ABOUT US
Supporting equitable access to treatment for every New Zealander living with CLL.
Who we are
CLL Advocates NZ was founded to close a gap: some New Zealanders with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia get access to life-changing treatment - through good fortune, compassionate access programmes, clinical trials, or by paying privately - while others don't. We exist to address that inequity.
We're a group of people affected by CLL, alongside medical specialists working in CLL treatment, and together we work to:
Help patients advocate for and access world-class CLL treatments
Build public understanding of what modern CLL therapies can do
Push for national guidelines that ensure equitable treatment access, regardless of geography, ethnicity, or income
Support New Zealand-based CLL research, including participation in clinical trials
Learn from how other countries fund and structure access to treatment
Connect with CLL patient groups and advocates internationally
We aim to complement the work of other organisations supporting people with CLL, not duplicate it - which is why we've built formal and informal connections with several partner organisations.
How We Started
CLL Advocates NZ was established in March 2019 as a charitable trust, founded by Neil Graham, Ben Schrader, Gillian Corbett, and Rebecca Graham.
Dr Neil Graham (1950–2021)
Neil was diagnosed with CLL at 50. As both a patient and a physician, he saw firsthand the need for better information and stronger advocacy for New Zealanders living with CLL — and in 2019, he acted on it, establishing CLL Advocates NZ and bringing it into the global CLL Advocates Network. He formally launched the New Zealand group at a patient seminar in 2020.
Neil gave freely of his time and expertise — meeting with patients, and engaging directly with decision-makers to push for better CLL treatments. He was widely respected across the CLL and patient advocacy community for his commitment to this cause, and is greatly missed.
Neil trained at Otago University, with postgraduate training in Wellington and London, and worked for thirty years as a consultant physician at Tauranga Hospital. He also served as a senior lecturer at Auckland University's Medical School, president of IMSANZ (and its NZ predecessor), an examiner for RACP, and Director of Clinical Training at BOPDHB.
Dr Ben Schrader (1965–2024)
Ben helped found CLL Advocates NZ in March 2019 alongside Neil Graham, Gillian Corbett, and Rebecca Graham. Even through periods of remission, he committed significant time to advocating for CLL patients.
Ben preferred working behind the scenes but stepped into public roles when it mattered — leading a multi-patient march on Parliament in 2019 to petition for government funding of ibrutinib and venetoclax, presenting to a Health Select Committee, appearing before the Pharmac Review Panel in 2021, and contributing to and presenting the Trust's submission on the Pae Ora Bill in 2022.