Our Trustees

Their responsibilities include:

• Setting the charity’s strategic direction
• Monitoring the delivery of the charity’s objectives
• Upholding our values and governance
• Advising and supporting our Chief Executive, who leads the Senior Leadership Team in achieving the charity’s vision and purpose.

The Board of Trustees are supported by our committees and panels, which focus on specific tasks, provide detailed insights, and support the Trustees to make informed decisions.

The Board meets quarterly and is led by the Chair, Professor Mike Hanna, who was elected at the charity’s 2016 AGM. Trustees also act as Directors of the Company for company law.

Professor Michael Hanna (Chair) 

Professor Mike Hanna joined the board of Trustees in 2013 and is passionate about applying research to find better treatments for patients and families with neuromuscular conditions. He is a Consultant Neurologist, specialising in neuromuscular conditions at the National Hospital Queen Square, Director of the MRC Centre for translational research in neuromuscular conditions, and Director of the UCL Institute of Neurology. He leads an active research programme and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed original research papers. 

Marian Ridley (Vice-Chair)

Marian Ridley is an accomplished healthcare leader and strategic adviser with extensive charity trustee experience. Her varied career across different parts of the health sector saw her become the first CEO of Evelina London Women’s and Children’s Healthcare, leading multiple organisational and pan-organisational programmes of growth and improvement in services for children and families.  She has a particular interest in the development and implementation of strategy, following her time as Strategy Director of Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

She now devotes much of her time to trustee, lay and non-executive roles focused upon causes and organisations about which she feels passionately, and where her skills, energy and expertise can make a positive impact.

Motivated by memories of individuals and families affected by muscle-wasting disease who she has known or encountered over many years, both personally and professionally, she was thrilled to have the opportunity to join the MDUK Board as Vice-Chair in January 2026.  She brings an unstinting commitment to listening to the communities served by the Charity across the UK.

Joseph Gordon (Treasurer) 

Joe Gordon joined the board of trustees in 2019. He is the Chief Operating Officer of Starling Bank and is responsible for customer operations across the bank. Previously, Joe has held senior roles across multiple industries including Telecoms, Energy and Financial Services; including being COO for OVO Energy, CEO of First Direct Bank and the Customer Service Director for HSBC UK.  

As an operations executive for the last twenty years, Joe has vast experience of operating models, P&L ownership, digital transformation and large scale leadership and cultural change. A lifelong customer experience advocate, Joe has been recognised as a leading industry voice and has attained many industry and pan-industry awards for customer experience.  

In addition, Joe has held several advisory roles including as an Independent Advisor for HMRC and as Vice President for the Institute of Customer Service Joe has a brother with Muscular Dystrophy and, as such, has had a long fundraising affiliation with Muscular Dystrophy UK in several events before becoming a Trustee to the charity in 2019. Joe was appointed Chair of the Finance Committee in October 2023.  

Michelle Anthony  

Chair of the Microscope Ball since 2018, Michelle hosted her first event in 2019, which beat previous fundraising records. During the pandemic she recruited volunteers to lead a new virtual wellbeing programme and drove an £100k net target from the property industry, despite the cancellation of the 2020 Ball. Michelle’s network also introduced us to the Piccadilly Lights opportunity, which led to further marketing sites and increased media interest in the ‘Walk with Carmela’ fundraising campaign. She joined us as a trustee in 2021. 

Michelle has worked at Oxygen Asset Management since 2014, taking on responsibility for the overseeing of development projects, liaison with building management and tenant engagement. Her background is in the management and delivery of the development, refurbishment and management of buildings. She has significant experience in central London buildings. An active member of the British Council of Offices, Michelle sits on their Committee for the Mentoring of New Talent in the property industry. 

Professor Deirdre Kelly CBE 

Professor Deirdre Kelly, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, is Professor of Paediatric Hepatology at the University of Birmingham and Consultant Paediatric Hepatologist and Founding Director of the Liver Unit for Birmingham Women’s & Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She has trained in both adult and paediatric gastroenterology and hepatology. 

In 1989, Professor Kelly set up the Paediatric Liver Unit at Birmingham Women’s & Children’s Hospital (BWC), which has a track record of academic and clinical innovation. She retired from routine clinical care in 2021 but continues her academic research. She has significant Non-Executive Director/Board Experience as a member, including GMC, 2013-2020. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of Evelina London. She set up a small charity to support children with liver disease and has been a Trustee for several national Charities, including Breast Cancer UK. She has been President of many professional societies, including the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) (2006-2010). 

