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Karolina Afors
Medical Director of MedherantDr Karolina Afors MBBS, BSc, MRCOG is a Consultant Gynaecologist with over 18 years experience in the NHS and has a special interest in pelvic pain and endometriosis. With a wealth of expertise in women's health, she spearheads research and development efforts to advance therapeutic solutions for gynaecological conditions, combining clinical knowledge with advanced digital solutions. More recently she joined the team at Medherant as their Medical Director. Medherant are developing a testosterone patch for post-menopausal women, reshaping hormone management with a distinctly patient-centric focus.
Sahl Masood Ahmed
Director of AcendrSahl, a university student with lived ADHD experience, is the co-founder and business development lead of Acendr. Motivated by his own journey with ADHD, Sahl has been instrumental in shaping Acendr into an innovative platform aimed at revolutionizing ADHD management. His expertise and personal insight have been pivotal in tailoring Acendr's NHS-aligned program, which supports individuals both pre and post-diagnosis. Sahl's commitment is to ensure that the platform remains accessible, effective, and community-focused, empowering users to manage their symptoms and enhance their daily lives.
Qasim Akhtar
Head Of Business Development at QV BioelectronicsQasim is a biotechnologist with an entrepreneurial background, completing an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology, followed by an MSc in Biotechnology & Enterprise from the University of Manchester. Qasim joined QV in 2019 and since then has helped fundraise over $3.9M in equity funding, alongside $1.4M in non-dilutive funding. At QV, Qasim also manages grant funded projects, the development of the commercialisation and growth strategy, market research, PR and the management of external relationships.
Jaymin Amin
CEO of ProFactor PharmaMr. Jaymin Amin, B.Eng., is a biotech entrepreneur with a successful track record of 20 years of sales, marketing and financial experience in life science start-ups.
In September 2011 Jaymin was appointed to the Board of Directors of ProfactorPharma as a non-executive director. And in August 2016 Jaymin was named, and is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer.
Sue Bailey
Senior Director, Geographic Search Europe of Bristol Myers SquibbSue Bailey is Senior Director, Geographic Search for Bristol Myers Squibb, responsible for leading business development search ex-US, ex-Asia. She has over 30 years’ experience in academia and industry with a PhD from Cambridge/ Beatson Institute Glasgow, postdoc from ICRF, Lincolns Inn Fields / St Thomas' hospital, London and an MBA. During her tenure at BMS, she has worked in various leadership roles within medical affairs, latterly as Strategic Partnership and Early Asset Director and Head of Oncology Medical, UK & Ireland. She has also held several external positions such as Honorary Secretary of the British Association of Cancer Research.
Graham Ball
CSO at Intelligent OMICS LtdProf Graham Ball is founder-CSO of Intelligent Omics. Prof Ball specializes in the application of innovative artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to the analysis of complex data in the biomolecular, biomedical, and pharmacological domains.
For the last 20 years, Prof Ball has led the development and validation of discovery and modelling algorithms. He has published over 200 journal papers and has an H-Index of 50 in this area. His current research focuses on innovative computational methods that allow the identification of molecular drivers of disease and druggable biology through the development of digital twins and network biology
Caroline Barelle
CEO of ElasmogenCaroline is CEO and founder of Elasmogen, developing soloMER biologics for autoimmune diseases and cancer. She has successfully led teams at Wyeth and Pfizer in Global Bio-therapeutic Technologies, has been awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship, is a doctoral graduate from the University of Aberdeen in Biochemistry and graduated with an MBA (distinction) from Robert Gordon’s University. Caroline is a member of the ONE Life Sciences Board, GVV Board committed to investing in women’s health, Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre advisory Board, The Royal Society’s Science and Industry Translation Committee and an honorary Professor at Queen’s University Belfast.
Ana Barjasic
CEO/Board Member of Connectology/European Innovation CouncilAna Barjasic is an entrepreneur, angel investor, policy adviser and ecosystem builder. Combining her hands-on experience and knowledge of startup and innovation ecosystems and investment communities across EMEA region, Ana founded Connectology, an international boutique agency for access to finance, investment readiness and behavioural science.
Ana is also an Obama Leader Europe, Executive Committee Member of Global Entrepreneurship Network Europe and a Board Member of the European Innovation Council, largest innovation fund for deep tech in Europe with investment capacity of 10 billion euros.
Jenny Barnett
CEO of Monument TxBefore leading the spin-out of Monument Tx in 2021, Jenny was Chief Scientific Officer at Cambridge Cognition where she led clinical trial, healthcare and R&D functions. She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University, a PhD in the Epidemiology of Schizophrenia from the University of Cambridge, and completed post-doctoral work at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. She is the author of more than 70 papers, six patents, and two popular science books and is an honorary member of the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry.
Oliver Bates
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ViramalOliver is an experienced biotech & pharma executive. He is the co-founder of Viramal Limited and also Antev Limited. Oliver also has a private equity and corporate finance background with emerging businesses. His achievements include securing £multi-million investment, broad transaction successes, FDA clearance and has co-authored a number of patents.
Julian Beach
Executive Director, Healthcare Quality and Access of MHRA
Catherine Beech
CEO of ExonateCatherine has over 25 years of biotech and pharmaceutical industry experience. She started her medical career within the NHS, followed by 12 years within multinational pharmaceutical companies
For the past 20 years, Catherine has worked extensively to commercialise novel technologies in the life sciences. She has invested in many start-up biotech companies both personally and as an early stage VC.
Catherine co-founded Exonate and currently is the CEO, leading the company’s commercial and corporate development. Exonate aims to introduce a first-in-class topical eye drop for the treatment of retinal vascular diseases.
Maina Bhaman
Partner at Sofinnova PartnersMaina is a Partner at Sofinnova Partners, with a successful track record as a healthcare investor.
Prior to joining Sofinnova, she was director of healthcare investment at Touchstone Innovations (formerly Imperial Innovations) where she lead and co-led investments in the U.K. She has worked in the R&D teams of several biotech companies such as Celltech, Oxford GlycoSciences, Chimeric Therapies, and GeneMedicine.
Maina's current investments include Sitryx Therapeutics, Mironid, Myricx Bio, Mediar Therapeutics, Enyo Pharma, Nuage Therapeutics, and Catamaran Bio.
She holds a B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Imperial Business School.
