Vice-Presidents, Patrons and Ambassadors

Professor Sube Banerjee

Sube Banerjee is Professor of Mental Health and Ageing at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, directing its Centre for Innovation and Evaluation in Mental Health.  Clinically, he developed and directs the Croydon Memory Service, a team for early diagnosis and treatment of dementia.  He was the Department of Health for England's senior professional advisor on dementia and led the development of the National Dementia Strategy.  He led a national enquiry into the use of antipsychotics in dementia for the UK government and consults widely to industry and governments on health systems, policy and strategies to improve health for dementia and in long term care.  An active researcher, he has more than 100 peer reviewed publications including work on: quality of life in dementia; psychosocial research; RCTs and the interface between policy, research and practice.

Lynda Bellingham

Actress Lynda is best known for her TV roles including At Home with the Braithwaites and All Creatures Great and Small. Her mother had Alzheimer's disease and she is one of the Society's celebrity supporters.

Nick Bence-Trower

Nick Bence-Trower works at Schroder Investment Management Limited and has supported Alzheimer's Society since 2002. He has raised over £60,000 for the Society's work by running, amongst other events, eight marathons.

Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP

Ms Blears is Labour MP for Salford and Eccles. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health responsible for Public Health between 2001 and 2003. In 2003 she became Minister of State at the Home Office. In 2007 she was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, a position she held until 2009.

Since July 2010 Hazel Blears has been an active member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia and became a vice-chair of the group in 2011 and 2012.

Baroness May Blood MBE

Baroness Blood is a Labour peer. She was a prominent trade unions activist in Northern Ireland. She is a passionate advocate for those living with the effects of poverty, particularly in relation to housing, unemployment, the elderly and early years education.

Baroness Blood is also an active member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia.

John Bowis OBE

John was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament for London between 1999 and 2009. He was the founding signatory of The European Parliament's Written Declaration on Alzheimer's Disease calling for it to be recognised as a European health priority. The Written Declaration was adopted in March 2009.

Rosie Boycott

Feminist and academic who co-founded the women's mag' Spare Rib in 1971. Also co-founder of Virago Press, a publisher committed to women's writing. She was the editor of Esquire magazine, as well as of the Independent on Sunday, the Independent and the Daily Express. Rosie's father had dementia and she is one of the Society's celebrity supporters.

Jo Brand

Stand-up comedian and celebrity supporter for the Society, Jo Brand is a former psychiatric nurse who worked with dementia patients for 10 years and has first-hand experience of caring for people with dementia.

Professor Carol Brayne

Carol is Professor of Neuroscience at Cambridge University and Head of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care. Carol is an epidemiologist. She is interested in risk factors for dementia, and leads several large research studies that follow participants over extremely long timescales. Carol is Co-chair of the Research Advisory Committee and chair of the Public health steering group.

Richard Briers CBE

Actor Richard Briers is celebrity supporter for the charity and is best known for his TV appearances in The Good Life, Monarch of the Glen and Ever Decreasing Circles. Richard also played the role of a spouse who cared for his wife with Alzheimer's disease in Dad, a British TV drama made by BBC Wales, highlighting issues surrounding elderly abuse.

Paul Brooks

Mr Brooks is a long term supporter of the charity and has established the Society's William Brooks Volunteer Awards in honour of his father.

Graham Browne

Graham has spoken openly about his experience of living with Pick's disease. Graham was a speaker at the launch of the Dementia Out of the Shadows report, attended the KPMG Disability Steering Group and has participated in a number of UK Dementia Congresses. Graham was part of the Local Organising Committee for the Alzheimer's Disease International Conference 2012, held in London and co-hosted by Alzheimer's Society.

Tania Bryer

TV presenter, writer and charity campaigner, Tania is a celebrity supporter of the Society and has spoken about her father Lionel who had Alzheimer's disease.

Paul Dacre

Paul Dacre is the Editor in Chief for the Daily Mail and its parent Associated Newspapers. He is director of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc.

Christopher Devas

Christopher was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2008. After his diagnosis he gave up his job as a magistrate but continued to work by delivering parcels for Fed Ex.

Christopher was the one of the faces of dementia awareness week in 2011. He and his wife, Veronica, regularly do regional and national media interviews for Alzheimer's Society and Christopher spoke at the Dementia Congress in 2010. Since then he has spoken about his experience of living with dementia at a number of events including conferences for GPs and nurses.

Professor Murna Downs

Murna Downs is Professor of Dementia and Head of the Bradford Dementia Group. Murna's research interests are in the area of the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions promoting quality of life and quality of care in people with dementia and their families. Her interests also include the lived experience of dementia, palliative care and end of life issues. Murna is a current member of Alzheimer's Society Research Advisory Committee.

Peter Dunlop

Peter was working as an Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultant when he started to notice memory blanks and sought information from his GP. He was very open with his colleagues at the time of diagnosis and he decided to stop practising.

Peter has spoken out to raise awareness and understanding of the condition and talk about coping with a diagnosis that puts an end to your profession. Peter was invited to speak at the House of Lords at the launch of The Drug Discovery programme in 2011 and continues to speak out about dementia at events and conferences.