TREKSTOCK - Key Persons
Alison's areas of interest include the role of the clinical nurse specialist, patient experience, and hospital palliative care. She is also a member of the Royal Marsden School Board as she has a keen interest in education and training.
Alison has many years of experience in cancer and palliative care nursing both in London and elsewhere, including acute hospitals, primary care and hospice. More recently, she moved into strategy and is currently the Director of Cancer Nursing at Barts Health NHS Trust, a group of four hospitals in East London.
Caroline is a Senior Psychosexual Therapist at The Royal Marsden Hospital and also has her own Private Practise. She provides a safe space for you to talk about the things that matter to you, knowing that people can feel anxious and embarrassed talking about sex!
"Having a cancer diagnosis can take over your life for a while, and we need to remember that you are a sexual person too. The treatments for cancer can knock your self-confidence and self-esteem. Sometimes being able to have someone to talk to about any difficulties you are experiencing, can make a big difference." Caroline
Chris has worked at Legal & General since 2013 in various leadership roles in Legal & General Investment Management, and from 2017-2022, as head of Legal & General's UK Pension Risk Transfer business. Chris is now Managing Director of Strategic Accounts and new Markets.
Prior to Legal & General, Chris worked in investment consulting and spent twenty-three years in investment banking covering clients and running sales teams in Europe and North America. Outside of work, Chris is a father to teenage daughters and an exercise enthusiast. Chris has a BS in economics from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and over 35 years of industry experience.
David is a senior marketing professional with extensive experience in the entertainment industry. David currently looks after Entertainment Relations at Gibson Brands and has a proven track record in creating, implementing and driving successful marketing and promotional strategies delivering outstanding sales and profit growth.
His previous roles include Head of Marketing at Universal Music, Marketing Director at Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd, Director at the Country Music Association and Founder & Managing Director at The Big Picture.
Annice went through breast cancer ten years ago and knows first-hand what it's like to go through early menopause as a result. She is a U.K. medical consultant and hormone specialist with almost 3 decades of experience working in hospital medicine. Her special interests include women's health, hormone consequences of cancer treatment (late effects), menopause, puberty, thyroid disease, calcium and bone disorders, and chronic fatigue management. Annice herself went through breast cancer ten years ago and knows first-hand what it's like to go through early menopause as a result. Annice is the author of "The Complete Guide to the Menopause" she'll be bringing to the programme her evidence-based, holistic and personalised approach, helping you think through how food, sleep and exercise all play an important part in alleviating symptoms of menopause. She'll be offering advice on what to do when HRT isn't an option or just not for you.
Gemma is a behavioural scientist with a specialist interest in survivorship among young people with cancer. She is the Head of Patient Reported Outcomes Research at Anthony Nolan, with a PhD from University College London and has worked with Trekstock for many years, supporting us on the monitoring and evaluation of our programmes.
Lindsey is a GP with over 20 yrs experience and also a Menopause Specialist. Working in a large NHS menopause clinic as well as privately , Lindsey looks after lots of women who are experiencing menopausal symptoms as a result of cancer treatments. She feels passionate that this group of women should be able to access help and advice that empowers them with the knowledge to support themselves and understand their treatment options.
Job Titles:
- Chief Nurse at Teenage Cancer Trust
Louise is Chief Nurse at Teenage Cancer Trust, a Registered General Nurse and a Registered Sick Children's Nurse. Throughout her career, Louise has worked in a variety of clinical, academic and managerial roles. She has extensive experience in teenage and young adult cancer care and a detailed understanding of the opportunities and challenges that charities face when delivering services in partnership with the NHS.
Louise also works as a Senior Lecturer in Cancer Nursing at London South Bank University.
Philippa is a GP, author, journalist, and mother. She wrote the no-nonsense, candid book, The M Word, a complete one-stop guide to perimenopause and menopause covering everything from symptoms to practical advice. She also wrote Doctors get Cancer Too about her own experience of being diagnosed with bowel cancer at 39. She is the medical expert for many magazines and online press such as the Daily Mail, she's the Ann Summers resident health GP, regularly found on the sofa at This Morning on ITV as well as appearing on other television and radio shows from Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC and Sky News as well as Radio 5 live, BBC Radio London and much more!
She'll be bringing her no-nonsense approach to health issues, helping you make sense of your symptoms and giving you tips and tricks on how to get the best out of your GP appointments when it comes to menopause.