Robin Bhattacherjee
CEO of Actimed TherapeuticsRobin joined Actimed Therapeutics as CEO and employee number 1 in August 2019. Robin was previously with Actelion from 2009 and was the General Manager for the UK and Ireland Affiliate and a member of the European Management Team.
Prior to Actelion, Robin was the General Manager for CV Therapeutics Europe (CVT) from 2004 to mid-2009, prior to the acquisition of the Company by Gilead. Robin joined CVT from Sanofi-Synthélabo UK. From 1986 to 2002, Robin held a variety of executive positions at Bayer, both UK and international.
Robin served on the ABPI Board of Management from 2011 – 2017.
Jeremy Billson
CEO of InoCardiaJeremy is CEO of InoCardia, a cardiovascular safety management specialist. Jeremy has worked in the Pharma industry for over 25 years through Drug Discovery Research (medicinal chemistry), Business Development (out-licensing and research technology services), Fund-Raising and Senior Management Roles (V-P and CEO level).
Tilly Bingham
CSO/COO at GIO TherapeuticsTilly Bingham has >20 years’ experience working in pharmaceutical R&D and is currently CSO/COO at GIO Therapeutics and EiR at Cumulus Oncology.
Tilly’s early career was spent working in CNS therapeutic areas for targets including the GPCRs OX2R, V1R and CGRP. Then, as Head of Research and Operations at Redx Pharma she oversaw delivery of oncology and fibrosis clinical candidates RXC004 (oncology), RXC006 (AZD5055), Pan RAF inhibitor (JZP815) and FDA approved BTK inhibitor (Pirtobrutinib /Jaypirca®). At GIO Therapeutics Tilly is bringing to bear her proven ability to craft strategic roadmaps and metamorphose fresh ideas into impactful new products.
Cedric Bogaert
CEO of myNEO TherapeuticsCedric is CEO, co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of myNEO Therapeutics, a distinguished biotech dedicated to pioneer breakthrough immunotherapies to fight cancer. Prior to myNEO, Cedric was part of different ventures investigating oncology diagnostics (nutri-epigenomics), and computational advancements in genomic fingerprinting. He earned a Masters in Bioengineering and Medical Genetics from Ghent University, and was part of the Life Sciences Industry Group at Accenture Consulting
Richard Boyd
CEO of InviziusRichard co-founded Invizius in 2018 with Dr Andy Herbert as a spinout from Dr Herbert’s research at the University of Edinburgh. As CEO, Richard has assembled a strong investor syndicate consisting of multiple VCs and a corporate VC, raised $17m of equity and grant funding, and built a team of nearly 20 staff that has successfully taken the lead product into clinical development. Previously, following an early career in operations management consulting to technology-based companies, Richard co-founded VueKlar Cardiovascular which he took to the point of a trade sale.
Samana Brannigan
Innovation Lead at Innovate UK (UKRI)
David Brennan
CEO & Co-Founder of Aurum BiosciencesDavid is CEO and co-founder of Aurum Biosciences. He previously worked as a clinical scientist in the NHS for 28 years specialising in Clinical Physics. During that time he worked in the areas of clinical research and service development with specific focus of MRI, image analysis and MRI safety. Since 2015 he has worked for Aurum initially helping to develop its diagnostic technology. Since then he has expanded his experience by managing the companies operations, IP management, business development, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. In early 2024 David took on the role of CEO of Aurum Biosciences.
Jordy Breuker
Associate Capital Advisory at F.INSTITUTEJordy joined the Capital Advisory team at F.INSTITUTE in 2023 and brings a wealth of financial and life sciences experience into play. He moved into finance directly after finishing his Biomedical Sciences degree, starting his career at Kempen & Co, a life sciences-focused investment bank, working on IPO and other public market transactions, as well as managing M&A processes. Following Kempen he helped set up and lead the biotech team at NLC Health Ventures, a studio focused on healthtech, pulling research out of academia and building companies around that technology. His current focus is on fractional CFO and fundraising projects.
Claudine Brisard
Senior Vice President Medical and Scientific Management at Syneos HealthClaudine Brisard is an internist, with 25 years experience in pharmaceutical industry after 5 years hospital practice. She worked for the regulatory authorities in France then moved to Sanofi as global lead PharmacoVigilance for products in clinical development, Lundbeck leading Medical Affairs Neurosciences, then moved to Clinical Development at Pfizer as Global Strategy Lead in Neurosciences, and Woman's Health. She has experience with regulatory submission and approvals (FDA and EMA).
In 2016 she joined Syneos Health as the lead for neurosciences medical team. She has been leading initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in clinical trials for several years.
Dejan Brkic
Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs at Thermo Fisher ScientificDejan is Head of Regulatory Development Solutions at PPD, part of Thermo Fischer Scientific, focusing on novel, targeted, and accelerated, custom-tailored regulatory science solutions for medicines development from early development through regulatory approval and life cycle management and maintenance. Following an academic career in pharmaceutical sciences, culminating in various Principal Scientist and Lecturer roles in multiple European universities, Dejan held senior regulatory leadership positions in biotech and biopharma companies, where he has overseen global drug development in various therapeutic areas. His expertise extends to biomarker discovery programs, as well as combined medical devices and medicinal products, including digital health solutions.
Anne Bruinvels
Founder of PX HeathcareAnne is a serial life-sciences entrepreneur. She is the Founder and CEO of Px HealthCare, the digital health company that puts Patient Experience at the heart of delivering better oncology outcomes. Having supported cancer patients for over a decade with OWise, its clinically-validated, digital self-management platform, Px conducts patient-powered, nationwide Real World Evidence studies.
Previously, Anne was Executive Director of the European Personalized Medicine Association and founded a data-mining, personalized medicine company focused on psychiatric disorders, which she brought to the LSE. She is a pharmacist with a PhD in molecular neuroscience and received numerous awards for leadership and innovation.
Hanne Callewaert
CEO and Co-founder of AstriVaxHanne Callewaert is co-founder and CEO of AstriVax. She has 20+ years of experience in the life sciences. Hanne has obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences, and a Masters in IP. She has worked at large companies, like GSK Vaccines and smaller biotech companies like Oxurion, Oncurious and AstriVax. She has a diverse drug/vaccine development background blended with business and corporate development through executive leadership functions as COO at Oxurion, followed by her current CEO position at AstriVax.