Professor Kelly was made a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2016 and received the ESPGHAN Distinguished Service Award in 2016 and the EASL Recognition Award in 2019. She is married with two children, one of whom has FSHD, and four grandchildren. 

Professor Kelly was appointed to our board of trustees in 2021. 

James Lee 

James was diagnosed with SMA type 3 as a small child. He is currently a Director at Publica, an urban design and research practice based in London. Prior to this, James worked in the world of Trusts and Foundations and is a former Chair of the Grants Committee at BBC Children in Need. He also sits on the Disability Advisory Group working with Transport for London and is a member of the London Recovery Board for the Greater London Authority.

James previously served as a volunteer before employment with the Trailblazers team at Muscular Dystrophy UK – spanning seven years across volunteering and employment. Currently a panel member for Joseph Patrick Trust, James became a member of the Muscular Dystrophy UK judging panel for the 2022 President’s Awards. 

James is an experienced campaigner. He has worked at local and national levels on policy design and management of grants, and he has extensive experience in the world of Trusts & Foundations. He has lived experience combined with professional expertise in matters of equity, diversity, and inclusion. James is an active member of disabled communities with muscular dystrophy and across a wider disability spectrum. Professionally, he has worked to advance the rights of disabled people to participate politically, access employment and achieve greater equity. 

He was appointed as a trustee in 2023. 

Gerry McMenemy 

Gerry became involved with Muscular Dystrophy UK shortly after his son’s diagnosis with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He and his wife appreciated the support of the charity, so they joined as a member and launched the family fund ‘Muscle in with Somhairle’. Gerry became a member of the Muscular Dystrophy UK Scottish Council. He was appointed as a trustee in 2023.  

He brings his lived experience as a parent and ambassador of a child with a muscle wasting condition and his skills as an accomplished communicator and negotiator from his role as a Scottish Police Officer working through a variety of front-line, operational, critical, and specialist policing fields in both management and leadership roles. Gerry has a personal interest in the promotion of the wider quality of life beyond reliance on clinical care, breaking barriers and pushing boundaries in inclusivity and equality. 

Claire O’Hanlon MBE 

Claire has extensive experience (since 2007) in Business Development with a key focus on early-stage entrepreneurship, business development and organisational change, communications, learning, and coaching and mentoring for team, business and personal development. Claire has a family history of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and her 9-year-old son and 7-year-old cousin live with Duchenne. In 2012, she started a fundraising group, Leap for Luke, which raised £100,000 for various muscular dystrophy charities. Through Leap for Luke, she raised local awareness about Duchenne and actively campaigned.  

Alongside being appointed as trustee in 2020 Claire is Chair of our Northern Ireland Council, a Peer Support Volunteer with Muscular Dystrophy UK and was part of the delegation that travelled to Washington in 2016 in support of FDA approval of Eteplirsen (Exondys 51). She completed the EURORDIS Summer School in June 2018, which aims to equip attendees with the skills & knowledge to advocate for access and changes to the development of drugs for rare diseases.

Lord Sharkey 

John Sharkey has spent most of his commercial life in communications businesses. He was joint managing director of Saatchi and Saatchi UK, founded and ran his own advertising agency and was chair of various other communications and recruitment enterprises. He became strategic communications advisor to Nick Clegg in 2007 and was chair of the Liberal Democrat’s General Election campaign in 2010 and of the 2011 Fairer Votes campaign. 

He is a former Chair of the Hansard Society, a former Governor of the Institute for Government, a founding director of the financial services think-tank New City Agenda Ltd, and a former director of the not-for-profit fact-checking organisation Full Fact Ltd. He is also a Member of Council at UCL and chair of its Remuneration Committee. 

He chairs the Specialised Healthcare Alliance and is the former Chair of the Association of Medical Research Charities. He is a member of the House of Lords and its EU Select Committee on Industry and Regulators. Lord Sharkey sits on the Muscular Dystrophy UK Appointments and Remuneration Committee. He was appointed as a trustee in 2023. 

Brigid Sutcliffe 

Brigid has been a member of the Muscular Dystrophy UK Finance Committee since February 2022 and a Trustee since October 2022. Brigid is an experienced Non-Executive Director and a chartered accountant and has worked in professional services, banking and as a strategic change management consultant. She is the Audit Chair and Non-Executive Director of Northern Venture Trust PLC (listed venture capital trust), Strategic Equity Capital plc and STS Global Income & Growth Trust plc (both listed investment trusts), and an independent member of the Finance Committee of Newnham College, University of Cambridge.

Her experience of Muscular Dystrophy UK conditions comes from caring for her husband and two of her adult children who have myotonic dystrophy type DM1. Brigid and her family have fundraised for the charity and helped to raise the profile of muscle wasting conditions.

Chloe Docker

Chloe has been involved with us as a charity since she was eight years’ old, after being diagnosed with nemaline myopathy at a young age. From speaking at corporate events to jumping out of a plane, her aim over the last 20 years as a charity ambassador has been to build a more inclusive and equal world for people living with conditions like hers – helping us to increase awareness of muscle wasting and weakening conditions; and raise money to support others and fund groundbreaking research.

A powerful advocate for disability rights, Chloe has worked with online fashion brand ASOS to design wheelchair-friendly clothing and has also represented Great Britain in Para Archery, breaking world records and winning medals in 2014 and 2015. An injury meant that she missed out on a place in the team for the Rio 2016 Paralympics, but she went on to pursue a career as a journalist and currently works as a Senior Account Manager at communications agency Battenhall.

Chloe became a Trustee in October 2024.

Jennifer Howells

Jennifer became involved with Muscular Dystrophy UK following her diagnosis with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 in December 2022.

Jennifer has extensive experience within the NHS working as a Finance Director, Regional Director and Chief Executive across a range of NHS organisations, including specialist and general acute Trusts, primary and community care and commissioning and regulatory organisations. Jennifer was the Director of Finance, Strategy and Transformation for the National Institute of Health & Care Excellence and prior to that was the Regional Director for the South West for NHS England.

Jennifer started her career as a chartered accountant working in Audit and Business Advisory for Arthur Andersen. Following her qualification and relocation to the United States Jennifer took on a role as a Transaction Services Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers advising multi-national corporations on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Subsequently Jennifer devoted two years to raising her two daughters whilst living in Paris.

On her return from overseas, Jennifer decided to pursue a career with the NHS and spent more than 20 years serving this organisation. Jennifer has also served in a voluntary capacity for charitable and membership organisations within her local community and region as a Chair, Treasurer and lay member.

Professor Ros Quinlivan

Ros Quinlivan joined the MDUK trustees in 2026 following her retirement from the NHS where she worked for over 30 years as a consultant in Neuromuscular Diseases. Prior to moving to London in 2010, she was director of the Centre for Neuromuscular Disorders in Oswestry. From 2010 onwards she led the neuromuscular transition service from Great Ormond Street hospital to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square.

She established and led the Neuromuscular Complex Care Centre at Queen Square and has led multiple clinical trials. She is currently Research Director for the European Neuromuscular Centre (ENMC) and has more than 300 publications.

Professor Simon Ray

Simon is the National Clinical Director for Heart Disease in NHSE England and Deputy Chair of the British Heart Foundation. Until 2025 he worked for 30 years as a consultant cardiologist and Honorary Professor of Cardiology at Manchester University Hospitals where his clinical practice included adults living with a range of muscle conditions potentially impacting the heart.

He was Research and Development Director at Wythenshawe Hospital and the cardiovascular lead for the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre. Simon is also a past president of the British Cardiovascular Society and was joint national lead for the Getting It Right First Time programme in cardiology.

He has a direct family connection to muscle disease through his younger son who lived with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Simon brings both his professional experience of the NHS and clinical research and his personal experience as the parent of a child with a severe muscle wasting condition. He is an advocate for compassionate, patient centred, care and the need to make every interaction with healthcare professionals count for those living with muscle conditions, their families and their carers.

Tom Sara

Currently a Digital Director at the NHS, Tom has vast experience of managing digital and transformation projects as well as leadership within the healthcare and life sciences industry.

Tom’s operational experience is complemented by his insight into healthcare systems and leadership in digital and strategic transformation. He also has a personal connection to the charity as his young son lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Tom has experienced first-hand the benefit of receiving the right support from charities and wants to work with us to ensure that all individuals and families living with muscle wasting conditions get the help and support they need.