This year, Trustees’ Week is taking place from the 3rd to 7th November 2025. This is a national celebration which aims to recognise and celebrate the vital work of trustees.
The Pituitary Foundation is lucky to be led by an excellent team of eight trustees and is in the process of welcoming three additional new members.
Our trustees play a vital governance role, ensuring The Foundation operates effectively and in line with our mission and objectives. Our trustees help set strategic direction, oversee financial management, ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and support our CEO and staff.
I wanted to contribute to the work The Foundation does to support those affected by pituitary conditions. – Jenny Phillips, trustee
Trustees also act as ambassadors for The Foundation, using their skills and experience to guide decision-making and promote the charity’s work. This can be anything from presenting at external events on our behalf to even attending our regional conferences.
Our trustees, like our members and volunteers, are spread across the UK, with the furthest distance between two trustees being Exeter to Edinburgh! Our trustees mainly stay in touch virtually, but they come together in-person at least once a year in Bristol.
Working with a team that is genuinely dedicated to improving awareness and providing resources brings a deep sense of fulfilment – Debbie Cooper, trustee
Our trustees each bring a vast range of experience to the Board, including financial, legal, policy, advocacy, clinical, lived experience of pituitary conditions, and more.
The Pituitary Foundation undoubtedly couldn’t do the work it does without the guidance and support of our wonderful trustees! So, we want to say a huge thank you to them, for their continuous contributions to our community.
Find out more about our trustees below.
The Foundation’s mission resonated with me and I was eager to support its initiatives – Debbie Cooper, trustee
Welcoming New Trustees
This year, a number of our existing trustees reached the end of their term and retired. This came after many years of dedicated support to our work, which we are incredibly grateful for. As a result, we have now recruited 3 new trustees to join our Board. This includes…
Nazifa Chowdhury
Nazifa is a barrister and former solicitor who is keen to bring her experience in the legal field to support The Foundation to achieve its vision, mission and 2023-2027 strategy. She joins our Board as a legal expert, to support the running of The Foundation and our wider work.
Dr Niki Karavitaki
Niki has been a member of our Medical Committee for many years and recently joined our Board of Trustees, as a medical trustee.
Niki is a professor of endocrinology at the University of Birmingham and an honorary consultant endocrinologist at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. Her clinical and research work mainly focuses on hypothalamo-pituitary conditions, and she has published extensively on the field. She is a co-lead of the Pituitary Service and leads the academic clinical training in Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Birmingham.
She is actively involved with national and international endocrinology bodies and societies (including the Society for Endocrinology UK, European Society of Endocrinology, European Neuroendocrine Association and Endocrine Society USA). She has contributed to the development of various international consensus and guidelines on pituitary disease and she is deputy editor of the European Journal of Endocrinology.
Sherwin Criseno
Sherwin is a long-standing member of our Medical Committee and recently also joined our Board of Trustees as a medical trustee.
Sherwin is a consultant nurse in endocrinology at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, where he leads the largest team of specialist nurses in endocrinology in Europe. With a clinical focus on pituitary tumours, adrenal insufficiency, andrology, metabolic bone and calcium disorders, adult growth hormone deficiency, and the late effects of cancer treatment, Sherwin brings extensive expertise to some of the most complex areas in endocrine care.
A passionate advocate for patient empowerment, he champions education, collaboration, and meaningful engagement as essential components of high quality care. Sherwin holds several national leadership roles. He is a trustee of the UK
Society for Endocrinology, a member of both the NICE Osteoporosis Clinical Guideline Committee and the NICE Osteoporosis Quality Standards Committee. He also serves as an honorary associate clinical professor of nursing at the University of Birmingham.
In parallel with his clinical and academic roles, Sherwin is undertaking doctoral research as an NIHR clinical doctoral research fellow, with a focus on growth hormone deficiency in adults.
