Ade Adepitan MBE
Ade Adepitan MBE is a TV presenter, Paralympic medallist, journalist and father to toddler, Bolla. Born in Lagos Nigeria and raised in East London, Ade survived polio as youngster after he began to lose the use of his legs at just 15 months old. Ade’s work has taken him across the globe, including most recently to Kenya for BBC’s Our Changing Planet, charting our worlds most threatened ecosystems. He went undercover with C4’s Dispatches, reporting foreign affairs for Unreported World and fronted BBC Two Series, Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline. In a C4 documentary, Ade Adepitan: Journey of my Lifetime, Ade returned to his birthplace Lagos to investigate Nigeria’s polio endemic. Ade’s story sparked support on Twitter from Bill Gates who invited Ade to speak at the Global Vaccine Summit: We Changed History in 2020, the year in which Nigeria – the last country in Africa to do so – officially declared the country free from wild poliovirus. It was a milestone for Ade’s continued work alongside the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to end poliovirus globally.
He’s a well-respected co-host on Children in Need’s annual live appeal show and has hosted countless sporting events including his BAFTA award winning coverage of the 2012 Paralympics on C4, co-hosted with Clare Balding. In 2023 he was awarded the RTS Award for Best Sports Presenter for his work on the show - he was described by the judges as a “broadcaster of genuine insight and charisma.”
An exceptional public speaker and live host, Ade supports charities including Amnesty International, Unicef and NSPCC and delivers motivational speeches to schools, charities, and businesses around the world. His sporting achievements include a Bronze in The Athens Paralympics, Silver in the European Championships and Gold in The World Championships; he also received an MBE in 2005 and was awarded Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University in 2006 and the University of East London in 2010.
Ade has released four children’s books based on stories from his childhood, as a Nigerian kid with a disability growing up in East London during the ‘80’s. His debut book series follows a superhero character called Cyborg Cat, and they call centre around the same messaging “We can all be superheroes, no matter who we are or where we’re from.” 100% of the proceeds from Ade’s second book were donated to Children in Need.
Professor Damian Mohan
Damian is Associate Clinical Professor in Forensic Psychiatry in Trinity College Dublin. He is a TCD medical graduate. He trained in St, Patrick’s University Hospital Dublin, followed by the University of Southampton and the Institute of Psychiatry in London. Damian then worked as a consultant in Broadmoor Hospital, West London NHS, before returning to Dublin in 2001. He was a consultant psychiatrist with the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) until 2022. Since retiring from the HSE, Damian is the medical lead on the Clinical Management System (CMS) team, which is overseeing the digital transformative journey and introduction of electronic patient record (EPR) to the National Forensic Mental Health Services (NFMHS). In addition to managing a busy medicolegal practice, Damian is a Governor on the Board of St. Patrick's University Hospital. He lectures on the Advanced Diploma in Medical Law in the Kings Inns.