
An Introduction to the Patrons & Trustees

Lord Julian Fellowes
Honorary President of the National Tremor Foundation

Rob Mallard
Patron for Young People

Kitty Reilly
Chair of the Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation
Lord Fellowes is world renowned for creating the hugely successful and critically acclaimed period drama Downton Abbey, which is available to a global TV audience, and in a recent newspaper interview, he revealed that he lives with Essential Tremor.
Lord Fellowes was born in Cairo, Egypt. He was educated in Britain before moving to Los Angeles in 1981 returning to the UK in 1991. He is well known as an actor, novelist, screenwriter and film director and his career spans over 40 years.
Lord Fellowes has been a member of the House of Lords since January 2011. He is also Chairman and patron of several UK charities.
I am thrilled to be joining the NTF. As someone who has been living with ET for most of my life, I am acutely aware of the importance of their work and I’m proud to join them in spreading awareness and understanding of this debilitating condition.
Kitty, whose son has essential tremor, works as a Diagnostic Radiographer and has multiple roles working in the NHS . She has been Children’s Liaison Officer for the NTF since 2016 and a Trustee of the charity with her primary focus being ET in Children sine 2017.
Kitty aims to work with Trustees and volunteers to grow the NTF and raise awareness of tremor, meeting the values of the NTF. Kitty is keen to ensure children and young people with tremor continue to be represented in the work we do.
Kitty can be contacted on kitty@tremor.org.uk

Dr Peter Bain MBBS MA MD FRCP
Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation & Clinical Adviser

Dr Matteo Ciocca
Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation

Jibril Osman Farah MD, MRCS(Ed), FRCS(SN)
Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation
I am currently a Reader & Honorary Consultant in clinical Neurology, within the Division of Neurosciences at Imperial College London & Charing Cross Hospital.
I am a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Association of British Neurologists, Movement Disorder Society, British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Parkinson’s Disease Society.
I am an international authority on tremor, Parkinson’s disease, other movement disorders and deep brain stimulation having authored 102 peer reviewed papers, reviews and editorials, 3 books and 13 book chapters. I have made over 100 congress presentations as an invited speaker at many national and international congresses including the European Congress of Neurology, World Congress of Neurology and World Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders.
I am a trustee to the National Tremor Foundation having co-founded the charity with Professor Leslie Findley, to facilitate knowledge of tremors, research into tremor and the care of people living with tremors. My sincere hope is that over the next few years the National Tremor Foundation will grow to become a strong and positive force in the lives of people with tremor.
Dr Matteo Ciocca is a Consultant Neurologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, with a subspecialty focus on movement disorders. His clinical expertise includes advanced therapies for tremor, notably Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and MR-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy.
Alongside his clinical work, Dr Ciocca is engaged in research aimed at improving the understanding and treatment of tremor and related movement disorders. His academic interests encompass the optimisation of existing surgical interventions as well as the development of novel non-pharmacological, non-surgical approaches to managing tremor.
Mr Jibril Osman Farah MD, MRCS(Ed), FRCS(SN) is Clinical Lead for the Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgical Service at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool. Appointed as Consultant Neurosurgeon in 2008, he has been on the GMC Specialist Register since 2007. He leads the MRI-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) thalamotomy service for essential tremor and the LITT (laser interstitial thermal therapy) service for epilepsy across the North of England.
Mr Farah is fellowship-trained in functional and stereotactic neurosurgery, with clinical interests including deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders, epilepsy surgery, trigeminal neuralgia, neuro-oncology (particularly tumours in eloquent areas), spasticity, and degenerative spinal conditions.
He trained in Rome, graduating summa cum laude from La Sapienza University, and completed his neurosurgical residency at The Walton Centre, passing the FRCS(SN) in 2006. He has also trained in Bonn and Toronto, and completed a Royal College of Surgeons-accredited fellowship in epilepsy and functional neurosurgery in 2007.
Mr Farah serves on the editorial board of Acta Neurochirurgica and is Director of the Functional and Stereotactic Fellowship Programme at The Walton Centre. His research focuses on DBS, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, and advanced imaging techniques in functional neurosurgery.

Keith Flaxman
Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation

Kevin Harfoot
Board of Trustees, National Tremor Foundation
I live in Ystrad Mynach, a small village north of Cardiff in South Wales. I am married to Denise with 2 children and 3 grandchildren. I was diagnosed with Essential Tremor in 1996 although I had had the symptoms for many years before that.
I have worked in accountancy for over 25 years, for sole traders, small business and large corporations. Outside of my working hours, my hobbies centre on sport. I am a keen football fan and take an interest in most other sports.
As an organisation, the NTF have met many challenges in the years I have been involved & come through them embracing the many changes they have brought.
I am sure we will continue to move forward, having witnessed many positive responses that our website & social media has brought in the past few years. There is increasing information now available on all types of tremor & in the public domain via our website. I am excited by what we could achieve in the years ahead in regard to raising awareness both in the UK and worldwide and helping to fund research.
I joined the National Tremor Foundation board of trustees as Treasurer in February 2006, having been a member since 2004. I am very pleased to carry on as a trustee for the organisation and look forward to the many exciting challenges that lie ahead.