The Team

Sharmila is the founder of Cure EB (formerly Sohana Research Fund) and Sohana’s mother. She graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in veterinary medicine in 1994 and worked in general practice gaining a certificate in veterinary radiology. She stopped work soon after Sohana was born. Optimism within the research community coupled with chronic underfunding of EB medical research led to the idea for a dedicated research fund. She is the driving force behind the fund, planning events, thinking up fundraising challenges, meeting researchers and speaking at events. With the growth of the fund she plans to concentrate on maximising research progress by building collaborations between researchers, other funding bodies and relationships with biotech to realise the ultimate aim of the fund –to #cureEB. She has three other daughters and a dog.

“Watching Sohana suffer the agonising pain of EB everyday is the best incentive to push forward research to find a treatment for all”

James studied at Cambridge before moving to London to take up practice as a commercial Barrister at Essex Court Chambers. He has been King’s Counsel since 2012. James is father to Sohana and her 3 sisters. He was co-founder of Cure EB; has been a trustee since inception; and is Sharmila’s First Lieutenant.
He has primary responsibility for financial management, legal and compliance.

“Faith in progress is not enough. But coupled with funding and research, it is a powerful force for improving the lives of the people who suffer from this terrible condition”

Michaël is CEO of the Cardano Group. Before joining Cardano, Michaël spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs (GS) with postings in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, becoming a partner in 2002. In the last 6 years of his time at GS he was responsible for the Pension and Insurance Solutions Group, working with institutions across Europe and globally. He graduated from the University of Louvain (Belgium) with a Masters in Economics and the City University Business School with a Masters in Business Administration. His association with Cure EB (Formerly Sohana Research Fund) began in 2011.

“Thrilled to help find a solution to this cruellest of conditions through fundamental
research”

“As an academic researcher working on other genetic skin and related disorders I am really impressed with the vision, enthusiasm and focus into translating therapies to this specific condition. I am delighted to help support Cure EB in this important mission”

Tazim was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor in 1996 at the City law firm Freshfields. She was a partner of the firm within its banking department from 2008 until 2012. Tazim had a broad practice encompassing all aspects of banking work with an emphasis on acquisition finance (advising private equity sponsors, investment and commercial banks) and also advised corporate borrowers. Since 2012 Tazim has been working part-time as a consultant at Freshfields and has been spending more time at home with her three children (aged 11, 9 and 4).

“It is an honour to help this charity fund ground-breaking research in the hope that one day soon, EB will be eliminated from our vocabulary and from the lives of some of the world’s bravest children”

Duncan Wales is founder and CEO of Tellimer, an information services and tech firm. He was formerly CEO of Exotix Capital, and a member of the executive management teams at ICAP plc and markets innovator BrokerTec. He is a lawyer by background and trained and worked at Clifford Chance.

He has an MA in social and political sciences from Cambridge University, and has two postgraduate qualifications in law. He served for 12 years with UK Reserve Forces.

“CureEB is a leader in funding research for the treatment and cure of the terrible disease that is EB.  Its work is accelerating medical understanding of skin and genetic conditions more generally, providing hope to thousands of children and their families.“

A graduate of the University of Nottingham, Rachel was Managing director of The Lawyer and Lawtel at Centaur Holdings and now devotes considerable energy to charitable projects.