Our Leadership Team
Ali Malik – Managing Director
Ali became managing director of the North Central London Cancer Alliance in January 2023. He has a wide range of experience in the NHS and private sector. He has been working in North Central London since 2018 including leading the Elective Recovery Programme at the North Central London Integrated Care Board (previously Clinical Commissioning Group) through the Covid pandemic and setting up the Integrated Care Board’s health intelligence unit.
Professor Geoff Bellingan – Senior Responsible Officer
Geoff is the Medical Director for Surgery and Cancer at UCLH. He trained as a chest physician and then in intensive care in which he has been a consultant at UCLH since 1997. He was appointed as a professor in intensive care medicine at UCL in 2015.
Geoff has long held interest in cancer care across our area of London which led to the original UCLH Cancer Collaborative application and the award of the national Cancer Vanguard in partnership with Greater Manchester Cancer Vanguard Innovation and Royal Marsden Partners.
Geoff is also the senior responsible officer for the development the University College Hospital Grafton Way Building which incorporates one of the UK’s first two NHS Proton Beam Therapy units, and a short stay surgical centre.
Frances O’Callaghan – Chair, North Central London Cancer Alliance Board
Frances O’Callaghan is the chief executive officer for the North Central London Integrated Care Board. She has a wide ranging NHS career history and has also worked in the private sector (PwC) and in academic environments as part of the set up and early development of the Academic Health Science Centres. She is undertaking an MA at UCL in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, enabling her to develop an academic base to drive the North Central London focus on addressing health inequalities, and as part of her wider commitment to social justice.
Professor Derralynn Hughes – Clinical Co-Director
Professor Derralynn Hughes is Professor of Experimental Haematology at UCL and Clinical Director of Research and Innovation at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. She has clinical responsibilities in the area of blood and lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) and has a particular interest in understanding why some of these disorders predispose people to haematological and other malignancies. She is principal investigator of a number of clinical trials of new therapies. Derralynn has been involved in the leadership of cancer services for many years, most recently as clinical director for haematology, oncology and palliative care and lead cancer physician at the Royal Free Hospital.
Dr Clare Stephens – Clinical Co-Director
Clare Stephens is a GP in Barnet and has worked in clinical commissioning since 2002. She is Senior Responsible Officer for cancer and diagnostics for the North Central London Integrated Care Board. She has held several portfolios for appraisal, acute commissioning, cancer, public health, women and child health, and a pan-London specialist commissioning role. Past senior roles include a Clinical Directorship for Barnet Primary Care Trust, Barnet CCG Governing Body and a pan London NHSE role in cancer.
Programme Leads
Afsana Bhuiya
Afsana is an Islington-based GP and has been the Cancer GP for the Alliance since 2015. She is leading a collaborative project with the digital provider for north central London (Cerner) to create a population health management registry for patients living with cancer in the community. Previous projects include innovating and implementing the EMIS Web electronic safety netting toolkit, which became a national product. She has also produced educational material to support GP cancer care improvement in earlier diagnosis and cancer care reviews. As a portfolio GP, Afsana has a role in the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group as the evidence-based intervention lead. She is also a GP Appraiser for NHS England. She is a former GP governing body member for Islington CCG and has authored and reviewed online education modules for the Royal College of General Practitioners. She studied medicine at Imperial College London.
Sharon Cavanagh
Sharon’s programmes of work include: primary care, personalised care for cancer, screening and user involvement. Sharon has held senior clinical, strategic and professional lead roles within palliative care and cancer services in London since 2002. An Occupational Therapist by background, Sharon’s clinical area of expertise is palliative rehabilitation.
Donna Chung
Donna is Head of the Centre for Cancer Outcomes. She has worked in the field of surgery for over eight years following her medical degree at King’s College London, and has first-hand experience of delivering acute services in the NHS. Prior to joining the team, she worked for one of the leading private clinics in London, with a strong focus on innovative approaches to improve the quality and efficiency of services. Donna is passionate about implementing value-based healthcare and advancing medical leadership. She led the multidisciplinary diagnostic centres pilot in north central and east London (predecessor of Rapid Diagnostic Centres).
Marc Delon
Marc Delon has worked in acute tertiary hospital trusts in London since 2006. He has a wealth of operational management experience from his roles at Kings College Hospital Foundation Trust, Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital Foundation Trust and University College London Hospital Foundation Trust. Marc has had experience in hospital wide roles responsible for elective access both in cancer and non-cancer. He is a former manager of the University College Hospital and has been Interim Divisional Manager for Women’s Health at UCLH. He is passionate about equity of access and addressing health inequalities. He has a particular interest in clinical research, in particular accelerating the transition of discoveries in basic science to NHS services to benefit patient care.
