Heart of Oxford Business Board

Suzanne is the Deputy Chief Executive – Place for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils.  Suzanne has worked in local government roles throughout her career, with a background in local economic development. In 2009, Suzanne contracted endocarditis (a rare heart infection) and the following year she underwent open heart surgery at Papworth Hospital to repair her mitral valve which had been damaged by the infection. As a keen supporter of BHF, Suzanne ran the London Marathon in 2020 and 2021 and raised over £4,700. 

Christel is a neuroscientist and psychologist with a doctorate in Clinical Neurology from the University of Oxford.  

Christel is the CEO and co-founder of Hupela and has over 10 years’ experience leading large-scale projects in clinical and industry settings.  

She’s passionate about women’s health and working as part of the Heart of Oxford Business Board to support vital research in cardiovascular health. 

https://sleepasylum.com

https://hupela.com

Jonathan has worked in recruitment for 23 years following a retail management and sales career. Twenty-one of those years were spent at Hays, working mostly within the public sector.  

In his role as a Business Director for Client Engagement, he delivers strategic and tailored recruitment solutions to the public sector across the south east. 

During an amazing 46-year career in high-tech engineering, Paul clocked up 10 years as an Engineering Manager and 28 years as a Project or Program Management. Key projects have include the development of the world’s first Smartphone, the development of the world’s first Bluetooth chips. Having suffered a heart-attack and then a life-saving operation in the John Radcliffe in 2015, Paul is keen to promote the BHF cause.

Mother of two, Svetlana graduated in medicine in 1998 in Russia and worked as a general physician until she moved to the UK in 2005. 

She completed a DPhil in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in 2010 at the University of Oxford.

In 2013, she was awarded the Oxford BHF Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) Transitional Intermediate Fellowship. Following this, she won the BHF Intermediate Research Fellowship in 2016 and the BHF Science Research Fellowship (SRF) in 2022.

At present, she's an Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Science and Principal Investigator at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine and BHF CRE Oxford.

Jo is the Managing Director of Oxford Innovation Space, where she's worked for 22 years.  

 The company is the UKs leading operator of innovation spaces for startups and early-stage SMEs. 

In July 2020, Jo suddenly lost her husband Rob, to Ischaemic Heart Disease. This is why supporting BHF's mission of saving lives through research is very important to her. 

Lynne has worked in many countries and has over 30 years experience in senior finance positions.  

During this time she's worked in several sectors but spent the last 15 working within charity. 

Lynne is passionate about using her skills and experience to help make a difference at BHF.