Who we are

Robert is Chairman of Nelsons, the UK’s largest natural medicine manufacturer. Robert is also a Trustee of a number of important charities both in Scotland and England including the Scottish Civic Trust and Chairman of the Barcapel Foundation and of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Alison has worked in the field of communications, firstly in advertising and then in television. Her connection with Prostate Scotland is the early (and probably avoidable) death of her father at just 57 from prostate cancer. He died just a few days after the birth of his first grandchild – Alison’s son Cameron. Her grandfather also died at 68 from the same disease.

Alan is a consultant urological surgeon at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, where he has helped to develop the minimally invasive surgery programme in urology (including laparoscopic radical prostatectomy), after receiving additional training at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio and the University Hospital in Leipzig, Germany. As a consultant urological surgeon with an interest in prostate disease, he has been struck by how little that many men know about their prostate gland until they develop prostatic disease.

Anna is a cancer clinician who leads the development of SCAN – a managed clinical network for cancer services in Southern Scotland. From 2001-6 she lead the development and implementation of the Scottish National Strategy for Cancer Services. She has been closely involved with guideline development, quality assurance programmes and national cancer audits. Her main clinical interests have been thoracic oncology and malignancies of the nervous system, and she served both as a Board Member and Treasurer for the International Association for Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC).

Julia works with Scottish Pension Trustees in Edinburgh as an independent pension trustee, working with a wide range of businesses across Scotland. She is a lawyer by background, was a partner in city law firm Sackers, and trained with Clifford Chance. She chaired the Education and Seminars Committee of the Association of Pension Lawyers for a number of years. She has a longstanding interest in prostate cancer and became a Trustee of Prostate Scotland in 2014.

Ben is a Consultant Urological Surgeon in NHS Lothian and NHS Borders, and in everyday practice sees men with wide variety of prostate diseases. He first became involved with Prostate Scotland in 2010 as a member of PAGES, our advisory group. Having been appointed a Trustee of Prostate Scotland in 2017, he is now the Chair of the PAGES group which oversees the content of all our patient information resources and provides multidisciplinary input, from clinicians and patients, into many aspects of the charity.

Our new CEO, Alison has held senior positions in the third sector for 19 years. From 2014 to 2019 Alison worked at Community Enterprise, supporting charities across Scotland with business planning, feasibility studies, funding applications and community consultations. In 2019 she took up the position of CEO for Carers of West Lothian, a charity providing information, support and advice for unpaid carers and disabled people, leading the team through growth as demand for support increased as unpaid carers were impacted by the impact of the pandemic, challenges with public services and the cost of living crisis. In June, Alison moved to Prostate Scotland and is keen to use her skills and experience to work with the staff and board team to build and grow the organisation and rolling out a new 5 year strategy in 2025. Alison lives in Livingston, has 3 children and enjoys taking European City breaks, going to the gym, swimming and walking.

Mae joined Prostate Scotland in September 2009. Her remit is to develop literature to raise awareness of prostate disease, develop information leaflets on prostate disease, deliver presentations to community groups and in the workplace and develop Prostate Scotland’s involvement with volunteers. She has worked in the voluntary sector for the past 11 years and previously as Chief Dietitian in the health service for 10 years.

Richard Walker joined the team to lead the Charity’s fundraising activity and in particular to take forward the Blue Horizon Robot Appeal for Prostate Scotland. In addition, Richard’s role includes looking after the core funding required to run Prostate Scotland – this includes raising the funding to make sure that we can increase the public’s awareness of prostate disease through our literature, the website and the workplace initiative materials. Richard’s background is in fundraising consultancy, appeal management and managing teams of fundraisers throughout the UK. He has been employed in the charitable sector for the last 44 years in one or other of these areas.

Morag joined Prostate Scotland in March 2017.  Morag has worked in sales and marketing in the gift, jewellery and wine industries, and along the way gained experience of the charitable sector. She has collaborated on fundraising projects with The Princes Trust Scotland, and for five years was involved in The NSPCC and Childline Scotland Edinburgh Fine Wine Challenge. Her favourite fundraising experience was in aid of The Drake Music Project, where she undertook The Salsa Challenge, culminating in two weeks in Cuba, rehearsing and performing with the country’s top two dance companies.

Elaine joined Prostate Scotland in May 2022 to support our Compass project.  A dietitian by background, Elaine has worked in healthcare business development roles for over 25 years, the last 15 with LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare where she recently developed a homecare service for men with prostate cancer being treated with olaparib.  During this time, she also volunteered with two health charities, Health All Round and Breast Cancer Now.

Karen joined Prostate Scotland in August 2022. As Supporter Care and Information Assistant, she provides administrative support to the Supporter Care team and assists Mae with the distribution of information literature across Scotland.  Karen’s background is mainly events and customer service and has worked for a number of different organisations including NHS Scotland and Edinburgh Leisure.  Outside work, she is a busy mum of two and enjoys walking and going to the cinema. 

As Head of Operations and Delivery at Prostate Scotland, Samantha brings a fresh perspective to every situation, helping to find innovative solutions. Joining the team in February 2024, her diverse background in IT Asset Management, Business Development, and wellness makes her a perfect fit for the role. A qualified reflexologist and aromatherapist, Samantha has a strong interest in promoting wellbeing. Charity work has always been close to her heart, from participating in the ABSA Epic to volunteering with doggy charities. In her free time, she loves walking, gardening, and collecting old books.

Amber joined Prostate Scotland in 2024 with her creativity and passion. In communications and supporter care team, Amber is responsible for ensuring effective engagement with supporters, while also helping to manage the charity’s communications through various channels, including the website and social media. During weekends, she likes to do hill walks and explore Scotland’s countryside.

Helen has over 25 years of experience in strategic volunteer management, engagement and policy, most recently with Children First and Dyslexia Scotland. With a Professional Development Award in Volunteer Management, she has extensive knowledge of the third sector in Scotland. As a freelance Investing in Volunteers (IIV) Assessor, she guides organisations through the IIV assessment process.

Outside of work, Helen lives in Falkirk with her husband and daughter. She is also a proud stepmum to her stepson and step-grandson. Helen is an avid reader, with an interest in crime fiction, psychology, and neurodiversity. In her free time, she enjoys Pilates and taking walks with her husband.