Sandra Currie
Chief executive
"My first career was in nursing, and I was a ward sister in a secure Mental Health Unit in Glasgow, my home city. Following a move “down South” initially to Sheffield, I have been working in the voluntary sector since 1990. Many of those years were spent developing a fundraising career, and I spent 15 years with a major cancer charity, latterly as Director of Fundraising.
"I joined Kidney Research UK as CEO in September 2012 and enjoy the challenges of working in a charity that needs to increase it’s influence and significantly increase income to enable us to do more research. I have been so impressed with the renal community, clinical staff, researchers, patients, our staff at the charity, the many professionals involved in renal care, and the families who care for patients, as we all work to improve the prospects for kidney patients.
"When I am not at work I dabble a bit with my garden, although it is way too big for a non-gardener. I have recently taken up dancing to try to notch up a few more hours of exercise each week, and I have developed an interest recently in classic cars, not sure where that came from. I am mum to Andrew, David, Laurence and Eve who keep me constantly in touch with the latest music, trends and technology! Or they try to."
Pete Knight
Executive director: finance and commercial
"I have worked in the charity sector since 2013 and don’t see myself ever working in any other. Whatever I do has to have a purpose and transform lives.
"I joined Kidney Research UK as I am passionate about transforming the lives of those affected by kidney disease and reaching the day when everyone lives free from kidney disease.
"I am inspired by our ambition as it should be the aim of every charity to put itself out of business by eradicating the purpose for which it exists.
"I am a CIMA qualified accountant and have an MBA. I am also an accredited personal performance and youth impact coach and a certified neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner. I am also a co-author of The Finance Journey 2 – a development and leadership model for finance teams, which forms the foundation of the Charity Finance Group (CFG) Inspiring Financial Leadership series of seminars.
"In my free time I play trumpet and bass guitar, regularly attend gigs and follow the fortunes of Stevenage Football Club."
Dr Aisling McMahon
Executive director: research, innovation and policy
"I am the Executive director of research, innovation and policy at Kidney Research UK. After undertaking a PhD focusing on uraemic cardiomyopathy in the Department of Nephrology, Queen Mary College, University of London, I took up a cardiovascular research fellowship at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney. There I set up the infrastructure for the isolation and study of single cardiac myocytes and developed a number of models of cardiovascular disease. From there I was appointed as senior research scientist/senior research fellow at the ANZAC Research Institute, University of Sydney. My research experience spans a number of areas including diabetes, hypertension, ageing and nutrition, as well as renal.
"I returned to the UK in 2014 for family reasons, and after a year in the Cardiovascular Sciences Department at Leicester University, moved into the charity sector. I have a strong interest in research ethics and in ensuring that research outputs are translated into patient benefit as rapidly and efficiently as possible."
Lucy Sreeves
Executive director: income generation and communications
"I started my career working for a creative agency and had the opportunity to work with a number of high-profile brands and charities, including Tesco, Reed and Maserati. I then moved ‘client side’ and have been working in the charity sector for over 13 years. I have worked with and for a wide range of charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, The RSPB and Alzheimer’s Research UK before joining Kidney Research UK in 2018.
I am very excited about the next phase that Kidney Research UK is entering and believe there is a real opportunity to educate and raise awareness of the seriousness of kidney disease. I am focused on building the kidney community by galvanising support and significantly increasing our income to accelerate research discoveries and make research count for those affected by kidney disease.
I spend the majority of my spare time with my family and two children – Jake and Rosie. We love to travel and try new experiences and food! I am also a keen swimmer, including the occasional open water swim."