Our Trustees

In 2019, Carol exited Polarn O Pyret, a Swedish childrenswear company, after leading the retail division for 12 years and contributing to its growth from a start-up business to a multi-channel operation of solus stores, concessions, and website. The role involved defining a brand ambassador approach to build brand awareness, through a network of contacts across the UK and Ireland, along with change management and development of an entrepreneurial culture of trust and loyalty across the retail teams and customers.

Alongside holding various positions within the retail sector over the last 20 years, Carol also supported the growth and development of the Blue Cross animal charity over a similar length of time. Carol has also held officer roles for her local political party, which involved communication, strategic planning and organisational development. Carol has been a donor to Sight Research UK since 2002. She joined the Board of Trustees in January 2020 and was elected as the Board's new Chair in June 2021.

Philip is currently the Product Director for Specsavers, a privately held optical business. In this role Philip holds the responsibility for the product offering across the Specsavers operations in Europe. His experience stretches from operations, supply chain, marketing and commercial delivery. With over 25 years’ experience working with consumer facing organisations, Philip’s focus is on helping businesses build their brand and deliver the best possible customer proposition. A Trustee of Sight Research UK for over two years, Philip is excited about the prospect of supporting the charity to develop its own proposition and ultimately improve eye health for all. Philip joined the Board of Trustees in July 2018 and was elected Vice-Chair in September 2021.

Simon is a qualified accountant who has worked in senior roles in the public, private and charitable sectors. He is the Financial Controller of the UK subsidiary of an ethical European bank. Previously in his career, he has been Finance Director of a national charity as well as a community charity in Bristol. In the public sector, Simon has held senior finance roles in the NHS, a local authority, higher education and a multi academy trust of primary and secondary schools.

In his non-executive career, Simon has supported a housing association and a further education college.

Simon’s career has focused on improving financial results, sustainability, governance and business partnering. He has wide-ranging experience in devising financial strategies for organisations and is also a qualified business coach.

Simon joined the Board of Sight Research UK in February 2021 as Trustee and Treasurer.

Dolores has a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology and spent her research career studying the role of inflammation in asthma at University of Sherbrooke, Canada, and Imperial College London. In 2004, she took the post of Principal Scientist at Mercia Pharma Inc. working on the development of disease-specific immunotherapeutic vaccines for autoimmune and chronic diseases.

In 2008, Dolores joined Fight for Sight where she became its first Director of Research shaping the charity's research strategy and overseeing its implementation. Since January 2018, Dolores has been the project manager for the ORNATE-India study, which aims to build research capacity and capability to tackle the burden of blindness due to diabetic retinopathy in India. She is based at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and is responsible for the day-to-day management of this UK-India collaboration.

Dolores became a Trustee of Sight Research UK in January 2019.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, John worked in a variety of financial roles for multinational companies in the UK, Canada and Belgium. He then consulted on technology enabled business change and associated project and risk management, firstly with Deloitte Consulting and then with Ernst & Young. He joined Nationwide Building Society initially as a Head of Internal Audit, before being appointed a Head of Operational Risk Oversight. 

Since leaving Nationwide he provided independent programme assurance to the Board of the UK's largest online mortgage broker. With a deep knowledge of risk appraisal and project methods, John is pleased to be able to support Sight Research UK as it expands its reach, and fully implements the Translational Research Strategy to accelerate the delivery of beneficial research outcomes to patients and those at risk of sight loss. John is also a Trustee for a charity which is one of the largest providers of social housing in London.

John has been on the Board of Trustees since August 2023.

Originally from the Wirral, Clive graduated from The University of Hull and spent 33 years with Lloyds Banking Group the latter 16 years as Regional Director of Corporate Banking in the South West working with most of the regions major business. He led teams based in Bristol, Yeovil, Exeter and Plymouth and was recognised by several external individual and team awards. He left Lloyds in 2016 to follow a portfolio career and has since worked for a number of organisations including KPMG, Foot Anstey, Invest Bristol & Bath and was a NED at a start up Challenger Bank. He was a trustee at the RWA for 6 years and sat on the regional advisory boards of BiTC and The Bristol Business School (at UWE).

Clive joined the Board of Trustees in August 2023. 

Serena is the Clinical Lead in Medical Retina at the University Hospitals of Bristol and Weston. Serena's journey in medicine began with her graduation from a University of Rome, La Sapienza (Italy) followed by specialised training in retina in Italy, USA and UK. Her passion for retinal diseases led her to complete a fellowship at The Chicago Lighthouse for People who are Blind and Visually Impaired. 

At the University Hospitals of Bristol and Weston, Serena has not only excelled in clinical care but also in academic research, contributing significantly as principal investigator in numerous clinical trials. Beyond her clinical and research roles, she is deeply committed to patient advocacy and public education about eye health. She regularly participates in community outreach programs, sharing her knowledge and raising awareness about preventable eye conditions. Serena aims to leverage her expertise to further the mission of translating research into patient-centric solutions.

Serena joined the Board of Trustees in November 2023.

After obtaining his BSc in Physiology and Biochemistry, John undertook a PhD in neurovascular biology at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, where his work focused on the structure and function of the blood vessels of the brain in health and disease. He then moved to King’s College London for two years to continue this training after which, in 1990, he was awarded in the Renee Hock Fellowship at the Institute of Ophthalmology, London. Following appointment to Senior Lecturer in 1993 he was subsequently appointed to the Davson Chair of Biomedical Research in 2000. Between 2008 and 2016 he was Head of the Department of Cell Biology at the Institute of Ophthalmology and sat on the board of management from 2006-2016. 

The focus of John's research is the role the vasculature plays in diseases such as uveitis, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, multiple sclerosis (MS), and cancer. The overarching aim of this work is to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the disease process, identify potential therapeutic targets, develop and test therapeutic strategies and eventually translate this into patient trials. 

During his career, John has raised substantial grant income including major programme grants from the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. He has published over 200 papers, many being in the top most impactful scientific journals including Nature and the Lancet. He has been invited to present his work at many international conferences, has sat on various charitable grant award panels, and has chaired several external international scientific advisory panels. He is a co-founding scientist of a UCL spinout company commercialising a therapy that targets the vasculature and fibrosis in the eye and in other diseases such as kidney disease and cancer. He has supervised over 30 PhD students.

John joined the Board of Trustees in November 2023.

Having read law at New College, Oxford Robert trained in the City of London and remained there after qualifying as a solicitor. In 1987 he joined Osborne Clarke in Bristol and stayed with the firm until 2014, when he and his team moved to Womble Bond Dickinson. He retired as a partner in 2021 but still acts as Senior Counsel on a part time basis.

Robert was the High Sheriff of Somerset for 2023/24. Appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in 2005, Robert has been involved with a variety of charities within the county. His most active involvement has been with the Royal Bath & West of England Society, where he started stewarding in 1977. He joined its Council in 1984 and its board in 1995 and was chairman from 2013 until 2022.

He is also a trustee of the Langford Trust for Animal Health and Welfare and the Wells Cathedral Preservation Trust and previously was a trustee of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Trust and chairman of Folly Farm Limited, the trading company of Avon Wildlife Trust, as well as a Church Warden.

On a wider stage he is a trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Innovation for Agriculture, the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth and the Grateful Society.

Having been a trustee of Sight Research (UK) from its early days as the National Eye Research Centre, he stood down as a trustee in 2023 but is delighted to have been invited to serve again as a trustee.