Trustees

Dame Christine Beasley served the National Health Service in England in a number of roles during a 50-year career, which she began as a student nurse at the Royal London Hospital in 1962. Dame Christine held a number of regional nursing, operations and organisational development posts. In 2003 she was appointed Partnership Development Director in the national Modernisation Agency. A year later, she took up her final role as Chief Nursing Officer for England, a post she held until 2012.

In parallel with her executive career, Dame Christine has been a member of various national nursing and health related committees. She has been appointed to a number of non-executive positions in the health, charity and higher education sector. She currently is Non-executive Director of the NHS Trust Development Agency, Chair of Health Education North Central and East London Education Board and Chair of Council of Bucks (new) University. She has been appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire for her public and voluntary service.

Jon Card is Director of Business and Governance at the Imperial War Museums group. Jon has worked at the Imperial War Museums for over 15 years, initially in the post of Director of Finance and Museum Secretary. Prior to this, he was Head of Finance at the Natural History Museum for six years. Jon is a qualified accountant.

Darren has worked in culture for 30 years, and in the last fifteen years has nurtured his company, Barker Langham, into a world leading creative business – working on diverse cultural and heritage projects across the sector and world. Darren has worked with national institutions, governments, trusts and foundations – and these rich experiences will be vital in this role.

His emotional connection with nursing is through his mother, and now his partner, who is training to enter the profession at a time when nurses are needed more than ever. Darren’s commitment as a Trustee will be to use his skills of project development, strategy, business and creative planning to ensure that Florence Nightingale’s legacy continues to inspire and educate more people into the future.

Darren is also an advisor for the UK National Lottery Heritage Fund, lecture at a number of universities, and in 2020 was honoured to have been included in the inaugural Blooloop 50 Museum Influencer List – which was in recognition of leadership in the cultural sector.

Donna Miles Curry, RN, PhD, is a Professor Emeritus from the College of Nursing and Health, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, U.S. She completed degrees at Maryville College (ADN), St. Louis University (BSN & MSN) and the Ohio State University (PhD).

Dr. Curry has over 45 years’ experience in pediatric and family nursing as a practicing nurse, educator and administrator. She has received multiple awards for professional service and education. Dr. Curry was one of the co- founders of the International Family Nursing Association and established the International Family Nursing Foundation, a U.S.- based charity.

In addition to leadership positions on the boards of these two organizations, Dr. Curry has held leadership positions in Ohio Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society, Society of Pediatric Nursing and the American Association for the History of Nursing. She has presented numerous papers at professional conferences and has authored professional articles and book chapters in a variety of publications.

Jane Dwelly is an experienced management consultant with subject matter expertise in digital health strategy and education gained from 16 years in senior Whitehall and NHS England posts and Director and Vice President roles in global professional organisations.

Jane has a track-record of policy communications of NHS improvement and transformation, including the Lord Darzi’s High Quality Care for All (2008), CNO’s Compassion in Practice (2012) and NHS Five Year Forward View (2014).

She has strong connections in international health corporations, a deep knowledge of Florence Nightingale and global nursing issues, and an international network of health professionals – all of she believes can be used to help transform the Museum’s situation and support it to thrive in the post-pandemic world.

Commodore Ali Hofman is a serving military nurse and currently Head of the Defence Medical Services Regulator. She is a registered nurse, who has served in the Royal Navy Nurse since joining HMS Raleigh age 18 to undertake her initial military and subsequent nurse training at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar. Her frontline clinical career was predominantly as a specialist critical care nurse.

Prior to her current role she was in Command of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Stanford Hall and has also previously held the positions of Head of the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service and as the Nursing Advisor for Defence.

She has completed postgraduate studies, with an MSc in Nursing and MA in Defence Studies. Ali was appointed as an Associate of the Royal Red Cross in 2007 and promoted to Royal Red Cross 1st class in 2009; an award bestowed by Queen Victoria to Florence Nightingale in 1883. Passionate about recognition for and advancing the nursing profession she has previously served as a trustee for the Florence Nightingale foundation.

Having graduated from the University of London with a degree in History, Peter started a 25-year international banking career at Kleinwort Benson in London. This was followed by postings to New York, Munich, Hong Kong and Singapore, latterly as Global Head of Loan Syndicate at Standard Chartered Bank. Peter now works as a consultant to several technology companies.

While visiting family in Derbyshire in 2010, Peter stumbled across a newspaper article highlighting the sale of Florence Nightingale’s beloved home, Lea Hurst, in Holloway. The prospect of owning the home of such a precious national treasure proved irresistible! A decade on, his family is proud to have turned Lea Hurst back into their family home after over half a century of operation as a nursing home (two of his children were born in the bedroom previously occupied by Nightingale’s parents, William and Fanny!).

Peter’s family now also offer Nightingale’s former quarters to guests on a B&B basis.

Professor Thomas Kearns is the Executive Director of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences. He is responsible for leading and delivering on the strategic intent and operational activity of the Faculty. His career in nursing started in 1980, since 1993 Thomas has worked in Professional Regulation, Nursing and health Policy at a national, EU and global level and Higher Education.

He is both a general and psychiatric nurse, he has a primary degree in Nursing, a Master’s Degree in Education and a Fellowship from the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery RCSI. In 2017-2018 Thomas worked as interim CEO of the International Council of Nursing in Geneva. Thomas is a director of Axia Digital Ireland, a learning and development software company. He is a member of the Rotunda Hospital Audit and Risk committee, the RCSI hospital Group Directors executive and the Board of the International Network of Health Workforce Education.

The Faculty is the Academic Partner for the European Council of Nurse Regulators (ENC). Thomas has developed a Centre for Nursing and Midwifery Advancement across the RCSI Hospital Group.

Prof Jennifer Rogers is Vice President, Statistical Research and Consultancy at specialist CRO, PHASTAR, and has a broad portfolio of achievement. She directs the research strategy at PHASTAR and provides leadership and advice to statistical consultancy activities. Jen came to PHASTAR from the University of Oxford, where she was Director of Statistical Consultancy Services.

Jen did her BSc and MSc at Lancaster University before moving to the University of Warwick to do her PhD. Her research interests are mainly clinical trial methodologies driven by applied problems and her areas of expertise are survival analysis, the analysis of recurrent events, and joint modelling strategies that combine the two. In 2013, Jen was awarded a NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship for her project “Analysis of Recurrent Events in Clinical Trials”.

Jen is a highly active member of the Royal Statistical Society, having just finished a term sitting on Council and completing a four-year stint as the Society’s Vice President for External Affairs. She was also appointed President of the British Science Association Mathematical Sciences Section for 2018, giving a keynote speech at the British Science Festival, and was the London Mathematical Society Popular Lecturer for 2018.

Janet has worked in museums for 40 years at both national and local level. She has been CEO of the Horniman Museum and Gardens since 1998, leading a series of successful capital developments and fundraising campaigns. Underpinned by collections development and audience engagement, this has led to a 300% increase in visitor numbers.

Janet reviews capital projects for various organisations. She has served on expert panels and has wide experience of museum boards including: Visitor University of Oxford (Pitt Rivers); Trustee London Transport Museum; Trustee Collections Trust; HLF Expert Panel; Project Board for Wellcome Collection. She is currently a trustee of the Hunterian Collection at the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

Join our Board

When we have a vacancy in the Board, this is advertised on our Vacancies page.

Want to find out more about how to be an effective Trustee of a charity?