Directors

Tanya Curry, Chief Executive

Tanya joined St Clare in 2008 as Director of Patient Care and became Chief Executive in 2011. She has a breadth of experience working in a range of clinical settings from acute hospitals to the community. Tanya chose to specialise in Palliative care in 1999, moving into the world of hospice care and management. She has held a variety of management posts in the NHS, voluntary and private sector often managing teams and services through times of complex change and development.

Tanya is a Registered Nurse with a BSc (Hons) in Specialist Nursing practice. She holds a Diploma in Higher Education and a range of post registration nursing courses. Tanya has an Executive Diploma in management, a Diploma in performance coaching and an MBA.

 

Dr John Zeppetella, Medical Director

 

John Zeppetella studied at University College London, where he obtained a degree in Physiology before qualifying in Medicine in 1985. He initially trained for a career in General Practice, but switched to Palliative Medicine in 1987. In 1993, he was appointed Consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Joseph’s Hospice in London, and since July 2003 he has been Medical Director at

St Clare Hospice and Honorary Consultant at Princess Alexandra NHS Trust.

 

John is actively involved in teaching and research. He teaches on courses based at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, and London and was appointed a Recognized Clinical Teacher at Cambridge University in 2007. He has published scientific papers, reviews, written chapters for several textbooks, authored books and participated in national and European expert committees in the formulation of guidelines in palliative care.

 

 

Elizabeth Palfreman, Director of Fundraising & Marketing

Elizabeth Palfreman was brought up in Ilford and now lives in Hornchurch. She is married and has a daughter. Elizabeth has close links with the area served by St Clare with family in Saffron Walden and for many years her father ran a builder’s merchants, Mark Abrahams & Sons, in Waltham Abbey.

 

Elizabeth joined St Clare Hospice from being a Fundraising Manager at

St Francis Hospice, Havering-atte-Bower. Before being involved in the hospice sector Elizabeth worked in banking, financial services and manufacturing industries.

 

The move to hospice life was prompted by her family’s experience. She says that having personally experienced hospice care, she hates the idea that another family would be in a similar situation and be unaware of the support St Clare offers.

 

Riyad Islam, Director of Finance

 

Riyad joined St Clare as Director of Finance in 2009. He is a Chartered Management Accountant with both private sector and charity finance experience. Prior to joining St Clare, Riyad worked for the children’s charity Barnardo’s, where he was their Corporate Accountant. He held various senior finance positions in the City before moving to the charitable sector.

 

Louise Cameron, Director of Patient Care

Louise has recently joined St Clare Hospice as Director of Patient Care. Originally from Kent, Louise has a background in District Nursing and  a variety other clinical settings. She has held a wide range of management positions within the NHS over the past 8 years and comes with a wealth of experience in quality, patient safety which have involved service developments in palliative care.

Louise is passionate about value based care and treating the person, not the disease; she has moved into the hospice world to enable her to work in an environment where patients, their families, friends and carers are treated in a truly personalised and holistic way.

Louise is a qualified nurse with a Diploma of Higher Education, BSc Hons in Specialist Nursing Practice (District Nursing), is a PRINCE2 practitioner (project management) and holds a Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE).