Our Board

World Child Cancer is comprised of a dedicated team of staff, trustees, patrons and project committee.

Our Board

OUR TEAM
OUR GOVERNANCE
OUR AMBASSADORS
Programme Committee
Patrons

UK Board

Anuj Chande

Anuj is currently a corporate finance partner at Grant Thornton UK LLP. Anuj has over 30 years of professional and commercial experience having worked previously with Coopers & Lybrand, NCR Corporation in the USA and Albright & Wilson. He leads the South Asia Group, set up by him in 1991, to serve Asian-owned businesses both in the UK and those investing from the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere. His clients include those in food, drink, media, hotels, technology and property.

Anuj has been recognised as one of Britain’s 100 most influential Asians for the second year running on the Asian Power 100 list which is compiled by Carter Andersen in association with the Bank of Scotland. He has been a specialist adviser on ethnic businesses to the West London Business Link and was a Board member of the London Employers Coalition. He has been a mentor for the Prince’s Trust charity, a police mentor in the Joint Police Mentoring Initiative with London First and is a Patron for the Tamasha Theatre Company, an Asian Charity, and also the Embassy of Man Charity. He has more recently become a Trustee of World Child Cancer.

Helen Griffiths

Helen spent 26 years as a solicitor with City firm, Slaughter and May, the last 16 as a Partner. In the course of a varied transactional career, she specialised in energy and infrastructure projects and was closely involved in the development of the firm’s African practice. She retired from the Partnership in February 2016, hoping to put the skills acquired in the course of her professional life to good use in a more varied set of contexts. Helen is married with one teenage son. She has a range of cultural and historical interests, and often spends her free time between London and Wales.

World Child Cancer Trustee, Julie Torode

Julie Torode

Dr Julie Torode is a Board Member of the Institute of Cancer Policy, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Community and Patient Engagement and Visiting Researcher at King’s. Her research interests span the spectrum of global cancer prevention and control with a particular interest in women’s health and cancer.

Julie gained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Marburg, Germany and entered the health arena and field of oncology through industry clinical trials work across phases I-IV (2000-2008). Since then, Julie has worked internationally with a policy focus and global advocacy working alongside United Nations agencies and government bodies. During more than a decade (2008-2021) at Union for International Cancer Control in Geneva, Switzerland, Julie worked with cancer organisations across the globe in advocating for the Global Action Plan on Noncommunicable Diseases, the palliative care and cancer resolutions and most recently the WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem. Her global cancer research covers cancer systems strengthening: access to cancer medicines and palliative care, global radiotherapy and cancer care in conflict. She serves the WHO Global Guideline Group for Cervical Cancer and supports several civil society organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa as a board member or advisor.

Julie has worked with global organisations dedicated to childhood cancer including St Jude, Childhood Cancer International and SIOP as well as projects at the national level in low- and middle-income countries such as Tanzania, the Philippines and Ghana.

Karen Brade

Karen Brade

Karen has extensive experience in project finance, private equity and asset management. She started her career at Citibank working on multi-national project finance transactions. Karen worked at CDC (Commonwealth Development Corporation), the UK Government’s development finance institution, where she held positions in equity and debt investing, portfolio management, fundraising and investor development. Karen has been an adviser to hedge funds, family offices and private equity houses. She currently serves as chairman of Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust plc; chairman of Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust plc; non-executive director of HeiQ plc and is an external panel member of the Albion Capital VCT investment committee. She is a trustee of Moor Park Charitable Trust and Meadowarts.

Kate Lee World Child Cancer

Kate Lee

Kate joined Alzheimer’s Society as their Chief Executive in March 2020. Prior to this role, she was CEO of the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent for four years, during which time she rebranded the organisation, setting new values and building a culture of total team working. She successfully lobbied the government to fund the funerals of all children under the age of 18 and founded the Children and Young People’s Cancer Coalition. She was previously CEO of Myton Hospice, a large Adult Palliative Care Charity in Coventry and Warwickshire, where she worked with many individuals with dementia and their families. Before that, Kate spent 16 years at British Red Cross leading UK service delivery, before becoming Director of UK and International Strategy and Deputy CEO in 2005. Kate’s a proud Yorkshire woman and now lives in Coventry with her husband and two teenage children; she loves gardening and tea.

Lorna Awo Renner

Prof Lorna Awo Renner – lead doctor for our project in Ghana. Head of the Paediatric Oncology Unit at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra. This is the main teaching hospital in Ghana and one of only two providing comprehensive paediatric oncology services in the country. She is currently the Africa Continental President of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology.

Lorna received some training in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, UK, which led to the creation of a twinning partnership between the hospital and the unit at KBTH.

Dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and care of children with cancer in Ghana, Lorna is an active campaigner and advocate of the cause. She often writes articles and speaks to journalists and government officials about the issue of childhood cancer in Ghana and due to her hard work there are now several local funding sources supporting the project.

Lorna stresses the need for a multi-disciplinary team approach when it comes to childhood cancer; the input and training is needed of not only doctors but also nurses, psychologists, social workers and pharmacists to name a few.

Several training workshops have been arranged at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital since the start of the twinning program covering a wide range of medical and nursing topics in paediatric oncology and Lorna believes that these are key to improving the services for children with cancer, especially those focused on palliative care which is an area needing much development in Ghana.

Paul Navabi

Paul Nabavi

Paul has worked for thirty years in banking and finance in emerging, developing and frontier markets worldwide. At the CDC Group (now British International Investment), he built and managed the financial institutions team, responsible for new investments and loans to CDC’s financial sector clients in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was seconded by CDC as CEO of a finance company operating in Havana in Cuba. On returning to the UK, he worked for Actis LLP (emerging markets private equity) before joining EBRD (the European Bank of Reconstruction & Development), the international financial institution working in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe as well as countries of the former Soviet Union. At EBRD, he specialised in equity investment in financial institutions overseeing both new business and portfolio investment in banks and other financial services businesses throughout the EBRD region.

Paul is a Director of First Bank SA in Romania and was formerly a member of the Supervisory Board of Union Bank of Albania. He qualified as a chartered accountant and holds an MA from Oxford University.

Professor Simon Bailey

Simon Bailey is a Professor of Paediatric Neuro–Oncology and consultant paediatric oncologist based at the Great North Childrens Hospital and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. He is head of the Paediatric Oncology Department at the Great North Childrens Hospital

His undergraduate medical training was at the University of Cape Town. Initial clinical experience was gained at Groote Schuur and Red Cross Children’s Hospitals before postgraduate Paediatric training in the United Kingdom and a year in New Zealand. He trained in paediatric oncology in Newcastle upon Tyne and became a consultant in 2001. He has a PhD awarded in 1999 and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

He is a leader in the international medulloblastoma community chairing the embryonal tumour group in Europe as well as being the co-lead for a large brain tumour research programme in Newcastle. He is also the European chief investigator for the HRMB (High-Risk Medulloblastoma ) clinical trial.

He has many years of experience in paediatric oncology in the resource-limited world leading the UK arm of a long-term twinning programme with Dr Chagaluka and Professor Molyneux in Blantyre, Malawi. This includes setting up a small charity, Children with Cancer in Malawi. He has been the senior author on a number of Treatment guidelines for brain tumours in the resource-challenged world (SIOP) and is involved in the ARIA programme (Treatment guidelines) and St Jude neuro-oncology mentorship scheme for budding neuro-oncologists in the resource-constrained settings.

Rachel Hollis World Child Cancer

Chair

Rachel Hollis

Rachel Hollis is Honorary Nurse Advisor for Children’s Cancer at Leeds Children’s Hospital. She has spent more than 30 years as a nurse in paediatric oncology and haematology. Rachel is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom and has been involved in developing national services for children and young people with cancer in the UK.

