Trustees
MCAI is governed by a Board of Trustees, which is responsible for ensuring the charity is well-managed and abides by its charitable objectives. The Trustees come from a wide range of backgrounds and share a passion to improve maternal and child healthcare worldwide, bringing a wealth of specialist skills and expertise to our organisation. The board meets four times a year and we have a sub-committee of Trustees who meet monthly, together with staff members, to discuss project management and charity issues.
Prior to this he was a Reader in Paediatric Clinical Physiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute and consultant paediatrician at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London.
David's main interests include: medical education and sustained improvements in the emergency medical care of pregnant women and adolescent girls, babies and children in disadvantaged countries, critical care paediatrics, the development of techniques for managing the life-threatening abuse of children and mothers, and advocacy against armed conflict and its effects on mothers and children. He has written extensively in medical journals against the adverse effects of the arms trade in resource poor countries. David founded the charity Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International in 1995.
and middle income countries, particularly Bangladesh and Romania. She has worked as an editor with The Lancet, the BMJ, PLOS Medicine and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. She has also worked on large projects for WHO and has worked for the charities Médecins Sans Frontières (doctors without borders) and for Oxfam.
Rhona became a Trustee of MCAI in May 2010 and the Honorary (volunteer) Executive Director in July 2010. She became Convenor (Chair) of Trustees in March 2015.
She worked for three years in Mauritius as an Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and vocationally-trained General Practitioner, and she spent six months as an International Medical Adviser to DFID, based in Pristina, Kosova, immediately after the NATO bombing campaign.
Brigid became a trustee of MCAI as a consequence of teaching on the Emergency Maternal & Neonatal & Childhealth courses in the Gambia in 2007.
She has continued to teach on these courses, in both the Gambia and Liberia, and takes an active role in all aspects of MCAI's work, including contributing to the midwife surgery initiative.
medicine and international humanitarian issues.
Madho is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Wrightington Orthopaedic Hospital, Appley Bridge, near Wigan, with long experience as an Intensivist at Ormskirk Hospital.
He is married to fellow MCAI trustee Brigid Hayden, and they have two children.
Professor David Southall
OBE (for humanitarian aid for children in Bosnia & Herzegovina) MD, MRCP, MBBS, FRCPCH
Honorary Medical Director
David Southall is a retired Foundation Professor of Paediatrics at Keele University and the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
Dr Rhona MacDonald - MBChB, MPH, MRCGP, DCH, DRCOG
Honorary Executive Director
Trustee (Convenor)
Dr Rhona MacDonald, is a medical doctor (specialising in paediatrics, public health and primary care) and has worked in several low
Dr Brigid Hayden - MB Ch B, FRCOG, PGCTLCC
Trustee
Brigid is a Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist in Bolton, Lancashire, and has wide experience of teaching healthcare professionals in UK and abroad.
Dr Madho Jingree - MBChB, FFARCSI
Trustee
Madho left his native Mauritius to study Medicine in Bristol, graduating in 1980. After specialising as an Anaesthetist, he spent three years working in Mauritius, which sparked his ongoing interest in lobal
Wendy has worked for MCAI as a volunteer midwife in our programmes in The Gambia and Liberia, including delivering training in emergency maternal, neonatal and child health, working clinically alongside local staff and undertaking monitoring and evaluation programmes of work.
Wendy became a Trustee of MCAI on 8th September 2016.
Wendy Martin - RN RM ADM BMedSci LLM MSc
Trustee
Wendy is a Chief Nurse for Lincolnshire West Clinical Commissioning Group in the UK.
Wendy has been a practicing midwife for many years and has advanced qualifications in Midwifery, Medical Law and Disaster Relief Healthcare.
Steve Schnabel - BSc, FCMA (ret’d)
Trustee
Steve is a retired Finance Director who spent most of his career in the high-tech networking industry.
Since moving to the north west highlands of Scotland in 2010 he has become involved in a number of local
charities and is currently Treasurer of the Torridon District Community Association.
Steve became a Trustee of MCAI in March 2018.
Dr Máire Casement is a retired Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist with a special interest in Urogynaecology. She practised in Belfast City Hospital and the Royal Jubilee Maternity in Belfast, Northern Ireland until her retirement in December 2015.
Máire first visited our advanced obstetric training programme in Liberia in 2016 as an international trainer, teaching obstetric and gynaecological procedures to the trainees on the task sharing programme. She has since made several such visits to Liberia, including running the practical exam for trainees, and also does frequent distance learning tutorials with the obstetric trainees in Liberia as part of the obstetric international trainer team.
Máire became a Trustee of MCAI in December 2018. She is widowed with four grown up children and one grandchild.
Dr Máire Casement - FRCOG
Trustee
