Pictured: Fundraiser Clare Levy, Nick and Mike inside the building

The head of an organisation that represents more than 1,000 businesses across the Humber area has pledged to help raise awareness of the work of a regional charity which is transforming detection techniques for serious medical conditions.

Mike Whitehead, President of the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, said he plans to introduce businesses in Northern Lincolnshire to the Daisy Appeal, which is tackling cancer, heart disease and dementia.

Mike made the comments after visiting the £8.8m Molecular Imaging Research Centre (MIC) which is currently being fitted out at Castle Hill Hospital and will establish the site as one of the top PET-CT providers in the UK. Mike also renewed acquaintance with Professor Nick Stafford, Chair of the Daisy Appeal and a colleague from nearly 30 years ago.

Mike said:

I was general manager critical care and surgery and Nick was professor of head and neck surgery and he drove the research projects which over the years led to the work supported by the Daisy Appeal.

I have kept abreast of what Nick and his colleagues have been doing here and I think it's amazing that they have taken our little corner of the world into the Premier League for cancer care and treatment in the UK.

I want to help to raise awareness among businesses in Northern Lincolnshire of what the Daisy Appeal is doing to help them, their colleagues and their communities - and what people can do to support the vital work.

Since its foundation in 2002 the Daisy Appeal has raised more than £22m. The Daisy Appeal Medical Research Centre opened on the Castle Hill Hospital site in 2008 and was followed, in 2014, by the opening of the Jack Brignall PET-CT Scanning Centre, housing the first in a new type of Siemens scanner in the country.

Nick said:

We have strong relationships within the regional business community and we see the Chamber as a key partner in helping us to build on that so it was great to be able to welcome a business leader who I have known for a long time and who has an excellent understanding of our work.