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Let’s talk Blood Cancer Podcast

  • January 30, 2026
  • simonhowell
  • News

If you do one thing today then please listen to the following podcast.

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A Night To Remember In The History Of ACT

  • October 14, 2025
  • simonhowell
  • News

The evening of the 1st of October marked a special occasion in the history of Accelerating Clinical Trials Ltd (ACT).

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ACT to Attend ASH 2024: Advancing Blood Cancer Research Together

  • November 26, 2024
  • simonhowell
  • News

ACT to Attend ASH 2024: Advancing Blood Cancer Research Together

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Accelerating Clinical Trials Ltd Appoints New CEO

  • September 23, 2024
  • simonhowell
  • News

Accelerating Clinical Trials Ltd Appoints New CEO

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ACT welcomes financial support from Anthony Nolan

  • January 4, 2024
  • simonhowell
  • News

With support from Cure Leukaemia and NHSBT, ACT has been established as a commercial clinical trials delivery organisation with the aim of developing new treatments for blood cancers in the UK. ACT works with two networks of established and successful…

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Lord O’Shaughnessy’s landmark report

  • May 25, 2023
  • admin
  • News

We welcome Lord O’Shaughnessy’s landmark report highlighting the importance of developing innovative models if the UK is to maintain global leadership in clinical trial delivery.

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      Professor Charles Craddock

      Medical Director

      Professor Charles Craddock is Professor of Haemato-oncology, University of Birmingham. Professor Craddock is Chair of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Oversight Committee and was Medical Director of Anthony Nolan from 2010–2014. He is a past President of the British Society of Haematology. Professor Craddock’s main research interests include the development of novel drug and transplant therapies in acute myeloid leukemia. He pioneered the development of the UK Haemato-oncology Trials Acceleration Programme and the UK stem cell transplant trials network, IMPACT.

      He has published more than 250 papers in peer reviewed journals. Professor Craddock was awarded the CBE for services to medicine and medical research in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020.

      Graham Silk


      Graham has had a great deal of commercial experience within the Life Sciences sector which began when he was diagnosed with CML in 2001. In getting very early access to a trial for the world’s first example of personalised medicine, Gleevec, he became aware of the importance of accelerated trial delivery and in 2004 co-founded the charity Cure Leukaemia. Cure Leukaemia designed and instigated the Trial Acceleration Program which brought new treatments to haematology patients at a much quicker rate, worked with the haematology community in developing trials and has leveraged over £250m worth of drugs into the NHS at no cost to patients.

      In 2016 he was asked to write the Life Sciences economic sector report for the West Midlands Combined Authority and continues to work actively within the sector. He’s spoken at many Parliamentary committees and presentations and maintains an active interest in the commercial side of life science development, within both the philanthropic and private sectors.

      Pam Bacon


      Pam has worked in the Pharmaceutical/Biotech Industry for over 25 years in roles within Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, and for companies such as Amgen, Celgene, BMS, Oncopeptides, and Deciphera. Pam is currently Head of International Medical Affairs at Mirati Therapeutics.

      Pam has worked in multiple indications across Oncology including haematological malignancies and has extensive experience in the oversight of registrational clinical trials, real world data projects, Big Data initiatives such as the IMI Haematological Malignancies HARMONY Consortium, and in providing industry support for collaborations with academic physicians/cooperative groups.

      Nicola Horlick


      Nicola read Law at Balliol College, Oxford and she was made an Honorary Fellow of Balliol in 2019.  She has over thirty years’ experience of managing funds and was responsible for leading the development of some of the UK’s best known fund management companies, including Mercury Asset Management (now BlackRock), Morgan Grenfell Asset Management (now Aberdeen) and SG Asset Management, where she built assets under management to £7 billion within three years. In 2013, Nicola founded Money&Co. and remains as its CEO today.  Money&Co. allows individuals and family offices looking for a better return on cash to lend to good quality SMEs based in the UK.  Nicola is also Chair of Anthony Nolan.

      Geoff Cousins


      Geoff has worked in a number of countries in key leadership and business transforming roles, including CFO North America and Managing Director UK for Jaguar Land Rover. He has broad commercial experience and skills around brand strategy, product innovation, customer experience and driving profitable market growth, including internationalisation, underpinned by a strong operational financial management and governance background.

