Trustees

Colin Osborne MBE, Chair

Colin is the founder trustee and the original driving force behind Orchid. He possesses the best qualifications for his role in Orchid, having endured two years of challenging treatment for testicular cancer. After an orchidectomy, chemotherapy, revolutionary use of a drug used previously for ovarian cancer, Taxol, Colin finally had a bone marrow stem cell transplant and further surgery.

When his cancer was very advanced, Colin was warned that the treatment he was offered could kill him. He credits his survival to a determination to see his two small children grow up and the skill of his consultant, Professor Tim Oliver.

It was during his treatment that Colin was made aware of the financial crisis facing Professor Oliver’s vital research unit. He knew that he had survived as result of this pioneering research and wanted to help save the unit. Together with Professor Oliver, Orchid was formed.

Colin has organised many fundraising events and believes in the critical importance of raising awareness. He has appeared on television and radio and in national newspapers and magazines promoting awareness of male cancer. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award which was featured on ITV and GMTV. In 2006, he was awarded an MBE for his services to health care.

Even when his condition was serious, Colin never gave up hope and he survived partly because of his guts and determination. Colin has used his knowledge of the physical and emotional rollercoaster that men suffer when diagnosed and during treatment to support fellow cancer patients.

He has also served on various health committees such as the Executive Committee of the Men’s Health Forum, the NCRI Testis Trials Board and the House of Commons All Party Male Cancer Group.

Warren Cohen, Treasurer

Warren joined the Orchid Board of Trustees in 2016.

He is Chief Operating Officer for fashion brand River Island. He is a strategic and commercial finance leader with significant experience in the consumer goods and service industries.

Warren is a passionate person who blends strategic development, business transformation, change management and commercial financial management with building great teams of people who share his passion.

Ben Ayres

Ben is a Consultant Urological Surgeon and Honorary Senior Lecturer at St George’s University Hospitals. His subspecialist interests include penile cancer, bladder cancer and medical education.

He has published extensively and presented on penile cancer, often working with multi-institutional international collaborators. He has been actively involved in penile cancer trials and is a member of the European Association of Urology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology penile cancer guidelines panel. He has been invited to contribute his expertise to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Ben is passionate about medical education and training the next generation of clinicians. He is the British Association of Urological Surgeons Education Lead for Medical students, Clinical Director for Undergraduate Surgical Training at his Trust and is faculty on several Royal College of Surgeons England courses. He is also the co-educational lead for the Global Society for Rare Genitourinary Tumours.

David Badenoch MA, DM, MCh, FEBU, FRCS (Urol)

David is a former consultant urological surgeon. He is a past President of the Section of Urology, Royal Society of Medicine, a past Trustee of King Edward VII Hospital, a past President and Trustee of the Chelsea Clinical Society and previously Honorary Surgeon to the Royal Scottish Corporation.

He took a BA Honours in Natural Sciences at Lincoln College, Oxford in 1970 and then went on to study clinical medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, qualifying in 1975. David was on the consultant staff of the Royal London and St. Bartholomew’s Hospitals between 1988 and 2006.  He is an Honorary Consultant at King Edward VII Hospital and The London Clinic.

He was awarded the BAUS Curgitex Prize in 1987 and Grand Prix de l’Association of the European Association of Urology in 1988. He gave the Creevy Memorial Lecture to the Minnesota Urological Society in 2001 and was a visiting Professor to the Department of Urology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA, 2001. He has written widely in medical journals and published two books.

David is married with two daughters and two sons and lives in London.

Piers Bracher

Piers is a highly respected marketing, advertising and communications professional who joined the Orchid Board of Trustees in Orchid 2018.

An independent senior integrated communications consultant, Piers has extensive brand management and campaign experience, combining strategic and creative vision to develop and implement award-winning integrated campaigns.

He has held senior roles at Four Communications, McCann Erikson and Lowe Howard-Spink, managing international advertising accounts for brands such as Amex, L’Oréal, Nestle and Stella Artois.

In addition to his role as a Trustee at Orchid, Piers spent 10 years as a Listener, Mentor and Trainer at the charity Samaritans which helps to save lives by preventing suicide.

Simon Harris

Simon holds a BA in Economics and is a qualified Actuary.

He has spent more than 25 years working in Insurance and Financial Services, most recently as global Managing Director for Financial Institutions at Moody’s Investors’ Service, a credit ratings agency.

Simon has been an active fundraiser for numerous cancer-related charities via various sporting events and is delighted to support Orchid as a Trustee. He is a keen cyclist and runner and lives in London.

Professor Prabhakar Rajan

Professor Rajan holds the Chair of Urology and Robotic Surgery at Queen Mary University of London, and is a Consultant Urologist at Barts Health and University College London Hospitals NHS Trusts.  He has expertise in robotic prostatectomy for early prostate cancer, and surgery for advanced testis cancer.

Professor Rajan studied physiology and medicine at Cambridge University, and completed junior surgical and senior urological residencies in Edinburgh and Glasgow, respectively.  He undertook his PhD in prostate cancer biology at Newcastle University, and post-doctoral research at the CR-UK Beatson Institute and University of Glasgow.  He is currently a group leader at Barts Cancer Institute, where his laboratory research focusses on genetic changes in prostate cancer cells that underlie disease recurrence.

His clinical research examines outcomes following robotic prostatectomy and explores minimally-invasive surgical interventions for testis cancer to reduce chemotherapy-related side effects.

Jerry Shedden

Jerry has been a Vice President of Orchid for almost 20 years and is honoured and delighted to become a Trustee.

His background is steeped in the Drinks Industry and he is currently a Commercial Director at Asahi, but has over 17 years of Director-level experience across well-known brands such as BrewDog, Sipsmith, Heineken, Bacardi and AB InBev.

His key skillsets are driving transformational change and strategic projects that deliver bottom line growth in complex organisations. He describes himself as an inclusive people-orientated leader with a natural ability to build, develop and inspire high-performing teams to achieve their full potential.

Without doubt, this stems from his background as a Professional Rugby Player, primarily with Exeter Chiefs, and Jerry’s connection with Orchid and our Chair Colin Osborne, goes back to this era in 2003 when he himself was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer. Like most young men, he had very little knowledge of Testicular Cancer or the associated symptoms. Since then, he has done numerous talks to Schools, Universities and Prisons to raise awareness.

Professor Tim Oliver MD, FRCP

Professor Oliver was Consultant Oncologist and Professor Emeritus of Medical Oncology at St. Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry.

He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and at The Royal London Hospital. After training in cancer medicine at St. Bartholomew’s, he moved to the Institute of Urology and pioneered drug treatments for male cancer.

Returning to Bart’s and the Royal London, he linked up with centres in East Anglia and Essex to create a clinical trials organisation large enough to study the new treatments that emerged from his work.

Professor Oliver has contributed to international research initiatives in prostate and testis cancer treatment through the European Organisation for Research and Treatment in Cancer (EORTC).

He helped to found Orchid with his former patient Colin Osborne and was the driving force behind Orchid’s unique approach to research. His vision of breaking through conventional research streams and identifying potential novel linkages and dependencies within male cancer disease types, has advanced understanding and provided new solutions.

A direct result of Professor Oliver’s vision was the establishment in 2006 of a new Clinical Trials Unit in the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre in the Bart’s and London School of Medicine in QMUL.