THE FOOD CHAIN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Dietitian at Guy
- Principal Dietitan, HIV Care & AIDS, Guy 's and St Thomas' Hospital, London
Alastair works as a dietitian at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital in London, and as a Lecturer in Diabetes and Nutrition at King's College London. His first degree in Microbiology led onto researching HIV malabsorption, highly prevalent before the advent of combination…
Biography
Allegra McEvedy MBE is a chef, writer and broadcaster. She has run the kitchens in a number of high profile restaurants including The Groucho club, The River Cafe and Robert de Niro's New York based Tribeca Grill.
In 2003, Allegra co-founded LEON, the award-winning, healthy, fast-food restaurant group, which was named the "Best New Restaurant in Great Britain" at the Observer Food Monthly Awards. In 2008 LEON won the Palme d'Or for the Best Restaurant Concept in Europe.
Allegra was Chef in Residence at The Guardian for three years until 2009, as well as hosting a quarterly "cookalong", the internet's first live, interactive and illustrated cooking class. Her series Economy Gastronomy for the BBC
She is the author of five books - the latest being Bought, Borrowed & Stolen: Recipes and Knives from a Travelling Chef. Allegra has been a Patron of The Food Chain since 2009 and is currently advising on operations and logistics in the new Acorn House kitchen.
Allegra says "Wherever you are in the world, there's no better way of giving people joy than by handing them a plate of food made with love … and watching them love it too" which resonates beautifully with our own philosophy.
Job Titles:
- Director of Services & Development
Biography
Anna is responsible for overseeing the running of all services delivered at The Food Chain. She also manages the Dietetic Team and the Training & Volunteer Coordinator, and is part of the Senior Management Team.
After volunteering for about six years, Anna made the transition to staff member at the end of October 2016. Her aim is to ensure that Service Users and volunteers receive the best possible service from The Food Chain, and that the charity runs smoothly day to day.
Her professional background experience has mostly been in volunteer management, mainly working with young adult volunteers in the social care sector. She's also worked with disability support and mentoring volunteers here in the UK, and with community development programmes overseas.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of Trustees
- HIV Social Care Co - Ordinator
Biography
Chris currently works as a HIV Social Care Co-ordinator in an East London NHS Trust. Having previously worked for a HIV charity, he has a lot of knowledge of the HIV sector and is a strong campaigner for social justice and equity in healthcare for people living with HIV. Chris worked as a volunteer at The Food Chain before joining the board and in his day job refers many people into the charity's services.
In his 5th year as a member of the board, Chris was elected to the position of Chair. Talking about his role as a trustee, Chris says "The Food Chain provides vital services to people living with HIV, especially those that are disenfranchised and feel that they have little agency to speak out. The nutritional advice and food support offer is invaluable for our service users. This is complimented by the incredible support that the dedicated staff team provide, enabling people to find their voice and empowering them to go on and live well with HIV. The feedback that I receive from people accessing the service is always so positive. Many people credit The Food Chain for turning their lives around."
Job Titles:
- Training and Volunteer Coordinator
Clare is on parental leave until November 2024. Helen Cleverley is covering as Training & Volunteer Coordinator for that time.
Biography
Laura Waters is a doctor working in HIV & sexual health in central London and chair of the British HIV Association. She is a vocal advocate for people with HIV, challenging misinformation and stigmatising language, and has spent the last 2 years ensuring people have access to clear information on all things COVID-related.
She is a passionate cook as part of @Flame_and_Dame with her husband and even more passionate about vintage clothes!
Job Titles:
- Clinical Psychologist
- Clinical Psychologist, CASCAID
Biography
Dr Stuart Gibson works as a clinical psychologist in a multidisciplinary mental health service for people living with HIV in south London. For more than 12 years he has practiced clinical psychology, lectured, trained, and conducted research on the psychological aspects of living with HIV in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Stuart also has many years of experience in training about sexual diversity in psychology and psychiatry. He is the current Chair of the Faculty for HIV & Sexual Health in the British Psychological Society and has honorary appointments with the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and Salomons (Canterbury Christ Church University).
Job Titles:
- Training & Volunteer Coordinator ( Parental Leave Cover to November 2024 )
Helen will be covering all aspects of Training and Volunteer Coordination including recruitment, events and day-to-day management of our brilliant volunteer team. She works 2.5 days a week…
Biography
Jack Monroe is a food blogger, active anti-poverty campaigner and successful author. She rose to prominence by sharing her experience of how to get by on the £10 a week she could then afford to spend on herself and her young son. Making inventive use of the best-value supermarket goods she could find, Jack wrote up her recipes on her online blog, A Girl Called Jack.
Jack joined as Patron of The Food Chain in October 2014.
Jason has worked for Terrence Higgins Trust since August 2009 as Clinical Director/Service Quality & Governance Director. Prior to working for THT, Jason has held a number of senior nursing positions in the NHS. He has worked in the field of HIV and sexual health for a number of years in the UK and also has experience of working on a HIV project in South Africa. Jason served as Chair of the Royal College of Nursing Congress from 2006 to 2010. He is currently the sexual health and HIV representative on the RCN's public health forum and volunteers as the Healthcare Services Manager for the charity Crisis UK, the national charity for single homeless people.