      Geoff is Chairman of Cure Leukaemia, with the remit to deploy a strategy to scale up significantly to become a powerful UK national blood cancer charity, with international renown.

      He is also Visting Professor of Global Governance at the University of South Wales and consults on strategic vision, commercial due diligence and post sale growth for Private Equity companies and to the professional services sector in the Automotive and related sectors.

      Gail Miflin


      Gail is a Haematologist and NHSBT Chief Medical Officer. She holds a funder position on the ACT Board. In NHSBT she leads Cellular, Apheresis and Gene Therapy services and is Sponsor, on behalf of the DHSC, for the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum.

      Her other roles include leading NHSBT Pathology Services, Clinical Governance, R&D and the NHSBT response to the Infected Blood Inquiry. During the pandemic she was also responsible for delivering the NHSBT COVID Convalescent Plasma programme and contributed to the DHSC Therapeutic Taskforce Programme Board.

      Charles De Rohan

      Chair

      Having retired as CEO of Birmingham based Binding Site Group in May 2021 where he remains a Non-Exec Director, Charles has taken on a number of other roles including Chairmanship of ACT and acting as a Senior Advisor to Rothschilds’ Private Equity teams.

      Charles graduated from Imperial College London in 1984 and qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young. He has spent the past 30 years in the in-vitro diagnostics industry, running IVD businesses for Abbott Laboratories around the world, before returning to the UK to run the London-quoted company Genetix plc (sold to Danaher in 2010) and subsequently the highly successful Binding Site Group. Binding Site’s major business interests are in improving the diagnosis and management of patients across a range of B-cell cancers and immune system disorders.

      Professor Charles Craddock

      Charles Craddock CBE, FRCP (UK), FRCPath, DPhil, FMedSci

      Charles Craddock is Medical Director of ACT and works closely with the TAP and IMPACT leadership teams to develop and trial new drug and transplant trials in blood cancer.

      Professor Charles Craddock is Professor of Haemato-oncology at the University of Warwick and Academic Director of the Centre for Clinical Haematology at University Hospitals Birmingham. Professor Craddock is Chair of the UK Stem Cell Strategic Oversight Committee and was Medical Director of Anthony Nolan from 2010–2014. He is a past President of the British Society of Haematology. Professor Craddock’s main research interests include the development of novel drug and transplant therapies in acute myeloid leukaemia. He pioneered the development of the UK Haemato-oncology Trials Acceleration Programme and the UK stem cell transplant trials network, IMPACT. He has published more than 250 papers in peer reviewed journals. Professor Craddock was awarded the CBE for services to medicine and medical research in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020.

      Dr Mercia Page

      Mercia Page FRCP FFPM MBA MBBS

      Mercia Page was pivotal in setting up ACT as interim CEO in its formative days and now sits on the Board of Directors.

      Mercia is a specialist pharmaceutical physician who has worked in both the NHS, NICE and the pharmaceutical industry.
      She has focused oncology and haemato-oncology for more than 15 years and is proud to have attracted research investment into the UK.
      She has a particular interest in demonstrating effectiveness of medicines in her industry roles, working closely with HTA submissions and leading early access to medicines programmes.

      Katherine Holes

      Katherine Holes is a Clinical Operations Director at ACT.

      Katherine has more than 18 years of experience working in Haematology Oncology Clinical Trials. Her experience has been across Site Coordination, Data Management, Clinical Monitoring and Management as well as Study and Project Management. Prior to joining ACT, Katherine held the position of Associate Director for Global Site Management and Monitoring at Celgene. She has a BSc in Human Bioscience.

      Alicia Velascoin

      Commercial Operations Director

      With a strong academic foundation in Business Administration and extensive professional experience, Alicia Velascoin has built a career as a key leader in shaping and driving commercial strategy across the clinical research ecosystem. Over the years, Alicia has held pivotal roles in commercial organisations, universities, and non-profit institutions, consistently guiding decision-making processes that ensure growth, sustainability, and alignment with long-term strategic goals.

      Specialising in proposals, contracts, and costings for clinical trials, Alicia has led complex negotiations, optimised financial frameworks, and developed innovative solutions that balance compliance, competitiveness, and value creation. Her expertise lies not only in operational excellence but also in strategic leadership, helping organisations position themselves for long-term success while delivering tangible, measurable results.

