The Britain Nepal Medical Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees based in the UK. Most of the Trustees have field and/or advisory experience in Nepal. The Trustees have ultimate responsibility for the organization and approve policy and strategic direction in consultation with our partner organisation in Nepal.
Dr Gillian Holdsworth: A former field doctor, Gillian joined as a Trustee in 1993 and has been Chair of BNMT since 2009. Gillian trained in public health medicine and has worked in the NHS and internationally (Lesotho, DfID; Health Unlimited; Vietnam and Nepal, International Trachoma Initiative). Gillian is the founder of SH:24 and the former chief executive of SH:24 - an online sexual health service developed in partnership with the NHS which delivered the system transformation in sex and reproductive health services in the NHS and globally - including Germany, Ireland, Kenya (CIFF) and scaling access to HIV self testing in Global Fund priority countries in Africa.
Dr Raghav Dhital: Dr Dhital has been a practising GP in Walthamstow for many years and became a trustee of the Britain Nepal Medical Trust in 2012. Born in Nepal, he gained his medical degree from Bangladesh after which he practised in Nepal before coming to work in the UK. Throughout his career he has worked tirelessly towards fostering good will and friendship between the Nepalese and host community in the UK and has been awarded several prestigious decorations for his work including an OBE in 2007, in addition to the Prakhyat Trishakti Patta, Prabal Gorakha Dakhsin Bahu, Subha Rajyabhishek Padak and Birendra Aishwarya sewa Padak.
Ms Sarah Barton: Based in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Sarah is Director of Operations of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU). She has responsibility for OUCRU operations in Vietnam, Nepal and Indonesia. Sarah has 25 years of experience as a senior leader of multi-cultural, international experience in both programme and operational leadership in the not-for-profit sector.
Dr Bob Fryatt MD, MPH, MRCP, FFPH: A former field doctor and patron of BNMT, Bob leads the International Health Team at Mott MacDonald. He was previously Director of the USAID flagship health systems strengthening program – Local Health System Sustainability. He has over 30 years of experience working in many diverse settings including for DFID, World Bank, WHO, Global Fund, ADB, UK NHS and the Ministry of Health in South Africa. He has published on health economics, health financing, climate change, tuberculosis, access to medicines, private sector, and national health policy in India and South Africa.
Jeffrey Mecaskey: After serving in Nepal for seven years, three with BNMT, Jeff managed a global programme of basic and translational research on neglected tropical diseases. Jeff went on to found the International Trachoma Initiative in 1998, and since has led a range of efforts focused on health systems strengthening, including the UK flagship programme for strengthening health security in Africa. He joined BNMT’s Board of Trustees in 2002.
Johnny Payne worked for BNMT from 1982-1984 in the TB (and leprosy) clinics of Taplejung, Tehrathum and Phidim. He has been a Trustee since 1990. After returning to the UK he became a GP in West Dorset where he worked until his retirement in 2015, and where he still lives with his wife Caroline.
Professor Andrew Ramsay MSc, PhD, FIBM: Andy is a freelance public health consultant and an academic in Infection and Global Health at St Andrews University School of Medicine, Scotland. He has more than thirty years of international experience working in infectious disease control, clinical microbiology and antimicrobial resistance with the Oxford University Tropical Disease Research Units, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the World Health Organisation. Over the past 5 years he has worked closely with BNMT on health laboratory capacity strengthening in Nepal.
We are grateful also for the support of our Royal Patron, HM The King KG KT GCB, and patrons Sir Christian Bonington, Prof Sir Andrew Haines, Lady Hughes-Hallett, Dr J Rosedale and Professor S.P. Subedi.