Meet the team

Our senior leadership team

Our senior leadership team is responsible to the board of trustees for the day-to-day running of the charity, monitoring progress in achieving our objectives and overseeing all members of staff.

Chief Executive

Jon began his career as a graduate trainee at Cancer Research UK, working across fundraising, strategy, IT and policy. He led the development of its campaigning function, leading policy campaigns on issues like tobacco control, cancer funding and science policy. He led the charity’s campaign for anti-smoking legislation.
During a period in public affairs and PR consultancy for health charities and pharmaceutical companies, he helped introduce a new meningitis vaccine, genomic cancer testing and new therapies for conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and lung cancer.
He went on to become chief executive at Autistica, the UK’s autism research charity. There, he led an initiative to make autism a clinical priority for the NHS, ensuring autistic people co-designed services and funded many globally-renowned research studies.
Jon joined us in September 2020.
Interim Director of Fundraising and Campaigns

Russell has over 25 years’ experience as a fundraising director across organisations such as Cancer Research UK (CR-UK), Great Ormond Street Hospital and UNICEF UK. He has led several major campaigns including a £100m campaign at CR-UK to fund the construction of the Francis Crick Institute at St Pancras, London.
Since 2020 he has served as a trustee on the board of the Africa Research Excellence Fund and previously as a trustee of the MRC’s Medical Research Foundation. Russell has four children – the eldest was born at the Royal Free Hospital – and in his spare time he has completed multiple marathons, triathlons and two ironman competitions.
Russell joined us in April 2024 from The Courtauld Institute of Art where he has been working in the dual role as director of advancement and director of marketing and communications. He was appointed to the new role of campaign director to lead our fundraising appeal for cancer care.
Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development

Sharron joined the Royal Free Charity from Jewish Care where she worked for 16 years as the head of human resources. Jewish Care is the largest provider of health and social care services for the Jewish community in the UK.
Prior to working in the charity sector, Sharron worked for an IT, utilities and sales company in various human resources roles.
Sharron joined us in May 2020.
Director of Services and Innovation

Laura’s role is to identify opportunities for charity wide innovation with internal and external stakeholders and development of the charity’s services portfolio with a particular focus on services supporting cancer patients, carers, and their families.
Laura joined us from Prostate Cancer UK (PCUK), where she was the head of clinical services, peer support, health information and emotional support for nearly seven years, leading award-winning health information and nursing teams. There she developed new services such as a WhatsApp support service and an emotional counselling service, which led to over 15,000 people accessing PCUK services every year.
Laura was also a qualified nurse. Her nursing career began in the acute admissions unit at University College London and then went on to work in general practice as a nurse practitioner. She held a prescribing qualification and has written multiple published articles. She has appeared in interviews on both television and radio as PCUK’s clinical voice.
Laura joined us in 2022.
Director of Finance

Alex worked previously in the civil service where he qualified as a chartered accountant and worked across multiple government departments including the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign Office. His charity experience includes time spent on secondment from central government to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
He has broad experience in financial management and leadership, with a particular interest in long-term financial strategy and sustainability.
Alex is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion, and believes that embedding these values and living them day-to-day not only creates a positive and welcoming working culture, but also maximises the benefits felt by services users beneficiaries and stakeholders.
Outside work, Alex has a strong interest in history and architecture, and particularly the early medieval period, which was the subject of his university studies. He also enjoys cooking and gardening (although he doesn’t have much of a green thumb).

Alex joined us in December 2023.
Director of Grants and Impact

Alison joined the charity in December 2014 initially with responsibility for establishing the Royal Free Charity at Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals following thier acquisition by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust earlier that year.
Since 2020, Alison held the role of director of grants and services overseeing much of the charity’s expenditure on its beneficiaries, and since April 2024 as director of grants.
Alison oversees compliance and governance for approximately £9 million of grants and special purpose fund expenditure, for the benefit of patients and visitors, staff and research and development projects.
Prior to joining the charity Alison spent 15 years with a national youth charity managing a portfolio of prevention and early intervention services and programmes across London and the Midlands.
Director of Engagement & Communications and Deputy Chief Executive

Robin was director of fundraising and marketing at a health research charity before joining the Royal Free Charity. Following a career in international television production, Robin moved to the charity sector via political campaigning, communications and fundraising. He served as vice-chair of the London Liberal Democrats and managed campaigns across west and south west London.
He was an early campaigner against the causes of air pollution, winning the independent Clean Air in London Award for his efforts to tackle air pollution in the capital.
Robin joined us in July 2020 to work closely with our stakeholders, within our three hospitals and in the wider community, to raise the profile of the charity and increase engagement at all levels as we support and add value to the work of the trust.

Our trustees

Our trustees are volunteers who share ultimate responsibility for ensuring that our charity is achieving the purposes for which it was set up, overseeing how it’s managed and run and that it complies with the law.