      Recognised for a forward-thinking and results-driven approach, Alicia has been instrumental in supporting organisations to expand their research capacity, strengthen partnerships, and secure sustainable funding. With a reputation for clarity, precision, and impact in decision-making, Alicia continues to excel in roles where commercial insight, financial stewardship, and strategic vision intersect to drive organisational performance in the clinical research field.

      Dr Paul Sherrington

      Chief Executive Officer

      Paul Sherrington is the Chief Executive Officer and works closely with the UK Haematology community and external partners.

      For most of his working life Paul has focused on haematological malignancies. Initially researching cytogenetics and molecular genetics of leukaemia at the University of Cambridge, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and then the Haematology Department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. From 2006 until the end of 2020, he worked in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, most recently at Celgene where he collaborated with company research teams and external haematologists on clinical and translational research projects in lymphomas, myeloma and myeloid diseases.

      Prof Chris Fox

      Prof Chris Fox, PhD, MBChB(Hons), FRCP FRCPath, is Professor of Haematology at the University of Nottingham, and Honorary Consultant Haematologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

      His research interests focus on the aggressive lymphomas and he currently Chairs the UK National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) aggressive lymphoma study group. Prof Fox is the Medical Director for the UK TAP (therapy-accelerated programme) early phase blood cancer trials network. He has co-authored >100 peer-reviewed manuscripts in high-impact journals.

      Prof Steven Knapper

      Prof Steve Knapper is Professor in Haematology at Cardiff University and works as Honorary Consultant Haematologist at the University Hospital of Wales where he leads the regional acute leukaemia service. He graduated in Medicine from Oxford University in 1996. His main clinical and research interests are in AML and the myeloproliferative neoplasms. He is an active member of the UK NCRI AML and Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Subgroups and has been heavily involved in the NCRI AML trial programme for >10-15years. Steve also has a strong interest in early phase studies; he was chief investigator of the MONOCLE study in CMML, leads on early phase studies within the Wales Cancer Research Centre and led the Cardiff Trials Acceleration Programme Centre from 2013-2023.

      Dr Pramila Krishnamurthy

      Dr Pramila Krishnamurthy is a Consultant Haematologist and honorary senior lecturer at King’s College Hospital and King’s College London respectively. She specialises in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Stem Cell Transplantation. She was awarded a John Goldman Fellowship by Leukaemia UK and the Rosetrees Trust in 2021 to study the immunological consequences of donor lymphocyte infusion using samples collected from patients treated on PRO-DLI, the world’s first RCT of preventative donor lymphocyte strategies. Additionally, she has interests in quality of life and is leading a Blood Cancer UK funded study to investigate the relationship between quality of life parameters and disease biology as well as treatment outcomes in AML/MDS patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy. She is PI on a number of commercial and academic clinical trials in AML/MDS and transplant within the UK and a member of the NCRI MDS and AML Study Groups, developing clinical trials for patients with these diseases.

      Prof Ronjon Chakraverty

      Prof Ronjon Chakraverty is Professor of Haematology at the University of Oxford, based at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine. Previously, he was a Senior Bennett Fellow in Experimental Haematology at Harvard University before returning to the UK to set up his own research group in UCL from 2005-2020. He is the current Director of the NIHR-funded Oxford Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Precision Cellular Therapeutics and Co-Lead of the new Gene and Cell Therapy theme of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. He combines study of pre-clinical models with an extensive portfolio of phase I-III clinical trials evaluating methods to accelerate anti-tumour immunity and immune reconstitution following transplantation. Since 2020, he has been Medical Director of the IMPACT network which runs transplant and cell therapy clinical trials across the UK.

      Dr Wendy Ingram

      Dr Wendy Ingram MBBS, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD, is a Consultant Haematologist at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) Cardiff, with a specialist interest in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation.

      Dr Ingram received her medical degree from St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1997 and completed specialty training in Haematology at King’s College Hospital, London, where she was awarded a Leukaemia Research Fellowship and a Biomedical Research Council Award. She completed a PhD in 2009 studying the ‘Immune Biology of AML’ with a focus on AML whole cell vaccines and closely involved in the set up an Phase I, first in man study, gaining first hand experience in GMP and the regulatory requirements of MHRA and the gene therapy advisory committee (GTAC).

