Skcin is a specialist skin cancer awareness charity founded in 2006 by the Clifford family in memory of Karen Clifford (represented by the ‘KC’ in our name) who lost her courageous battle to melanoma on New Years Eve 2005. She remains the inspiration behind our dedicated work and she continues to fuel our passion to make a difference and save lives.
Skcin are nationally recognised as the UK’s leading skin cancer charity that represents all skin cancers. Our mission is to save lives and suffering from melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer, to prevent the disease, improve patient outcomes through early diagnosis and reduce the significant burden on our NHS.
When Karen was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2003, it’s fair to say, we (her family) knew little-to-nothing about the disease, which had an incredibly low profile in comparison to all other major cancers. Following her untimely death, we felt compelled to prevent such suffering for others and made it our mission to learn more, uncover the facts and to investigate what, if anything, was being done to help combat the disease.
The facts we uncovered were compelling. It was evident that whilst skin cancer had such a low profile, incidence rates were rapidly increasing and many lives were being lost to this devastating disease. However, there were two standout facts that shaped who we are, what we do and why we do it:
Despite these glaring facts – apart from the odd, short-lived, seasonal sun safety campaign – we found no evidence of any charity or organisation committed to raising awareness of skin cancer prevention or early detection on a national scale.
For us it was a no-brainer. It was clear that awareness and education were our greatest weapons in the fight against the disease and addressing the alarming void in this arena was where we believed we could make the greatest impact and save lives.
With our mission and objectives clear – we established Skcin; The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity in 2006, forging forward with unrivalled passion and commitment that remains steadfast to this day.
During the infancy of the charity, Richard Clifford (Karen’s husband and founder of Skcin) developed a number of non-melanoma skin cancers, undergoing numerous operations on his face, head and neck to remove the tumours. Over the years, other members of team Skcin also developed numerous non-melanoma skin cancers that had to be surgically removed.
Alarmingly it was evident that awareness of NMSC was even lower than that of melanoma – yet it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK and worldwide. As with melanoma, the same key prevention and early detection messaging applied, and as such, we became the UK’s only charity dedicated to the prevention and early detection of all forms of skin cancer.
Over the years Skcin have developed a unique, innovative and multi-channel approach to raising awareness through educational intervention. This began with us developing the UK’s first ever, national accreditation programme in 2012 – Sun Safe Schools. We believed our mission should begin with our future generations by planting the seeds of sun safety in primary education and we remain incredibly passionate and committed to this initiative to this day.
Following it’s huge success, we went on to develop solutions for other key ‘high risk’ and ‘influential’ public and private sectors to generate the greatest impact we could, driving skin cancer awareness and education, into the hearts of communities nationwide. To find out more about our work visit: Resources and Accreditations
We are a small, but mighty charity with big aspirations – making a huge impact in the UK. Our core team combines many years of expertise in various fields that complement our service provision. In addition to the core team, our links with medical professionals are often called upon for advice and contribution, providing great credibility to our offering.
Following a break from a long and successful career in business and travel, Marie joined the charity in 2015 to facilitate the implementation of the BBC’s Colin Bloomfield Melanoma Appeal and has never looked back. She was appointed as CEO shortly after and has been instrumental in the charity’s vision and strategic direction.
Marie manages all day-to-day operations and is responsible for partnerships, sponsorship, funding, engagement of our five national accreditation programmes and attending public events and exhibitions. She is heavily invested in supporting our policy affairs work engaging policymakers to move skin cancer awareness, education, prevention and early detection up the political ladder.
Marie is well known nationally for her unrivalled dedication and passion to this cause. She has built up an incredible reputation with many key industry bodies and organisations that have a vested interest in what we do and are uniquely placed to get involved. She is also our media spokesperson and is regularly asked to speak at conferences. Marie makes it her mission to connect with everyone, always flying the flag for the charity’s unique and impactful work with total dedication to our mission and charitable objectives.
Richard Clifford was instrumental in founding the charity in memory of his beloved wife of 40 years. With a career history in media, advertising, sales and marketing – Richard was about to retire when Karen sadly passed. Never a man to sit on his laurels, Richard was determined Karen’s untimely death would not be in vein. Following a meeting with the extremely supportive consultant dermatologist Dr Sandeep Varma (co-founder of Skcin) – hands were shook, the seeds were sown and Richard, armed with a team of Trustees forged forward with unyielding passion to prevent this happening to others.
