Who we are
Education . Conservation . Transformation
The three founding trustees share lifelong interests in travel and wildlife conservation. In their travels they repeatedly met talented individuals whose career progress was blocked by a lack of funding to obtain the qualifications needed to advance. Talking to contacts in the conservation field, we were introduced to training centres & organisations offering bursaries to disadvantaged individuals. After careful due diligence, we have been able to establish working relationships with a number of organisations providing training opportunities across a range of conservation related disciplines.
Simon Thornton
Simon qualified in medicine from Cambridge and then trained as an Obstetrician & Gynaecologist in the UK, South Africa & Australia. Having undertaken further training as a fertility specialist, he was a founder and Co-Medical Director of the CARE Fertility Group. CARE developed rapidly with private equity backing and went on to become the largest independent IVF provider in the UK. In 2015 Simon took early retirement to pursue a longstanding interest in nature conservation by completing training as a safari guide in Southern Africa. This in turn sowed the seeds for the establishment of Metamorphosis Foundation.
Susie
Thornton
Susie qualified in Edinburgh as a Physiotherapist and worked in the NHS for 30 years. She made the most of opportunities to work overseas in South Africa and Australia. Those and other travels gave a strong awareness for the natural world and conservation initiatives. Susie is a keen photographer, with a special interest in wildlife, nature and landscape photography.
Neil
Rotherham
Neil graduated in medicine from Sheffield in 1986. After a variety of junior medical positions he joined the pharmaceutical industry working in drug research. In the early 1993 he founded an IT business providing services to pharmaceutical companies to improve the logistics of running multi-national clinical trials. The business grew and went through several private equity rounds, before eventually floating in 2006. The company was subsequently bought by a large US based corporate when Neil left the business. Since then Neil has been involved with a variety of healthcare and clinical trial based technology businesses, largely working with venture capital and private equity firms to grow and develop business leading to several, notable successful exits both in the UK and USA. Outside work Neil is passionate about all things out-door and is a keen amateur natural historian and conservationist.
The Metamorphosis Team.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela.