Gloria Hunniford
With a career in media spanning more than five decades, Portadown born Gloria is still a regular on our TV screens, both on BBC and ITV. Gloria’s daughter Caron Keating, died of breast cancer in 2004, aged 41. A cancer charity named the Caron Keating Foundation was set up by Gloria in memory of Caron. The foundation makes a considerable difference to many individuals and families affected and dealing with cancer, through assisting cancer charities throughout the UK, including Action Cancer. Gloria’s relationship with Action Cancer stems back many years with Gloria being one of the first women to come for a breast screening. In recent years, Gloria has also been the face of our Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign in October, encouraging women aged 40-49 and 70 plus to book a breast screening appointment with Action Cancer. Gloria officially launched our new Big Bus at a special celebration event at Hillsborough Castle in September 2021.
Professor Nicky Edelstyn
Nicky is the daughter of the charity’s Founder, Dr George Edelstyn and was appointed a Patron of the charity in October 2018. She is a Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation at Keele University, Staffordshire, Director of the Psychology Research Centre and former honorary secretary of the British Neuropsychological Society.
Nicky gained a PhD in visual neurophysiology from the Department of Communication and Neuroscience, Keele University in 1988, and went onto complete a series of postdoctoral fellowships at Oxford and Birmingham Universities. She returned to Keele University in 1999 as lecturer, promoted to senior lecturer in 2006, and Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation in 2013.
Lisa McGee
Irish Playwright and Screenwriter Lisa McGee is Patron of Action Cancer’s breast screening service for women aged 40-49 and 70+.
Lisa was born in Derry and attended Thornhill College before studying Drama at Queen’s University Belfast. Lisa’s career has spanned both stage and screen.
McGee was writer on attachment with the Royal National Theatre in London in 2006. Her plays include Jump, The Heights, Nineteen Ninety Two, and Girls and Dolls.
McGee’s television credits include The Things I Haven’t Told You for BBC Three, the Irish television series Raw which she created for RTÉ, time as a writer for three series of the BAFTA-nominated Being Human for the BBC, the Channel 4 sitcom London Irish, which she created, writing for the Golden Globe-nominated drama series The White Queen for BBC 1, Indian Summers for Channel 4, and The Deceived for Channel 5 co-written with her husband Tobias Beer. Her stage play Jump has been adapted into a film.
Lisa shot to world-wide fame as creator and writer of Derry Girls. Channel 4’s most successful comedy since Father Ted. The series was inspired by Lisa’s own experiences growing up in Derry in the 1990s, during the final years of the Troubles.
In Summer 2023, Channel 4 green lit Lisa’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast which is due to be broadcast in 2024.
As a women in her 40s Lisa has recently attended a routine breast screening with Action Cancer and has encouraged other ladies to do so.
Zoe Salmon
Hailing from Bangor, Zoe Salmon is most likely to be known for her role in the BBC programme, Blue Peter, as the daredevil presenter who would be up for anything, as well as winning Miss Northern Ireland in 1999. Zoe studied Law at Queen’s University and proceeded to qualify as a solicitor. Zoe then focused time on charitable work. She is an Ambassador for our programme for schools and has made a plea to parents and children to be safe in the sun during the summer holidays. Zoe has also supported our smoking cessation campaign with Gordons Chemists. She generously allowed her image to be manipulated to show how she might have looked now had she been smoking since the age of 15.