Three new Trustees elected by national patient charity for Aortic Dissection

Posted on 9th January 2025

The charity prides itself on being led by patients, for patients and on having a governance model with built-in democratic accountability of the leadership to its 1,500+ members. Trustees serve for a 3-year term and each year at the AGM, one-third of the Trustees retire and are eligible to seek re-election if they wish.

This year the charity's Founding Chair, Aortic Dissection survivor Mr. Gareth Owens, announced that he was standing down after 6 years at the helm, for health reasons. Also, Mrs. Karen Cunningham resigned as a Trustee during the year and a third Trustee, Mrs. Eileen Haxby, stood down at the AGM, creating three Trustee vacancies. The three new Trustees elected by the membership to serve the charity for a 3-year term are:

Victoria Campbell's husband Brian had an acute Type A aortic dissection in 2020 with a root and valve replacement at Stoke. He has a residual Type B dissection. Through subsequent genetic testing, Brian was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome. He has recently had total aortic arch replacement surgery at Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital.
Victoria was first elected to the Management Committee in October 2021. She stepped up to be Assistant Secretary of the charity when the former Assistant Secretary resigned as a Trustee. In addition, she is the AD Patient Guide Co-ordinator, ensuring that the charity publishes enough copies of Aortic Dissection: The Patient Guide each year and distributes them to hospitals around the UK and Ireland so that every AD patient receives one. As a member of the merchandise team, Victoria is also the person who ensures that orders from the charity's online shop are processed and dispatched. The Patient Guide and awareness merchandise are growing areas of the charity's work, and Victoria has ideas that she looks forward to implementing, as part of the leadership team.

Anne Cotton is one of the founder members of Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland. She had an acute Type A Aortic Dissection in 2015, with emergency surgery at Derriford hospital. Since then, she has had her entire Aorta replaced in stages at QE Hospital, Birmingham - first a Frozen Elephant Trunk in 2018 and then in 2022, her entire descending thoracic and abdominal Aorta. She recently recorded an episode of the THINK AORTA podcast with the doctor who diagnosed her initial dissection. Anne feels that through her lived experiences and previously having served on the Committee as Secretary, she is well-equipped to support the charity in the next stage of its growth, as a Trustee. She leads the charity's preparations for the SCTS Annual Meeting, is a PPI Partner on the national DECIDE-TAD research programme and hosts the charity's annual AD Buddies summer garden party in Warwick. As a former primary school teacher and Samaritan, Anne is able to engage with adults & children from diverse backgrounds on behalf of the charity and support newer members to feel comfortable, included and welcome, when they find the charity after being affected by Aortic Dissection.

Prof. Rob Sneyd is a retired doctor with a background in anaesthesia, academia and healthcare leadership. In October 2022 he experienced an acute Type A Aortic Dissection and life-saving surgery in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has spoken and written about this experience and you can watch a video of his story here. Rob's motivation in becoming a Trustee of the national patient charity is to improve patient experiences and outcomes.
Rob has relevant experience as a Trustee and as a leader and is effective at developing and delivering strategy, through engagement with public bodies and professional organisations. He recently led the charity's successful engagement with DVLA about driving after Aortic Dissection. Raised in Cornwall, Rob's medical journey began as a Nursing Auxiliary in Plymouth in 1975. Graduating from Cambridge University in 1981, he trained in London, Manchester and the USA, including a research degree and a stint in the pharmaceutical industry. He served as Executive Dean of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Plymouth until 2018. He has held leadership roles in the Association of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, and the European Society of Anaesthesiology. Rob has previously served on two NHS Trust boards, chaired a Social Enterprise and a research charity. He remains active in research.

Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland's Board of Trustees now comprises five Aortic Dissection patients, one relative/caregiver and one bereaved relative, truly representing the community the charity serves and amplifying their voices.

Welcoming the three new Trustees, outgoing Chair Mr. Gareth Owens said: "Since arriving on the scene in 2016, Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland has gained a reputation for being able to articulate what patients and families affected by Aortic Dissection want and deliver improvements  in care and outcomes through effective partnerships, for example, with professional societies. The quality of our leadership team and our governance model, which ensures that all our Trustees have personal lived experience of Aortic Dissection and are elected by their peers in the community, are key to that success. I'm delighted to welcome Victoria, Anne and Rob as they are elected as new Trustees. They have each contributed significantly to the charity already and I look forward to how they, together with fellow Trustees Dan Burgess, Pete Hill, Clare Payne & Haleema Saadia, will take our work forward and deliver on our promises to the community that we created. The national patient charity for Aortic Dissection is in good hands."

To connect with any of the Trustees, please contact us.