In 2025 our founder, Sue Ryan, knew nothing about ovarian cancer. Today she knows more than she would wish, but thanks to Professor Christina Fotopoulou she is now in remission and looking forward to the landmark 20th edition of the Henley Literary Festival.

The Ovarian Care Fund was selected as a partner this year, both for the personal connection and fitting so well with the Festival’s aim of inspiring and informing with expertise from a wide range of fields:

At Imperial Health Charity we help our hospitals do more through grants, arts, volunteering and fundraising – above and beyond what the NHS can provide on its own. One of these key areas is our Ovarian Care Fund. The fund provides extra support for research into advanced ovarian cancer in women. This vital work is being led by Professor Christina Fotopoulou, one of the country’s leading experts in ovarian cancer, and her team at Imperial College London.

Through the Ovarian Care Fund, we’re supporting ground-breaking new research into this life-threatening condition by providing support in three key areas. We fund skilled staff to allow the team to carry our vital lab work, as well as essential equipment required for the research programme, including tools used to understand the way the disease spreads and test its response to drug treatments. We also fund the purchase of vital materials used in the lab to detect different proteins in cancer tissues and grow cancer cells to investigate how they respond to drugs.

With your help, we can take significant steps in the fight against this deadly disease.