Over Melanie’s 13 years of tenure, we have seen some amazing progress in research into the five gynae cancers, and The Eve Appeal have been at the forefront of this work. With growing recognition that prevention, early detection and diagnosis lead to the best chance of longer-term survival, our work on outreach and public engagement has gone from strength to strength, reaching more people than ever before.
With over 40 years’ corporate finance and capital markets experience, Melanie, former Deputy Chair of KPMG, brought not only her professional experience but also a passion for making a difference to her work at The Eve Appeal. Eve CEO, Athena Lamnisos, reflects on Melanie’s time as Chair: “As Melanie steps down from her role, she leaves behind a legacy of success that will resonate for years to come. Through her tenure, she has cultivated a culture of collaboration, innovation, and compassion within The Eve Appeal. The foundations she has laid will continue to empower our team in their ongoing efforts to make gynaecological cancers diseases of the past.”
Melanie says: “I have watched as The Eve Appeal has become the go-to charity for gynae health advice, and it is a huge testament to the strength and depth of Team Eve, from our team in the office, to our wonderful supporters, and the partnerships we have created. The sheer scale of the research we fund is awe-inspiring; for example, it has been a huge privilege to watch the development of Prof Martin Widschwendter’s work at UCL and Innsbruck, 4C, which is developing one screening test for four key cancers in women- breast, womb, ovarian and cervical. I have also seen a series of researchers grow and develop, and fresh talent come through the field- all passionate and dedicated to helping prevent or early diagnose gynaecological cancers.
“After 13 years, it feels the appropriate time for me to step down. I am delighted to be handing the baton to Tamara. She is a very capable and committed leader and I have every confidence that she will ensure that progress in these areas continues at pace. I look forward to seeing what else the charity achieves in the next ten years and beyond. I will be cheering from the side-lines.”
Some of our biggest achievements in the last 13 years include:
Research
–UKCTOCS: the largest ever clinical study on one disease came to an end and published its findings. The research looked at whether a method called the ROCA test could be used as a national screening programme for ovarian cancer. The programme, which followed over 200,000 women for 16 years, found that the ROCA test could help detect ovarian cancer at an earlier stage, but it didn’t save lives. Although the test didn’t meet the threshold for a national screening programme, saving lives, it did provide some important learnings which can help shape future research into potential ovarian cancer screening.
–FORECEE (4C): over the last few years we have seen fantastic progress in the FORECEE research programme, which The Eve Appeal has supported from the beginning. Very promising initial results have been published which show that the test, developed by Prof Martin Widschwendter and the team at UCL and the University of Innsbruck, does detect breast, ovarian and womb cancer, all from a cervical screening sample. The technology has also shown to be useful in progressing cervical screening, with initial results showing that it could pick up more cases of precancerous cell changes than current methods and it could also be used to predict which women and people with HPV are likely to go on to develop advanced cell changes, or cancer in the future.
–Fellowships: in 2023, we launched our first ever Fellowships programme, by which early career researchers can apply for a three-year pot of funding to help get their research ideas off the ground. We know that we need to invest in the next generation of leaders in the field of gynae cancer prevention, and are delighted to have a growing Fellowships programme. Our first fellow, Dr Kelechi Njoku, from the University of Manchester, is developing a much kinder and faster way to diagnose womb cancer using vaginal fluid, which could improve the experience of hundreds of thousands of women a year facing testing for potential cancer symptoms.
We are looking forward to the next phase of The Eve Appeal, working with our new Chair, Tamara Box, who is a partner and former Managing Partner of the leading global law firm, Reed Smith, and who has been a member of The Eve Appeal board for four years.
Tamara says: “It has been such an honour to be a member of the board of The Eve Appeal the last
few years, and it is amazing to see everything that has been accomplished so far under Melanie’s leadership. I am looking forward to taking up the role as Chair of the Board and building on the amazing work done so far.
“The Eve Appeal is fantastic at what it does, funding research in its early stages to bring new ideas and technology to the table, which can then lead to further funding to develop the work. We are here to fill that initial gap of early-stage funding on research often seen as ‘too risky’ for other funders and where we can become a catalyst to projects. Our progress so far speaks for itself, but we can’t stop the hard work now. We have to keep up the momentum keep funding leading research and keep banging the drum on gynae health issues so that we can turn this building momentum into real and lasting change.”
We are so proud of every step we have made in the last ten years, and you should be too. Every research project, every awareness campaign, and every person supported on Ask Eve is down to you too. Everything we have done and achieved has come from our amazing supporters, service users, advocates and ambassadors. Your support is and will continue to make change. The Eve Appeal is a small charity, but Team Eve is a big community.
With a clear 3-year organisational strategy and ambitious plans to grow both research and outreach activity, we are excited about the future with Tamara at the helm. A big thank you to Melanie for all of her hard work, dedication and knowledge over the last ten years. We look forward to building upon the strong foundation that she has laid and continue the vital work that still lies ahead.
Huge congratulations and welcome to Chair, Tamara. We can’t wait to continue working with you on making gynae cancers diseases of the past.
As well as saying goodbye to Melanie and congratulating Tamara on becoming Chair, The Eve Appeal board has a few new members we would like to welcome:
- Dee Becker: Dee is a qualified executive coach and fundraising consultant. Before setting up her own company, Dee held senior leadership roles in high value philanthropy, fundraising, and communications in leading UK universities (KCL, LSE), domestic and international non-government organisations, and the public sector (NHS hospital charities, Department of Health, local government).
- Emma Dean: Managing Director at Portland Communications, specialising in public affairs and policy. Emma served the UK Government for three years (2019-2022) as a Special Adviser working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and two Health Secretaries. During this time Emma devised and delivered the first Women’s Health Strategy for England.
- Sally Bailey: Chairwoman of the lifestyle brand Weird Fish and of the ethical, global marketplace Everpress. She is an operating partner at Future Business Partnership who provide sustainable businesses with ethically-motivated capital.