The Management Team
Meet our small but mighty, lean and keen management team, plus our key design and promotions consultants. We call on our Scientific Advisory Board, Clinical Advisory Board and Research Team for expert advice and work closely with them to improve our educational offering and also to raise funds to support ongoing research to help prevent mental illness through nutrition. We are supported by our team of volunteer Ambassadors and supporting Organisations. Everyone works remotely so we don’t have the cost of a dedicated physical office address. If you would like to contact us then please do so by email to info@foodforthebrain.org.
Patrick Holford BSc, DipION, FBANT, NTCRP
Patrick is a founder and CEO of the charity, is the voluntary director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Project. He is a retired visiting professor, specialising in nutrition and mental health, author of 46 books and is in the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame. In 1984 he founded the Institute for Optimum Nutrition. He is also the voluntary Secretary of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Kezia Hall – BA Hons, PGDip, mBANT, regCNHC
Kezia is the Marketing & Communications Manager. Prior to training as a registered Nutritional Therapist & Coach and running her own business, Kezia was a working fine artist and worked closely with the unhoused and those with mental health issues. She came to this work after dealing with her own health issues and caring closely for those who struggled and now alongside her business helps she is trying to get as many people to do the CFT test and feel empowered to transform their own brain health. She is also a mother of twins and a toddler, loves dark chocolate, coffee, and swimming in cold Scottish lochs!
Kim Close BSc (Hons), PGCFHE, Dip. Nut. Therapy
Kim is Head of COGNITION – helping and supporting people through their journey to better cognition starting with the Cognitive Function Test. She is focused on improving the effectiveness of the COGNITION brain upgrade programme in reducing people’s Dementia Risk Index. Kim is a Nutritional Therapist, Life and Nutrition Coach and is a Lecturer in Culinary Nutrition, with a BSc in Psychology.
Kim is passionate about sharing that food can and should be both delicious and nutritious!
Kate Newton BA, DipCNM, mBANT
Kate is Digital Marketing Lead, focused on website and conversion optimisation, in charge of digital advertising. She is a Registered Nutritional Therapist and co-director of White Light Digital Marketing.
Steff is our Operations & IT manager primarily concerned with institutional digital transformation – influencing organisational use of innovation and technology to improve outcomes. Specialist within web dev and digital marketing. He is co-director of White Light Digital Marketing, helping ethical organisations make a difference.
Dorota Cloke
Dorota is our Catering and Accreditation Auditor, helping catering establishments get in line with Food for the Brain principles. Foods, drinks, supplements, recipes, menus can all be accredited for Food for the Brain’s stamp of approval. Dorota holds an RSPH L4 Award in Nutrition, is a member of the Royal Society for Public Health and regularly completes Institute for Optimum Nutrition courses for CPD.
“I revolutionise the way people think about food and health. I help individuals and organisations to thrive and reach their full potential through nutrition, lifestyle and wellbeing.“
Catherine Verner
Catherine Verner, MSc in Dementia Studies, is our Assistant Research Manager. Cath brings a wealth of experience in the dementia support community, research, and writing. Her personal journey, having cared for her mother with Alzheimer’s disease, fuels her profound commitment to dementia prevention. Her current focus centres around researching and raising awareness of the critical role of nutrition in supporting and enhancing brain health across a diverse range of conditions
Joyce Wilcox
Joyce Wilcox, BANT- and CNHC-registered Nutritional Therapist, is our Test Manager. Joyce’s career as an analytical scientist brings knowledge in chemical analysis and the use of test kits. Joyce has cared for her mother since early 2020 who has mixed vascular dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease and has a good appreciation of the challenges faced by carers and their loved ones. Joyce has a passion for the empowerment of individuals to optimise their health, aided by simple convenient testing, to get an insight into their nutritional status and to be able to track progress as they make changes.
Chantal Cooke
Chantal Cooke is an award-winning journalist/broadcaster, co-founder of the UK’s first ethical radio station PASSION for the PLANET, and founder of boutique PR agency Panpathic Communications Ltd.
Chantal has worked as journalist / presenter for the BBC, commercial radio, national newspapers and magazines for over 25 years. Focusing on health and environmental issues, she has helped to spread the word about natural approaches to health and the benefits of following a balanced, plant-based diet.
Chantal believes wholeheartedly in the mission of Food for the Brain and knows how important it is to get this message across and help others look after their health.
Alex Fobbester
Alex is a creative director, branding specialist and consultant with a focus on visual communication and graphic design. Alex has worked with Food for the Brain over a number of years on projects such as the COGNITION identity, CFT UI design, and various design projects including print, packaging and web.
Alex’s varied portfolio includes logo design and brand identity, copywriting, web design, UI and UX, product design, videography, photography, digital marketing, creative strategy and more. He now works both as a consultant and as director of Purple Dinosaur Agency.
Ray Katzanos
Ray is a qualified accountant who looks after our accounts and allocates our income from donations and events to channel towards improving our educational services and fund various research projects.
She provides the Board of Trustees with management accounts so they can keep abreast of the charity’s activities.
Frances Newton BMus (Hons), PGCE, PGDip Ed, AAT
Frances is Head of Fundraising & Engagement and focuses on donations, grant-writing and Volunteer coordination to help the charity grow, research, and share effective mental health strategies. She has extensive experience in grant and bid writing, alongside a 20 year multisector background in Education and Finance. Frances delights in project management, stakeholder engagement, and communication to help deliver successful projects and enjoys the ‘great outdoors’ and playing violin in the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra. She is dedicated to advancing the Foundation’s mission and passionate about well-being, nutrition, and making a positive impact on brain health.
Drew Fobbester, DipION
Drew is lead architect of the COGNITION programme, having been a long time supporter of the charity. In 2007 Drew and his team created the first online Food for the Brain child questionnaire. Drew was co-author with Patrick Holford of the subsequent Food for the Brain Child Survey using data from over 10,000 children. Drew has worked extensively with Patrick Holford on nutrition and lifestyle online questionnaire based programmes. In 2010 he co-authored the 100% Health Survey that analysed diet and lifestyle wellbeing associations based on data from over 55,000 people. In 2010 Drew and his team created the original online version of the Food for the Brain Cognitive function test that subsequently served over 300,000 people who used the tool to learn about their brain function. Drew is now actively involved in supporting the charity with design and implementation of digitally enabled tools to check, monitor and positively influence health, wellbeing and brain function. These tools provide quantitative
data for scientific evaluation that progresses insight into and understanding of brain function optimisation strategies.
Marlene Leivers
Marlene is a business system consultant, an expert in management processes and problem solving. She helps us, in a voluntary capacity, to make sure all our digital processes for both the Cognitive Function Test and blood tests run smoothly.
