The Organisation
Our Leadership
Professor Sir John Iredale, BM (Hons), DM, FRCP (Lond), FRCP (Ed), FMedSci, FRSE, MAE – Chairman
John took on the role of Chairman of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in 2022. He is currently holds the Chair of Experimental Medicine at the University of Bristol. From Jan 2022-Oct 2023 he was seconded to UKRI where he acted as the interim Executive Chair of the MRC, prior to this he was Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health and Life Sciences in Bristol. His research interests are focused on tissue scarring and regeneration and he has published extensively on these subjects. Professor Sir Iredale was, in the past, the Regius Chair of Medical Science, Dean of Clinical Medicine and Vice Principal Health Services at the University of Edinburgh where he led the Medical School.
Mr Murray Legg, BSc, FCA – Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee
Murray joined the Lister Institute formally in September 2020 as Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee. He is a chartered accountant who spent 35 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers until retiring in 2013. As a partner with PwC he held a variety of senior management, governance and client facing roles auditing and advising large UK listed and unlisted companies. He was a member of the PwC international network’s Global Governance Board, and he also served on the PwC UK firm’s governance body. Murray is a non-executive director of GlobalData plc and of Sutton and East Surrey Water plc and chairs these companies’ audit committees.
Professor J Julian Blow, PhD, FRSE, Chairman of the Scientific Committee
Julian took on the role of Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Lister Institute in 2022. He is Professor of Chromosome Maintenance and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation at the University of East Anglia. Julian’s research interests centre on how eukaryotic DNA replication is regulated to ensure that the genome is precisely duplicated with the minimum of errors, with no sections of DNA left unreplicated and with no sections of DNA replicated more than once. Julian is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a member of EMBO.
Our Staff
The Lister Institute employs one full-time and two part-time members of staff, supported by our Governing Body and two committees.
Sally Burtles – Director
Sally joined the Lister Institute in 2019. She has worked in senior leadership roles in research and research management in charities, universities and NHS hospitals. Currently, as well as being Director of the Lister Institute Sally is managing a research project with the University of Sunderland to develop a new treatment for a rare inherited disorder. She is also a Trustee of two medical research charities, LifeArc and Trozon X17.
Previously Sally worked as Interim Director of Research Operations for Norfolk and Norwich NHS Trust (2017-2019); Director of Research Services for Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust (2014-2017); and Director of Research Operations in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London (2012-2014). Prior to these roles, Sally worked in a variety of positions in Cancer Research UK (1992-2011) including, latterly, Director of Drug Development and Director of Centres.
Nicola King – Operations Manager
Nicola joined the Lister Institute in 2020 as the Operations Manager and is the first point of contact for all queries. She runs the day to day operations of the Institute, including planning the studentship programme, co-ordinating the Fellowships and organising the AGM.
Nicola previously worked for NHS Professionals for over 5 years. They are a managed staff-bank service provider owned by the Department of Health and Social Care. Her role as Head of Client Relations involved managing the temporary staffing teams for 7 Trusts across Hertfordshire and Essex, this included working with them to reduce their reliance on agency workers and increase shifts worked via the bank in order to save the NHS money.
Susan Andrews
Susan joined the Lister Institute in September 2019 as the accountant managing the day to day financial transactions and the preparation of both quarterly management accounts and annual year-end accounts.
She has a wealth of experience having previously worked in many business sectors including publishing, media, shop fitting, exhibitions, recruitment agencies, catering and manufacturing. She has been a business owner and also worked in a number of senior management roles having been a board member with responsibilities over finance and operational issues. Susan now provides business and accountancy services to several companies.
The Committees
Scientific Committee
Responsible for overseeing the research prize application process.
Finance and Investment Committee
Assisting with all financial matters pertaining to the Institute including the annual budget and research awards.