Rebecca is a GP and menopause specialist. She dedicates her time to seeing patients and lecturing and writing articles with the aim to empower women with evidence based knowledge so that they can make informed decisions about managing their menopause.
Job Titles:
- Consultant in Medical Strategy
Ankita is a Consultant in Medical Strategy and Patient Engagement as well as a Guest Lecturer at UCL Global Business School for Health. Ankita trained and worked as a medical doctor in India. After her transition to health communications, she has worked across a wide variety of therapy areas for the past 20 years.
Eva has a 25-year career spanning business-building and corporate leadership, including an 18-year career in healthcare communications, leading award-winning UK global PR and medical communications strategies for a number of memorable pharmaceutical brands.
Eva grew and successfully sold a multi-million revenue global communications business to the FTSE 100 listed CHIME Communications within a 6-year window before becoming an equity partner in global health Communications giant OPEN Health. Eva's therapeutic area knowledge is broad, and her standout areas of expertise are in oncology and rare disease.
Kate is a qualified personal trainer specialising in helping women reach their fitness potential.
She has first-hand experience of heading into peri-menopause and knows how many of the symptoms can leave you feeling very overwhelmed and anxious.
She'll be joining us to talk about how exercise can make a positive impact on how you feel, and for you to gain an understanding of how your mind and bodywork together, so you truly appreciate what you are capable of regardless of menopause.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- Vice Chair of the Board
Rachel was appointed as Vice Chair of the Board in October 2023. With over twenty years experience in the non-profit sector, she began her career at Cancer Research UK, heading up Race for Life in its infancy, to becoming a £60m brand. She has held various charitable CEO roles for youth-focused charities, including being the inaugural CEO for Dallaglio RugbyWorks.
As a strategic consultant, she uses her breadth of expertise to advise charities and businesses.
Passionate about young people and social mobility, she works with organizations to help implement
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
- New Chair
Rob was appointed as Trekstock's new Chair in February 2020. Rob's career has spanned over 50 years initially in the financial services sector where he was a senior director and latterly chief executive in several large, global financial institutions. He is Chief of staff for philanthropist Sir Harvey McGrath and Director of Tangent Synergy.
Rob has spent the last ten years expanding his knowledge of the No t-for-Profit sector, particularly in its relationship with business, working with the boards of charities in a variety of sectors as well as mentoring senior management.
Samantha is the co-founded Jo Divine, an online sex toy company, with her husband Paul in 2007 which only sells skin-safe sex toys and sexual lubricants.
Having a professional background in nursing, she is a features writer and sexual health and pleasure expert for Jo Divine. With extensive knowledge about sex toys and sexual lubricants, she enjoys creating informative, practical articles about sexual health and pleasure which endeavour to normalise sex, help people to talk about it, and discover ways to enjoy sex in whatever way they want to or are able to.
Samantha works with many healthcare professionals in the NHS and private practice to help them advise their patients about regaining sexual function and enjoying sexual intimacy and pleasure through the use of suitable sex toys, dilators and pH balanced sexual lubricants.
As a menopausal woman, she advises people going through natural menopause or as a result of medical or surgical treatment, including post-cancer, about ways to enjoy sexual intimacy and pleasure. She passionately believes that it is always possible to enjoy pleasurable sex and having cancer doesn't mean your sex life has to stop.
"I recently featured on Channel 4: Davina McCall "Sex, Myths and the Menopause" where we had a fun and informative chat about sex, orgasms, sex toys, how ingredients matter when it comes to choosing and using lubricants and moisturisers, how everyone needs a good tube of lube in their bedside drawer and why we both want to be like our 95-year-old customers still enjoying pleasurable orgasms!" - Samantha
Simon has 36 years of experience in business management in various sectors including hospitality, finance and property.
Simon has been Chairman and Managing Director of several hotels and restaurants and has won several awards for his work.
Simon was Trekstock's previous Chair (since 2011) and remains on board as a Trustee and currently acts as the CEO of Eden Lands(Nevis) Ltd and President of the KSL Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Founder & CEO of Success Club
Tony is the Founder & CEO of Success Club, a charity seeking to help maximise opportunities and improve life outcomes for young people aged 5-18. Tony has worked in and around London with school communities and families for over 40 years.
Starting out as a volunteer youth worker at the age of 16, he has gone on to work as a peripatetic youth worker, sports development coach, inclusion manager for Crime Concerns Mentoring Plus, a facilitator and storyteller for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, and youth advisor for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (John Prescott).