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Recognition - Research - Rehabilitation
MEET THE TEAM
Long Covid SOS was established in June 2020 during the early months of the pandemic and is staffed entirely by volunteers with lived experience of Long Covid. We are now registered with the Charity Commission and our governance is provided by a board of trustees
We have played a major role in generating awareness of the condition through social media and press campaigning. We work closely with the NHS, RCGP, Dept for Health and Social Care, NICE, ONS, NIHR and the WHO and also collaborate with researchers in order to further our mission of Recognition, Research and Rehabilitation for people with Long Covid. Moving forward we aim to continue to be an active voice, providing an informed and lived experience perspective to national and international organisations as well as the research community
OUR TRUSTEES
Lucy Moore
Chair
Lucy Moore brings over 25 years of senior leadership experience across the charitable sector and NHS. A qualified medical doctor in population health, Lucy has held leadership roles at Deloitte, served as NHS Trust CEO, and most recently was Executive Chair of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), strengthening governance and driving positive change.
Passionate about health equity and patient advocacy, Lucy is committed to raising awareness of Long Covid and ensuring the voices of those affected are heard at the highest levels. Her expertise in policy, strategy, and securing resources will be invaluable in advancing the Long Covid SOS mission.
Jo Clift
Trustee
Jo's main career was in Whitehall, where she worked at the centre of Government for over twenty years, holding senior positions in communications, policy, strategy and governance. She worked directly with many Ministers over the years.
Jo now works as a consultant and coach. She advises organisations who want to have a better understanding of - and engagement with - Government. And she runs a Board Effectiveness Practice. Recent Board Review clients include the Food Standards Agency and Suffolk County Council.
Jo is an experienced Non-Executive Director, notably for a large Government Agency (the Government Internal Audit Agency) 2017-2020, where she sat on the main Board and ARAC, and Chaired the Remuneration and Nominations Committee. She is a Council Member at the Institute of Osteopathy, and a member of ARAC. She was a Trustee and ARAC member of the Road Safety Trust.
Melanie Cassoff
Trustee
Melanie is an independent consultant working with Family Offices and Foundations. As an experienced charity CEO, she is highly skilled at strategy development, all stages of implementation, and with a focus on governance and process.
Melanie was the CEO of the Freelands Foundation for seven years, setting up and running a visual arts and arts education charity for Elisabeth Murdoch. Prior to that, Melanie was a private banker, having held senior positions at Deutsche Bank and UBS. Melanie began her career as a Management Consultant at Marakon Associates.
Melanie holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, which is where she is from.
Paul Haylock
Treasurer
On leaving University Paul qualified as an accountant and has worked in local government, central government and latterly in the charity sector in senior finance positions. Having retired from full time work in 2018 he has continued to work part time in the charity sector as a finance manager. Besides being a Trustee for Long Covid SOS he is also a trustee for a local wildlife trust and regularly volunteer at a Covid vaccination centre in south Oxfordshire.
His interests are social justice and all individuals having access to proper healthcare and housing. He enjoys walking and visiting nature reserves.
Amitava Banerjee
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Trustee
Amitava Banerjee is Professor of Clinical Data Science, University College London, and Consultant Cardiologist at University College London Hospitals and Barts Health NHS Trusts. He is a researcher, educator and clinician with interests spanning data science, cardiovascular disease, global health, training and evidence-based healthcare. He has been active clinically and academically throughout the pandemic and is leading the NIHR-funded STIMULATE-ICP study looking at many aspects of Long Covid, including a large clinical trial of potential treatments.
After qualifying from Oxford, he trained in Oxford, Newcastle, Hull and London, completing a Masters in Public Health at Harvard(2004/05), an internship at World Health Organisation(2005) and DPhil in epidemiology from Oxford(2010). He was Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular Medicine in Birmingham, before moving to UCL in 2015
Karen Matthews
Trustee
Karen became ill with presumed Covid-19 in March 2020 and has subsequently been given a clinical diagnosis of Long Covid/Post Covid Syndrome.
Karen currently works in the UK clinical research infrastructure as a Business Development Manager. She has a PhD in developmental genetics. After a period of post-doctoral research, she went into research management. She has worked in the public, charity and commercial sector.