Philip Campbell
Commercial Director of MEPC Milton ParkPhilip is Commercial Director at MEPC, responsible for leading the on-site team at the thriving science and technology park in Oxfordshire, Milton Park. He joined the team in 2006, is a Chartered Surveyor and has over 25 years' experience in commercial real estate. He is passionate about helping businesses with their evolving accommodation needs and enjoys simplifying complex real estate issues.
Rebecca Canter
Senior Director of Lilly Ventures
Chris Carr
Head of Regulatory Affairs at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
Steven Chance
CEO & Co-Founder of Oxford Brain Diagnostics Ltd
Simon Chandler
CEO of Rinri TherapeuticsSimon has been involved with Rinri since its inception and is responsible for the strategic direction and operation of the company. Has spent most of his career within blue-chip biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies such as Covance and Applied Biosystems in new business and market development roles. Joined Rinri from IP Group, a specialist deep-tech VC firm, where he worked in early-stage investment and venture building, creating technology companies from transformative new IP. Simon has a PhD. (York) in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and holds CIM qualifications.
Aline Charpentier
Head of Innovation at Bruntwood SciTech
Sarah Cole
CEO of SENISCA LtdSarah joined SENISCA in 2023. As CEO, Sarah leads the strategic development, communication and investor liaison activities at the Company. With over 20 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, Sarah has held a number of senior research leadership positions prior to developing a successful career in life sciences investment. Sarah is a recognised leader in strategic development, pipeline creation and the critical evaluation of business development opportunities, with a focus on the development of early phase biotech. Sarah holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.
Olcay Yilmaz Damar
Chairman of the Board at Kollestee UK GlobalBreakthrough and Game-Changer Innovator; Global Entrepreneur; Global Investor,
"The UK - Exceptional Talent - Global Talent Visa" holder,
Founder of "Kollestee UK Global" and "Kollestee Medical" companies,
Expert, Evaluator, Observer and Mentor at the European Commission - Horizon Europe Funding Programmes,
Mechanical Engineer,
Experience in:
Global Innovation Project Management | Research & Development (R&D) | Innovation Development | Multi-Discipline Engineering Projects | Business Development | Marketing & Sales Strategy |
Mechanical Design | Automation, Robotics, Mechatronics | Process Development | Software Development | Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning,
Linked in:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olcayyilmazdamar/
Tim Davies
Regional Head, UK Primary Markets at London Stock ExchangeTim joined The London Stock Exchange in April 2019 and has responsibility for potential AIM and Main Market IPOs across The Midlands, Wales, East Anglia, Cambridge and Oxford. In addition, he has national responsibility for all Healthcare and related IPO business.
He spent the previous 20 years working across a range of industry sectors in UK small and mid-cap advisory and broking roles at Teather & Greenwood, Charles Stanley Securities and Cantor Fitzgerald Europe.
Inga Deakin
Principal at Molten VenturesInga has experience investing in life science and digital health companies emerging from top UK universities. She spent some time in the US, gaining international industry and healthcare experience, as Chief of Staff in a commercial stage genetic molecular diagnostics company, and as Entrepreneur in Residence at Duke University. Her scientific training includes a DPhil and MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford, and a BA from the University of Cambridge.
Mahendra Deonarain
CEO of Antikor BiopharmaDr Deonarain studied at Imperial College and Cambridge University in protein engineering. From 1997-2011 Dr Deonarain was a Principle Investigator (Reader) at Imperial College in Antibody Technology, which led to some novel technologies being developed commercially. Dr Deonarain now retains honorary links. He has published over 80 papers and patents in protein/antibody engineering/conjugates. In 2014, he co-founded Antikor Biopharma where he is the CSO leading a team of 15 to develop the next-generation of antibody-fragment based ADCs. Dr Deonarain is also Antikor’s CEO, driving the commercial development of Antikor’s OptiLink platform to develop FDC products for therapeutic applications
Victor Dillard
Vice President, Strategy & Operations at Resolution TherapeuticsVictor is a biotech entrepreneur and venture builder, with over 12 years of
commercial and operational experience at the intersection of cell therapy, genetic
engineering and artificial intelligence. He currently leads, strategy and corporate
development at Resolution Therapeutics. Victor was previously Entrepreunerial Fellow at Flagship Pioneering, CEO at Desktop Genetics and VP of Commercial Operations at Owkin. He holds an MEng from Imperial College and MPhil from the University of Cambridge.
Mark Dowling
Head of Search & Evaluation for Immunology Business Development at SanofiMark currently leads the Search and Evaluation team supporting the Immunology and Inflammation Therapeutic Area in Sanofi. His team identifies and conducts due diligence on all I&I opportunities from early platform technologies to commercial stage products. Prior to joining Sanofi in 2021, Mark was Vice President of Translation Medicine for Kaleido Biosciences, a Flagship originated Microbiome company. He started his career as a GPCR pharmacologist in respiratory, Novartis U.K. in 2003
Jean-Louis Duprey
Head of Research and Development at Linear DiagnosticsJean-Louis is the Head of Research and Development at University of Birmingham (UoB) spinout Linear Diagnostics and in charge of their Rapid STI point of care project. He joined Linear from UoB where he worked on biomarker detection and DNA modification and sensing with Prof Tim Dafforn, the founder of Linear Diagnostics.
Tammy D’Lugin Monroe
Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff to the Chief Scientific Officer at Syneos HealthTammy D’Lugin-Monroe is a highly regarded, clinical research executive driving creative strategies for patient-centered trial design optimization, cost containment, and revenue acceleration with 22+ years of industry experience. She serves as Chief of Staff to the CSO leading teams of therapeutic experts responsible for early client engagement; product development; clinical consulting; and protocol design and optimization. Tammy provides strategic consultation and direction to clinical management, finance, and business development teams facilitating overall success for clinical trials. Ms. D’Lugin-Monroe is a registered nurse, holds a bachelor’s degree in project management, and master’s degree in global organizational management.
James Field
Founder & CEO of LabGeniusJames is the founder and CEO of LabGenius, a next-generation antibody discovery company.
James has raised >$30M in financing from top-tier VCs (e.g. Lux Capital, Obvious Ventures, Atomico and Kindred) and struck R&D deals with top pharma companies like Sanofi.
