UK ADVISORS

Professor Alastair Compston CBE
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Alastair Compston is Professor Emeritus of Neurology in the University of Cambridge. He was previously Professor of Neurology, University of Cambridge (1988-2015); consultant neurologist (1982-1987), and professor of neurology, University of Wales College of Medicine (1987-8); president of the European Neurological Society (2002-3) and the Association of British Neurologists (2009-2010; and editor of Brain, a journal of neurology (2004-13). He qualified in medicine from the Middlesex Hospital Medical School in 1971, and subsequently trained in neurology at the National Hospital and the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square. Alastair Compston is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1998); Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Germany (2008), Foreign Associate Member of the National Academy of Medicine of the USA (2012), and Fellow of the Royal Society (2016). He has been appointed Commander of the British Empire (2016). Alastair Compston’s research focuses on the clinical science of human demyelinating disease with contributions to the genetic epidemiology, immunology, neurobiology and treatment of multiple sclerosis. With others, he developed Alemtuzumab as a treatment for early relapsing-remitting disease. His research has been recognised by several international prizes and awards.

Professor Andrew Copp
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London & 1979 Foulkes Fellow

Andrew Copp trained as scientist (PhD in experimental embryology, Oxford University, UK) and clinician (MBBS, Guy’s Hospital, UK), with the help of a Foulkes Foundation Fellowship (1979). He worked as Research Fellow in Pediatrics at Stanford University, California, USA (1984-1986), Research Scientist at the ICRF Developmental Biology Unit, University of Oxford (1986-1992) and Senior Lecturer/Reader/Professor at the Institute of Child Health (1992-present). He is Honorary Consultant in Neuropathology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London. He currently holds an endowed chair in Developmental Neurobiology and heads the Human Developmental Biology Resource at the Institute of Child Health. His research centres upon the embryonic development of the nervous system, using mouse genetic models to study birth defects such as spina bifida. He is conducting clinical trials of inositol to prevent spina bifida that does not respond to folic acid supplements. In 2000, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and he became Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists in 2003. He was Director of the Institute of Child Health from 2003 to 2012. He provides counselling to families on the risks of spina bifida recurrence, and he advises the membership of the Foulkes Foundation in the area of academic paediatrics.

Professor Eileen Joyce (Chair)
Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, London & 1980 Foulkes Fellow

Eileen Joyce is Professor of Neuropsychiatry at University College Institute of Neurology and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. She received a BA in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge (1975) where she subsequently completed a PhD in the behavioural neuroscience of dopamine. She qualified in medicine at the University of Cambridge (1981) and obtained training in clinical and academic psychiatry at The Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry. She worked as a research associate at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, USA (1989-1991) and at Imperial College London as a Senior Lecturer/Reader/Professor before taking up her current position in 2005. She has been Chair of the British Neuropsychiatry Association and The Royal College of Psychiatry, Faculty of Neuropsychiatry and is currently Chair of the International Neuropsychiatry Association. Her research interests include: pharmacological and psychological interventions for the cognitive dysfunction of early schizophrenia and deep brain stimulation for severe mental illness.

Professor Denis Talbot
University of Oxford & 1978 Foulkes Fellow

Denis Talbot is Emeritus Professor of Cancer Medicine at the University of Oxford and Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was head of the Oxford Neuroendocrine Tumour Centre, an ENETS European Centre of Excellence and the Oxford Lung Cancer Service and has expertise in thoracic oncology, neuroendocrine tumours and drug development. Denis has published widely on early phase trials of agents targeting cell cycle regulatory proteins, growth factors, DNA repair, macrophage activation and apoptosis underpinned by translational research focused on proof of concept studies. Denis’ publications also reflect his interest in research ethics, physician-patient communication skills and in the development of objective assessment tools for evaluating clinical skills. He is a Trustee of the British Thoracic Oncology Group and member of the Lung Cancer Clinical Experts Group, Cancer Chemotherapy Information Group, UK Lung Cancer Coalition, ASCO Guidelines Clinical Advisory Group, and is the national lead for Systemic Anti-Cancer Chemotherapy (SACT). Denis is past Chairman of the Specialist Advisory Committee for Medical Oncology and Central Oxford Research Ethics Committees. Denis has served on the ASCO Faculty, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research Fund Scientific and Medical Advisory Panel, Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Advisory Board and New Agents Committee. He has chaired and serves on a number of Safety and Data Monitoring Committees for international lung cancer trials. Denis was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the British Thoracic Oncology Group in 2020.

Professor John Williams CBE
Swansea University Medical School

John Williams is Professor of Health Services Research at Swansea University Medical School and Honorary Consultant Gastroenterologist at Swansea Bay University Health Board. From 2002-07 he was Director of R&D for Wales, a post in which he established the Clinical Research Collaboration in Wales (CRC Cymru). His research interests include the development and evaluation of clinical interventions and new models of service delivery, particularly in gastroenterology, and the greater involvement of patients in the process. He has a long-standing interest in improving information systems that support patient care and is a founding fellow of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics. From 2002-19 he directed the Health Informatics Unit at the Royal College of Physicians.