Meet our staff

Peer Baneke, CEO

Peer, whose father had MS, joined MSIF in 2007 after eight years as General Secretary of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. Before that he worked with Amnesty International in the Netherlands. In 1983 he moved to London to join the organisation’s global headquarters. He was Head of Campaigning and later managed the organisation’s responses to human rights crises. He has an MA in sociology and speaks Dutch and English, and a reasonable level of French and German.

Ceri Angood, Director of Programmes

Ceri is from the UK and has 10 years of programme and strategic management experience in international development, with an MSc in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has worked for Interact Worldwide (managing sexual and reproductive health programmes in Africa through local partners); LEPRA Health in Action, UK; Relief International, UK; VSO & Save the Children, and the International NGO training organisation, INTRAC.

Ayesha Ali, Campaigns Manager

Ayesha has a background in campaigning on health issues, including on the rights of older persons for HelpAge International and on HIV/AIDS for a network of community based organisations in Pune, India. She has worked in India and Egypt as well as the UK.

Dr Paul Browne, Atlas of MS Coordinator

Paul previously worked at the European Bioinformatics Institute, and before that he completed his PhD studying diabetes at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. He covered Dhia Chandraratna's maternity leave in 2011 and, since her return, has stayed on at MSIF to work on the update of the Atlas of MS database and website.

Zoe Burr, Head of Capacity Building

Zoe joined MSIF in September 2006. She has a BA in Hispanic Studies and Politics and spent time teaching in Peru and Portugal. Prior to joining MSIF, she worked in events and the campaigns and communications office at the mental health charity Rethink.

Dr Dhia Chandraratna, Head of International Scientific and Medical Research

Dhia joined MSIF in February 2008 with six years experience in scientific and medical research. She has a BA and PhD in genetics and, before joining the Federation, worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research on Alzheimer’s disease.

Barnaby Dumbell, IT Manager

Barnaby first joined the Federation in May 1997 as Online Editorial Assistant to the Managing Editor of the World of MS web site. Between his degree in Product Design and joining the Federation he worked as both a web designer and 3d animator. He left MSIF briefly in 2000 before returning as IT Manager, a role he still holds today.

Abdelfatah Ibrahim, Regional Capacity Building Manager

Abdelfatah has a more than four years experience in international development. He has worked for the representative offices of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Egypt. Before joining MSIF in October 2012, Abdelfatah completed his master degree from the University of Birmingham in International Development (Poverty, Inequality and Development). He speaks Arabic, English and basic level of Korean.

Jo Pennell, Finance and Administration Manager

Jo joined the Federation with six years experience of finance in the charity sector. Having begun work in an administrative role for an international charity, she moved into finance. Jo has competed her financial qualifications and now combines her administrative and finance skills in her role with MSIF. Jo is currently on maternity leave and her role is being covered by Yojitha Jesudasan.

Catherine Massey, CEO Coordinator – Governance and Resources

Catherine joined the Federation with 10 years experience of administration and governance with the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She has a BA in European Studies and spent several years working in France. Prior to joining the staff, Catherine worked with MSIF on a consultancy basis taking care of the logistical organisation of our meetings.

Lucy Summers, Information and Communications Manager

Lucy joined MSIF in April 2006. She has a BA and an MRRP. Before joining MSIF, she worked as editor of the UK Parkinson’s Disease Society's magazine and other publications. Her previous roles were Communications Project Manager for a New Zealand mental health charity, and project editor for Dorling Kindersley publishers.

Jon Temme, Coordinating Consultant for the International Pediatric MS Study Group

Prior to his role with MSIF, Jon worked for more than 13 years for the MS Society of Canada from which he retired in 2011. He had most recently served as the Canadian Society’s Senior Vice-President, Research and Programs. Jon is based in Toronto, Canada.

Sarah Phillips, Volunteer Meetings Organiser

Sarah has served as the Volunteer Meetings Organiser since 2012. She has had a long and rich association with MSIF, serving as Chairman and President of MSIF from 2004 through to 2011 and as member of the MSIF Board from 1997. She served for seven years as Chair of the UK MS Society and has held non-executive roles in a variety of health and social care organisations. Sarah was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005 for services to disabled people and in the same year was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, an honour bestowed across English Counties.