pROJECT MAMA’S TRUSTEES
Catherine Gilmore - Co Chair
Catherine works at University College London, where she oversees a research programme examining how community and creative organisations can be better integrated with health systems and used to tackle health inequalities. She is passionate about promoting equitable partnerships and community co-production in research. Prior to this , she did a PhD in reproductive biology, spending 4 years examining placentas and the effects of toxic exposures during pregnancy. Catherine is a mother and has also trained as a doula. She has joined the board to lend her skills and solidarity to the incredible Project Mama team, in particular to support with developing research collaborations and evidence.
Ermioni Xanthopoulou - Co Chair
Ermioni works at Brunel University London where she is teaching on and researching EU migration, EU criminal and human rights law. She is also the Brunel Law School Director of Research, leading the research strategy of the school. She is passionate about social justice and advocates for a fair development of the law, through research, teaching and advocacy that have fundamental human rights at heart. Ermioni also co-leads the Brunel Refugee Project, organising students volunteering for refugee-support organisations. She is a mother of a young child and has a lived migration experience herself. She strongly believes that migration is a way of culturally enriching societies that is to be celebrated.
Heeral Dave - Treasurer
Heeral is passionate about social justice causes, she’s been working as a management consultant for 7 years, working with local government, central government and the charity sector, supporting on a variety of projects, from monitoring and evaluation, strategic reviews, to social care reform and implementation. She has supported childcare charities in London and Kenya, and previously worked with Children’s social care.
Jane Holder
Jane is a mother and grandmother from Bristol who has spent many years supporting women through pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. She works as a Community Maternity Support Worker, is a trained birth and postnatal doula, and teaches antenatal and postnatal classes with the NCT. Her role as a Mother Companion with Project Mama allowed her to walk alongside women seeking safety and sanctuary. Drawing on her own life and professional experience, Jane is committed to offering practical, compassionate care and helping to build inclusive communities where every parent feels respected, supported, and valued.
Beth Benedict
Beth has worked in the social change sector for 13 years, beginning her career as a volunteer with Refugee Action in Plymouth. She went on to spend 8 years working internationally to support young people to realise their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and has held senior leadership roles in the UK and Zambia. Beth has led Comic Relief’s Government Partnerships team, delivering funding programmes on a range of issues in the UK and Africa, including women’s rights, ending violence against women and girls, and women’s leadership. She currently works as Head of Philanthrophic Partnerships at Global Greengrants Fund.
Naomi Robertson
Naomi is deeply committed to making maternity care safer and more compassionate. She works in the Maternity and Neonatal Programme at NHS England, focusing on improving perinatal culture and leadership. Before joining NHS England, she spent several years managing international health projects for NGOs, leading implementation, policy, and strategy initiatives in areas including obstetric fistula, innovative licensing for medicines in low- and middle-income countries, and hepatitis. She also has a Masters degree in International Development, for which she conducted research on agency in maternity care. Naomi also draws on her own lived experience as a mother herself.
ana szopa
Ana has been volunteering and working in the migrant rights sector since 2013. Throughout her career she has had the privilege to walk alongside people being held in immigration detention, newly resettled refugee families, survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking and most recently, migrated mamas while working in the role of Service Manager at Project MAMA over a period of sabbatical cover. Ana holds an MA in Migration Studies and is currently working as a therapist both in private practice and for a charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers. Ana's passion for her work is informed by her own personal family history of migration and a staunch belief that migration is a human right. She is thrilled to return to Project MAMA in the role of trustee to support the invaluable work they do for mamas and their babies.