Prior to founding LabGenius, James completed a PhD at Imperial where he developed novel methods for re-engineering protein nanocages for targeted drug delivery.
James is a recognised thought leader having spoken on the world stage at events like Milken Global Conference, TEDMED, RAAIS and CogX. James also plays an active role in briefing policymakers in government on AI-enabled drug discovery.
Gary Ford CBE
CEO of Health Innovation Oxford & Thames ValleyProfessor Gary Ford is Chief Executive Officer of Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley and Professor of Stroke Medicine at Oxford University. He has been involved in many service innovations in stroke care in the last 30 years. Gary was Director of the National Institute for Health Research Stroke Research Network from 2005-2014. He was awarded a CBE in 2013 for services to research in stroke medicine. He is a non-executive director on the board of NICE. In 2018 Gary was identified as one of seven NIHR research legends whose work has transformed care in the NHS.
James Fry
Partner - Head of Life Sciences at Mills & ReeveJames is a partner at the law firm Mills & Reeve and heads the firm's life sciences sector. James is an experienced commercial and IP transactions lawyer with significant experience across the life sciences, including biotech, pharma and medical technologies. He regularly advises biotech and biopharma organisations on out-licensing and in-licensing transactions, broader partnering transactions, and on product development and commercialisation.
Gonzalo Garcia
Investment Partner at SynconaGonzalo is an Investment Partner at Syncona. There he is focused on new company creation, centred primarily on innovation concepts in biologics, as well more recently also clinical-stage investing in the current market. Gonzalo was also part of the founding team at Resolution Therapeutics, a macrophage cell therapy company, where he was Chief of Staff and remains a Board Observer. He has a PhD in Protein Biophysics from the University of Cambridge, and prior to Syncona he spent nearly five years as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.
Frederic Garzoni
Co-founder, CSO of Imophoron LtdFrederic Garzoni is co-founder/CSO and Board member of Imophoron Ltd. He has long experience in managing R&D projects and high-tech platforms at top institutions, including EMBL, CEA and CNRS. Fred has co-authored high-impact publications in top ranked journals including Nature and Science. Fred led the production platform in the multimillion Euro EC consortium project ComplexINC, flagged as 'breakthrough' by the Commission, and delivered high-value drug discovery targets for global pharma enterprises. Award-winning innovator, Fred received BBSRC Future Talent and Mobility Award, SynBiCITE 4D-MBA Closest-to-Market and Start-Up Award. Fred has been appointed Franco-British Young Leader (2022 cohort) by the Franco-British Council.
Cyril Gilbert
CEO & Co-Founder of KimialysCyril has several years of experience in investing in innovative deeptech European companies, as a former analyst at Jolt Capital (Paris). Conducting over 500 interviews with management teams and thorough due diligence work in diverse areas such as medical devices, semiconductors and photonics, he has been involved in several investments across Europe.
As President and co-founder at Kimialys, Cyril is dedicated to making the company’s innovation and benefits available to the widest possible range of industrial partners and patients.
Cyril holds a master’s degree in photonics engineering from the Institute of Optics (Paris) and a management degree from HEC Paris.
Ursula Gompels
CEO of Virothera LtdDr Ursula Gompels is CEO, Founder of Virothera Ltd. Previously at University of Cambridge as a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow of Basic Biomedical Science and then as Professor of Molecular Virology at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine at University of London. In addition, was a Royal Society Industry Fellow at GlaxoSmithKline and served on the WHO regulatory consultation on nucleic acid vaccines. Currently, at the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Nick Gompertz
CEO & Founder of EarSwitch LtdEarSwitch®️ is a startup empowering new ways for people to connect with the world and personal health through in-ear biometric control and sensor technology.
Incorporated in 2019, we initially focused on very specific applications for motor neurone disease (MND) and cerebral palsy. Applications now include complex hands-free control, biometric and medical monitoring.
Dean Griffiths
Managing Director & London Office Head of Clearview PartnersWith over 20 years of commercial and research experience in life sciences, Dean is a trusted partner for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that seek to develop their corporate, commercial, and R&D strategies.
Dean co-leads ClearView's Investor Centre of Excellence, supporting investors succeed in the life sciences sector.
Successful track-record of leading global engagements in corporate strategy, growth strategy, and M&A across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Dean often leverages his PhD in Stem Cell Biology and has deep knowledge of advanced therapies to help clients navigate the complex and dynamic landscape for advanced therapies.
Vibhor Gupta
Founder of Pangaea DataDr. Vibhor Gupta trained in oncology research and has over two decades of industry and academic experience in life sciences. Before Pangaea, Vibhor successfully established Quantum Secure’s European business, which was acquired in 2015. Vibhor then served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Sales at Seven Bridges Genomics (founded at Harvard). Vibhor’s academic career focused on conducting molecular biology studies and building machine learning models with epigenetic, genomic, transcriptomic and clinical trial data for oncology and infectious diseases. Vibhor has an extensive global life science network and regularly speaks at international conferences, government programs and investment summits.
Tim Haines
Executive Partner at AbingworthTim has more than 30 years of international management experience in the life sciences industry in both public and private companies. During his time at Abingworth Tim has taken Chair and board roles in a number of companies including Astex, Fovea, GammaDelta Therapeutics, MEDIAN Technologies, PowderMed, Sientra, Scorpion, Venatorx and Adaptate Biotherapeutics.
Before joining Abingworth in 2005 he was Chief Executive of the Abingworth portfolio company, Astex Therapeutics. Tim was with Astex for over five years and was instrumental in establishing it as one of the leading UK biotechnology companies. Previously, Tim was Chief Executive of two divisions of the publicly-listed medical technology company, Datascope Corp. Prior to Datascope, he held a number of other senior management positions in the US and Europe, including CEO of Thackray Inc and General Manager Baxter UK. Tim has a BSc from Exeter University and an MBA from INSEAD. He is on the Investment Advisory Board of Oxford University Innovation and is a former Director of the BIA, the BVCA Venture Committee and sat on the Wellcome Trust / NHS Health Innovation Challenge Fund.
Ruth Henrice-Desrosiers
Medical Director of Syneos HealthDr. Henrice-Desrosiers is an Internal Medicine physician with over 20 years of industry experience. She is currently serving as Medical Director at Syneos Health in the General Medicine Business Unit with therapeutic expertise in Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic diseases in all phases of clinical trials.
Tony Hickson
Chief Business Officer at Cancer Research UK /Cancer Research HorizonsTony Hickson, CBO for Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons, leads the Commercial Partnerships team, focusing on IP commercialization, start-up creation, licenses, and corporate alliances. Formerly the Managing Director of Imperial Innovations Ltd, he oversaw intellectual property sourcing, licensing, and spin-out creation for Imperial College London's technologies. Additionally, he served five years as an executive director on the board of Touchstone Innovations PLC, a London Stock Exchange-listed investment company. With 15 years of prior experience in bioscience companies, including Wellcome Group R&D, Murex Biotech, Abbott Laboratories, and Kalibrant Limited, Tony brings a wealth of commercial and business development expertise
Angela Hobbs
Founder and CEO of Wilkinson HallAngela Hobbs founded her innovation consultancy Wilkinson Hall Ltd in 2019, to support entrepreneurs and their teams through the challenges of business, product design and sustainable development, prioritizing the critical elements of feasibility, viability, and desirability. Clients include Oxford University Innovation, Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, Evelyn Health and various global firms, in roles as Innovation Specialist, Fractional COO, Executive Business Coach, Board Member and NED. Angela has an MSc in Sustainable Business and holds an Executive Coaching Accreditation from Henley Business School. Her dedication to advancing women's health, ignited by her Master's dissertation in 2008, plays a critical and motivating role in her career.
Ben Holland
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer of AntiverseBen gained his Master's in Engineering Science from Oxford, specialising in information engineering. Following this, he joined an early-stage medical device start-up and, in five years, was responsible for project R&D and managing a focused development team. He pursued international strategic partnerships, managed IP matters, helped establish a manufacturing line in Malaysia, and was named an inventor on several patents. He then returned to information engineering and has worked in machine learning for nearly 10 years, applying it to antibody generation, analysis, and property prediction since 2017.
Alistair Irvine
CEO of Scarlet TherapeuticsAlistair Irvine, PhD, joined Scarlet as CEO in August 2022. He is an experienced biotech and medtech executive who has worked in the industry for >28 years and has broad international executive and R&D experience. Previous to Scarlet, he was Chief Business Officer at Kuros Biosciences AG, a public Swiss biotech company, and he has also held senior management roles at Innovata plc, ML Laboratories plc, and Cobra Therapeutics Ltd. Dr. Irvine holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Sheffield, U.K. and a BSc in biochemistry from the University of Edinburgh, U.K.
Pete Jackson
CEO of Infex TherapeuticsDr Pete Jackson is an experienced serial entrepreneur in the life sciences sector. He has created seven new companies, two of which are currently admitted to trading on AIM.
Pete held senior roles as Vice President of Avecia’s Pharmaceutical Products business unit, following senior commercial and R&D positions at predecessor companies Zeneca and ICI.
Pete is a member of the Project Advisory Group for NHS England and NICE on the UK antibiotic reimbursement trial and is a member of a UKRI/BBSRC panel reviewing academic AMR investments and cross-departmental AMR strategy, and an advisor on AMR/pandemic preparedness to the Milken Institute.
Mike Karim
CEO of Oxford Endovascular LtdMike is the CEO and co-founder of Oxford Endovascular Ltd, a spinout from Oxford University.
The company is developing a revolutionary medical device, to treat brain aneurysms; a life-threatening disease affecting 1 in 50 persons.
Mike has over 30 years in large corporations & start-ups taking innovative medical technologies to markets around the world. He sits on the European ‘Medfit’ organisation steering committee as well as being a sub-board member of the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI).
Mike studied Pre-Clinical Medicine, Physiology & Pharmacology at Southampton University, UK, and holds an MBA from Henley Business School, UK.
Magdalena Karlikowska
CEO of Cytecom LtdDr. Magdalena Karlikowska is the CEO of Cytecom, a University of Warwick spinout focused on revolutionising medical diagnostics. With a PhD in Microbiology and 10 years of professional experience in microbiology research, project management and strategy consulting, she leads Cytecom's development of a rapid diagnostic test for antimicrobial-resistant infections. Passionate about advancing healthcare solutions, her work aims to improve patient outcomes globally.
Dominique Kleyn
Co-Founder and COO of OrthonikaDominique's focus at Orthonika is directing business development and operations, playing a key role in strategic planning, fundraising, intellectual property management and licensing. She has experience in both industrial and academic sectors with collaborators in UK and overseas.
Jan-Philipp Kruse
Senior Director BD&L, Lead CoLab Berlin of Bayer AGJan-Philipp Kruse, PhD, is Senior Director BD&L at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. He leads Bayer’s biotech incubator CoLab in Berlin, driving company recruitment and selection, engagement, and programming. With more than 10 years of experience in strategy consulting (exclusive Life Science focus), Jan-Philipp has advised biotech companies, mid-to large scale pharmaceutical companies, investors, and VCs. . Jan-Philipp joined Bayer in 2015 in a leadership role of the in-house R&D consulting team before joining Open Innovation in Boston in 2018, and later Business Development and Licensing / Open Innovation in 2020. He holds a PhD from Columbia University, New York.
Ina Kunze
BD&L Director Funding EU of Bayer AGIna is a seasoned leader in the pharmaceutical industry.
Her diverse background spans from sales, medical affairs, regulatory-compliance roles to public-private-philanthropic partnerships in R&D from early to late-stage development.
In her career, she has spearheaded numerous initiatives including leading critical global-public-private partnerships and consortium programs.
Ina is recognised for her extensive experience in the pharmaceutical sector, proven track record of success in various key-initiatives, as well as her contributions to innovation and her ability to navigate time-sensitive activities effectively
Following her nutritional studies at the University of Vienna, she holds an MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences & Economics from Danube University.
Bob Ladner
Founder & CEO of CV6 TherapeuticsRobert Ladner, PhD is CEO and Founder of CV6 Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company. By targeting Uracil-DNA Biology, CV6 is developing first-in-class, scalable medications with novel mechanisms of action for oncology and inflammatory diseases. Dr. Ladner received his MSc and PhD degrees from Rutgers University, where he began his work in uracil-DNA metabolism and was appointed Assistant Professor. Subsequent relocation included the University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center until moving CV6 to Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in 2015. Dr. Ladner is an Associate Professor of Molecular Oncology at the QUB Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research.
