Emma is the Global CEO of the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation (FLF), bringing over 20 years of experience in non-profit leadership, growth, and global health.
Before joining the FLF in February 2025, she was Chief Growth Officer at mothers2mothers, driving international expansion, establishing high-impact partnerships, and creating award-winning campaigns. Emma also has extensive governance experience, having served as Vice-Chair of Amnesty International UK, is a trustee of CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), and sits on Gucci’s Chime Advisory Board.
At the heart of Emma’s career is a deep belief in preventing the preventable – but also pushing beyond survival. “Why would we not do everything in our power to enable people affected by cancer to thrive?” She believes healthcare should be shaped by those who rely on it, advocating for user-led services that harness the knowledge and experience of those directly affected. Her leadership at the FLF is focused on scaling impact, growing FLF’s global presence, and driving meaningful collaborations.
Beyond her work, Emma is a mother of three boys and a devoted cocker spaniel owner. She spends her spare time enjoying cake and cold-water swimming.
Dr Smith earned his Medical Degree and PhD at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH. He completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the Long Island Jewish Hospital, NY, spent 3 years as a Resident in Pathology at Washington University – Barnes Hospital, in St. Louis, MO, then another year as a Resident in Internal Medicine at the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, MO. His Fellowship in Medical Oncology was at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, NY where he also was a Fellow in Biomedical Research in the Clinical Scholars Program. He is Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Haematology and Medical Oncology.
Dr Smith’s experience is broad and spans a number of years. After serving as Assistant Professor in Medical Oncology at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, he joined Fox Chase Cancer Centre in 1993, where he remained as Director of the Lymphoma Program and Professor of Medicine until 2012. He served as the Director of the Lymphoid Malignancy Program at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH from 2012 to 2017, when he joined the GW Cancer Centre in Washington DC as Associate Cancer Centre Director for Clinical Investigations, as well as Chief of the Division of Oncology & Blood Disorders. His clinical and laboratory interests have focused on targeted approaches to improve therapy of lymphoid malignancies. He has been involved in numerous clinical trials of targeted therapies, including CART cells, in lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma.
Dr Smith’s honours include a lifetime achievement award from the Delaware chapter of the LLS. He is an active member of the ASCO, AACR, ASH and ECOG. He has served on the NCCN lymphoma and myeloma guideline committees and chaired the Mantle Cell Lymphoma subcommittee of the NCTN lymphoma planning committee.
Julie is Senior Director of Patient & Research Programmes at the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation, where she leads the delivery and integration of the Foundation’s patient and research programmes, working with scientific, patient and industry partners to ensure patient insight meaningfully informs research priorities and programme impact.
Previously, Julie was a Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), where she completed a PhD in HIV epidemiology. She also worked in women’s health research at Queen Mary University of London and has experience in grant development, multi-centre clinical trials and patient and public involvement.
Outside of work, Julie enjoys running, travelling and exploring new places, with a particular love for Japan.
Kirsty is the Chief of Staff at the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation, bringing extensive experience in strategic planning, organizational leadership, and operational delivery. With more than ten years of experience supporting senior executives and cross-functional teams, Kirsty excels at driving alignment, optimizing workflows, and enabling high-impact decision-making.
Before joining the foundation, Kirsty worked in the legal and insurance sectors, gaining strong expertise in stakeholder engagement, project management, and business transformation. Known for a solutions-driven approach and exceptional communication skills, Kirsty leads key initiatives, manages executive priorities, and ensures effective execution across the organization.
Kirsty holds a degree in Law and Criminology, as well as a Project Fundamentals Qualification. Driven by continuous improvement, Kirsty is committed to fostering operational clarity, accountability, and a culture of innovation.
Tanya brings over 20 years of experience in nonprofit fund development to the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation, where she leads global philanthropic strategy to accelerate research and bring the world closer to a cure for follicular lymphoma.
She has built and scaled high‑performing development programmes across scientific, research‑driven and rare disease organisations. Before joining FLF, Tanya served as Executive Director of Development at the Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation, leading enterprise‑wide strategy and securing transformational support. Her earlier roles include senior positions at the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.
Her work is guided by a belief in the power of philanthropy to bring researchers, clinicians and patients together to accelerate progress towards a cure.
Julia leads global marketing and communications in support of FLF’s mission to find a cure for follicular lymphoma and improve outcomes for patients worldwide.
She brings over 18 years’ experience across healthcare and heritage charities, most recently as Director of Strategy & Communications at Thames Valley Air Ambulance, working closely with clinicians, patients and frontline teams. Julia has led organisational strategies, award‑winning campaigns, patient storytelling and digital transformation that increased reach, understanding and income.
Her earlier roles focused on health education, public engagement and partnership‑led change.
Julia believes the most powerful healthcare communications are shaped by the lived experiences of patients and developed in close partnership with the clinicians and professionals who support them.
Paul has worked in the charity and not-for-profit sector for over 15 years. He joined the FLF as Head of Philanthropy in 2025 following roles at the University of Oxford and British Heart Foundation. Over his career Paul has worked on record-breaking philanthropic initiatives, including the Oxford Thinking Campaign and BHF’s Big Beat Challenge.
