I have donated more than a million pounds to support MS research in the UK through my family foundation. Much of my support has been to kick-start hard to fund MS research. I also support projects which are aimed at women with MS and their specific health needs.

My earliest donations supported the work of Prof. Alasdair Coles and Prof. Alastair Compston at the University of Cambridge in developing alemtuzumab/Lemtrada - one of the first highly-effective drug treatments for people with relapse-remitting MS. Subsequent giving supported two neurology trainees working with Prof. Coles to develop repurposed drugs as potential remyelinating therapies in MS.

In 2016, I began working with Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) and in particular with Prof. Gavin Giovannoni, Chair of Neurology. I supported the #ThinkHand campaign which was critical in securing funding for Prof. Klaus Schmierer's CHARIOTMS trial. This ground-breaking multi-sited study investigates whether the drug cladribine can maintain arm and hand function in people with more advanced MS.

Further research initiatives include testing the impact of anti-vial drug famciclovir on Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) shedding in people with MS and, most recently, funding a three-year research programme looking at the diagnosis and management of infectious mononucleosis led by Prof. Giovannoni.

PhD support

Integral to my giving is funding more than half a dozen PhD fellowships linked to MS research. These include:

- the impact of social capital on people with MS (QMUL)

- MS and patient experience of menopause (QMUL)

- Epstein-Barr virus and memory B-cells in MS (QMUL)

- extracellular vesicles in MS (QMUL)

- the impact of domestic violence and abuse on people with MS (University of Leeds) and the response of health care professionals (University of Nottingham)

Of particular importance to me is directing funds towards projects that directly support women with the disease - as I believe our specific health needs have been routinely overlooked by the MS scientific community.

For example, one project includes financing the establishment and initial costs of the UK MS Pregnancy Register set up by Prof. Ruth Dobson (QMUL). More recently I have underwritten the creation of the MS Domestic Violence and Abuse Research Initiative at the University of Leeds and University of Nottingham.

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