The Child Cancer Smart team

Sharna is our CCLG Early diagnosis Fellow and is an Paediatric Emergency Medicine doctor at Leicester Royal Infirmary. In this role, she has led the research underpinning the guidelines and the Child Cancer Smart campaign.

Sharna has been working in the early diagnosis field for the past decade, starting as the HeadSmart Fellow on the award-winning childhood brain tumour campaign. She has since completed an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship leading the national Childhood Cancer Diagnosis study.

Currently, she is appointed at the Vice-Chair of the CYP Cancer Taskforce at the Department of Health and Social Care bringing together experts in the field to improve the experience for CYP with cancer. 

David was trained in general paediatrics and paediatric oncology in UK and Australia, and practised as an NHS consultant from 1990 until 2017 at Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust. He has continued to work in clinical research and medicolegal practice since retiring from the University in 2021.

David was part of the HeadSmart campaign to amplify a national referral guideline published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which has been shown to halve the pre-diagnostic symptom interval for children with brain tumours across the UK.  He supervised Dr Dhurgshaarna Shanmugavadivel during her PhD, which is the evidence base for Child Cancer Smart.

Tim is a clinical academic in paediatric neuro-oncology. His research focusses on a type of childhood brain tumour called Ependymoma. He is the current UK chief investigator for the ongoing SIOP Ependymoma II clinical trial which is looking at better ways of treating children for ependymoma. Clinically, he works as a consultant paediatric oncologist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust where he cares for children and young people with all types of brain tumours. Tim is delighted to be part of the child cancer smart team – reaching faster diagnoses is critical for children and young people with cancer.

Bob is a Professor of Paediatrics and Evidence Synthesis at the Centre for Reviews and Disseminiation at the University of York and Hull/York Medical School, and an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric / Teenage-Young Adult Oncology at Leeds Children's Hospital.

He is also the Director of Candlelighters Supportive Care Research Centre, where his main areas of work are in the development of supportive care for children with cancer, individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis, and the development of skills in appraisal and translation of clinical research in practice. He is the lead of the PICNICC collaboration, "Predicting Infectious ComplicatioNs In Children with Cancer" which was formed by engaging clinical and methodological experts from 22 different study groups from 15 countries, parent representatives and healthcare researchers to investigate patterns of risk in febrile neutropenia.

Bob has worked extensively to promote and teach evidence-based practice with the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine in Oxford, UK, and also the Centre for Evidence-based Child Health (Institute of Child Health, London, UK). He edits the evidence-based practice sections of the Archives of Diseases in Childhood, and is an associate editor of the journal. He has lectured in the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and the Nordic Countries on the subject of evidence-based practice, and has written widely on this.

Angela Polanco is a national leader in patient and public involvement (PPI) in UK health research and the PPI expert for the Childhood Cancer Smart team. 

After losing her daughter Bethany to Wilms tumour in 2012, Angela and her family have raised over £250,000 for Wilms research through the CCLG Special Named Fund, Bethany's Wish. For over 10 years, she's been a champion for the voice of parents and children within childhood cancer research, serving on national and international advocacy groups and as an expert advisor to policy makers and research funders. 

Angela is relentless in her pursuit for finding better outcomes for children and young people with cancer, creating the initial idea for Childhood Cancer Smart together with Sharna Shanmugavadivel in 2015.  

Neil Ranasinghe (BA) is the parent of a survivor of childhood cancer. For nearly 20 years he has been involved with global and UK-based cancer organisations, contributing his expertise as a patient advocate, Technical Author and his leadership capabilities.

Neil is a co-founder of the Paediatric Oncology Reference Team (PORT) - a group of parents that review paediatric oncology clinical trial documentation for parents and patients. PORT has reviewed documentation for over 40 clinical trials and advised on research and trials. This is a long standing and effective collaboration between parents and clinicians to improve the design of trials, make patient documentation more accessible, and ultimately increase participation in clinical trials.

Neil also volunteers for the International society of Paediatric Oncology and is currently seven years into a massive project of mapping every institution in the world that treats children with cancer. Away from cancer, Neil is employed by the London Stock Exchange Group as a technical author.

Ashley is the Chief Executive of CCLG: The Children & Young People's Cancer Association. With a background in charity leadership, strategy and performance, Ashley strongly believes in collaborative working, bringing together a network of charities to drive research strategy and increase funding.

Ashley is a founding member, and current Chair, of the Children and Young People's Cancer Coalition, a member of the NHS England Children and Young People's Cancer Clinical Reference Group and NHS Scotland Managed Service Network Board, Chair of the Cancer52 (the alliance for rare and less common cancers) Research Group, and a member of the North Star Collective Steering Group, as well as sitting on a number of other key committees and boards related to children and young people's cancer. Ashley initiated the Children's Cancer Priority Setting Partnership, jointly funded by CCLG and The Little Princess Trust, and sat on the steering group for this work. In 2025, Ashley was invited to become a member of the Government's Children & Young People's Cancer Taskforce. 

Ashley is active in research with particular interests in early diagnosis and in lived-experience involvement in research, and has been involved with the research projects that form the evidence base for Child Cancer Smart. He has supported the Child Cancer Smart project since its inception and added improving diagnosis for children and young people as a strategic aim of CCLG at our last strategy review, leading our influencing and advocacy efforts related to early diagnosis with key stakeholders and decision makers.   

Jo-Fen has a background in epidemiology and has been working in early diagnosis since 2011, starting at the University of Nottingham where she was responsible for the outcome evaluation of the award-winning HeadSmart campaign.

In her current role as Early Diagnosis Project Manager, she works closely with lead clinicians, co-ordinating guideline development and research activities associated with the Child Cancer Smart campaign.