Paul enjoys helping donors to achieve lasting impact. He is especially interested in what motivates people to give their time, expertise and financial support to causes close to their hearts. As Head of Philanthropy, Paul works with partnering trusts, charitable foundations and the FLF’s global community of visionary donors.
Zoe’s background is in laboratory-based translational biomedical research, having previously worked at Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna, Austria, the Cambridge Institute of Cancer Research UK and at the Centre for Cell Biology and Cutaneous Research Queen Mary University of London, as part of her PhD studies.
More recently, Zoe has worked for several years as a senior trials co-ordinator at the Centre for Women’s Health at Queen Mary University of London. In her last role, Zoe was closely involved with Katie’s Team (a women’s health patient and public involvement advisory group based in East London), ensuring women’s voices were represented in the research being carried out.
Zoe has joined the FLF team to support the development of the FLF research programme.
Naomi began her career in the charity sector 25 years ago working in social inclusion. Doing this work she was struck that the people the charities engaged held unique insights into how charities could more effectively meet their aims. Since then she has dedicated her career to involving people affected by health issues transform the work of charities.
This has included setting up the patient involvement team at Cancer Research UK and designing frameworks to ensure patient voice shapes research at the British Heart Foundation and Arthritis UK.
Naomi joins the FLF to lead our work providing people affected by Follicular Lymphoma (FL) with information about FL the vital role research plays in finding a cure.
Philippa brings experience across executive support, operations, and people-focused roles. She keeps things running smoothly; whether that’s coordinating leadership, organising events, or supporting internal culture and wellbeing.
At the FLF, Philippa supports the Global CEO, helps keep the team on track, and contributes to a collaborative environment for both staff and the wider community.
Outside of work, Philippa enjoys travelling, illustrating, and getting stuck into a good book.
Fiona has spent her career offering high level operational and administrative services across a variety of corporate and not for profit organisations. She is now at a stage where working towards a common goal that will have a positive impact on people’s health and lifestyle is far more motivating and rewarding than merely seeing an increase in profits.
Passionate about being a pro-active member of the marketing and communications team, and also providing support to the FLF Team in all aspects of admin, Fiona is excited and grateful for the opportunity to work within such an amazing charity, and finds everyone incredibly enthusiastic which is a breath of fresh air.
“At last, my natural exuberance for even the most menial of tasks has found a place alongside a fantastically like-minded team. No one minds how excited I get about spreadsheets!”
Jade previously worked on large scale Life Science exhibitions and conferences across Europe and the USA where she managed biotech, pharma and academic guesting campaigns, supported early-stage start-ups through networking, Q&A panels and pitching sessions and cultivated partnerships to help drive innovation and discussion in Biologic development. Prior to this, she studied Biomedical Sciences at university inspired by her lived experience with autoimmune conditions and wanting to better understand the complexities of human health.
Alongside her work-life Jade has also been the Women in STEM events officer for Bournemouth University and is a long-standing volunteer for Arthritis UK sharing her own experiences to help drive positive changes to the lives of those with Arthritis and MSK conditions, and has been a part of Parliamentary campaigns speaking alongside MP’s and has contributed to reports on the quality of care provided to people with JIA.
Jade has joined the FLF team to support the Research Programmes and to help people with FL live well.
Zubair is a highly experienced and qualified accountant with over 15 years of experience in finance. He has worked across various sectors, which has given him the ability to pick up the best and most efficient practices across different industries.
Zubair is skilled in report building, budgeting, and forecasting, and is detailed oriented with creative problem-solving abilities. He is always striving for process improvement and ensuring the FLF adheres to important governance rules and financial procedures.
Zubair is also passionate about using his expertise to support a great cause and thoroughly enjoys working within the charity sector.
David has worked across the pharmaceutical industry for three decades and has been advising the FLF since February 2019.
From 2017-2018, David advised Cancer Research UK on re-structuring and implementing change within the Commercial Partnerships division. He also headed up the Opportunity Sourcing and Translation group through formation and recruitment of a team of 15 practitioners. He led on elements of CRUK’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship agenda.
For 4 years previously, David was Senior Advisor within the Corporate Development group at Gilead Sciences. Dr Kennard was also VP, Strategic Alliances YM BioSciences Inc. prior to its acquisition by Gilead Sciences in February 2013. Before joining YM, he was CEO of NeuroTargets, and prior to that he was COO of SR Pharma Plc, a UK-based biotechnology company which developed therapeutic vaccines. He was also with GlaxoSmithKline in development and then strategic planning roles.
Jessica Okosun is Professor of Translational Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist at the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London.
She is a Consultant Haematologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London UK specialising in lymphomas.
Her research interests are focused on understanding how lymphomas initiate, diversify and evolve, particularly follicular lymphoma in a bid to define novel biomarkers and improve treatment. She serves as a member of the UK’s National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Low Grade and High Grade Lymphoma subgroups. She also serves on a number of Scientific Advisory Committees. She chairs the Barts Cancer Centre’s Patient and Public Involvement Research Advisory Group. Jessica has been advising the FLF since February 2019.
