Our trustees and patrons

Jonathan Waxman, founder of the Charity, is a Professor of Oncology at the Hammersmith Hospital, London. He is a clinician who has helped develop new treatments for cancer, which are now part of standard practice. He is the author of around 300 research papers and chapters, and of 11 books on cancer. He directs a laboratory research group comprising 31 scientists. He has raised funds for the building of the Hammersmith Cancer Centre whose spirit aims to combine the best of conventional and alternative therapies. He helped establish an All Party Parliamentary Group to improve cancer treatment and rationalise cancer research throughout the UK. He has developed and led successful media campaigns to rationalise cancer treatment and change government health policy.

Paul was appointed Chairman of the Charity in March 2005. He is a Visiting Professor at Birmingham City University, a founder member of the Birmingham City Business School Advisory Board, Chairman of the Business Futures Forum of the Hospice of St Francis and Chairman of CVC Associates.

Paul started his career in marketing with 10 years at Cadbury Schweppes, becoming responsible for the brands in one of the major market groups. This was followed by over 20 years managing advertising agencies and associated marketing service companies. He was latterly Chairman/Chief Executive of the Top 10 ad agency Euro RSCG plc and Chairman of its marketing services companies. In the mid-90s Paul founded a leading edge customer value management consultancy, which was later sold to the international IT services group Dimension Data plc. He was a Governor of Nottingham Trent University for 14 years and its Deputy Chairman until 2007.

Paul was diagnosed with advanced and aggressive prostate cancer in 1999 and given the typical prognosis of around two years life expectancy. He commenced hormone therapy and later adopted a radical regime of immune support through complementary therapies involving dietary changes and supplements. In 2005, when he had still experienced little disease progression, he commenced a programme of Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy, which successfully reduced his PSA to zero. Twelve years from his original diagnosis, he remains well and still enjoys tennis and skiing. He brings this unique perspective to his role as Chairman of the Charity.

Ray joined the Charity as a trustee in March 2010. Having enjoyed a long career in the media industry, he retired from his position as Chief Executive of Aegis's European network and from the PLC board in 2002. Other positions held by Ray include a stint as a non-executive director of London Weekend Television and the chair of the IPA's Media Policy Group. He continues to have involvement in the sector working as a consultant to the global media agency Starcom.

Ray takes a keen interest in history and recently completed a degree in the subject and is just about to study for an MA in the History of Film and Visual Arts. He is a keen (but erratic) golfer, fanatical Chelsea supporter and ageing keep-fit enthusiast.

His business career was in investment banking with UBS and S G Warburg, after training as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Christopher attended the University of Bristol, the University of Oxford and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has extensive business experience having been a Director, Managing Director or Chief Executive of several companies ranging from a FTSE 100 business to a start-up. The business sectors in which these companies were involved include Commodity Trading, Sugar Refining, Road Transport and Engineering, Residential Property Development, Commercial Property Investment, Leisure, Toys, Cosmetics and Toiletries, General Wholesaling, Commercial and Domestic Electrical Distribution Systems and Burglar Alarms. Christopher was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 and continues to be treated. He joined Prostate Cancer UK in August 2012 having been Chairman of Prostate Action. 

Prior to joining KPMG, Mark was Director General in the NHS and Department of Health. He played a leading part in Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review and was responsible for commissioning, system management, primary care, service re-design and public & patient participation in healthcare. He established the Co-operation and Competition Panel and played a part in stream-lining the Commercial Directorate. He sat on the NHS Management Board for 3 years.

Prior to his appointment at the DH, Mark was chief executive of South Central Strategic Health Authority and was the CEO at University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust for 6 years. He joined UHB in 1998 as Director of Operations and was a Board director of Central Middlesex Hospital prior to this.

Mark joined St Mary's Hospital in London after being a fast track graduate of the NHS Management Training Scheme and the Civil Service. He helped produce the NHS Plan, develop NHS Foundation policy. He signed the second largest hospital PFI contract in the history of the NHS and helped establish the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine which supports injured personnel. He is a Senior Associate at the Kings Fund and writes regularly about UK and international health matters.

Mark has a keen personal interest in prostate cancer and is especially keen to provide improved access to prostate cancer services for disadvantaged communities.