Chair

Judy had a successful career with the world’s first electronic brokerage firm, Instinet, culminating in a board role leading its European equities division.
In 2003, Judy left her job when she started treatment for the blood cancer multiple myeloma. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to improve the treatment for, and care of, myeloma patients, chairing the board of Myeloma UK and then becoming its president. She is also a patient representative on various boards and advisory groups and was previously the lead governor at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (RFL), where she has been treated for many years.
Judy was appointed chair in May 2019.
Trustee

Russell became a charity trustee following the merger of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust with his local hospitals, Barnet and Chase Farm.
Russell works at the Heriot-Watt University as the CEO for Heriot-Watt Online. He was previously Associate Director for Executive Education at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Russell spent eight years working at Cancer Research UK, where he was part of the team who delivered a successful £100 million capital appeal to fund the charity’s contribution to the construction of the Francis Crick Institute.
Russell joined our board in 2015.
Trustee

Julie is the group chief nurse at the Royal Free London. She began her nursing career in general surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, before moving to intensive care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Following a number of years there in various clinical and professional leadership roles, including director of nursing, Julie joined the Royal Free London in January 2019 as director of nursing for Barnet Hospital. She was was appointed group chief nurse in August 2020.
Julie joined our board in June 2023
Trustee

Valerie moved into early-stage venture investing, principally in the technology sector, following a career in corporate finance in the City. She has a MSc in Charity Accounting and Finance from Bayes Business School.
Valerie has a particular interest in how new technologies can be applied in a healthcare setting. Valerie is currently on the board of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and is a trustee and treasurer of Beat, the eating disorders charity. She was previously a long-standing trustee of the Imperial Health Charity.
Valeria joined our board in 2023.
Trustee

Peter Landstrom is the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust’s group chief executive.
A graduate of Cardiff University, Peter started his career as a management consultant in PricewaterhouseCoopers, before joining the NHS in 2003.
He worked in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board for more than 10 years and held senior operational management roles across community, secondary and tertiary services, including leadership at a national level for several specialist services in Wales.
In 2015 he joined Western Sussex Hospitals, where he was chief operating officer, before going on in 2017 to be appointed as one of the group executives of both the Western and Brighton, and Sussex trusts, and leading on their merger in 2021.
Peter joined our board in 2024.
Trustee

Simon is an experienced investment banker, advising clients around the world on some of their most important strategic transactions and related matters. He is co-head of Europe at Ardea Partners, a leading global advisory firm.
Simon joined our board in 2023.
Trustee

Avani is a chartered accountant with over 12 years’ experience, primarily in financial planning and analysis.
She studied history at the University of Warwick before moving into finance. She specialises in real estate and has worked at leading global firms in the industry including Savills and CBRE.
Avani joined our board in 2024.
Trustee

Katie has 20 years’ experience in communications in the third and public sector. Currently director of communications, campaigns and UK programmes at Plan International UK, she previously oversaw press, external affairs and internal communications for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Charity.
Katie started her career at the BBC before moving to Comic Relief and then UNICEF UK, where she managed the organisation’s UK media and communications work, including raising awareness of UNICEF’s work in emergencies and delivering large-scale fundraising and communications campaigns.
Katie joined our board in 2020.
Trustee

With more than 20 years’ experience within the NHS, Nnenna joined North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust (North Mid) as chief executive in 2021, having previously worked as deputy chief executive and medical director at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust.
Nnenna is an experienced haematology consultant and continues to practise. She has held clinical leadership roles at system level such as the joint clinical lead for the South West London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, lead for community services for the North Central London Integrated Care System.
Nnenna has previously been a member of key groups including the Faculty of Medical Leaders and Managers, London Clinical Advisory Group and the London Clinical Senate. She is currently co-chair of the London People Board and the London equality, diversity and inclusion steering group.
Nnenna is a trustee of the Nuffield Trust and Tottenham Hotspurs Foundation.
Nnenna joined our board in 2024
Trustee

Melanie started a career in finance in 1986 after graduating from Manchester University. After completing an MBA from Cranfield School of Management in 1992, she worked in the retail, publishing and property sector.
She is a trustee of two charities: It’s Your Life, which helps underprivileged children and families in the UK, and Grenada Schools, an educational charity. She has also been an active member of various charity committees, including Save the Children and Centrepoint.
Melanie joined our board in 2020
Trustee

Gillian is the chief medical officer of Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. A consultant urologist by background, Gillian was previously the medical director of the Royal Free Hospital. She has a range of clinical and professional leadership experience with a focus on improvement and service transformation.
Gillian joined our board in 2023.

Meet the team

Our senior leadership team

Jon Spiers

Russell Delew

Sharron Grant

Laura James

Alex Jarvis

Alison Kira

Robin Meltzer

Our trustees

Judy Dewinter

Russell Brooks

Julie Hamilton

Valerie Jolliffe

Peter Landstrom

Simon Lyons

Avani Mehta

Katie Morrison

Dr Nnenna Osuji

Melanie Sherwood

Dr Gillian Smith