Esther Lawrence
Head of Business Development – Grants at TBAT InnovationEsther became a member of TBAT in 2021, bringing with her more than two decades of experience in IT and electronics manufacturing and distribution. During this time, she gained valuable expertise in launching products and services into the market. At TBAT, she applies these skills to assist start-ups and scale-ups at the beginning of their journey in securing funding through R&D innovation grants and incentives, helping them develop new technologies and services.
Carole Le Page
Partner - Head of Life Sciences Tax at BDOCarole is a Partner who specialises in the life sciences sector and leads BDO’s Life Sciences tax team.
Carole has 25 years’ tax experience and regularly provides clients of all sizes with tailored commercial advice on a range of issues, including international expansion, intellectual property aspects, incentive plan design and tax compliance. She also often supports businesses as they prepare for, and go through, a transaction, including providing due diligence and transaction structuring advice to sellers and buyers, as well as helping sellers with transaction readiness. She has also advised businesses restructure in preparation for IPO.
Adrien Lemoine
CEO and Co-Founder of Bloomsbury Genetic TherapiesAdrien is the CEO and a co-founder of Bloomsbury Genetic Therapies. Following roles of increasing responsibility in commercial analysis, strategy, operations, business & corporate development at GSK and AstraZeneca, Adrien’s previous role was Chief Business Officer of Orchard Therapeutics. Adrien holds an Engineering Degree from CentraleSupélec (Paris, France) and an MSc in Engineering and Physical Science in Medicine from Imperial College London. Adrien is a Trustee of Metabolic Support UK, a charity supporting people living with inherited metabolic conditions and their communities.
Stephanie Leouzon
Managing Director, Biopharma, Healthcare of StifelStephanie Léouzon is a Managing Director in Stifel’s Global Healthcare Group. She has worked on over 100 strategic and financing transactions in the biopharmaceutical industry, with an aggregate value of over $75 billion. She joined Stifel in 2023 through the Torreya acquisition. At Torreya, Stephanie held the roles of Partner and Head of Europe. Prior to joining Torreya in 2011, Stephanie was a Managing Director and Senior Advisor at Credit Suisse in London. She was a Director in Healthcare Investment Banking at Salomon Brothers, and a Vice President in Investment Banking at JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers in New York.
Chloé Leprêtre
Global Head, R&D Search and Evaluation at ServierChloé is Senior Director, Global Head R&D Search and Evaluation at Servier, in charge of external innovation for the pipeline and research platforms. She has > 15 years experience in life sciences business development sector and joined Servier Global BD Team in 2018 to lead partnering deals in the Discovery space. Before Servier, Chloé worked as BD Manager at Onxeo, a listed biotech company in Paris, and started her career as a technology transfer manager at CNRS’ TTO.
Chloé holds a PhD in aging biology from Université Paris Cité, and an MBA from IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School.
Steven Levine
Innovation Incentives Partner at BDOSteven has been a tax partner for around 20 years. He leads our specialist Life Sciences R&D practice, and also our R&D Tax Credit services nationally and co-leads the BDO Global R&D Centre Of Excellence. He has specialised in R&D tax claims since their inception in the UK in 2000, providing services to early stage start-ups and scale-ups through to listed entities and multi-national corporations.
Steven is a member of R&D working groups at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, also representing BDO on the HMRC R&D Communications Forum.
Peter Jianrui Liu
CEO of Oxford Cancer Analytics Ltd.Dr Peter Liu has a decade of experience in cancer and molecular biology research and health innovation implementation. He is a physician-scientist with medical training (MD) from the University of Toronto and a DPhil in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford where he was the recognized as an Oxford-Hoffman International Scholar and Jesus College Graduate Scholar for academic merit. He was President of the Oxford University Scientific Society, oldest society of its kind in the world, and the Executive Director of BRIGHT International, a health innovation think tank focusing on strategic implementation of medical innovations. His cancer research and medical innovation experiences span four continents, including having worked at the World Health Organisation.
As the CEO and Co-Founder of Oxford Cancer Analytics, the organisation is pioneering a new generation of protein-based liquid biopsy blood test can be conducted in an affordable, minimally invasive, and routine manner in large populations with standard equipments in any diagnostics facility at up to only 1/10th the cost compared to conventional approaches and with double the detection sensitivity. Fully integrated with existing clinical pathways, the test is ready for accelerated deployment by collaborating with 10+ leading centres of excellence across 3 continents, starting from lung cancer early detection and moving to covering the majority of the most prevalent and deadliest cancers worldwide.
Rick Livesey
CEO of Talisman TherapeuticsRick is the Scientific Founder and CEO of Talisman Therapeutics (Cambridge UK), which uses proprietary human stem cell models of neurodegenerative disease for drug discovery. He is also the founder and CEO of Gen2 Neuroscience, developing novel antibody therapeutics for dementia. Rick is Honorary Professor at University College London, and was previously head of genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders at Biogen, Professor of Stem Cell Biology at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, and a senior group leader at the Wellcome/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge.
Emma Longland
Patent Director, Patent Attorney of Venner ShipleyEmma is a UK and European patent attorney in the Venner Shipley chemical and life sciences team, with expertise with inventions in the medical and biotechnology fields, such as, antisense oligonucleotides, CRISPR technologies, vaccines, antibodies, and cell, gene and protein therapeutics generally. Emma works with a range of clients from universities and their spinouts to large pharmaceutical companies and overseas associates. Emma is based in Cambridge and particularly involved with local spin outs through accelerator programs. She assists her clients with the drafting and filing of patent applications and overseeing their subsequent worldwide prosecution.
Chung Looi
CEO of Ablatus TherapeuticsDr. Chung Looi is the CEO of Ablatus Therapeutics, a women-led MedTech company that has developed a patented enhanced ablation technology to treat fibroids. She has over 10 years of research and commercial experience in MedTech, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford. Previously, she led strategic partnerships with life sciences, commercial insurers, research organisations, and health systems in the US, Asia, and EMEA to bring cutting-edge medical devices from the UK and Denmark to global markets. Looi is passionate about improving women's health and promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity in the life sciences sector.
