Trustees

World Child Cancer is governed by an international group of child cancer experts and business leaders.

Gordon Morrison, BSc (Chairman)

Gordon graduated from University of Edinburgh with Honours in Civil Engineering (Bsc). He is a businessman and entrepreneur.  Previously, he was a Director and a major shareholder with Morrison plc, a facilities management, property and construction company, from 1975 to 2000. Following the sale of Morrison, Gordon was a Director of AWG plc, the public utility, until 2001.  He is currently Chairman of the Chaldean Group, a diverse company with interest in farming, property, business management and venture capital investment and Chairman of RR Richardson, a business involved in construction services, facilities management, affordable housing and IT services.  Gordon is also Honorary President and previously Chairman of CLIC Sargent – for which he co-ordinated the merger of CLIC and Sargent to create the UK’s largest children’s cancer charity and currently Chairman of World Child Cancer, a charity that saves lives and reduces suffering of children with cancer in developing countries.  Primary charitable focus is now Chairmanship of World Child Cancer which saves lives and reduces suffering of children with cancer in developing countries.

Professor Tim Eden, MB.BS, DRCOG, MRCP(UK), FRCP, FRCPath, FRCPCH, FRCR

Tim has held senior academic and clinical positions in Bristol, Edinburgh, London and Manchester where he was the Teenage Cancer Trust Professor of Teenage Oncology.  He was formerly President of SIOP (International Society of Paediatric Oncologists) and his interests include research into causation, incidence and survival of children and adolescents with cancer worldwide, equable delivery of care for all children worldwide and provision of psycho-social support for all children and their families.  Tim retired in 2008 but remains active in a number of organisations working in the field of childhood and teenage cancer in the UK and in developing countries.  

Click here to read an interview with Professor Eden

Professor Maarten Egeler, MD, PhD

Maarten is Section Head of the Division of Paediatric Immunology, Haematology, Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation and Auto-Immune Disease at the Leiden University Medical Centre. He graduated in 1985 from the University of Leiden Medical School, the Netherlands.  After his Residency of Paediatrics at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, Maarten was awarded a research fellowship from the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Subsequently he was a research fellow at the University of Minnesota and Erasmus University of Rotterdam.  Before his current appointment he was the Deputy Director of the Southern Alberta Children's Cancer Program of the University of Calgary, Canada.  He has authored and co-authored more than 100 manuscripts and chapters on different aspects of the histiocytic disorders.   Professor Egeler is the Past-President of the international Histiocyte Society, a Trustee of the Histiocytosis Association of America, the President of SIOP (the International Society of Paediatric Oncology) and has served on the Nikolas Symposium Steering Committee for many years.

Terry Hunt, FIDM

From his work with international brands Terry brings a wealth of marketing experience to World Child Cancer.  He was co-founder of the pioneering direct marketing agency, Evans Hunt Scott in 1986.  In 2002 Terry led the merger with Brann to create the fully integrated direct, digital and data agency - EHS Brann – of which he is Chairman.  Long term clients include Tesco, Barclays, Barclaycard, The Economist, Volvo and Diageo.  In 1997 Terry was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing.  Terry has been closely involved in the development of Tesco Clubcard and co-authored Scoring Points, the international best-selling book about the programme. 

Simon Lala, B Com, CA

Simon is a Chartered Accountant with a public practice in New Zealand.  He has extensive experience in the charities sector both at governance and management level. Simon became involved with childhood cancer when his daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia 19 years ago. Today she is a fit and healthy 25 year old.  Simon was formerly Chairman of the New Zealand Child Cancer Foundation where he became interested in child cancer issues internationally and a member of the executive committee of ICCCPO (the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parents Organisations). Simon brings his financial experience to World Child Cancer along with experience of developing international child cancer projects.  

Dr Marianne Naafs-Wilstra

Marianne is Executive Director of the Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation (VOKK) in The Netherlands and is one of the founders and a past President of ICCCPO. She is the parent of a childhood cancer survivor and understands the impact of the illness on the whole family. She has worked in childhood cancer for over 20 years and has extensive experience of establishing family support programmes and developing psycho-social support structures.  She has written over 20 books on childhood cancer and has an international network of contacts in the paediatric oncology field.  

Benson Pau, MBA

Benson became Chairman of ICCCPO in October 2008 and is the Chairman of the Pau Kwong Wun Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong which he founded in 1998.  He is the bereaved father of a son who suffered from leukaemia and understands the need for psycho-social support for the child and their family.  On the business side, he is the Founder and Managing Director of Wings Trading (HK) Company Limited - a service oriented and quality conscious supplier in the house-ware industry since 1980. The company has won several industry awards including the Caring Company Award for seven consecutive years since 2002 and the HSBC’s Living Business Emerald Award in 2007.  Benson has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the Western University of Ontario.

Sally Ramsay, BA (Hons), MSc

Sally is a registered children’s and adults’s nurse who has worked at executive level in both the NHS and independent health sector. She has held senior nursing positions including Director of Nursing and Family Services at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Chief Nursing Officer at the Portland Hospital for Women and Children.   Sally is the author of a number of papers published in nursing journals and several  documents of standards and guidance for the Royal College of Nursing. She has been a Trustee of CLIC Sargent and been involved in the development of the nursing profession through membership of task forces and committees. Sally brings a wealth of expertise to the Board of World Child Cancer including clinical governance, professional conduct and standards of nursing practice. She is currently working independently as a children’s nurse consultant and divides her time between Norfolk and London. 

Raul C Ribeiro, MD

Raul trained in Brazil and accepted a position as a paediatric haematologist/oncologist at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 1990.   St. Jude is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and has a cure rate for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia of 94%.   In 1996 he was appointed director of the St Jude International Outreach Programme, and in 2007 was appointed director of the St Jude Leukaemia/Lymphoma Division.   Raul specialises in acute leukaemias, lymphomas and implementing paediatric cancer care programmes in countries with limited resources.

Click here to read an interview with Dr Ribeiro

Anu Vedi, CBE, ACA, MCIH

Anu is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA), and is an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (MCIH). He retired in 2009 as Group Chief Executive of the Genesis Housing Group, a role he had held since 1999. Under Anu’s leadership, Genesis Housing Group increased its property portfolio ten-fold in just over a decade to become one of the largest housing enterprises in the UK with assets worth approximately £4bn and owning/managing 40,000 properties. In addition, he established Genesis Community, the Group’s charitable foundation targeting deprivation and social exclusion in disadvantaged areas. Anu is also a board member of the, Dolphin Square Trust and Relationships Foundation Advisory Board. Anu was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2006 in recognition of his strong and innovative leadership within the housing sector. Anu brings commercial acumen and strong strategic vision to World Child Cancer. 

Our Staff

World Child Cancer employees a small team of staff to manage projects and raise essential funds.

Jo Hopkins - jo.hopkins@worldchildcancer.org

Emma Jackson - emma.jackson@worldchildcancer.org

Between them, Jo and Emma have more than 26 years experience working in the charity sector.