Our People
Our Team
CoMO’s core team is based in Bristol, UK and is headed up by Sam Nye and Laura Ross and supported by Sam Brightbart. The core team are also supported by a wider group of colleagues at our parent organisation, Meningitis Research Foundation.
CoMO also has four regional coordinators who represent our four member regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe. Their role is to provide support to members.
Sam Nye, Joint Head of CoMO (Bristol, UK)
Sam's career began in scientific communications, and she has been an integral part of the development of the CoMO network for the last 10 years. She oversees key projects for CoMO members, including World Meningitis Day and the annual member conference, and is responsible for maximising the value of membership for existing members.
Laura Ross, Joint Head of CoMO (Bristol, UK)
Laura has a background in membership, global marketing and communications, and is focused on building CoMO’s profile, increasing membership, and developing the new member offer. She manages our regional coordinators and oversees fundraising liaison.
Sam Brightbart, Member Development and Engagement Manager (Bristol, UK)
Sam B is responsible for communicating with all CoMO members about key issues and improving the member experience. He has previously worked as a linguist and translator, and has volunteered in the health, environment, animal rights and ethical banking sectors.
Linda Gibbs, Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator (Perth, Australia)
Linda is responsible for the management of all Asia Pacific activities and planning, she is also Office Manager at the Meningitis Centre in Perth, Australia.
Elena Moya, Europe Regional Coordinator (Madrid, Spain)
Elena supports CoMO to establish new relationships and opportunities in the Europe region and is also the Vice President of Asociación Española Contra La Meningitis (AEM).
Omorodion Rhoda Omoile, Africa Regional Coordinator (Rivers State, Nigeria)
Omorodion Rhoda is a social entrepreneur as well as a patient advocate based in Nigeria. She is highly committed to humanitarian, social work and services that help disadvantaged people. She also set up the Care and Development Centre (CADEC) in Nigeria.
Patsy Schanbaum, Americas Regional Coordinator, (Austin, USA)
Patsy is committed to defeating meningitis through education, community awareness and advocacy. Patsy’s daughter, Jamie is a meningitis survivor, and the family created the Joint Advocacy for Meningococcal Information and Education (J.A.M.I.E.) Group.
Our Advisory Council
CoMO’s work is governed by Meningitis Research Foundation's Board of Trustees and overseen of by an Advisory Council, made up of elected CoMO members from each region. The advisory council is made up of a Chair, and two representatives for each region.
Brian Nambale, Africa Regional Representative, Medicure Trauma Centre (Nabumali, Uganda)
Brian Nambale is a palliative care clinician and clinic manager at the Medicure Trauma Centre-Nabumali, located in Mbale District in Eastern Uganda.
He is also an Honorable District Councilor for Mbale District representing Nabumali Town Council in the Lukhobo house; Clinical Instructor at Mbale college of Health sciences (Nursing); and chairperson of the committee for social services (Health, Education and Gender issues) for Mbale District.
He is a columnist of the national newspaper New Vision and publishes on health and wellness weekly.
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Claytone Musungu, Chair and Africa Regional Representative, Meningitis Awareness Foundation (Nairobi, Kenya)
Claytone has over 30 years' experience in sales and marketing. He has served in different capacities in various sectors, including marketing research, publishing, event management and telecommunications, rising from market research interviewer to general manager. He currently consults part time for various organisations.
Claytone co-founded the Meningitis Awareness Foundation (Kenya) in November 2018 to create awareness and support survivors, families and caregivers after heartbreaking experiences visiting affected families who were shunned by society and left to their own fate due to lack of information. Ever since, he has been proactively involved in both national and global efforts to prevent meningitis, notably being involved in the development of a national meningitis plan for Kenya in September 2023.
Claytone says:
"My journey at CoMO has been inspiring and fulfilling – even more so as the Advisory Council Representative for Africa alongside a team of passionate, dedicated and supportive colleagues from across all four regions of the world. I feel very privileged to serve as current Chair of the CoMO Advisory Council and a Trustee of the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF)."
Jane Plumb MBE, Europe Regional Representative, Group B Strep Support (Sussex, UK)
Jane Plumb MBE is the Chief Executive of GBSS, which she founded in 1996. GBSS supports UK families affected by group B Strep and health professionals by providing relevant, evidence-based information and education about group B Strep.