The team travelled the country in a mission to unite charities and organisations in collectively raising awareness of skin cancer and the importance of prevention. Richard organised and spoke at high profile events and set up the political lobby group ‘Skin Cancer UK’, presenting a series of reports at Westminster that highlighted the true incidence of skin cancer in the UK – urging government to take action by investing in awareness and primary school education. This lead Skcin to develop our first national intervention programme, shaping our strategic direction that remains in place today.
Steve Boothroyd joined team Skcin in 2015 as a volunteer, soon after becoming an ambassador and he now takes on the vital roles of Chairman and Trustee. Steve’s background in the science of sun protection brings a great deal of expertise to the team. Steve has held a number of product development roles for a leading retailer and consumer goods manufacturer with a particular interest in all things skincare related.
Steve is a great communicator of all things skin and sun protection. He loves nothing more than engaging with the public to educate them on the prevention of skin cancer and importance of sun protection. He is extremely passionate about the cause and is dedicated to ensuring the charity is fully compliant and fulfils its charitable objectives.
Julian Lawrence has been a Trustee of Skcin since gaining charitable status in 2006 and he remains an integral part of the team to this day. With a long career in finance, Julian brings his expertise to the Skcin table and is hugely committed to the cause.
Julian also brings with him a much-needed sense of humour. Not one to take life too seriously and with a love of comedy, dabbling in stand-up comedy himself – the team always appreciate the humour and sparkle he adds to every meeting.
John Holmes MBE, co-founded Skcin in 2006, taking on the vital roles of Chairman and Trustee for 18 years. John is a local legend – he is one of BBC Radio Nottingham’s all-time favourite presenters and is well known nationally for his life-long career in journalism, working for BBC radio and television for over 50 years.
Having had melanoma and several cases of non-melanoma skin cancer, John has always been incredibly passionate about the charity and the work we do, supporting us in delivering our charitable objectives and raising awareness of the disease.
Despite recently retiring from his roles as Chairman and Trustee, John remains just as committed to the charity, never missing a meeting or an opportunity to get involved. We are incredibly grateful to have his continued support as an integral part of the Skcin family.
Kathryn Clifford has fully supported her father Richard and the family in a united mission to create a lasting and impactful legacy in memory of her beloved mother Karen. Passionate about preventing the pain and suffering her mother and her family went through for others, she remains completely dedicated to the cause.
With a background in graphic design and marketing, Kathryn has been uniquely placed to use her skills to develop the many resources and accreditation programmes the charity provides and support the needs and requirements of the wider team.
Louise Tucker joined team Skcin in 2024 to take on the varied and vital role of Community Engagement Coordinator. Due to the charities multi-channel approach, many forms of contact and sheer volume of requests, Louise juggles a wide variety of roles ensuring anyone connecting with the charity is responded to promptly and supported appropriately.
With a strong career in bookkeeping and accountancy, Louise is highly organised and proactive, willing to get stuck into everything and is a valued and integral member of team Skcin.
Skcin’s work is supported by team of dedicated clinicians and professionals that make up our Expert Advisory Group. These individuals are advisors to Skcin and bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the charity. They champion our national educational intervention programmes, act as spokespersons for the charity and support our recommendations to improve the profile of skin cancer in the UK.
Dr Amy Perkins is a Dermatologist based in Scotland with a special interest in skin cancer prevention, sun safety, and public health dermatology. Alongside her clinical role at NHS Forth Valley, she is committed to improving population skin health through education, advocacy, and policy engagement.
Amy works closely with the Scottish Government and international organisations to highlight the dangers of sunbeds, challenge misinformation, and influence policy change at both national and European level. She is also a regular contributor to the media, providing expert commentary on skin safety, dermatology, and the wider impact of digital culture on health behaviours.
Her academic and professional interests extend to medical education and innovation. As an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, she mentors undergraduate and postgraduate doctors, shaping the next generation of clinicians. She sits on the Board of Examiners for the Royal College of Physicians and serves as a social media reporter for the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, sharing accessible, evidence-based dermatology insights with global audiences.
Amy is also extensively involved in artificial intelligence for healthcare, collaborating with leading organisations to explore how AI can enhance telemedicine, improve access to dermatology in remote and rural settings, and support safe, evidence-based patient care.
Amy brings together clinical expertise, education, and innovation. She is dedicated to protecting skin health, empowering individuals with accurate information, and driving meaningful change at both individual and policy level.
Dr Andrew Birnie is a consultant dermatologist and Mohs micrographic surgeon in Canterbury, where he leads the skin cancer Multidisciplinary Team for East Kent. He attained pharmacology and medical degrees from the University of Bristol. Dermatology training took place in Nottingham followed by a Mohs fellowship in Cardiff.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London and a member of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology, the Dermatologic and Aesthetic Surgery International League, in addition to the British Association of Dermatologists and British Society for Dermatological Surgery.
