Cancer Research UK, a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity, is governed by a Council of Trustees, the Charity's board of directors. Council's role is to set the Charity's strategic direction, monitor the delivery of the Charity's objects, uphold its values and governance and guide, advise and support the Chief Executive, who leads the Senior Management Team towards achieving the Charity's vision and purpose.

The Board of Council of Trustees is led by the Chairman, Mr David Newbigging, who also chairs the Charity's General Purposes Committee.

If you are interested in becoming a Trustee, please go to our jobs and careers website to read more about the role.

David Newbigging

OBE (Chairman, Cancer Research UK)

Appointed 2001, b 19.01.1934. Mr Newbigging was appointed Chairman in November 2004, having been Deputy Chairman since March 2002. He is currently Chairman of Synesis Life Ltd, a Director of Cancer Research Technology and a Director of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings Limited in Hong Kong. He was Chairman of Talbot Holdings Limited until July 2007 and Chairman of Friends Provident plc until May 2005. He was a director of Merrill Lynch & Co Inc in New York from 1996 until April 2007, and was a director of PACCAR Inc in Bellevue, Washington from 1999 to 2006.

His early career was spent in Asia where he worked for 30 years for the Jardine, Matheson Group of which he was Chairman and Chief Executive for 9 years before relocating to the UK in 1984. In Hong Kong he was a member of the Executive and Legislative Councils and Chairman or Director of several publicly listed companies, including being Chairman of the Hong Kong Land Company and Director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Former appointments in the UK include Chairman of Rentokil Group plc, Equitas Holdings Limited and Thistle Hotels plc.

His non-business interests include being a Trustee of National Crimebeat. He is a former Chairman of the Wiltshire Community Foundation. He was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 2003/04 and was also Chairman of the Council of the Mission to Seafarers from 1993 to 2006.

Dr Melanie Lee

BSc DSc(Hon) FMedSci (Deputy Chairman)

Appointed 2004, b 29.07.1958. Dr Lee studied as a postdoctoral scientist with the CRC and ICRF. She is currently Executive Vice-President Research and Development of UCB Pharma, a leading Global based Biopharmaceutical company. Dr Lee joined the Board of Imperial Cancer Research Technology Ltd (ICRT) in 2001 and, following the merger of ICRF and CRC, played a key role in the strategic planning of the business model for CR-UK's technology transfer company, Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT), and became its Chairman in 2003. She sits on the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, is Chairman of the Applied Genomics LINK Scheme Programme Management Committee, is a member of the Biochemistry Society and the Genetics Society, and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences in 2003. Dr Lee received an Honorary Postdoctoral Degree from the University of York in 2004 and is a William Pitt Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Professor Colin Bird

CBE FRSE

Appointed 2005, b 05.03.1938. Professor Bird was formerly Dean of Medicine and Provost of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at Edinburgh University and Professor of Pathology at Leeds and Edinburgh Universities. He has longstanding interests in cancer research, both basic and clinical aspects, and has worked on these in several universities and research institutes in the UK and USA. He has served previously on the Medical Research Council's Research Boards and Grants Committees, the Cancer Research Campaign Scientific Advisory and other Committees and various national NHS Advisory Committees on Cancer. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Pathologists, Physicians and Surgeons and of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Sir Kenneth Calman

KCB DL FRSE

Appointed 2007, b 25.12.1941. Sir Kenneth Calman is Chancellor of the University of Glasgow and Chair of The National Cancer Research Institute. He has recently been appointed Chair of the Commission approved by the Scottish Parliament to review devolution. He was Vice Chancellor at the University of Durham for almost nine years. While in Durham he was a member of the Regional Committee of the CBI and of the North East Chamber of Commerce.

Before taking up his appointment at the University of Durham he was Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish Home and Health Department from 1989 and the Chief Medical Officer for England (1991-98).

Sir Kenneth also served for many years as a prominent clinical professor and he is the author of many books on the care and treatment of cancer and on medical education. He is currently a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, and President of the Institute of Medical Ethics. He Chairs the NHS Genetics Education Group and is a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee.

Sir Kenneth has served as Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation and the European Environment and Health Committee. He is a Fellow of several academic and professional bodies including the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1996 he became a Knight Commander of the Order of Bath.

Dr Philip Campbell

BSc MSc PhD DSc FInstP FRAS

Appointed 2003, b 19.04.1951. Dr Campbell is the Editor-in-Chief of Nature and of Nature publications. After a period of post-doctoral research in physics, he joined Nature in 1979, becoming Physical Sciences editor in 1982. He left Nature in 1988 to be the founding editor of Physics World.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He took up his present position in December 1995, and is also a member of the board of directors of the Nature Publishing Group. He is chairman of the Charity's Public Affairs and Campaigning Advisory Committee.