Jane is Women’s Voices Lead at the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and chair of their Women’s Network, a member of the Pregnancy & Baby Charity Network and a member of the World Health Organization’s Extended Technical Taskforce on defeating meningitis by 2030. She has worked on NICE guidelines and quality standards, including the Antibiotics for Neonatal Infection, Preterm Labour & Birth and Neonatal Infection guidelines. She is currently a coapplicant on several GBS research trials.
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Christine Bennborn, Europe Regional Representative, Meningokockfonden (Sweden)
Christine started the Meningokockfonden (Meningitis Foundation) in Sweden when her son Mathias died in the summer of 2019 after contracting meningitis and septicemia. She set up the Foundation after becoming aware of how little information and understanding on meningitis there is in Sweden. The primary goal with the foundation is to share information and raise awareness to the public about the symptoms and the possibility of getting vaccinated so that other children and young people can be saved in the future.
Christine has a professional background as a CFO and top-level manager including board positions, with experience of working on strategic issues, overseeing processes, making decisions, evaluating business cases, creating and evaluating budgets etc. Read Christine’s story.
Prof Dr Ghulam Mustafa, Asia Pacific Regional Representative, Helping Hands Foundation (Multan, Pakistan)
Dr Ghulam Mustafa is Professor of Paediatrics and the Chairman department of Paediatrics at Nishtar medical university, Multan, Pakistan. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Helping Hands Foundation (HHF), a not-for-profit organisation working on health, education and community empowerment in Pakistan.
He has been proactively involved in vaccination campaigns for children, through print & electronic media, to prevent meningitis and other infectious diseases. HHF have organised activities to mark World Meningitis Day every year for the last few years.
Pete Rowlands. Asia Pacific Regional Representative, Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa
(New Zealand)
Pete has a career spanning strategic management, governance and business improvement. He is currently a Trustee of the Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa, New Zealand, and has been an avid supporter of meningitis charities since 2003, when his son, Gareth, lost his life to meningococcal septicaemia at the age of 16, while at boarding school in the UK.
To support the charities and raise awareness of this devastating disease, he has undertaken a series of extreme challenges including rowing the North Atlantic Ocean unsupported, running a seven-day ultra-marathon event across the Gobi Desert, and supporting a team skiing to the Magnetic North Pole, raising considerable funds. He has championed the cause and presented to royalty, government leaders, religious leaders, blue chip companies, medical professionals and educational facilities.
As if being affected by the disease once was not enough, his daughter Sian contracted viral meningitis at the age of 32, in 2017, for which she is still in the recovery process.
His passion remains to see a world rid of meningitis.
John B. Grimes, Americas Regional Representative (Texas, USA)
One of the lucky ones, John is a survivor of meningococcal disease. In 1998, as a sophomore at Texas Tech University, he was a typical healthy student. Life seemed to be following an ordered path until one day, he woke up in a hospital bed. Miraculously, eight days prior, a friend had found John unconscious on his bedroom floor.
Neurological dysfunction and blindness are permanent reminders of his battle with meningitis. To spread awareness John shares his unique survival story and journey through life with sight loss and invisible disabilities on his podcast, Destiny is Debatable.
Suelen Caroline Santiago Magalhães Rosalino and Antonio Carlos Ramos e Silva, Americas Regional Representatives, Associação Brasileira de Combate à Meningite (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
Suelen is the president of Associação Brasileira de Combate à Meningite (the Brazilian Association to Combat Meningitis / ABCM). She began her fight against meningitis in 2017, when her son João Marcos contracted the disease and had to have one of his legs amputated below the knee, half of the other foot and eight distal phalanges. Today João Marcos lives well, with the necessary adaptations.
Suelen is a social entrepreneur focused on disseminating information to raise awareness of vaccine-preventable diseases. She is a pastor and has always been an active participant in community and social support work. She has fifteen years of experience in commercial representation within the civil construction industry.
Antonio Carlos is the Director of Organizational Relations and Projects at ABCM. He has always been active in coordinating people and leadership, valuing respect for human beings. A businessman focused on mentoring people and on business consultancy, he has 22 years of national and international experience as an executive in a large company. He has knowledge of the evolution of Industry 4.0 and strategic business management. He was also president of a large sports association for three years, and currently leads community and social support work.
Antonio has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.