Dr Kirstine Knox, from the University of Oxford has just been appointed as the British Heart Foundation’s new Director of Philanthropy. Dr Knox will be working alongside Jane Porter, Global Principal Gifts Director, in leading the Philanthropy and Partnerships team to increase the value of existing corporate relationships, identify new long-term strategic partners, and grow the potential of philanthropic giving.

For the past seven years, she has been at the University of Oxford, firstly as Associate Director of Development where she was responsible for fundraising across the University’s academic divisions, including medical sciences, and then as Director of Development at the Blavatnik School of Government. Before that, Dr Knox spent six years as the Chief Executive of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Amanda Bringans, our Fundraising Director, said: ‘We’re delighted to have appointed Dr Knox to lead our philanthropy team, which will be central to the delivery of our ambitious new strategy to 2030. While it’s a challenging time for fundraisers, we see huge potential to leverage our world-leading research portfolio to attract donations from people and organisations who want to see their investment translate in to improved treatments for people with heart and circulatory diseases worldwide.

‘I’ve no doubt that Dr Knox will build a formidable partnership with Jane Porter, and together they will deliver on our ambitions for increasing philanthropic support for research that will save and improve many lives in the years to come.’

Dr Kirstine Knox said: ’I’m looking forward to joining the BHF at such an exciting time in its history. Its track record of helping to cut heart disease deaths in halve, combined with its ambitious strategy for the future, create the perfect environment for attracting greater philanthropic support. I’m relishing the challenge of telling the BHF’s story to people and organisations with the potential to fund transformational research, and I’ve no doubt that I am joining a team with the culture and capability to inspire even more support for the BHF’s fantastic work.’

For more on the appointment see: http://www.bhf.org.uk