New trustee appointments at charity Kidney Research UK
Kidney Research UK, the leading charity dedicated to finding ways to prevent, treat and manage kidney disease, is pleased to welcome four new trustees to its board after a rigorous selection process.
The new appointees will join existing board members, including chair-elect Matt Newcombe-Ellis, who will take over from Professor Jeremy Hughes as chair in March 2024.
The four new trustees will be formally appointed in two stages. Professor Claire Sharpe and John E. Milad will join the board in December 2023 and Professor Moin Saleem and Tejal Amin will officially join in June 2024.
Sandra Currie, chief executive at Kidney Research UK said: “These appointments come at an exciting time for the charity as we ramp up our capacity and influence so that kidney patients see the impact of our work on their lives even faster.”
Meet our new trustees
Professor Claire Sharpe
Consultant nephrologist Professor Claire Sharpe became Dean of Education at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine in 2022. Her research has focused on how scarring (fibrosis) causes kidney failure and she received funding from institutions including Kidney Research UK, the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
In continuing her 20-year career as a clinical academic, she also supervises a PhD student at King’s College London and continues to do clinical practice at King’s College Hospital. Claire also served on Kidney Research UK’s grant review committee for six years and she played a key role in the formation of the UK Kidney Association as treasurer and trustee.
John E. Milad
John E. Milad has dedicated 14 years of his professional life to making dialysis more accessible to patients. As co-founder, investor and, until recently, Chief Executive Officer of Quanta Dialysis Technologies, he helped develop and launch a portable haemodialysis system to enable more patients to dialyse at home. He has an extensive background in venture capital and innovation in the healthcare and life sciences sectors through roles at Atlas Venture, NBGI Ventures and Downing LLP. His contributions include being a member of the selection committee for the National Institute for Health Research's (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) program, which focuses on advancing translational research. In addition, he has held positions on the boards of eight life sciences start-ups working to transform healthcare.
Beyond board participation, he also shares his expertise as a business mentor at the Enterprise Hub at the Royal Academy of Engineering. John was named in the Sunday Times Maserati List as one of the UK’s “Top 100 Game Changing Innovators and Entrepreneurs” and is a recipient of the prestigious MacRobert Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Moin Saleem
Paediatric nephrologist Professor Moin Saleem is director of Bristol Renal, a group of 40 clinical and non-clinical kidney researchers at the University of Bristol. With his team he developed specific human kidney cell lines which are gold standard research tools now used by academia and industry worldwide. He helped establish the UK kidney community’s renal rare disease registry (Renal RaDaR) on which over 30,000 patients are enrolled.
He is also co-founder of NURTuRE, the UK’s first industry standard kidney biobank collaboration facilitated by Kidney Research UK. More recently he has founded the world’s first kidney gene therapy company, Purespring Therapeutics. He has received research funding from Kidney Research UK over many years and has served on the charity’s Research Grants Committee.
Tejal Amin
Tejal Amin is associate partner at a global professional services firm, having worked there for 25 years. A chartered accountant, she has specialised in leading, designing and executing large-scale change and transformation programmes. Her keen interest in kidney disease and ensuring care provision meets the needs of patients stems from witnessing first-hand the impact of her late father’s dialysis treatment on the whole family.
Tejal has served on Kidney Research UK’s Lay Advisory Group since 2021, contributing to initiatives including the scoping and shaping of the UK Dialysis Research and Innovation Network, participating as a panel member for grants rounds, briefing MPs on kidney policy matters and volunteering at fundraising events.
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