Adnan Sheikh - clinical chair
Adnan is a consultant colorectal and general surgeon at East Lancashire NHS Trust and has been the lead for colorectal cancer services.
Neil Smith - primary care director
Neil has been a GP in Blackburn for over 20 years. He has a long-standing portfolio career and was previously Associate Dean at Manchester Medical School. He is now a partner in a busy practice as well as stadium doctor for Blackburn Rovers.
Lee Threlfall - head of performance
Lee has held a number of performance-related posts in local government, commissioning organisations and secondary care providers.
Amanda Short - head of transformation
Amanda began her NHS career on the graduate finance training scheme, gaining her CIMA qualification. She has since held senior roles in secondary care, with experience in policy, strategy, programme management and operational delivery.
Anne Turner - senior programme manager, targeted lung health check project
Anne joined the Cancer Alliance from Lancashire Teaching Hospital where she practiced as a senior therapeutic radiographer for more than ten years.
Jen Burns - senior programme manager
Jen joined Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance as senior programme manager in June 2020 and has over ten years’ experience in a variety of NHS roles.
Faye Bennett - cancer quality improvement lead
Faye joined Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance in December 2021. She has worked as a nurse in several acute NHS trusts for almost twenty years.
Tanis Barnett - senior project manager, innovations programme
Tanis has worked in both clinical and service improvement roles for the NHS for over 20 years and joined the Cancer Alliance in January 2022.
Kaye Davies - senior programme manager
Kaye joined the Cancer Alliance in September 2020, as an NHS project management and transformation specialist. Kaye leads a team of project managers, focusing on improvement for patients and performance across multiple tumour sites.
Helen Stansfield - project manager - early diagnosis & primary care
Helen's role focuses on reducing health inequalities and improving early diagnosis. She joined the NHS in 2022 as population health manager before moving to the Cancer Alliance. Helen has held numerous senior leadership roles in the local government, voluntary and private sectors.
Teresa Karran - senior programme manager - early diagnosis
Having trained as a nurse, Teresa now specialises in change management and quality improvement. After working in senior leadership roles at Macmillan and Cancer Research UK, Teresa has returned to the NHS. Her passion lies in making a meaningful difference in the lives of those affected by cancer.
Abi Greaves – project manager - lung cancer screening
Abi joined the Cancer Alliance in September 2024. Before joining, Abi completed the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, where she gained experience in acute NHS Trust and voluntary sector roles.
Lindsey Buttery – senior project manager
Lindsey joined the Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Alliance in Jan 2024. Her role focuses on transformation of cancer pathways to improve access to and performance of cancer services.
Katie Pierce – senior project manager – early diagnosis
Katie works across primary care and early cancer diagnosis. She leads complex transformation programmes, bringing together partners across health, local government and the voluntary sector. Katie is passionate about improving equity and quality in services, ensuring that the voices of people with lived experience shape meaningful and sustainable change.
Sean Cross – performance manager
Sean joined the Cancer Alliance in January 2024 and works across the pathway improvement and early diagnosis teams. He brings experience in data analysis and quality improvement methodology to support cancer pathway improvements across Lancashire and South Cumbria.