The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust – which provides the specialist cancer service for the 2.4m people of Cheshire and Merseyside – has appointed two new non-executive directors to its Board.

Councillor Anna Rothery and Dr Asutosh T. Yagnik began their three-year terms this month at the Trust, which opened its flagship, 11-storey new cancer hospital in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter in June 2020 and also provides services at its sites in Wirral and Aintree, other hospitals in the region, and in patients’ own homes and workplaces.

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Councillor Anna Rothery is the current Lord Mayor of Liverpool and has an extensive and wide-ranging track record in public service, with a particular focus on business and community development initiatives and on equality.

Raised in Toxteth, Liverpool, she was the first elected member to address the United Nations in Geneva on religious, cultural and linguistic differences. She has represented the Princes Park ward of Liverpool as a councillor since 2006 and was the council’s Chair of Culture Tourism and Sport from 2010-13. She studied sociology, psychology and law and undertook her MA in Business and Regeneration in 2007 at the University of Liverpool.

Anna won the HSBC Ethnicity Award for a Political Figure in 2019 and the House of Lords Baton Award for most influential black female politician in the same year. She has made history both by becoming Liverpool’s first black Lord Mayor and because she is the first Lord Mayor in the city to be reappointed to the role, serving two terms.

Asutosh Yagnik.jpg began his career in pharmaceutical research and has an impressive track record as a strategic advisor, in leadership and in governance. After completing a BSc in chemistry at the University of Exeter, he went on to gain a MPhil followed by a PhD in computational chemistry and rational drug design. In June 2009, he was awarded Chartered Scientist status by the UK Science Council.

After a period working as a research fellow at IRBM (Merck), Asutosh moved into consultancy at Cap Gemini, where he advised global companies on strategy, transformation and supply chain. In 2003, he founded AdSidera, a leadership coaching and management consulting firm focusing on senior executive development and organisational transformation for clients including Barclays Finance, the Bank of Ireland and the European Medicines Agency.

Asutosh was on the organising committees for the Cura Foundation 2016 and 2018 Vatican Conferences on Regenerative Medicine, the latter of which was attended by US President-Elect Joe Biden.

Councillor Anna Rothery said: “It is an absolute pleasure to join the non-executive team at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. I hope to bring my knowledge and understanding of our diverse community to the role to support the Trust to identify and remedy health inequalities and to further develop an inclusive and diverse workforce, representative of the community we serve.”

Dr Asutosh T. Yagnik said: “I am honoured and delighted to join the Board and look forward to supporting the Trust’s incredible staff, Council of Governors and other stakeholders, as we jointly seek to ensure our services develop and grow in the best possible way for patients.”

Kathy Doran, Chair of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Anna and Asutosh are both outstanding individuals in their fields who bring a fantastic range of skills and experience to the Board. We are delighted to welcome them to Clatterbridge as we begin delivering our new five-year strategy, which will see us driving improved outcomes and an even better patient experience for people with cancer in our region.

“I also want to thank Alison Hastings, who stepped down from the Board in December after nine years in which she made an immense contribution to the Trust.”

As non-executive directors, Anna and Asutosh will be responsible for bringing external expertise, an impartial perspective and constructive challenge to assist in the Trust’s leadership and strategic direction.

Anna and Asutosh will serve on the Board alongside four other non-executive directors, six executive directors and an independent Chair. Former non-executive Alison Hastings stepped down from the Trust Board in December 2020, following a nine-year term.

Note:

Anna and Asutosh have been appointed to serve a three-year term and will each be remunerated at a rate of £12,879.78 per annum.