Who's who

Prof Nicholas James

Co-founder and Medical Editor-in-Chief

Nick is a cancer consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. He is also a Professor of Oncology at the University of Birmingham Institute for Cancer Studies where he is involved in research into cancer treatments. His other main research interest is in the use of information technology in cancer treatment and care. Nick cannot respond to direct approaches about treatment. Please contact your own GP or specialist.

Sally Tweddle

Co-founder of the site

Sally was an educationalist with an interest in literacy. Before founding CancerHelp UK, she worked for the National Council for Educational Technology in Coventry. Her husband's cancer and their search for cancer information on the Internet inspired the setting up of CancerHelp UK with its aim of accessible, comprehensive and easily readable information. Tragically Sally herself died from cancer in December 1999. Her obituary is printed in full on the site.

CancerHelp UK is now fully owned by Cancer Research UK and managed entirely within the charity.

Liz Woolf

Head of Cancer Web Content, Cancer Research UK

Liz has been a specialist oncology nurse for many years, working in general oncology, haematology and palliative care. She is also qualified as a health visitor and district nurse, with a degree in community health. For the past 20 years Liz has specialised in providing information for people affected by cancer, including managing a national cancer helpline before specialising in web content. From 1996 she was CancerHelp UK's principal writer, before building the team of 12 who now work on the site. She now heads the CancerHelp UK team, overseeing the development and running of the site and the clinical trials database, while maintaining an active role in editing and reviewing site content. Liz also now coordinates the web content produced for the public by Cancer Research UK, leading on the production of common editorial policies for the cancer web teams. She has led the adoption of external accreditation for patient information and is a member of the Engagement and Development Board of the Information Standard.

Debbie Coats

Clinical Information Manager

Debbie is a specialist cancer information Nurse with experience in all areas of cancer care. She has worked for the past 19 years producing information for people affected by cancer, has written booklets and factsheets on all aspects of cancer and has 5 years experience of working on cancer information websites. Her role with CancerHelp UK is to manage the production and review of the vast amount of information on the site, excluding the clinical trials database.

Debbie Rodbard

Clinical Trials Database Manager

Debbie is a specialist oncology nurse with experience in different aspects of cancer nursing, including haematology, outpatient oncology and palliative care. She previously worked as a member of the Cancer Information Nurse Team for 4 years. Debbie has been writing clinical trials for CancerHelp UK since March 2007 and now manages the clinical trials database team, while continuing to write trial summaries and lead on development of the database. Debbie is also a member of the UK Clinical Trials Gateway Editorial Board.

Mark Woods

CancerHelp UK Web Manager

Mark's background is in publishing and editorial in both the commercial and charity sector. He works with Liz to oversee the development of CancerHelp UK and the other patient information services. If you have any business queries, Mark is the person to contact at cancerhelpuk@cancer.org.uk.

Jennifer Childs

Specialist Nurse Writer

Jennifer is an experienced oncology nurse. She has been a specialist in cancer information for many years, and has a wealth of experience in writing information for cancer information websites. Before joining CancerHelp UK, she worked on a national cancer helpline and led the development of a new website for teenagers with cancer. Jenny is the principal writer of new information for the site with added responsibility for the development and production of visual content, including diagrams and video.

Claire Connolly

Senior Trials Database Nurse

Claire is a specialist oncology nurse who started as an information nurse at Cancer Research UK in March 2002. She gradually took on increasing responsibility for the clinical trials database soon after that. In November 2003 Claire became Clinical Trials Database Manager, a role which she had for about 6 years. Having a young family now, Claire has changed her role and works part time as a senior trials database nurse. Her main responsibility is to write summaries of clinical trials and trial results for the site.

Debbie Gibbs

Clinical Information Nurse

Debbie worked for a number of years as an oncology nurse. During this time she developed an interest in cancer information and could see firsthand the importance of good quality information for cancer patients and their families. Debbie worked for the Cancer Information Nurse Team for 5 years before joining the CancerHelp UK team. Her main role is to help review the information on the site and co ordinate the external review process.

Joy Wilson

Early Phase Trials Writer

Joy has been an oncology nurse for 10 years and joined the CancerHelp UK team in October 2006. Her experience includes acute haematology and oncology nursing, outpatients and palliative care. Joy enjoys writing and providing patient information. Her role is to source and summarise information on early phase trials in the UK for our clinical trials database. She has particular responsibility for trials that are part of the new experimental cancer medicine centre (ECMC) initiative.

Trevor Bott

Clinical Trials Database Nurse

Trevor has worked in cancer care for many years and has experience in haematology, oncology and palliative care nursing. For the last 6 years, Trevor has worked as a research nurse. He joined the CancerHelp team in 2009 to write plain English summaries for the clinical trials database.

Amanda Watson

Clinical Trials Database Nurse

Amanda has worked in cancer care as a research nurse for many years. She has particular experience with lymphoma, urology and melanoma trials. She started working part time for CancerHelp UK in January 2011, writing plain English summaries for the clinical trials database. Amanda also continues to work part time as a cancer research nurse.

Clair Lawrence

Clinical Trials Administrator

Clair is responsible for putting up all new text on the website and trials on to the clinical trials database. She also manages the administration of the clinical trials database and has had considerable input in developing the information management systems that are so important in keeping the database up to date. Clair also helps with sourcing new trials for inclusion on the site and has extended her role to producing diagrams for the trials summaries.

Stuart Foreman

Administration Assistant

Stuart assists Clair Lawrence with the administration of the clinical trials database. He also puts up new trials on the website. And he helps Joy Wilson with collecting information relating to the ECMC initiative.

Sadia Ahmad

CancerHelp UK Web Editor

Sadia has a background in publishing, working mainly within editing and production. She works alongside Mark Woods helping with the daily maintenance of the site, and deals with any other queries within the CancerHelp UK team.

The Cancer Research UK Information Nurses

Our team of cancer information nurses, headed by manager Martin Ledwick, answer the questions you send to Cancer Research UK via the Ask the cancer nurses a question form. Some members of the nurse team help with writing trial summaries for our clinical trials database. Others have contributed to sections on specific cancers for CancerHelp UK.

You can contact the information nurses directly on 0808 800 4040. The cancer information nurse team is a member of the Telephone Helpline Association and has achieved their quality standard.