In a personal capacity, he has advised or collaborated with the Wellcome Trust, US National Institutes of Health, the UK Office of Science and Technology and the European Commission on aspects of the life sciences and their impacts in society.

Sir James Crosby

Appointed 2008, b 14.03.1956. Sir James is the Deputy Chairman of the FSA (Jan 2004-present, Deputy Chairman since December 2007), senior independent director of ITV plc (formerly Granada plc, Nov 2002-present) and Compass Group plc (Feb 2007-present). He is also a member of the European Advisory Board of Bridgepoint Capital (Sept 2006-present), a member of the Finance Committee of the Delegacy of Oxford University Press (Sept 2006-present) and Chairman of the Government's Working Group on Mortgage Finance (Apr 2008-present). He received a knighthood in 2006.

Liz Hewitt

FCA BSc(Econ) FRSA

Appointed 2005, b 03.11.1956. Liz has been Group Director of Corporate Affairs for Smith & Nephew plc, the global medical technology business, since 2004. Liz is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, having qualified with Arthur Andersen & Co. She has worked for ten years in the venture capital industry for Gartmore Investment Limited, Citicorp Venture Capital Limited and 3i Group plc.

In 2003, Liz was seconded by 3i to the Department of Trade and Industry and HM Treasury where she worked on an SME financing programme which was announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in 2003.

Liz's charitable work has included non-executive roles with; the Rail Users Consultative Committee, Bournewood NHS Trust, Vice-Chairman of the Surrey Police Authority and the Audit and Finance Committee of the Royal Society of Arts.

Roger Matthews

Appointed 2008, b 11.06.1954. Roger Matthews is a Chartered Accountant and is currently non executive Chairman of MITIE Group plc, Land of Leather Holdings plc and LSL Property Services plc. He previously held the roles of Group Finance Director of J. Sainsbury PLC (from 1999-2005), Managing Director and Group Finance Director of Compass Group plc (1991-1999), and worked from Grand Metropolitan plc, Cadbury Schweppes plc and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dame Bridget Ogilvie

AC DBE FRS

Appointed 2001, b 24.03.1938. Dame Bridget obtained her doctoral degrees from the University of Cambridge for research in parasitology. Before joining the Wellcome Trust in 1979, she was a member of the scientific staff of the National Institute for Medical Research. She was Director of the Wellcome Trust between 1991 and 1998. She is currently based at University College London as a Visiting Professor. Dame Bridget occupies herself with a variety of non-executive roles.

Dr Keith F Palmer

(Treasurer)

Appointed 2003, b 26.07.1947. Dr Palmer is currently non-executive Vice Chairman of N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd, Chairman of Cambridge Economic Policy Associates and Chairman of the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund. He held senior positions with Rothschild from 1984-2002 and prior to that he worked at the World Bank and as a resident advisor to governments in Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. He is a part-time Professor at the University of Dundee, a non-executive Director of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust and of IVIMEDS, an international medical education collaboration, a Trustee of Kirkhouse Trust and of Guy's and St Thomas' Charitable Foundation and a Senior Associate of the King's Fund. He chairs the Charity's Finance Committee.

Leah Sowden

FCA CTA

Appointed 2005, b 20.06.1960. Leah Sowden is a general practice partner in Saffery Champness, Chartered Accountants, based in their High Wycombe office, offering a wide range of services to businesses and charities. Leah provides audit and value added services to her charity clients. She qualified with Armitage and Norton specialising in audit and accountancy services. Previously, she served on the Charity's Audit Committee from 2002 until 2004.

Professor Jeffrey Tobias

MD FRCP FRCR

Appointed 2001, b 04.12.1946. Professor Tobias qualified in Medicine in 1971 and has been a cancer specialist for almost 30 years. Currently a consultant at UCL hospitals, with a personal Chair in Cancer Medicine at UCL Medical School, he previously worked at the Harvard Medical School and London's Hammersmith, St. Bartholomew's, and Royal Marsden hospitals. He trained both in medical oncology and radiation therapy, the major non surgical treatments for cancer. His publications include Cancer: What Every Patient Needs to Know and Living with Cancer, both written for the general public (the latter to accompany a major BBC television series). He has also written widely on ethical issues (including consent) in cancer research. For 10 years he chaired the Cancer Research Campaign breast cancer studies "think tank". He also previously chaired the CRC Education Committee and was previously President of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists.