Our Trustees

Danny is Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, where he heads a lab.. During the pandemic he has advised policymakers including the House of Commons and House of Lords Science Committees, the APPG on Coronavirus, the Cabinet Office, Sir Keir Starmer and the Shadow Cabinet, the Welsh Assembly, the EU, The Scottish Parliament, WHO, NICE and the Department of Health. For over 20 years Danny has edited medical journals including Oxford Open Immunology, Immunology, and Vaccine. He is a trustee at the Medical Research Foundation and a board member for the African Research Excellence Fund. He previously headed strategy on infection, immunity and population health at the Wellcome Trust. His research interests focus on the immunology of infectious diseases including severe bacterial infections, SARS-CoV-2, Zika virus and Chikungunya virus. He also has a long record in autoimmunity research. Danny’s SARS-CoV-2 research is published in journals including the Lancet, Nature and Science. He heads an NIHR-funded research programme to look at mechanisms of pathogenesis and development of new diagnostic tests in a large cohort of individuals with Long Covid.

External website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/d.altmann

Aimie has personal experience of Long Covid and has worked for over 20 years within the public and charity sectors. She is the Director of her own consultancy practice, offering a range of services to individuals and organisations committed to positive change. In the last seven years she has specialised in health and care with roles focused on developing and supporting partnerships, community-based approaches and system change to improve the lives of people with multiple, chronic or complex health conditions. Aimie's other experience includes working in the UK Treasury, for a philanthropic trust in the Middle East and on innovative finance and business mechanisms for social benefit. Aimie lives in Dorset, is a trustee of her local voluntary sector infrastructure organisation, and can often be found enjoying the sea or the countryside with her family.

Jo has lived experience of Long Covid and is a founder member of Long Covid Support. She is one of the administrators of the Long Covid Support Facebook group and co-facilitates the charity’s peer support work, managing wellbeing activities for members. Jo is experienced in coaching and mentoring, is a volunteer walk leader for Walk Wandsworth and a Director of a Vintage VW Campervan hire company. Her previous professional experience was within the creative operations area of the entertainments industry and marketing agencies.

Gareth has lived experience of Long Covid. He is a qualified Professional Accountant with over 20 years of experience in the financial sector having worked for the BBC and Lloyds Bank. He is also active in several local community interest initiatives involving the environment and social deprivation. A keen triathlete, he was in training at the start of lockdown in April 2020 when he fell ill with Long Covid. He has been involved with the Long Covid Support charity since January 2023 where he is a key contributor to the Finance and Fundraising teams. He is also a Welsh speaker and a member of Long Covid Wales.

Ian has lived experience of Long Covid and was a founding member of Long Covid Wales. He is an expert in hereditary cancer and retired from NHS Wales in 2019. He now holds honorary appointments at St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow and St Vincent’s, Dublin, and is also President of the Association of Clinical Pathologists (ACP) and an Honorary Senior Clinical Research Fellow at Cardiff University. Ian has sat on many advisory committees to the Welsh and UK Governments, the Departments of Health in England and Wales and council of the Royal College of Pathologists. He holds many other positions, including being on the WHO editorial board for the Classification of Tumours (‘Blue books’) series.
Ian is a Member of the Council of the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumours (InSiGHT), the UK Cancer Genetics Group; and an Honorary Medical Advisor to Lynch Syndrome UK & Lynch Syndrome Ireland. He is a recipient of both the ACP’s Dyke Foundation Medal for his “eminence as a member of the pathology community” and the Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland’s Goudie Medal for his “seminal contribution to the science of pathology.” Ian helped establish NICE Diagnostics Guidance DG27 and later DG42, that bowel and endometrial cancers must be tested to see if they are due to Lynch syndrome., Suffering from Long Covid since April 2020 he has provided input as an informed expert patient into both NICE and WHO Long Covid guidance, as well as participating in numerous research studies.

Alison Hills is a Senior Associate Solicitor at Tees Law, based in Chelmsford. She specialises in medical negligence and has worked in this industry for over 14 years. Some of her cases have included those relating to patients with complex and chronic health conditions, who have then contracted covid, and have sadly passed away, which resulted in inquests. Alison has achieved Senior Litigator status with APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) and she has also qualified as a Solicitor-Advocate with Higher Rights of audience, which allows her to personally represent clients in the High Courts.

Alison also suffers from Long Covid herself, having been diagnosed with this in November 2021. Prior to the diagnosis, Alison was very fit and healthy (even manging to run marathons) but her symptoms have meant that almost 2 years later, she still struggles to run more than 2 miles without needing lengthy walking breaks! She is also immunocompromised as a result of other health conditions (placing her into the clinically vulnerable category), and is still under the care of numerous medical professionals to help manage this condition. Alison is therefore passionate about improving patient safety and treatment outcomes for those who suffer from long covid, particularly as she has seen the devastating impact of inadequate care during the course of her work as a Solicitor, and also from her personal experience of this condition. She has previously been involved with a number of other charities, including the UK Sepsis Trust as a legal panel member and the Child Brain Injury Trust and has been working with Long Covid Support since June 2023.

James is an Entrepreneurial Finance professional with lived experience of Long Covid. He was most recently Chief Financial Officer for an Anglo-Swedish, e-mobility start-up. Prior to this James worked in M&A with the Investment Bank at JP Morgan, and as an auditor for Deloitte. He holds an MBA (dist.) from INSEAD Business School, Paris/Singapore, and was a Deloitte Scholar for Physics at the University of Durham. James is a keen amateur chorister and enjoys rock climbing. 

Larry is living with Long Covid, having succumbed early in 2022. Larry has been a business executive, consultant and qualified executive coach to organisations from start-ups to the Boards of FTSE-100 companies, and worked in a dozen countries across Europe and the Americas. His speciality was helping companies set their business strategies, transform their business models, and realise them through multi-year programmes. Larry retired in 2016. Since then, he has followed his life-long passion for writing and making music: recording albums, making short music films and videos, and - before the pandemic and Long Covid - performing anywhere in the world that would have him! Larry looks forward to getting back on the road someday soon!

Margaret is a founder Trustee of Long Covid Support. She co-facilitates the charity’s work with researchers, and runs an associated Facebook group called Covid-19 Research Involvement Group. As a person with Long Covid, she has worked with organisations such as NHSEI and NIHR, as well as academics and clinicians. She has co-authored peer reviewed articles on Long Covid, presented at international and national conferences and has co-created research with professional academics and health practitioners. Margaret’s previous patient involvement and advocacy experience is in Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) and she is deputy Chair of Trustees of the charity Pregnancy Sickness Support (PSS). She has conducted, published and presented patient-led research, and has co-authored clinical practice guidelines and a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership. She is a scientist by profession and is currently a Patient Involvement in Research professional in the NHS.

Temitope is a Biochemist and Chartered Accountant with a passion for helping people. With 15 years’ experience in finance, business strategy and change management, she has worked with different organisations in healthcare, energy, and other sectors. Temitope has served as a strategic partner to boards of directors and has led finance teams to develop operational processes that improved efficiency. 
In addition to her professional career, Temitope has volunteered informally with non-profit organisations for many years. In 2018, she registered a charity called the “Hand of Love Africa Initiative”, coordinating teams of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory scientists to provide medicines and diagnoses, in addition to raising funds for food and supplies to rural communities in Nigeria.

Natalie is a founder member of Long Covid Support and is herself a person with Long Covid. She has contributed to the organisation's advocacy work, campaigning for accessible and equitable health and welfare services for people with Long Covid and other long term chronic health conditions. Natalie has worked with organisations including NHSEI, NICE and the ONS sharing lived experience expertise. She also advocates for equitable access to services at regional level as the patient voice representative for the NHS North West Health Inequalities steering group. Natalie has been actively involved in co-designing research priorities, has collaborated in research and co-authored journal articles on Long Covid. Her background is in education leadership.