Bob initially trained and worked as a civil engineer in the UK and Saudi Arabia before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1983. He worked mainly within the Assurance practice, providing audit and advisory services to a variety of multi-national clients, until 1993, when he assumed the role of Director of Finance for the firm's fast-growing practices in Central and Eastern Europe. In 1998, he was admitted to the partnership and was seconded to Tokyo for three years, during a period of rapid development in accounting and professional standards in Japan.

On returning to the UK, Bob joined the London Mid-Tier Assurance division, focussing on the needs of larger privately owned companies, as well as FTSE350 and AIM listed groups. From 2002, he began to develop a portfolio of clients in the charity sector and in 2005 was appointed the head of the UK firm's Charity Group.

Bob is married and has two teenage daughters.  His interests include theatre, motorcycling and walking.

Roger is one of the UK’s best known and most experienced prostate surgeons. He has performed more than 2,000 radical prostatectomy operations (the last 1,019 using the da Vinci robot); written nearly 70 books and published more than 340 scientific papers. He was chairman of the charity Prostate UK for 17 years and is Secretary of The Urological Foundation. Roger has personally raised over £3 million through marathon running, mountain climbing, trekking and cycling challenges for these charities. Roger joined Prostate Cancer UK in August 2012 having been a trustee of Prostate Action. 

Professor Hing Leung is a Consultant Urological Surgeon in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Professor of Urology and Surgical Oncology at Glasgow University. In 2006, he joined the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research (Cancer Research UK) as the first clinician-scientist. His programmes of translational research work are aimed at incorporating diverse clinical and scientific disciplines to achieve better patient outcomes. His research work has helped to validate the significance of key signaling pathways as important biologic and prognostic markers in clinical prostate cancer; resulting in ongoing drug development programmes. He has successfully developed the Scottish Prostate Cryotherapy Service, and aims to integrate this novel treatment into his ongoing translational research programme.

He has written over 100 peer reviewed reports and review articles as well as other book chapters. His role in translational research for uro-oncology has contributed to the first multi-centre gene therapy trial in prostate cancer within the UK. He received the Karl Storz-Harold Hopkins Golden Telescope Award 2008 from the British Association of Urological Surgeons for his pioneering work in translational research and contribution to urology. He has served on the Executive Committee of the nationally funded Prostate Cancer Collaborative (PROMPT, equivalent of SPORES in the USA), Scientific Advisory Board of the Orchid Cancer Charity and the MRC Clinical Training Fellowship Panel.

He is currently the Charity's representative on the Global Scientific Advisory Committee established as part of the Movember Foundation's Global Action Plan.

Before his retirement in October 2006, David worked for Barratt Developments plc for 27 years, including 17 years on the Main Board and four years as CEO. He was named UK Regeneration Champion of the Year Award in 2006, and is very active in the housing and property sector with a special interest in the provision of homes for first time buyers and social housing.

Since retiring from Barratt, David has maintained his interest in the housing, regeneration and charity sectors. Until recently he was a non-executive director of the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and Non-Executive Chairman of the New Homes Marketing Board. He remains a trustee of The Prince’s Regeneration Trust and is a member of the advisory board at the NHBC Foundation. David was a trustee of Prostate Action and joined Prostate Cancer UK, following the merger, in August 2012. He was made a CBE for services to house building in 2007. 

Laurance became a trustee of the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation in 2003, before it became Prostate Action. He has lost close friends to prostate cancer as well as having others who have been diagnosed and successfully treated. Laurance is committed to supporting the work started by Sir Clive Bourne at the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation and to seeing the merged charities continue to grow. 

William was educated at Eton College and Durham University. Having worked in the City for 19 years, 14 of them at Merrill Lynch, he left in 2006. He is the on the Development Board of the Royal Court Theatre and one of the Founders of Knightsbridge School and Knightsbridge School International. He is a Governor of Adams Grammar School and Abraham Darby Academy, both Haberdasher schools, where he is currently Fourth Warden. He is now an entrepreneur with investments in various businesses. He is a passionate sportsman and loves the theatre. He is married with four children, three boys and a girl.

Christopher Smith has over 30 years of experience in corporate finance and equity capital markets including floatations, mergers and acquisitions and equity fundings. He was responsible for developing and maintaining client relationships as lead Partner/Managing Director with a wide range of companies from FTSE 100 constituents, mid/small capital companies and investment trusts.

Christopher joined Prostate Cancer UK in August 2012 having been Treasurer of Prostate Action. 

