Our team

GOLD is run by paid staff and peer volunteers, every penny donated to us goes directly to supporting our work.

We’re extremely grateful to our volunteers, phone buddies and Trustees for their time, energy and commitment to our vision. Find out how you can support Gift of Living Donation here.

Dr Dela Idowu

CEO, Founder, Trustee, Gift of Living Donation (GOLD)

Dr Dela Idowu is a community health director and has a background in international community development. She is a passionate advocate for improving equitable access to living kidney donation and kidney health within the Black community in the UK. She is the creator of the Black Living Donor Choir whose mission is to raise awareness of living donation through the power of music and story telling.

Her passion stems from her own personal experience of coming forward as a living donor for her brother, who was living with end stage kidney disease and needed a transplant.

Through her work, Dr. Idowu has co developed vital culturally tailored resources to provide Black people with a better understanding of living donation.

She is the author of More Than a Match and also the co-producer of We Are Family, a film designed to empower and educate Black people living with chronic kidney disease to engage in open conversations about living kidney donation with their families and loved ones.

Her tireless efforts have earned her recognition within the medical community. She is a former member of the Kidney Advisory Group for NHS England and the British Transplant Society, where she served as a strong voice for addressing inequalities in kidney healthcare.

In recognition of her exceptional commitment to community health, Dr. Idowu was nominated for an Honorary Fellowship Award by London South Bank University. She has won numerous awards for her community work. In her spare time Dela is a passionate knitter.

Sarah louis

Buddy Volunteer Coordinator, Black Living Donor Choir member

I support the phone buddies with informal chats before matching starts, checking in after they have spoken to the patient/potential donor and maintaining contact with the buddy to see how the contact with their buddy is progressing.

For the past six years I have worked as a community healthcare worker with the NHS. Prior to this I worked for 30+ years in adult social care for Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey and Enfield in roles that included residential care worker, day centre worker, senior day service worker and team manager. I worked mainly with people with learning disabilities and latterly older people experiencing dementia.

I’m a Black living donor and a member of GOLD Black Living Donor Choir.

I donated my spare kidney to my son in April 2018. He completed the London Marathon in April 2024.

Hear Sarah’s Story

Denise Harvey

Operations Manager

Denise is an experienced social work professional, consultant, academic and author with over two decades of expertise in project management, safeguarding, and social justice.

Denise’s career includes significant roles in local government, where she has managed award-winning teams and delivered high-impact projects under national government initiatives.

Her experience spans implementing major agendas like the Troubled Families Programme and the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, where she led multidisciplinary teams, developed policies, and drove operational improvements.

Denise’s diverse background, combined with her passion for education and social change, makes her a respected figure in the fields of social work and community development and a key asset to the GOLD Team.

Effective Personal & Professional Judgement in Social Work, Arlene Weeks, Denise Harvey, Routledge, 2025

Carleen kerr

Trustee, Clinical Support Lead

Carleen qualified as a Registered General Nurse (RGN) in 1986, and has worked in the various areas of Renal Nursing for over 35 years, at Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Trust. This included Haemodialysis, Renal Outpatient sister, Transplant sister, then to my latter role of Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in Advanced Kidney Care (AKCC).

It was her role as a CNS in AKCC that led to a passion to improve health equity for patients from the Black community. On her retirement Carleen joined the GOLD team as their Clinical Support Lead.

I love my role as I can empower patients to manage their kidney health better.

asia imedi

Member, Living Kidney Donor Advisory Board

Asia is a lead nurse in surgery with special interest in kidney disease and solid organ transplantation. A renal specialist nurse since since 2004, her clinical experience spans inpatient and outpatient settings for post-transplant patient care; pre-transplant recipient workup; and live donor preparation.

Her non-renal surgical pathways experience includes working with diverse and multicultural patient and staff groups in London and Europe. Asia is a board member of the European Transplant Allied Healthcare Professionals (ETAHP) as part of the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) working with allied health care professionals across Europe on matters that affect patients awaiting or living with solid organ transplantation.

Asia is passionate about quality improvement for patient care and work with GOLD as an advisor on matters involving living donor. To increase organ donation and demystify myths in minority groups, she worked with the National Health Service, Blood and Transplantation (NHSBT).

colin vassell

Artistic Music Director

Colin Vassell is a leading international vocal coach, choir director and singer of inspirational and gospel music. He has been instrumental in setting up various community choirs. Inspired by his own journey as a kidney patient and waiting for a transplant, he is the catalyst for taking the Black living choir from its inception to Britain’s Got Talent!

Polly Todd

Black Living Donor Choir Engagement Manager

As the Community Events Manager for the Black Living Donor Choir, I help plan, book their events and performances and also respond to general enquiries.

I work as an Executive Assistant in the corporate world, where I support various Senior Executive Officers. I am a living kidney donor, I donated a kidney to my brother in January 2011.

Our Trustees

John Bolodeoku, Chair

John Bolodeoku is a highly experienced C-Level executive in the Life Science Sector, specialising in Pharmaceuticals, Diagnostics, Devices, and Laboratories.

With a wide-ranging experience in both public (NHS, Department of Education, Church) and private sectors (Pharmaceutical, Diagnostic, Devices, Laboratories), he brings a wealth of expertise to his role.

John has dedicated 34 years to working in the NHS, including 25 years as an NHS Consultant and academic with numerous books, chapters, and publications in pathology, oncology, diagnostic point-of-care testing, and clinical trials.

He is accomplished in business, focusing on pharmaceutical medicine, medical diagnostics, and medical devices, and has over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug clinical development and medical affairs.

Roseline Agyekum, Secretary

Award-winning nurse, Roseline Agyekum graduated from the King’s College London with a Master of Science “Advanced Practice – Education. She trained as a General Registered Nurse at Nurses & Midwifery College, Korle-Bu, Ghana.

She undertook numerous quality initiatives projects on improving quality outcomes for patients with kidney disease undergoing haemodialysis. Roseline is the Lead Nurse for Clinical Practice & Education at King’s College Hospital, a Senior Practitioner Lecturer at King’s College London and community kidney nurse researcher.

Her current interests include developing an authentic renal nursing workforce, co-development of culturally tailored materials and promoting community engagement to reduce kidney health inequality, locally, nationally and internationally.

Blaine robin, Trustee

Author, Occupational Therapist, Social Scientist

Dr. Blaine Robin is a community activist and political commentator who offers a range of interventions to help other people.

He describes these as the five peg’s of Professional Resilience. He learned to develop his interventions primarily through observation of how lay and professional social workers supported people in the community.

Blaine is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University at the School of Health. He is the module lead for Occupations Across the Lifespan; Admissions lead for the BSc Occupational Therapy and co-lecturer on the MSc programme Occupational Therapy.

Carleen Kerr, Treasurer

Carleen qualified as a Registered General Nurse (RGN) in 1986, and has worked in the various areas of renal nursing for over 35 years, at Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Trust. This included working in Haemodialysis, as a Renal Outpatient sister, Transplant sister, and latterly, a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in Advanced Kidney Care (AKCC).

It was her role as a clinical nurse specialist in advanced kidney care that led to a passion to improve health equity for patients from the Black community. Upon her retirement, Carleen joined the GOLD team as the Clinical Support Lead.

Alexandra Louis, Trustee

Alex has over 30 years of consultancy expertise in corporate communications, marketing, change management, policy, and research.

Specialising in technology and agile transformation, Alex has worked on large-scale health-related projects and public sector transformation programmes. She is passionate about involving the voices of patients and families in health services, and addressing health inequities.

Alex has held interim management roles in several health organisations and provides marketing and business development support to not-for-profit organisations.