Biography
Jay Rayner is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster. He was born in London where he still lives and writes for the Observer, where he is a feature writer and restaurant critic.
His varied television work includes appearances as a judge in multiple series of Masterchef, and part of the expert panel on Top Chef Masters for Bravo, a spinoff from the hit TV show Top Chef. He is also the resident food pundit for The One Show. In 2012 he became the host of the food panel show The Kitchen Cabinet for BBC Radio 4.
He is the author of four novels and three works of non-fiction. His latest book, A Greedy Man in a Hungry World, about the challenges of food security in the 21st Century, was published in spring 2013.
Jay became Food Chain Patron in November 2013 having already spoken at our Green Apple Dinner in 2012 and more recently visited Acorn House and met some of the people who benefit from our services at Eating Together. In 2014, Jay was actively involved in several fundraising initiatives, including the Spring Office Picnic. His jazz quartet performed at our autumn fundraiser, The Food Chain at The Foundling, where Jay starred on the piano. Jay was instrumental in helping promote the event, also delivering a special hour-long talk to guests on the night.
Biography
Jimmy Somerville is a Scottish pop singer and song writer. His success includes number ones internationally with ‘Don't leave me this way' and bestselling albums with Bronski Beat and the Communards.
Jimmy solo career since started in 1988 when the communards split and he has had a number of hits. More recently he has produced a number of dance and acoustic albums.
Jimmy worked in the kitchen as a hands-on Food Chain volunteer for years before becoming Patron in 1996.
Biography
Jonathan Harvey is an accomplished British playwright, having won numerous awards including National Girobank Young Writer of the Year, The Evening Standard's most promising playwright award and the George Devine award.
His TV works include Coronation Street (since 2004) and the BBC comedy series Gimme Gimme Gimme. In 1996, a screen adaptation of his play Beautiful Thing was produced by channel four.
In Hushabye Mountain and Jonathan's most recent play Canary, the storyline is focused on HIV & AIDS.
Jonathan has been a Patron of The Food Chain since 1996 and most recently hosted a gala reception and performance of Canary in Aid of The Food Chain.
José is a cis gay man from Colombia. He has been living with HIV since 2008 and moved to the UK in 2015. During these years José has navigated stigma, mental health difficulties and other social challenges, and has benefited from different coping strategies and support networks.
José is a researcher, facilitator and project manager working in HIV and mental health in London. His practice centres on peer support, lived experience and community development. Alongside public bodies and community organisations, José has developed and implemented projects with migrants, LGBT and indigenous communities in the UK, Brazil and Colombia.
Biography
Julian Clary is a comedian and novelist. After graduating, Julian began working on the cabaret circuit in the early 1980s.
His TV break came in 1989 with an ITV quiz show called Trick or Treat, and since then he's been a regular on the nations TV screens with appearances on Strictly Come Dancing, Who Do You Think You Are, Celebrity Big Brother and many more. Julian is a regular panelist on Radio 4's ‘Just a Minute' and continues to tour the UK and Australia with his one man shows.
Lucy joined The Food Chain in March 2019 as a part time Dietitian. Her role involves making first contact with anyone refered to our services, conducting a dietetic assessment…
Luke joined the staff team in September 2019 after starting as a volunteer back in 2017. As The Food Chain's full time Dietitian, Luke conducts telephone assessments…
Mark Reynolds has been volunteering for The Food Chain for over ten years. Mark was introduced to The Food Chain by a friend and started volunteering as a navigator at the Highbury kitchen, subsequently helping out in a variety of roles in a number of…
Michael Barker joined the board in December 2021. Michael is a fresh food journalist with 20 years of experience in UK and international media. He has worked as a senior editor on a number of leading food industry publications…
Job Titles:
- Dietetic Support Coordinator
- Registered Associate
Ornella is a Registered Associate Nutritionist who joined The Food Chain as a Dietetic Support Volunteer in February 2018. In 2020 she was such a key player in coordinating…
Peter was brought on board in October 2012 to establish the Sunday Services, Eating Together, Eating Positively and Corporate and Hospitality events in our new kitchen…
Job Titles:
- Physician and Training Programme Director for HIV / Genito - Urinary Medicine at Guy
Ranjababu Kulasegaram - consultant physician and training programme director for HIV/Genito-Urinary Medicine at Guy's and St.Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, leads the HIV Treatment Advice Clinic with special interests in HIV/Hepatitis, HIV/Brain, …
Job Titles:
- Director of Income Generation
Richard Mills joined the Food Chain just before Christmas 2020. Richard has worked as a Trusts Fundraiser for organisations including The Big Issue Foundation, Parkinson's UK…
Sir Cameron Macintosh is a British theatrical producer, described by the New York Times as the most successful, powerful and influential producer of our time. His career started as a stage hand at the Theatre Royal, Drury lane.
Vanda joined The Food Chain as a volunteer in 2011, so has seen a lot of the charity's genesis over the years! She now works as our part time Financial Administrator, ensuring…