Trustees

FAST is a national charity (Registered Charity Number 1061636) and a company limited by Guarantee (Number 3331184 (England and Wales)). FAST's Patron and President is His Grace the Duke of Marlborough. FAST's Vice-President is Sir Bert Massie CBE.

The body responsible for the governance of FAST is the Board of Trustees. The Board meets four times a year. Board Members stand for re-election each three years. The Board nominates sub-committees of Trustees to take responsibility for specific aspects of FASTs work, such as Human Resources, Finance and Governance.

Dr Donna Cowan

Donna has a degree in Electronic Engineering from Nottingham University and a doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from Kings College London. She worked in the Centre of Rehabilitation Engineering (CoRE) at King’s for 7 years as a research fellow and course co-ordinator, while also managing a regional electronic AT service. Donna joined Chailey Heritage Clinical Services, part of South Downs NHS Trust, in 2000, and became head of their Rehabilitation Engineering Service in 2002. Chailey specialises in 24hour posture management research and AT development for children with complex physical disability.

Professor Brian Andrews (Co-Chair)

Brian trained in Cybernetics, Control Systems and Bioengineering at the Universities of Reading, Sheffield and Strathclyde and has held academic and clinical positions in the UK, USA and Canada. Brian is presently Consultant in Spinal Injury/ Professor of Movement Science at Oxford Brookes University and Visiting Professor at the Nuffield Department of Surgury, Oxford. His clinical and research interests focus on the application of AT and Biomedical Engineering in Spinal Injuries and other neurological disorders. 

 
Professor Helen Petrie (Co-Chair)

Helen has a BA and a PhD in Psychology, plus an MSc in Information Technology. For the past decade she has conducted research on the design and evaluation of technologies for disabled and elderly people, participating in national and international projects on this topic. Helen has worked at the University of Hertfordshire, as Director of the Sensory Disabilities Research Unit, the National Centre for Tactile Diagrams and at the School of Informatics at City University. She has now moved to the Department of Computer Science at the University of York and continues her work on technologies for disabled and elderly people. 
 

Ray Hodgkinson

Ray's career has spanned some 40 years in the healthcare industry. He began a career in the pharmaceutical industry, which led him into the many facets of the industry we see today. His experience covers virtually all aspects of healthcare. From a pharmaceutical training background through to sales management, he fulfilled a personal vision to have his own company that pioneered a number of new product areas over a 22-year period. Currently Director of BHTA, he holds a further three company directorships. His role with the BHTA involves him in a broad spectrum of activities and advising groups at government level. 

 
Derek Naysmith

Derek has degrees in Applied Physics and Human Geography as well as a PhD in Soil Physics. He began his career as a Soil Physics lecturer at the Scottish Agricultural College, and went on to work as a systems analyst after being blinded in an accident. Since 2006 Derek has been a self-employed consultant mainly concerned with the accessibility/usability of Internet and education for visually impaired people. Derek has been a director of the British Computer Association of the Blind since 1995 and is currently its chair. He is also a member of the Technology sub-committee for the Disabled Students services unit at Edinburgh University and a member of the Visually Impaired Workinggroup at the Open University. 

 
Denise Stephens

Denise is a chemistry graduate and pursued a career as a forensic toxicologist working for Imperial College, before being forced to give up her career due to a change in health. She is chief executive and co-founder of Enabled by Design, which was inspired by her experiences following her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2003. Her idea for Enabled by Design won first prize at the first ever Social Innovation Camp. Since then, Denise has been central to the day-to-day running and subsequent progress and profile of Enabled by Design. She is passionate about inclusive design and the scope for assistive equipment to support independent living.

Professor Martin Ferguson-Pell (Honorary Vice President)

Martin has a degree in Physics from the University of Exeter and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde. He was a lecturer in Biomedical Engineering at Strathclyde and then director of the HelenHayes Centre for Rehabilitation Technology in New York. In 1996, he took the new role of ASPIRE Chair in Technology and Disability and established the Centre for Disability Research and Innovation at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. Now Dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta, Canada, Martin holds the position of Honorary Vice President of FAST.