Trustees

• Arun Mehra

  Arun Mehra FCA brings a wealth of financial expertise to the Board of Trustees. An experienced chartered accountant Arun has been working with hundreds of dentists in the UK for over 15 years as Managing Director of a professional services firm in the sector. He uses his strong financial acumen and vast network in the sector to support Bridge2aid in fulfilling our exciting strategic ambitions.

• John Milne MBE

  John qualified from Leeds in 1980 and has worked mainly in general dental practice in Wakefield since then.

  He has a special interest in orthodontics having worked as a clinical assistant at Mid Yorks hospital. John has been involved in dental politics for most of his career.

  At local level John is Chair of Wakefield LDC and also represents West Yorkshire on the BDA General Dental Practice Committee. As Chair of GDPC from 2009-2015 John represented the profession at national level with a particular interest in NHS reform.

  John now works part time in practice and as National Dental Advisor to the CQC. John was awarded an MBE for his services to dentistry.

• Andrew Paterson

  Andrew is a Senior Clinical Lecturer/Honorary Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at Glasgow Dental School. He Graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1987. He practised in a specialist referral based restorative practice for 22 years in Glasgow. Previously he has been an NHS Consultant in Glasgow and Leeds Dental Hospitals and in Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock. He has a masters degree in medical law and ethics and has worked as a dento-legal adviser for a dental defence organisation. Andrew is s a clinical lead, regular volunteer and member of Bridge2Aid’s Clinical Advisory Group. Andrew’s academic research interests are the ethics of international healthcare volunteering.

• Colin Cohen – Interim Chair

  Colin worked for IBM for 45 years in various roles, ending up with executive responsibilities for Operations and Strategy in the UK. For 15 years he had an international role which included South Africa, and in 2007 focused on developing IBM’s strategy for southern Africa. He is using these business skills and experiences to support the growth strategy of Bridge2aid.

• Ian Kerr

  Ian has been involved in fundraising and overseas aid and development since starting ActionAid, one of Europe’s larger NGO’s, usually in fundraising or project development roles. These have taken him to 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He has recently served on the international board of The Brooke and their affiliate  boards in India and Pakistan and until 2020 chaired Virtual Doctors, a health charity working in East Africa.

  Ian was one of the UK’s most experienced fundraisers winning the Consultant of the Year award and helped set up the Institute of Fundraising and served on the board of the Association of Fundraising Consultants. He designed successful appeals for Deafblind UK, Orbis and Talking Newspapers. Ian has been  a Fellow of both the British Institute of Management and the  Administrative Accounting Institute. Since retiring he has been an volunteer ambassador for VisionCare for the homeless in Brighton, a trustee of Raystede Animal Sanctuary, socialised a hearing dog and he plays tennis and walks his dogs daily.

• Jeremy Bagg

  Jeremy qualified BDS in 1979 and PhD (microbiology) in 1982. He worked at Cardiff Dental School before moving to Glasgow Dental School in 1992 as Lecturer in Oral Microbiology. He was appointed Professor of Clinical Microbiology in 1999 and was Head of Glasgow Dental School from 2005 – 2021. With colleagues at the University of Malawi College of Medicine he established the MalDent Project (www.themaldentproject.com) which, with Scottish Government funding, has set up Malawi’s first BDS programme and established, with the Ministry of Health, a National Oral Health Policy. He retired in August 2021 and is now focusing on projects that seek to improve oral health in Malawi and neighbouring sub-Saharan African countries.

• Shaenna Loughnane

  Shaenna has been involved in international development and the UK-based voluntary sector for the past 17 years, working with a number of small charities, both in the UK and in East Africa. After completing an MSc in NGO Management, Shaenna stepped down from her position as CEO of Bridge2Aid in July 2022 and founded Kuandaa Charity Consultants because she wanted to use her knowledge and practical experience to support other small charities and allow them to focus on the things that matter to them and their communities.

  As well as being a trustee with Bridge2Aid, Shaenna is also currently the Chair of Trustees for a small UK-based charity, a volunteer consultant with The Cranfield Trust, and is a member of The Interim Faculty Advisory Board for the Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare for The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.