He launched Altruist Dermatologist Sunscreen in 2015 with the aim of reducing the incidence of skin cancer through the increased use of high-quality sunscreen. Since then Altruist has become the leading on-line sunscreen brand in the UK and facilitated the donation of over 1 million Euros worth of sunscreen to people with albinism in Africa.
Andrew is the lead trainer for dermatology in Kent and regularly speaks and teaches nationally and internationally on skin surgery, skin cancer and sun protection.
Professor Young is emeritus professor of experimental photobiology, St John’s Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, London, UK. He has 50 years of research experience on the effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on skin, with emphasis on the effects on human skin in vivo. Much his work has been on UVR-induced DNA damage that can lead to skin cancer. He has also worked on photoprotection by sunscreens and the skin’s natural melanin.
Most UVR research is done in the laboratory, but Professor Young has also conducted field studies to assess DNA damage sustained during sunny holidays as well as the ability of sunscreen to prevent sunburn under real life conditions. Apart from risks, exposure to UVR from sunlight has benefits the most well documented being the main source of vitamin D. The most important issue with sunlight exposure is obtaining balance to minimise risks and maximise benefits. This is a developing and controversial area with which Professor Young has been engaged.
The Montreal Protocol has successfully ensured international agreement to protect the ozone layer that reduces the amount of DNA damaging UVR that reaches the Earth’s surface. This has prevented many skin cancers.
Professor Young sits on the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that regularly prepares reports for almost 200 governments to help them develop policy to mitigate the adverse effects of solar UVR on the Earth including human health.
Dr Beibei Du-Harpur is a NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at St John’s Institute of Dermatology. She completed undergraduate medical training at the University of Cambridge, and was awarded a PhD in Molecular Medicine by King’s College London in partnership with the Francis Crick Institute. During her PhD, she became interested in the application of computational methods to dermatology and dermatological research. Her current research interests are the pathophysiology and treatment of pilosebaceous diseases, in particular acne and hidradenitis suppurativa.
Dr Cristina Psomadakis is a consultant dermatologist for the NHS. She works in adult, paediatric and surgical dermatology at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust and leads skin cancer services.
She completed her registrar training at the prestigious St Johns Institute of Dermatology, Guys & St Thomas, London. She had the opportunity to work for the King’s College Hospital dermatology department for six months as well as do a six-month surgical skin cancer surgery fellowship in Mohs at St John’s.
She has a masters in Skin Ageing and Aesthetics at the University of Manchester completed with distinction. She co-lead the creation of the Cosmetic Dermatology module for the St John’s Diploma in Dermatology. She was head of digital for the British Society of Medical Dermatology, developing their website and media presence. She has published in international academic journals as well as presented in conferences and as a guest speaker across the world.
She runs her own skincare education accounts on Instagram & TikTok @dr.somaskin. She is also the Medical Director of Klira, an innovative digital skincare offering personalised custom formulas. She has a passion for medical education and skin health and a special interest in skin surgery and procedural dermatology.
Dr Rachel Abbott is a consultant dermatologist and Mohs surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Her main clinical and research interest is skin cancer. She has co-authored several Cochrane reviews, led an observational multi-centre study to investigate surgical site infection in ulcerated skin cancers (OASIS study). She has collaborated with Dr Julie Peconi at Swansea University on the ‘Sunproofed’ study – a Mixed-Methods Scoping Study of Sun Safety Policies in Primary Schools in Wales – and the ‘SunChat’ study – exploring what primary school aged children and their parents think about sun tanning. She is currently collaborating with Dr Angela Rodrigues at Northumbria University exploring young adults’ views on alternatives to sunbed use.
Rachel is Chief Investigator for the EXCISE trial – investigating the effectiveness of antibiotics on wound infections after skin cancer surgery. She is a co-investigator for the SCC-AFTER and SPOT-IT trials and she is a Principal Investigator for the HEALS2 trial – investigating whether compression bandaging reduces wound healing time after skin cancer surgery on the lower leg.
Rachel is also interested in sustainable healthcare. She was Chair of the British Association of Dermatologists Sustainability Sub-Committee (2022-2024).
We have a unique, innovative and multi-channel approach to combatting skin cancer, delivering robust, targeted solutions that are accessible to all. Our comprehensive range of resources and suite of five, bespoke accreditation programmes that target both high risk and influential public & private sectors are generating significant impact nationwide.
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