MS Trust trustees and patrons
The ten trustees and four patrons all bring to the charity different skills, knowledge and experience: understanding of MS, charity law and finance, medicine, therapy and nursing. Three have MS themselves and five have MS in their immediate family.
Trustees
Mike Barnes is Professor of Neurological Rehabilitation at the University of Newcastle and the Clinical Director of Hunters Moor Neuro Rehab Ltd. He has a long-standing interest in MS, particularly in applied research and in the improvement of symptom management.
Dr Alexander Burnfield recently retired as a Consultant in Child and Family Psychiatry. He has written and lectured extensively on MS, been an active campaigner for the needs of people with MS and helped found Persons With MS International.
Sir George Castledine is Professor of Nursing and Community Health, University of Central England, Birmingham and Consultant in General Nursing Care, Dudley Hospitals Group Trust. He was knighted in the Queen's birthday honours in 2007.
Helen Caulfield is a solicitor and policy advisor at the Royal College of Nursing and has written and lectured on policy and legal issues for nursing. She is former Secretary of the Law Society Human Rights Group and has been a long-standing supporter of the MS Trust.
Russell Hardy is a founding trustee, formerly Chief Executive of Blacks Leisure Group plc and has a strong commercial and accounting background. He has MS in his immediate family.
Jill Holt is a founding trustee. She has worked in the MS voluntary sector for many years and brings to the Trust her expertise in fundraising as well as knowledge gained from living with MS in her immediate family.
Chris Jones was a co-founder of the MS Trust in 1993 and retired as Chief Executive in July 2008. Her passionate belief in the need for good quality information and in fighting for improved health services for people with MS have shaped the work of the MS Trust.
Dr Dawn Langdon is Reader in Neuropsychology at Royal Holloway, University of London and is qualified in clinical, health and neuro-psychology. Her research interests focus on psychological aspects of MS, including multinational studies of cognition and the effects of medication.
Thea Longley is a solicitor with Bates, Wells & Braithwaite specialising in work for charities and social enterprises.
Bernadette Porter is an MS nurse consultant at the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London. She pioneered the role of the MS specialist nurse and was the founding chair of the UK MS Specialist Nurse Association in 2001.
Neil Scolding is Burden Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Director of the Institute at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. His research interest is in exploring the role of stem cells in tissue repair in MS and how that may translate into treatment.
Patrons
Edith Rifkind trained as a zoologist and worked as a researcher in the Department of Medicine at Edinburgh University. She was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1997.
Sarah Joiner recently retired from the NHS and Department of Health. Diagnosed in 1981, she is actively involved in her local community and a number of national charities. Sarah credits her 'get up and go' to her wonderful family and the brilliant MS multi-disciplinary team at the National Hospital in London.
Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen have long been associated with the MS Trust. Whilst Laurence is well known for his flamboyance and flair from his television appearances, fewer people may realise Jackie's influence in their design business. They have donated designs for a range of cards not only in memory of Laurence's mother who had MS, but also for Jackie's mother who was recently diagnosed. Laurence and Jackie bring to the MS Trust a 'can do' approach summed up in their motto 'Don't dream it. Be it'.
