Speakers Live

• Thursday 16 May, 7- 8.15pm: Healthy Eating with Nathalie Jones

Nathalie Jones is a freelance dietitian based in Glasgow, she has worked in the NHS and in private practice. She qualified in 2003 in general community dietetics, covering all aspects of dietary care.

As well as running the diet sessions specialising in weight management and sports nutrition, Nathalie has worked alongside Breast Cancer Now for over 10 years, hosting diet information sessions for people affected by primary and secondary breast cancer both face to face and online across the UK.

• Wednesday 24 April, 7- 8.15pm: Cancer Hair Care with Jasmin Gupta

Jasmin is The UK’s leading cancer hair loss expert. She is a regular consultant to the NHS, charities such as Breast Cancer Now, Macmillan, Teenage Cancer Trust and many more. She is an educator to NHS nurses as well as creating innovative courses for hairdressers. Jasmin brings her knowledge and passion to everything she does in order to bridge the gap between the medical and beauty world. She says, “I want to empower people to make choices throughout their cancer related hair loss journey”.

Jasmin has personally provided over 10,000 services to people with cancer treatment induced hair loss. She is a change maker and someone who reaches far and wide to run a truly inclusive and diverse charity. For example, she wrote the first ever ‘Afro Hair Chemotherapy Guide’. She is an author and writes professional reviews for the NHS and many leading cancer organisations.

• Thursday 25 April, 7- 8.15pm: Hormone Treatment with Dr Marina Parton

Dr Marina Parton is a medical oncologist in breast cancer at the Royal Marsden. Appointed to the Royal Marsden Consultant Body in 2009, she was trained in oncology and undertook her research in neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer.

Dr Parton is lead  cancer clinician in the Royal Marsden's satellite chemotherapy unit. This is a joint venture with Kingston Hospital, Macmillan Cancer Support, and leading breast clinics at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea.

• Tuesday 21 May, 7- 8.15pm: Radiotherapy with Karen Aitken

Karen Aitken qualified as a Therapeutic Radiographer in 1996. During her career she has worked in Radiotherapy departments in Toronto, Sydney and London. She is currently employed at The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow as a Breast Advanced Practitioner Therapeutic Radiographer. Working within the breast cancer Multi-Disciplinary Team her role involves consenting new radiotherapy patients, planning radiotherapy treatment and reviewing patients during and after their course of radiotherapy. 

• Monday 10 June, 1- 2.15pm: Chemotherapy Regimes with Vanessa Clay

Dr Clay graduated from the University of Manchester in 2009. She completed her junior doctor training at hospitals across the Northwest, before commencing her specialist Oncology training at Christie in 2013. In 2015 Dr Clay was successfully appointed to a clinical research fellowship position. She focused her laboratory research on breast cancer and immunotherapy and was awarded a PhD in 2019. After completing her oncology training, she was appointed as a Consultant Medical Oncologist in February 2021.

• Tuesday 11 June, 7- 8.15pm: Exercise with Carolyn Garritt

Carolyn is a personal trainer and has been a cancer exercise specialist for almost 10 years. She firmly believes that exercise should be enjoyable, uplifting and a positive part of our daily lives.

Carolyn trains people face-to-face and online, and is the exercise lead at 2 of the London Maggie’s Centres. Her book "Get your Oomph back, a guide to exercise after a cancer diagnosis" was published in 2021. Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer herself during the pandemic. 

• Thursday 11 July, 7-8.15pm: Sleep with Dr Mike Scanlan

Mike has worked in mental health for over 25 years, setting up services, as a clinical lead, and as a therapist. Mike is widely published and continues to work on a consultancy basis across the UK and internationally. He is trained to use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness, DNA-V, and EMDR. In this session, he will guide you through practical approaches to improve your sleep so you can wake up refreshed and more able to tackle the pressures of life.

• Thursday 18 July, 7-8.15pm: Emotional impact of breast cancer with Dr Sarah Swan

Dr Sarah Swan is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist of over 20 years, who was herself diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. Having found that emotional wellbeing was not often considered during her treatment, Sarah was motivated to write a book on how to cope with the emotional impact of breast cancer.  Using her own personal experience as well as her skills in psychological theory and practice, Sarah will talk about how you can notice and understand your emotional responses, accept them and live a fulfilling life despite breast cancer.  

• Thursday 25 July, 7- 8.15pm: Fertility with Dr Aparna Sastry

Dr Sastry is a consultant in infertility with special interests in Paediatric and adolescent gynaecology, Surrogacy, Fertility preservation and Reproductive endocrinology (Turner’s syndrome, Premature ovarian failure, Differences in sex development, gender dysphoria, post cancer reproductive care etc). She has over 15 years experience in this field and has worked in Australia, Wales and England. She runs a dedicated fertility clinic at Victoria infirmary. She is an honorary senior clinical lecturer at Glasgow University and is also involved in ultrasound training at Caledonia University.

We’re working to make our services as accessible as possible. If you need more support from us to take part in our services, we’ll do our best to make reasonable adjustments. 

If you need further support, please contact us.