The Trust

The trust has supported a large number of projects over the past years which has resulted in some excellent research outcomes as well as increasing the skills of people who work in the field of cancer-control.

Trustees

The Trust may appoint up to nine trustees representing medical, strategic and business aspects of cancer control and the management of a charitable trust. The trustees meet regularly throughout the year. The current trustees are listed below:

Patron

Brian Corban CNZM, QSO was a professional company director, lawyer, business and community leader. He had experience in successfully leading companies through restructuring and deregulatory changes in the television, telecommunications, transport and electricity sectors. He was Chairman of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, Chairman of Ngatarawa Wines and chairman of a number of private companies and trustee of various community trusts. In 2000 he was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (F.Inst.D) in New Zealand and in 2001 Brian was appointed a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management. Brian passed away on May 1st 2021.

Chairperson

Maureen Shaddick, LLB, BA. Maureen has over 25 years’ experience as a commercial lawyer and governance adviser in a number of roles in private practice, corporates and not for profit organisations in New Zealand, London and Dubai. She was the General Counsel and Company Secretary of Genesis Energy from 2003 to 2016. Maureen was involved in the establishment of Cancer Research Trust New Zealand (formerly Genesis Oncology Trust) and has been a Trustee since 2003. Other governance roles have included director of Genesis Energy subsidiaries, trustee of Second Nature Charitable Trust, board member of Netball Counties Manukau , director of Greater Auckland Netball Limited and trustee and chair of school board of trustees.

Trustees

Dr Scott Babington MB ChB FRANZCR is a consultant Radiation Oncologist at Canterbury Regional Cancer and Haematology Service, specialising in Urological, Lung, and Breast malignancies. Scott served on the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) board and scientific committee from 2004 to 2008 and continues to be an active in clinical research. Scott is currently a member of the Cancer Treatments Subcommittee of PTAC (Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee, PHARMAC), the South Island Lung Cancer Workstream, New Zealand Lung Cancer Working Party, and Smokefree Canterbury and chair of the Christchurch Coastal Pathway/Te Awa Ihutai Committee.

Professor Cristin Print BHB, MBChB, PhD graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Auckland in 1989. After a period as a house surgeon in Otago, he undertook PhD research in the University of Auckland and a postdoctoral fellowship in Australia, before moving to Cambridge University, UK, where he was a Fellow of St Edmunds College. While in the UK he co-founded a biotechnology company that became listed on the Tokyo stock exchange in 2007. In 2005 he returned to the University of Auckland where he leads a cross-disciplinary research team of clinicians, biologists and data scientists who use genomics, systems biology and bioinformatics to better understand human disease, especially cancer. He leads the Genomics Into Medicine Strategic Research Initiative in Auckland and Chairs the Auckland Regional Tissue Bank Scientific Advisory Board. He is a Deputy Chair of the NZ Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and a Principle Investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre. Previously, he served as President of the NZ Society for Oncology and was Director of the Bioinformatics Institute at the University of Auckland.

Betsy Marshall BA, MA, QSO is the former Executive Director of the New Zealand Cancer Control Trust. She has worked in the field of cancer for over forty years and served on numerous national advisory committees, Ministerial reviews and working parties relating to cancer and cancer screening. She also led the Cancer Society of New Zealand’s involvement in the Gisborne Cervical Screening Inquiry. Betsy was instrumental in helping to develop New Zealand’s first Cancer Control Strategy. Most recently she helped to establish a network of health professionals working in melanoma, which she coordinated for nine years. In 2002 she was awarded the Queens Service Order for Community Service.

Robert Jay FCA (Retired) JP spent his professional career in an international accounting firm in New Zealand and overseas. As a partner he advised clients, including corporates and not-for-profit organisations, on a wide range of financial matters. He currently participates in a number of governance roles in the community. Furthermore, as a judicially trained Justice of the Peace, Rob has extensive community involvement in different capacities, including Court Panel Justice.

Naomi Brewer BSc(Hons), MMedSci, PhD is an epidemiologist at the Centre for Public Health Research, Massey University. Naomi’s research interests are mainly focused on cancer epidemiology and health disparities, although she has worked on a variety of public health studies. Naomi served on a Health Research Council grant assessing committee in 2016 and 2017, and was a member of the Guideline Development Team for the 2008 ‘Guidelines for cervical screening in New Zealand’ with the National Cervical Screening Programme. Naomi was a member of the 2014 International Epidemiological Association (IEA) World Congress of Epidemiology Scientific Program Organising Committee, and was inaugural Chair of the IEA’s Early Career Epidemiologists Committee 2010–2014.