She has over 25 years of experience auditing and advising both listed and private clients across a broad range of sectors, ranging from media and newspaper publishing, manufacturing, engineering, contracting, retail and consumer related businesses to technology companies. Her main specialism is retail and consumer business and she led our CB practice in the NW for over 10 years.

She spent two years on the UK Executive as Managing Partner, Talent with responsibility for all people related matters across the firm of 12,000 people. From 2004, Sharon has been elected to the UK Board of Deloitte for periods when she has not been on the UK Executive.

Her experience also includes a year in industry as the FD of a contracting subsidiary of what was then East Midlands Electricity.

Outside of work:

Through the ageing process, I have come to appreciate how short life is and how important it is to make the most of it. I love my job but finding time for my other half, family and friends has become more critical, as has giving something back to the community (hence the skydive I organised in 2010, which raised over £100,000 for the Christie) and becoming a Trustee of the Charity - and persuading 65 men and women to join my Movember team, raising over £28,000.

Timothy joined the Charity in 2005, having begun his career as an academic scientist, teaching and doing research between the borders of chemistry and physics. Following a short spell with the GLC, he joined the Department of Trade and Industry and worked on telecommunications liberalisation, aid to industry and managed IT R&D programmes. He was responsible for civil nuclear issues at the Department of Energy from 1989 to 1995, when he moved to be head of immigration in the Home Office. He was Deputy Chairman of HM Customs and Excise from 1998-2000, when he became Director General of the Health and Safety Executive, retiring in 2005.

He is now the Third Church Estates Commissioner, a director of the Financial Reporting Council and Chair of the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board, a member of the Scientific Council of the International Risk Governance Council and a trustee of the DeMorgan Foundation. He is 65, married, with three daughters, and lives in Balham.

In 2008, Vanessa started the networking site: www.wearethecity.com, as a vehicle to help other City Women connect. Today, WATC has become the Little Black Book for London's female workforce. Its' 7000+ members rely on WATC for information ranging from professional to personal; to connect with others or to access interests that are centric to working in the City.

Vanessa has worked tirelessly to furthering the Diversity Agenda.  To this end, Women in Banking & Finance (WiBF), recognized her achievements with the '2011 Women's Champion Award'.  In 2009, Vanessa co-founded the citywide diversity forum, The Networks of Networks (TNON). The TNON includes the Diversity heads and heads of women's networks from 40 FTSE firms.

Corporations, charities & radio broadcasters invite Vanessa to speak on "The Power of Networking" and "The Power of Profile" as well as her 23 years of experience in the City and Financial services.  As her speaking demands have grown, so have the requests for her expertise in online branding.  In response to these requests, Vanessa launched www.theProfileCoach.co.uk, a consulting firm, working with a range of starting-out to seasoned professionals, providing the know how to build, protect and above all use one's online profile to aid in future success.

As testimony to the success of the knowledge she shares with others, Vanessa is on every watch list following top women in the City, such as: Financial News Top 100 Rising Star across Europe, Africa and EMEA, and the International Alliance for Women's Top 100 who are making a notable difference.

Vanessa is committed to community work, serving as a trustee for The National Youth Music Theatre as well as an ambassador for several others. She is also the Pearly Queen of the City of London, which represents a fundamental aspect of London's  heritage.

Lady Joy Bourne assisted in setting up the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation in 1991 and in running the biennial Forums with her late husband Sir Clive.

Sir Clive Bourne contracted prostate cancer in 1991 at the age of 49, and decided to investigate every aspect and avenue of the condition available to the layman. It came as a shock for him to learn that there was no organised research on either a national or international level, and convinced that only systematic research could provide solutions, he started the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation (known then as the Prostate Cancer Charitable Trust).

Sir Clive continued to be a driving force in the prostate cancer research field until his death in 2007. Lady Bourne worked alongside Sir Clive, and continued to offer her support first to Prostate Action, and now to Prostate Cancer UK. She is Chairman of the Annual Dinner Committee, and is committed to carrying on the legacy of her late husband in working to combat the disease. 

Anthony Kilmister founded Prostate UK in 1994 (then Prostate Research Campaign UK) when he became aware of the lack of research and information available to the public on prostate disease. So he set about creating a charity which focused on improving research into the three prostate diseases and producing patient’s information literature. He became Joint Life President of Prostate Action in 2010 following the merger of Prostate UK and PCRF.

Anthony is President of the Anglican Association and Vice-President of thePrayer Book Society. He was invested with the OBE in 2005.