Rachel is a member of the nursing group within the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). She is a former Chair of the SIOP Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries Nursing Working Group, where she advocated for and worked with nurses from low- and middle-income countries to define baseline standards of nursing care. She continues to collaborate with international nursing colleagues as part of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and through her engagement in the work of World Child Cancer.

Sara Bailey World Child Cancer

Sara Bailey

Sara Bailey is a Senior Partner at international law firm Trowers & Hamlins involved in setting strategy, managing the partnership and growing the profile of the firm. She has over 20 years of experience, helping her clients to navigate and deliver complex, and often high profile, real estate projects and regeneration schemes.

Sara is passionate about helping businesses and governments shape the way we live and work and is particularly driven by the positive influence the built environment can have on people, places and communities.

She is a regular speaker at high-profile industry conferences and events including MIPIM, is a member of the British Property Federation Residential Committee and Patron of LandAid working with the charity to provide relief and security to the most vulnerable across the country.

She is also an Ambassador of the World Child Cancer charity, a member of the Care Leavers Business Council and a Board Member and Chair of the fundraising committee for Open City, a charity dedicated to making London and its architecture more open, accessible and equitable.

Yves Dermaux World Child Cancer

Yves Dermaux

Yves Dermaux is an executive in the financial services industry. During his career, he has held various management functions in investment banking and asset management. He first became associated with World Child Cancer several years ago after it had been selected as Charity of the Year at Deutsche Bank UK. He is currently active as Independent Non-Executive Director and Advisor for several organisations.

US Board

Dana Bryson

Chair

Dana Bryson

Dana Bryson brings over 25 years of experience in public, business enterprise, and non-profit sectors to increase social impact investment and grow community capacity.

Ms. Bryson has also been a Cabinet-level appointee for two US Mayors, (Jerry Brown and Anthony Williams) and was a senior appointee for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. In these roles, she served as Mayoral Chief of Staff or had oversight of City Operations.

Dr Scott Clemens

Dr Scott Clemens

Dr Scott Clemens is an experienced physician leader and practising primary care provider. He has been with New West Physicians since 2007 and has held multiple leadership positions with broad medical management responsibilities that drive healthcare value through the quadruple aim. Dr Clemens served as President and Chief Medical Officer of New West Physicians from August 2020 through December 2021.

Dr Clemens holds degrees from the University of Illinois (Biology-Honors) and St Louis University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in the Internal Medicine/Hospitalist Training Track at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr Clemens has also received recognition as a 2020 Optum Sequoia Fellow and a member of the Optum Care Clinical Leadership Congress (2021).

After growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Dr Clemens is proud to call Colorado home. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family skiing, golfing, swimming and travelling.

Dr Stephen P. Hunger

Dr Stephen P. Hunger

Stephen Hunger is a Medical Trustee of World Child Cancer USA and a paediatric haematologist oncologist with over twenty years of experience and leadership roles in the field.

Dr Hunger completed training in paediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Paediatric Haematology/Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is currently Professor of Paediatrics and Chief of the Section of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Stephen has extensive experience in international paediatric cancer. He has worked closely with international colleagues to increase collaboration in childhood ALL basic and translational research and to develop new collaborative clinical trials in high risk ALL subsets. Dr Hunger directs a twinning partnership with the paediatric oncology programs in the Dominican Republic to improve outcomes for children with ALL in that country. He has a major interest in developing graduated intensity therapy regimens to help centres in low and middle income countries implement treatments that are appropriate for their local conditions.

Dr Tristan Flatt

Dr Tristan Flatt

Tristan is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO.  He is the director of their Spanish-speaking clinic and research program.   He has a long-time commitment to Mexican culture as he was an anthropologist and worked in Mexico for several years prior to attending medical school.  His area of research is acute lymphoblastic leukemia among Hispanic children with a specific focus on novel genes that portend poor outcomes as well as possible predisposition genes.  He has two grant-funded studies in Mexico and he mentors and sponsors Mexican fellows and residents regularly at the hospital.

