Meet Our Team
Our Trustees
Our Board of Trustees is responsible for Neuroblastoma UK. The Board is made up of lay members who are parents or close relatives of families affected by neuroblastoma, and senior paediatric oncologists.
Neuroblastoma UK is currently being led by an Executive of Zara Aitchison and Dr Kate Wheeler.
Kate has been a consultant paediatric oncologist in the Oxford Children's Hospital since 1995. She has specialised in neuroblastoma and from 2010 to 2016 was the chair of the UK NCRI Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Neuroblastoma group.
Clair joined Neuroblastoma in 2025.
She’s worked as a qualified FCCA accountant for over 15 years, with experience in managing large cash transaction teams & preparing monthly/annual accounts within a large corporate company.
Ruby joined Neuroblastoma UK in 2018. Her career spans marketing in various charities, including Shelter and CRUK and she is chair of the IoF Payroll Giving Special Interest Group.
Tori returned to our Trustee board as Charity Secretary in September 2023. Tori’s parents founded our charity over 40 years and Tori continues to be involved with the charity.
Steve has been a supporter of Neuroblastoma UK since 1996 and a Trustee since 2001, holding a number of portfolios over that period. He has spent most of his career working in healthcare IT and is currently responsible for several NHS IT delivery programmes and services.
Deb Tweddle is Professor of Paediatric Oncology at Newcastle University and an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric & Adolescent Oncology at the Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle.
Faye joined Neuroblastoma UK as a trustee in 2017 and looks after corporate fundraising partnerships and our internal HR functions.
Our Scientific Advisory Board
Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) brings together eminent neuroblastoma scientists and clinicians. A new Board is selected for each major research grant round, after we have received all research grant applications.
We make a conscious effort to find Board members who are totally independent of any applications and have the relevant breadth of knowledge and experience to effectively peer review the science which has been presented to us.
The SAB play a key role in our grant research funding process, recommending applications and providing counsel to our Board of Trustees.
Dr Meredith Irwin is a Professor of Paediatrics and Clinician-scientist focused on translational neuroblastoma research at the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) and University of Toronto.
Prof Heinrich Kovar has been Head of the Molecular Biology of Solid tumours group at St Anna’s Cancer Research Institute, Vienna since 1988 and was scientific director of the Institute from 2001 to 2017.
Dr Julia Glade Bender is Vice Chairman for Clinical Research in the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK Kids), New York.
Dr Kelly Goldsmith is Professor of Paediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta and Curing Kids Cancer Endowed Chair of Paediatric Oncology.
Prof Kaat Durinck , is an Assistant professor at the Paediatric Precision Oncology Lab at Ghent University, Belgium.
Prof Heike Laman graduated from the University of Miami with her Bachelor of Science and her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Columbia University in New York.
Our Staff
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Emily Hood
Head of Fundraising and Communications
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Summer Lee
Senior Communications Officer
Zara started volunteering for Neuroblastoma UK in 2017 and became a Trustee in 2019. Her background is in business and finance, predominately in the Reinsurance Markets.