health inequalities, Emergency Planning, Medico-legal services, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. She is also Chair of East of England Medical Directors’ Forum and remains a practicing Consultant Haematologist.

Professor Mirela Delibegovic

Professor Mirela Delibegovic
Professor Mirela Delibegovic is Dean for Industrial Engagement in Research and Knowledge Transfer and Chair at the Institute of Medical Sciences University of Aberdeen. As a pharmacologist, Professor Delibegovic focuses on how ageing and poor nutrition lead to development of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other age-associated co-morbidities. She is also Chair of the Diabetes UK RD Lawrence Fellowship and Grants Committees, on the Advisory Board of the Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation and Vice-Chair of British Heart Foundation Project Grants Committee.

Mohammad Memon

Mohammad Memon
Mohammad is a chartered accountant with more than 20 years of experience in professional services. He is COO and Executive Director at Europe Arab Bank (EAB) plc, part of the Arab Bank Group, one of the largest Middle Eastern financial institutions. Formerly he worked at KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Philip Glaze

Philip Glaze
Philip has worked in the investment management industry for over thirty years. Most recently he was Chief Investment Officer of HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd where he headed all of their London-based investment management activities. Prior to that he spent thirteen years as an investment consultant and asset manager at Russell Investments, where he was Global Head of Manager Research.

Dr Ultan McDermott

Dr Ultan McDermott
Dr McDermott is Chief Scientist at AstraZeneca with a focus on drug resistance in cancer, functional genomics and understanding how cancer genomes affect response to therapy. Formally at the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a clinician scientist, he remains a practicing Consultant Oncologist, with a focus on colorectal cancer at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.