Our Team

Andrew Glass, OBE

Chair of Board of Trustees

Originally from Cheshire, Andrew Glass has spent most of his adult life living overseas. Andrew is currently Director of the British Council in Thailand and leads its work across South East Asia.

He has also worked for the British Council in Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, UK, Serbia and  Kuwait. His first degree was in German and Politics and he followed this up with an MA in Teaching English and a Diploma in Management. Andrew was awarded an OBE in the March 2012 Honours, list for his work in cultural relations.

He was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease in 2001 after a long period of illness. He first contributed to the group as a writer for the Newsletter where he shared his experiences of living with Addison’s Disease in far-flung places and became a trustee in 2014. He became Chair in June 2018 during his second term as a trustee.

Andrew can be contacted via email : [email protected]

Stuart Pinkerton

Honorary Treasurer

Stuart has a family member who was diagnosed with Addison’s in 2010 and joined ADSHG at that time. He found the ADSHG invaluable for advice and support, especially in the first years.  He has been a Dental Surgeon for 35 years working in Scotland and in Australia before settling in Oxford. Since 1990, he has run a successful Dental Practice in Oxfordshire.

For 10 years he was involved in his son’s football team being manager and treasurer. He  was also ran their website. One of his most important tasks was to raise sponsorship which proved successful in keeping the yearly subscriptions affordable for the boys and their families. For a couple of seasons the team supported the Oxford Children’s Hospital by having their logo on their shirts.

Professor Simon Pearce

Clinical Advisory Panel Liason

Prof Pearce is a senior consultant at the endocrine department at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, and a professor of endocrinology at Newcastle University’s Institute of Genetic Medicine. He has been a member of the ADSHG’s clinical advisory panel since 2005. Prof Pearce is also an active member of the Society for Endocrinology (UK), where he is the Chair of the Programme Committee, and has held board roles with the British and European Thyroid Associations.

Rachel Bracken

Trustee & Addison's Ireland Coordinator

Rachel joined the ADSHG a few days after being diagnosed with Addisons in September 2011 and immediately felt tremendous support and formed great friendships with other members. She attended the Irish AGM in Spring 2012 and offered to help in any way possible. Together with another member, who worked in the Irish ambulance service and whose son was newly diagnosed with Addisons, I got an adrenal crisis ambulance protocol implemented throughout the Republic of Ireland by 2015. In early 2018 the previous Irish coordinator stepped down and Rachel gladly took up challenge and we have lots of exciting projects on the go!  She really loves helping and giving something back to the charity that has helped her family so much. 

Dom Hargreaves MBE

Trustee

"I was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease in 2004, after a three year battle with a variety of “illnesses” – all whilst operating in Army roles in remote, hostile and austere areas of the world, with little continuity of medical care. A local British GP observed that my medical file was very thick and her feeling was that the doctors were missing something. She took decisive action which has ultimately saved my life, what a relief! My diagnosis with this chronic illness led to my leaving the military after 23 years, in pursuit of a new career. Since my diagnosis I have managed my health actively and that has allowed me to pursue a new career in business and engineering – still in remote, austere places but in generally less hostile environments.

I am volunteering to become a trustee of the Addison’s Disease Self Help Group, as the charity allowed me to recover the confidence to live my life to the full, after diagnosis. This was through the web forum, general meetings and informal gatherings of Addison’s sufferers. I feel that it is now time for me to put back into the organisation – as both a sufferer and a businessman. In addition as a father of three children, I am keen to shape the Group’s future medical research. I’d like to focus this research not only on living with the illness and its treatment, but preventative pre-diagnosis measures for this and other endocrine conditions." 

Lisa Shepherd. RN (Adult), MSc, BSc (Hons), Dip H.E, NMP.

Trustee

Endocrinology Advanced Nurse Practitioner, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. HEE/NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Birmingham.
Lisa has worked in endocrinology since 1999, and currently is lead Advanced Nurse Practitioner at HSG, now part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
Within this role she case load manages patients with endocrine disorders, running nurse led clinics and supporting Consultant and other multidisciplinary clinics. This includes diagnosis and performing dynamic function tests, treatment, management and education of patients with long term, highly complex needs. Her area of interest is adrenal insufficiency and the support and management ofpatients with this condition. Her research has looked at the knowledge and experience of patients with Addison ’s disease and this work is being further 

developed during her PhD. She is also an active member of the Society for Endocrinology (SfE) Nurse Committee since 2007, including Chair, and an executive board member of the Federation of International Nurses in Endocrinology (F.I.N.E.). She is a member of the ADSHG and is passionate about improving the care of patients with Addison’s disease, working with patients their relatives and healthcare professionals to achieve this.

Vick Smith

Operations Manager

Vick Vick was diagnosed with Addisons and Pernicious Anaemia in 2006 (Type 1 Diabetes followed in 2019) and thanks to the ADSHG website she was able, straightaway to explore what this might mean and chat online to other Addisonians. Her fondness for the ADSHG began there and has it has been her health guardian ever since. 

With a background in digital roles in banking, Vick encouraged the ADSHG to try to reach out on social media back in 2014. Working with Pippa she's enjoyed posting about the efforts of #TeamAddisons who take on so many challenges and also making sure people with Addisons can quickly find the information and support they need through Facebook. Since 2018 Vick has been the Norwich Social Meeting organiser and since January 2020 our Operations Manager.