Marty Cochran

Secretary

E. Martin Cochran

Marty Cochran is a licensed attorney with over sixteen years of experience in dealing with the legal aspects of business, private equity, real estate and finance transactions.  Mr. Cochran attended college at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the Honor’s College.  Mr. Cochran then attended law school at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri where he received a Juris Doctorate. Mr. Cochran went on to earn an LL.M. (Master’s in Law) in International Taxation and Finance from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Gordon Morrison World Child Cancer

Global Chair

Gordon Morrison BEM Bsc

Gordon obtained an Honours Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh prior to joining the Family Construction business which was built up to become a UK wide and international construction, development and support services business.

Morrison Construction Group was sold in 2000 and Gordon transferred his attention to farming, property and charity work.

Gordon’s charity work has spanned 20 years involving the creation of CLIC Sargent through a merger of two charities creating the largest childhood cancer support charity and more recently the development of a new charity, World Child Cancer, which continues to expand and grow.

Gordon is also a Governor and Vice Chairman of the University of Hertfordshire. The University is one of the largest employers in Hertfordshire with over 2,700 staff and a student community exceeding 25,300, including more than 2,800 international students from 100 different countries

Gordon was awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2015.

Gordon is married with two grown up children and four grandchildren.

Heather Collins US Board Member

Heather Collins

Heather Collins manages strategic communications and marketing for emerging brands in the natural and organic industry, including lifestyle, wellness, and hospitality. In 2012, Heather established h | c marketing and communications, a freelance-based entity that provides strategic media and tactical plans for companies, executives, and brands. She has been an integral part of organizations such as The Aspen Ideas Festival, Udi’s Gluten Free Foods, thinkThin, McDonald’s, Wild Oats Marketplace, The Boulder International Film Festival, and The National Restaurant Association – to name a few. In addition, she serves on the Advisory Board for the Jaipur Literature Festival Colorado Chapter and is a published writer and former television reporter. 

Collins is passionate about being a part of the greater good that evokes positive change in our food systems, climate, education, and social initiatives that support healthy lifestyles.

Jessica Riles US Board Member

Jessica Riles

Jessica is a seasoned marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in public relations, communications strategy and event planning. She has worked with clients across industries including healthcare, technology, finance, and consumer products and has recently focused solely on non-profit work. She is passionate about developing a story that will resonate with the intended audience and truly enjoys the creative process required to move brands forward. 

Jessica completed her undergraduate studies at Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Economy and a minor in French. She has a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. 

A native of Portland, Oregon, Jessica has called Denver, Colorado home for over a decade. She enjoys skiing, running, cooking, entertaining and spending time with her husband and three active children. 

Kathleen Paisley World Child Cancer

Kathleen Paisley

Kathleen Paisley has worked as a Physician Assistant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for over 20 years. She works in the Department of Surgery on the Gastric Mixed Tumor Service specializing in melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, sarcoma, gastric, pancreatic and adrenal tumors. In addition, she also runs the GMT Survivorship Clinic maintaining extended care for cancer patients. Kathleen did her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia and her Physician Assistant studies at Cornell University Medical School. She lives in New York with her husband and four children.

Louis Efron World Child Cancer

Louis Efron

Louis Efron is a globally recognised thought leader, speaker, writer and award-winning Fortune 200 people executive. He is the Founder and CEO of The Voice of Purpose, a human resources and leadership development company helping organizations and individuals around the world build high-performing, purpose-based cultures and lives.

Louis has lived and worked throughout the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia. His career credits include VP of Teammate Experience for the Fortune 200 medical company, DaVita, Head of Global Employee Engagement for Tesla, International VP of HR for JDA Software, VP of HR for the Fortune 300 medical device company, Stryker and Broadway theatre. He currently serves on the Advisory Board for the electric vehicle charging company, Go-Station, Ashford University, Forbes School of Business and Technology and on the Board of our charity, World Child Cancer.