      Since this time, Dr Ingram has served as principal investigator on a wide range of commercial and investigator led studies primarily within the fields of MDS, AML and allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Dr Ingram is a core member of the UK MDS NCRI subgroup and co-investigator for the Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) and IMPACT portfolio at UHW, Cardiff.

      Dr Victoria Potter

      Dr Victoria Potter is a Haematologist specialising in myeloid malignancy and stem cell transplantation at King’s College Hospital, London, UK. She completed early postgraduate and specialty training in Sydney, Australia followed by a clinical fellowship at King’s College Hospital.

      In 2017 she was appointed Transplant Programme Director at Kings College Hospital. She has specialist interests in AML, prevention of relapse post-transplant and development of transplantation strategies for sickle cell disease. She is research active and committed to development of clinical trials in myeloid malignancies and transplantation. She is a member of the AML NCRI working party steering group and Chair of the relapse sub-group of this committee. Victoria is secretary of the BSBMTCT clinical trials sub-committee and the IMPACT (UK prospective clinical trials network) Deputy Medical Director.


      Samantha Campbell

      Business Operations Manager

      Sam is an experienced Business Operations Manager with a strong background in executive support, having spent many years working closely with C-suite leaders. In her current role, she’s a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, contributing to various operational areas, including HR, onboarding, finance, governance, marketing, and communications. She brings significant experience in organising Board and committee meetings, preparing Board packs, and recording accurate minutes.

      Throughout her career, Sam has excelled in high-level email and calendar management, coordinating complex travel logistics, and providing comprehensive administrative support to senior leadership. She also leads internal communications initiatives and oversees the creation and management of social media content and marketing materials. With a proactive mindset and a versatile skill set, Sam plays an integral role in supporting strategic and day-to-day operations across the organisation. She’s passionate about living the company’s values and takes great pride in contributing to meaningful work that makes a difference for blood cancer patients.

      Dr Mercia Page

      Non-Executive Director

      Mercia Page was pivotal in setting up ACT as interim CEO in its formative days and now sits on the Board of Directors.

      Mercia is a specialist pharmaceutical physician who has worked in both the NHS, NICE and the pharmaceutical industry.
      She has focused oncology and haemato-oncology for more than 15 years and is proud to have attracted research investment into the UK.
      She has a particular interest in demonstrating effectiveness of medicines in her industry roles, working closely with HTA submissions and leading early access to medicines programmes.


      Carolyn Stoppard

      Financial Controller

      Carolyn brings over 20 years of senior financial leadership experience across both the public and private sectors, with a background spanning construction, distribution, and professional services.

      She is highly skilled in financial reporting and analysis, management accounts, compliance, and systems implementation, complemented by strong project management expertise. Carolyn has a proven track record of delivering solutions that drive value, enhance performance, and support business growth in dynamic and evolving environments.

      Her work consistently contributes to improved profitability, operational efficiency, and strategic clarity.

      Specialisms include: Financial Management, Business Policy & Procedure Development, Continuous Process Improvement, Risk Management, PRINCE2 Project Management, Charity and Public Sector Governance, and Regulatory Reporting for Not-for-Profit organisations.

      Dr Paul Sherrington

      Chief Executive Officer

      Paul Sherrington is the Chief Executive Officer and works closely with the UK Haematology community and external partners.

      For most of his working life Paul has focused on haematological malignancies. Initially researching cytogenetics and molecular genetics of leukaemia at the University of Cambridge, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and then the Haematology Department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. From 2006 until the end of 2020, he worked in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, most recently at Celgene where he collaborated with company research teams and external haematologists on clinical and translational research projects in lymphomas, myeloma and myeloid diseases.


      Anna Hockaday

      Chief Clinical Operations Director

      Anna brings 20 years of experience working within academic clinical trials and has held senior operational leadership roles since 2019. She has extensive knowledge of the UK clinical trials landscape, with significant experience of haematology clinical trials and working alongside regulators, government bodies, and funders, including AMRC charities, NIHR, and industry partners. In her previous role, Anna was responsible for the operational leadership and delivery of the Leeds Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, overseeing a portfolio of 45 oncology clinical trials. She led a multidisciplinary team of over 90 staff, with expertise spanning trial management, data management, pharmacovigilance, and quality assurance.