Alli Lynch
Scientist III, Applications & Manufacturing Support at Merck MilliporeAlli Lynch is an R&D Scientist working in the Applications Development group at Merck in Cork, Ireland. She received her PhD in Molecular Microbiology from University College Cork in 2018, where her research involved the genetic characterization of the role of glycine lipids in Bacteroides, a major member of the human gut microbiome. Alli joined Merck in 2019, where she works on applications development of cell culture and molecular biology workflow tools within the Merck portfolio.
Ishani Malhotra
CEO & Founder of CarcinotechIshani Malhotra, Chief Executive Officer, and founder of Carcinotech, has over ten years of experience in oncology and stem cell research with degrees from the University of Edinburgh and a Certificate of Achievement from Harvard Medical School. Ishani launched Carcinotech in 2018, to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the oncology industry and bring more effective cancer treatments to market. She has won several awards at national and international platforms including regional winner and EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist 2023 and has fostered partnerships across industry and academia to advance the validation and adoption of Carcinotech's technology.
Allan Marchington
Head of Life Sciences at ICGAllan is Head of Life Sciences at Intermediate Capital Group PLC (ICG), a FTSE 100 company with over $86Bn AUM. Allan has been a Life Science investor for the last 20 years. Prior to joining ICG, Allan was formerly a Founding Partner at Bridge Valley Ventures, prior to this was at Apposite Capital, and Abingworth. Allan has also had a number of operational roles during his career and was Senior Vice President at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass. Allan joined Millennium following their acquisition of the company he founded, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry. Allan began his career in R&D at Pfizer.
Andrew McConaghie
Senior Writer, Scrip at CitelineAndrew has been writing about about pharma, biotech and healthcare for 25 years. For Scrip he covers areas such as biotech financing and big pharma strategy and pipeline developments in oncology, cell and gene therapy and neuroscience.
Duncan McHale
Co-founder and Expert Drug Development Clinician of Weatherden
Thomas Mcinally
CSO at Alevin TherapeuticsI have 30 years’ experience as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry and worked in various therapeutic areas including cardiovascular and respiratory. I am an inventor on 42 patents and 24 peer review articles and led the AstraZeneca medicinal chemistry team in research project with Dainippon Sumitomo to discover novel TLR7 agonists for respiratory diseases that developed four candidate drugs.
At the University of Nottingham, I led an undergraduate research project to discover novel integrin inhibitors for the treatment of fibrotic diseases. Multiple series of novel compounds with were identified leading to the spin out company Alevin Therapeutics
Jim Millen
Chairman at KargeneraDr Jim Millen has over 20 years’ experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Having served in senior corporate development positions at GSK and Allergan, he now focuses on smaller companies with a particular interest in cancer therapeutics. Jim has served as advisor, board member and executive leader and completed an array of deals worth many hundreds of millions of dollars, spanning licencing, acquisition, divestment, development and commercialisation.
Neil Miller
CEO of NRG TherapeuticsNeil trained as a chemist in the UK/US and then spent 18 years at GSK in R&D leading small molecule projects from start of chemistry into early clinical studies. He moved into biotech in 2015 joining Auspherix Ltd, a UK-based company developing a novel class antibiotic to address antimicrobial resistance, initially as CSO and subsequently as CEO. In 2018 he co-founded NRG Therapeutics Ltd and led the company through Seed and Series A fundraises
Robert Milnes
CEO of viO HealthTechRob has spent over 30 years bringing ground-breaking medtech to global markets, with the past 25 years focussed on women’s health. Having personally suffered from infertility, he built a team at viO with similar experiences to develop and launch the OvuSense platform based on technology from University of Bristol. Rob is co-inventor of 6 OvuSense patents and co-author of several clinical publications. Prior to viO, Rob ran and then sold the Sonicaid fetal monitoring business.
Damian Mole
Founder & CSO of Kynos TherapeuticsDamian was Founding CEO of Kynos, and is now Founder CSO. He led the spin-out and licensing from the University of Edinburgh, driven by a passion and determination to deliver innovative solutions to challenging and unmet medical needs. Damian is trained in science, clinical medicine and business leadership, and holds the 1777 Chair of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh and recently an MRC Senior Clinical Fellow. Damian co-founded Kynos after discovering KMO inhibition as new target at the interface of inflammation, immunity and metabolism, building on a 15-year translational KMO inhibitor programme, including a prestigious GSK DPAc Collaboration.
David Mott
Founder Partner of Oxford CapitalDavid co-founded Oxford Capital with a passion for backing founders and building bridges between entrepreneurs and private capital investors. Since 1999, the firm has invested in over 100 companies across healthcare and technology sectors. For four years, David served as Chair of the BVCA Venture Capital Committee and aims to promote the long-term sustainability of the UK’s venture capital sector and support the thriving enterprise economy. He is a member of YPO, the Young Presidents Organization, London chapter. David has also advised the UK Government and the European Commission on investment policy. www.oxcp.com
Jason Mundin
CEO of UbiquigentJason is CEO of Ubiquigent Ltd and has over 30 years of experience in early drug discovery gained within large pharma and biotech. Jason began his career at GSK before moving into the biotech sector. At Ubiquigent he has driven the company’s scientific and commercial strategy based on the development of its deubiquitinase (DUB) focused drug discovery platform, the development of an internal portfolio of DUB-targeting compounds and the establishment of a growing number of partnerships with those seeking to exploit the DUB field. Jason has a degree in Applied Biology and an MBA from Imperial College London.
Frances Murphy
Regional Vice President, Clinical Business Solutions, EU & APAC at Precision for MedicineLeading authority in clinical CROs, focused on client services and regional growth implementation. Dedicated proponent of harnessing truly personalized medicine to develop more effective treatments for patients. Brings that passion to client support.
Stephen Myatt
CEO of MacomicsSteve has over 15 years’ experience of the life science industry gained through leadership positions in biotech, venture capital and technology transfer. Steve has led and closed numerous commercial partnerships, venture capital financings, IP licensing transactions, and academic collaborations, collectively worth over $1.5bn and has a successful track record of delivering novel therapeutics into clinical trials. Steve has a first-class degree in Pharmacology and a PhD in paediatric oncology drug discovery.
Amit Nathwani
Founder & CEO of NovalGenProfessor Amit Nathwani is the founder of NovalGen and serves as the Company’s CEO and a member of the Board of Directors. A renowned serial innovator and entrepreneur. With an international reputation for his work in cancer research, immunology, and gene therapy and has been the recipient of a number of highly acclaimed awards. He is well known for his dedication to translational medicine and his commonly cited pioneering work in gene therapy where he was the first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe haemophilia B.