Louis’ articles have appeared in Forbes, Huffington Post and other major publications hitting #1 on Forbes, Twitter and LinkedIn. He is also the author of How to Find a Job, Career and Life You Love; Purpose Meets Execution; Beyond the Ink; the children’s book, What Kind of Bee Can I Be? and soon to be released Unleashing YOU!

Louis lost both his parents and other family members early in life to cancer and had countless others close to him fight and thankfully win over the disease. This was his motivation for founding the US division of World Child Cancer in 2012.

Patrick Weinberg

Treasurer

Patrick Weinberg, Treasurer

Patrick Weinberg is Treasurer and Director of World Child Cancer USA and an energetic global finance executive with significant experience building and leading international operations, managing startups and turnarounds.

Patrick is currently Chief Financial Officer and member of the global executive team at Addivant, one of the world’s leaders in specialty additives for the polymer and rubber industry.

Scott Clemens World Child Cancer

Richard Volpe

Richard Volpe, Managing Director, is Global Head of Rates at Nomura, Asia’s global investment bank. Richard oversees flow and structured rates for all regions. In addition to his role as Global Head of Rates, Richard is also Head of Liquid Products and has direct responsibility for Agency Mortgages, Emerging Markets Macro and G10 FX businesses in the Americas. He is a member of the Wholesale Executive Committee (WEC), Global Markets Executive Committee and the Global Markets Americas Management Committee.

Richard joined Nomura in 2015 from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) where he was Head of Global USD Rates Trading/Yen Delta based in America. Before joining RBS in 2008, he was at Bear Stearns where he joined in 1993 and was most notably Co-head of US Interest Rate Trading in New York.

Richard graduated from the University of Delaware with a BA in Political Science.

Scott Howard World Child Cancer

President

Scott Howard, MD, MSc

After training in internal medicine, pediatrics, and epidemiology at the University of Tennessee and completing a hematology/oncology fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Scott worked for 14 years as a faculty member treating children with leukemia and lymphoma and conducting research in oncology supportive care, international oncology, and healthcare informatics. Scott has authored or co-authored 190 scientific papers and 15 book chapters and conducts translational and clinical research with local and international collaborators. After leaving St. Jude in 2014, he founded Resonance, an informatics, consulting, and global health company with a mission to improve care and outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

Serge Rogasik World Child Cancer

Serge Rogasik

Serge has more than 20 years of experience in the biotech and chemical industry, driving growth, innovation and transformative strategies in multiple regions of the world.

Serge grew up in France and started his career in drug-delivery research in Belgium prior to taking various growth-oriented positions in marketing, strategy and business management in large, multinational corporations such as Solvay, General Electric or BASF. Serge joined Addivant as an operating partner in 2013 when SK Capital, a New York City private investment firm, acquired the activity.

Wanda Harris World Child Cancer

Wanda Harris

CMPE certified with MGMA, Wanda Harris is VP/General Manager with Acumen Physician Solutions and is a healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience in our national healthcare landscape. As a national executive and business leader who drives strategic vision, fosters long-term sustainability and establishes fiscally and operationally sound organisations within the healthcare landscape, she has worked with healthcare organizations like HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) and DaVita Healthcare Partners. Wanda recently was with Southwest Kidney Institute, Global Nephrology Solutions and Renal Care Organisation where she established several platforms to respond to healthcare opportunities and new government regulations.

She was responsible for the overall strategic, financial and operational direction of physician practices across the nation to include employed and managed groups. She continues to educate physicians, secondary providers and other healthcare stakeholders annually while establishing additional revenue-generating business opportunities for healthcare organizations.

Wanda holds several board positions within the healthcare landscape and children-focused foundations.

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