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Board of directors

  • Allyson Kaye MBE, President

    Allyson lost her mother to ovarian cancer 30 years ago. Subsequently, Allyson has been involved in the field of ovarian cancer for 20 years and she founded Ovarian Cancer Action in 2005. She developed the first UK ovarian cancer national awareness campaign, which was instrumental in the start-up of the charity and the formal recognition of the symptoms of ovarian cancer in the UK today. In 2006 Ovarian Cancer Action opened its Research Centre at Imperial College where there are now more than 60 researchers. She is an active member on several science and cancer related boards and a driving force for the HHMT International Forum on Ovarian Cancer, where scientists debate and prioritise new directions in research and ways to accelerate progress. She is well-known to worldwide ovarian cancer researchers and is an author of several papers, including the latest roadmap for the future of ovarian cancer research and treatment, which was published in Nature Reviews Cancer. In the 2014 New Year’s Honours List, Allyson was awarded an MBE for her work.

  • Dr Wayne Phillips, Chair

    Wayne founded Double Helix in 1995 after many years of senior and international roles within the pharmaceutical industry. A Physician with post graduate qualifications in pharmaceutical medicine, Wayne was chairman of the British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians. He has expertise in clinical development, biostatistics, regulatory affairs and medical communications.

    Wayne has over 30 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry, of which 16 years was in clinical development and medical marketing. Prior to founding Double Helix, Wayne was Medical Director, Genentech Europe, Switzerland, and was responsible for several clinical development teams in Europe. He was previously the UK and Ireland Medical Director for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.

  • Dr John Anson

    John has spent over 30 years working within the Life Science commercial sector and has a broad range of experience in both technical and commercial leadership.  He was appointed as CEO of Oxford Gene Technology in 2018, having worked for the company since 2006.  In that time he was responsible for overseeing the development of a range of innovative genetics research solutions to advance molecular medicine across the company’s product portfolio.  Prior to joining OGT, John spent sixteen years at Amersham Biosciences/GE Healthcare where he held a number of senior positions in R&D and business development.

  • Professor Richard Hunt

    Richard Hunt is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Gastroenterology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and a faculty member of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Edinburgh and Canada, and American Gastroenterology Association. He is a Master of the American College of Gastroenterology and a Master of the World Gastroenterology Organization. Richard has been recognized with many prizes and medals for his work in Gastroenterology including the Gilbert Blane Medal and the Bockus Medal. Richard is currently a Director and Vice President of the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation of which he was also a founding member.

  • Angharad McKenzie

    A career fundraiser and executive leader, Angharad has overseen high growth strategies for a range of International non-profit organisations, including WaterAid, charity: water and Practical Action.  With 25 years of experience leading and consulting on global mass market campaigns and market development initiatives through to supporting philanthropists and global corporates in their impact-investments, Angharad brings a portfolio approach to enhancing the performance of purpose-driven organisations and individuals.  Angharad joined Hope and Homes for Children in 2017 to lead its organisational positioning and global fundraising efforts as it seeks to spearhead the progressive elimination of institutional care of children globally.  Angharad holds a first class degree in International Development & Politics and cherishes her role as a daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend.

  • Jacqui Owens

    Jacqui is a senior commercial leader with 20 years of experience in sales leadership, digital transformation, and talent management, through director and senior leadership roles for Google and News Corp in EMEA and APAC.
    Jacqui is currently the Head of Health & Beauty for Google, where she has been for nine years, initially across Retail in Australia, prior to moving to the UK six years ago. Jacqui is passionate about Women's Health and leads Wellbeing and Mental Health for the large customer sales teams at Google UK. For the past four years, Jacqui has been an Executive Board Member for Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) UK.

  • Sally Williams

    Sally is a chartered accountant with over 30 years of experience. She is a non-executive director at Close Brothers Group plc, Lancashire Holdings Limited, and Family Assurance Friendly Society Limited (OneFamily). Sally chairs the audit committees at Lancashire Holdings and OneFamily.  Prior to becoming a non-executive, she held senior roles at Marsh, National Australia Bank and PwC. 

    Sally sadly lost her mother to ovarian cancer and is passionate about OCA’s ambition to make ovarian cancer a survivable disease.

  • Jane Wolfson

    Jane has over 20 years’ experience in the marketing and media industry. She joined the global media company Hearst in the UK in June 2015 as their Head of Commercial Operations, responsible for commercial delivery across Hearst’s portfolio of print and digital brands. Jane became Director of the content marketing division, Hearst Made, in September 2016. She is responsible for the growth strategy of the division, enhancing its profile and reputation across the industry, and building long term brand content partnerships with clients and agencies.