From 2023, Melanoma Focus will be supporting Imogen Cheese, Founder of the Melanoma Patient Conference, a national patient conference by hosting and providing the organisation of this important event. This meeting provides a safe space for patients and carers to interact and network while hearing about the latest advances in melanoma medicine.
Melanoma Focus is a national charity dedicated to providing help and support to melanoma patients and professionals as well as raising awareness of melanoma, the 5th most common cancer in the UK.
For patients and their carers we provide the only Melanoma Helpline, run by experienced skin cancer nurses, specifically for anyone concerned about melanoma. Additionally, we have created a wide range of trusted patient information including the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma skin cancer and rare melanomas on our website and in booklet form. The Melanoma TrialFinder, a searchable resource has been designed to understand and locate potential clinical trials to discuss with a patient’s medical team.
For our professional membership, we organise biannual conferences where the latest scientific advances can be discussed in a wholly expert arena. Additionally, we have published clinical guidelines on rare melanomas and other areas of interest to the melanoma community. We provide funding to support research projects and developed resources to keep abreast of UK melanoma clinical trials, all in order to widen our impact on melanoma as a disease.
Professor Sheila Bingham
Melanoma Focus was founded in memory, and in recognition of, the achievements of Professor Sheila Bingham OBE (Mrs Sheila Rodwell), who died of melanoma in 2009.
Simon Rodwell, with a group of 10 leading melanoma experts, became the Trustee Founders in 2012. Simon served as CEO for over 8 years and he comments: “We realised there was a need to create a single charity serving two groups of people: melanoma patients and their carers, and healthcare professionals”.
“Melanoma Focus is unusual amongst UK medical charities in that it provides both an accessible service for those who need straightforward information about the causes, prevention and treatment of melanoma, as well as running professional events, commissioning research and publishing guidelines to help clinicians and nurses keep abreast of the latest information about the disease.”
Simon retired from Melanoma Focus in 2020, but remains an advocate and adviser to the charity. His previous careers included the Royal Navy, aerospace, telecommunications and China business consultancy.