With expertise in research, fundraising, policy and more, our staff and key spokespeople are dedicated to making breakthroughs possible.
Hilary Evans
Hilary Evans is Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Hilary has led the transformation of the charity to one of the leading medical research charities in the UK. She has overseen significant growth in income in recent years, which has significantly enhanced the organisation’s ability to fund groundbreaking innovative projects.
Before joining Alzheimer’s Research UK, Hilary worked at Age UK, improving the lives of people in later life both in the UK and internationally. She is a trustee of the Association of Medical Research Charities and holds an honorary doctorate in medicine from The University of Exeter.
Mike Oldham
Mike joined ARUK in September 2021 to lead our Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Diseases (EDoN) initiative.
The EDoN programme is harnessing the potential of digital technologies, like smart phone apps and wearables, to collect a wide range of digital data to develop a toolkit for detecting neurodegenerative diseases at their very earliest stage. The EDoN toolkit is still in its research phase with main hubs in Oxford, UCL, Cambridge and the Alan Turing Institute.
Mike is an engineer who has spent his recent career working in innovation, helping new technologies make the difficult journey from research to industry.
During the recent pandemic Mike was a part of the leadership team that set-up the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) at Harwell and worked with the Oxford University team to help rapidly scale-up development and manufacturing of their new Covid-19 vaccine.
Mike was first involved with the EDoN Steering Group while he was Head of the new Data Science Department at The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington. Before that, Mike was at Innovate UK (now part of UKRI), where he set-up and ran the Catapult network of technology and innovation centres.
Susan Kohlhaas
Susan Kohlhaas is the Executive Director of Research and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Susan oversees the charity’s research strategy and programme, including strategic initiatives like our Drug Discovery Institutes, our work with the UK Dementia Research Institute and our Dementia Consortium.
She has a PhD in cancer biology from the University of Leicester and completed postdoctoral work in the field of immunology at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge.
Susan’s previous roles in the charitable sector include senior roles at the MS Society and the National Cancer Research Institute.
Carolyne Coupel
Carolyne leads the charity's Data and CRM, Direct Marketing, Insight and Development and Legacy and In Memory fundraising functions.
The Marketing, Data and Insight team inspire long term support and maximise opportunity, engagement and income by putting the supporter at the heart of everything they do. The team are responsible for generating over 50% of the charity's income as well as driving significant strategic projects like the implementation of a new CRM system and overseeing a cross charity supporter engagement programme.
With over 15 years sector experience, Carolyne has been Head of Individual Giving at both The Children’s Society and The National Autistic Society. Prior to her time in the charity sector, Carolyne held a number of roles in the telecoms and media sector – most recently as Head of Telephony Marketing at Telewest Broadband (now Virgin Media).
Timothy Parry
Tim has overseen the growth of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s communications, campaigns and branding since establishing its press office in 2008.
The charity is now the trusted leading voice on dementia science in the UK media thanks to its award-winning team.
Tim’s role is responsible for Alzheimer’s Research UK’s media, health information and science communications functions, as well as its digital and social media work and branding.
Tim has 20 years’ experience in PR and corporate communications across the public, corporate and voluntary sectors.
Lucy Squance
Lucy is the Director of Supporter-led Fundraising at Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK).
Lucy joined ARUK in January 2016 and is responsible for mass fundraising through enabling individuals, communities and companies to support ARUK through their own talents and passions.
Her team includes Sporting Events, Corporate, Community Fundraising, Marketing & Engagement and the Central Fundraising Team who all steward and support our incredible fundraisers.
With previous commercial marketing and PR roles, Lucy started her fundraising career at Cancer Research UK in 2004. She then worked as an interim manager and freelance consultant in the sector establishing high performing fundraising teams.
Samantha Benham-Hermetz
Sam was appointed in 2019 to lead the policy and public affairs function at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
Sam's role is to develop Alzheimer’s Research UK’s political strategy and wider influencing to ensure that research breakthroughs reach people affected by dementia.
Her team covers policy, campaigning and government and parliamentary engagement. She is co-Chair of the Charity Medicines Access Coalition and sits on the Dementia Programme Board.
Sam decided to join Alzheimer’s Research UK because she believes through medical research we will be able to bring about life changing treatments for people affected by dementia. Sam brings 15 years campaigns experience in the voluntary sector, having held leadership roles at Alzheimer’s Society, Breast Cancer Now and Rethink Mental Illness.
Philip Dunn
Philip joined Alzheimer’s Research UK in 2017 and is responsible for the delivery of effective corporate support and governance.
He oversees the Corporate Services Directorate, which covers Finance, HR & Volunteering, Governance, Facilities, and IT. It is vital that we deliver effective and efficient support functions as well as driving good governance and compliance across the Charity, to underpin core activities taking place in other Directorates.
Philip has a strong background in financial and commercial roles across a variety of Industry sectors and he also is a Director of the Railway Housing Association in which he is the Chair of the Audit & Risk committee.
Peter Halewood
Peter joined ARUK in 2014 and has overseen the growth of our work with individual philanthropists, trusts and foundations.
Peter leads on our fundraising for our EDoN Initiative and other strategic priorities such as our Drug Discovery Alliance and the UK Dementia Research Institute.
Peter has 17 years’ experience in philanthropy and joined Alzheimer’s Research UK having established a new Major Donor function at The Salvation Army. Prior to this, he worked for both Cancer Research UK and World Vision UK.
Alison Kelly
Alison joined Alzheimer’s Research UK in 2017 and is responsible for the HR and Volunteer Management Teams.
Alison ensures the HR Team adds value and makes a difference by focussing on all people-based activities from organisational development, employee engagement and cultural change, as well as providing support across a breadth of HR related activities.
The Volunteer Management Team also falls within Alison’s remit, where she ensures the Team focusses on enabling volunteers to make a difference, whilst ensuring they have a great experience, feel welcomed, inspired, supported and valued.
Prior to joining Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alison has worked in a variety of sectors where she developed her career within the HR profession.
