Board of Directors
Learn about the ways our board can support our mission.
Leading Ovarian Cancer Action is our Board of Directors. They oversee our mission and strategy, making sure we deliver impactful work. They donate their time and expertise, committed to our cause.
We're looking for a new Chair of the Board.
Help us drive innovation and impact in ovarian cancer research. In this role, you’ll be instrumental in guiding our next phase of growth, shaping the future of research, and building strong partnerships to increase survival rates. We’re looking for a dynamic leader with a passion for governance and a commitment to improving women’s health.
Join us in our mission to transform the lives of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
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. She is currently Director of Fundraising at Comic Relief. 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 now Director at Google, leading the Retail business across Google's largest customers across health, beauty, sports, fashion and luxury.
Previously she was the Head of Health & Beauty for Google, where she had 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 is Founder of Second Lives media consultancy, having left her corporate role as Chief Commercial Officer of Hearst UK and Hearst Global Solutions in July last year. Her background is in driving advertising revenue across multiple brands and making businesses more commercially viable. Before working at Hearst, Jane ran the investment division at Initiative, an IPG media company, working across clients such as Tesco, Unilever, LVMH and Amazon.
She has been recognised as one of the top Commercial Chiefs by Campaign, one of the 20 Women to Watch in Europe by AdAge, and currently serves as the Chair of the PPA NextGen board.
She is a vocal advocate of driving positive change in the advertising and marketing community, actively engaging with NABS, MEFA and AdNetZero as well as supporting causes that matter personally to her, such as gender equality, child protection, and ovarian cancer research. As well as being on the board of directors at Ovarian Cancer Action, she is also a board member of NSPCC Childline, and a proud member of WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications).