Julian Neave
Director, Real Estate of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (an Oxford North Ventures JV partner)Julian Neave is responsible for investments and asset management in the UK and Europe. He has over 17 years of experience in real estate investment and development. He was previously a partner at Quadrant, where he led the Central London investment and development projects. Prior to that Julian has worked at Blackrock in London and Hong Kong, MGPA, Deloitte and JLL. Julian is a member of the RICS and holds a Master of Science in International Real Estate from Oxford Brookes and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Oxford University.
Ben Nichols
CEO of Alveron Pharma UKBen is CEO of Alveron Pharma BV, developing a new therapy for intracranial haemorrhage that has recently completed a Phase I trial. He is also CEO and Chairman of Selentus Science that has launched an innovative resorbable haemostat, TenaTac®, for intraoperative bleeding. Ben has managed several VC backed companies and achieved two exits, including Haemostatix at clinical Phase I. He is an inventor on several patents and in 2015 shared first prize in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technology competition for an innovative dendrimer-based coagulant.
Lars Ottevanger
Associate Capital Advisory at F.INSTITUTELars Ottevanger has a background in biomedical sciences and business administration, and has first-hand experience of the sector. He was the founder of a Dutch medtech start-up that focused on improving the results of surgical oncology, where he was mainly involved in financing and operations. After the company was sold, Lars joined F.INSTITUTE to support entrepreneurs in building and growing successful companies. This entrepreneurial experience, combined with financial expertise, is well received by F.INSTITUTE’s portfolio of companies. His current focus is working with the management of several biotech and medtech companies as a fractional CFO and supporting fundraising.
James Otto
Senior Medical Director, Neuroscience Medical Affairs of IpsenDr Otto's career as a neuroscientist specializing in medical affairs and innovation has spanned 20 years. He has held a variety of positions in small biotech as well as medium- and large-sized pharma companies, in areas such as movement disorders, Alzheimer's disease, neurobiology of addiction, pain management, and epilepsy. In his current position at Ipsen, he is focused on pipeline and innovation in the rare neurological disorders space.
Lisa Page
Partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper
Premal Pajwani
Principal, Founder & CEO of PRP AdvisoryPremal is the founder and principal of PRP Advisory, a specialist independent healthcare consultancy firm. Premal previously worked as the Global Healthcare Specialist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management in London for 8 years. Prior to this, Premal was a Healthcare Portfolio Manager with First State Investments. From 2000 to 2007, Premal was a Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities and Eden Financial. From 1991 to 2000, Premal worked as a Research Analyst covering Pharma at various banks and brokers in NYC. Premal holds an M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and a BCom from University of Bombay, India.
Emma Palmer Foster
Consultant at EJ Palmer ConsultingAs EJ Palmer Consulting, Emma Palmer Foster works with pharma and biotech companies/organisations on strategy, investor relations and communications.
She chairs a UK NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Product Development Award Panel, is a Director of Discovery Park Ventures and Investor Director at two of its portfolio companies.
Emma has more than 30 years of experience in the European healthcare sector, via roles in investment banking, VC, financial communications and investor relations, journalism and technology transfer.
She has an MA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Durham University Business School
Lisa Patel
CEO of IstessoLisa is CEO and co-founder of Istesso. Prior to joining the company in 2007, she spent 10 years at GlaxoSmithKline as a team leader in the Cardiovascular Centre of Excellence and latterly as a group leader in Clinical Pharmacology and Discovery Medicine. Lisa has a PhD in molecular genetics, a degree in biochemistry and an MBA.
Raphael Peralta
CEO & Co-Founder of CardiaTec BiosciencesRaphael has worked across various sectors within biotechnology, his most recent role prior to CardiaTec was in Business Development for the University of Cambridge spin-out, Vector. There, he developed on the financing and licensing strategy for the commercialisation of innovative metal-organic nanoparticle frameworks for drug delivery in cancer therapeutics. Alongside, Raphael consulted for PlaqueTec, regarding the commercialisation of their liquid biopsy device for coronary artery disease. BSc/MSc in Industrial Biotechnology and MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.
Helen Philippou
CEO of ClotProtect TherapeuticsHelen Philippou is a Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Leeds. Recently she co-founded and is CEO of ClotProtect Therapeutics a spin-out company developing a small molecule therapeutic to stem bleeding in patients. Previously she co-founded LUNAC Therapeutics which was shortlisted for 4 "Start-up" awards and won 3 of these in 2020 and 2021. LUNAC was featured in J.P. Morgan's first-ever Top 200 Female-Powered Businesses report, where LUNAC was rated 55 out of 6,085 UK high-growth companies in 2021. . Prof Philippou also featured as a Mover and Shaker in 2021 BioBusiness Report, BioBeat.
Sarah Pollitt
Chair at EnsiliTechSarah is an advisor to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors and is currently Chair of EnsiliTech, a biotech based in Bristol with an innovative technology to make biologicals thermally stable.
Sarah's experience is in the pharmaceutical sector, with global commercial leadership roles at AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, bringing forwards new medicines and innovative technologies. Her therapeutic focus includes Immunology, Respiratory and Rare Diseases.
Sarah holds an Undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD Business School.
Kam Pooni
CEO of Glyconics LtdSeasoned C-suite leader with over 26 years in the life sciences sector. CEO of Glyconics and held top roles at Astellas Pharma Europe, Thomson Reuters, and Eli Lilly, and serving as as a Royal Society Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Southampton Life Sciences.
Jon Rees
CEO of MitoRxCommercial co-founder and CEO of MitoRx Therapeutics. Very well connected and entrepreneurial senior exec with experience ranging from pharma strategic and business development consultancy including for Takeda Europe and Takeda Rare Diseases to VC deal sourcing (EQT/LSP), fundraising for emerging biotech such as Ducentis BioTherapeutics (sold to Arcutis 2022 for up to $400m), entrepreneurial foundation of OBN and the BioTrinity investor conference and other businesses. R&D Trustee for PKD Charity UK.
Andy Roberts
Head of Innovation - Life Sciences at Bruntwood SciTechAndy is Head of Innovation at Bruntwood SciTech, and focuses on supporting companies, andn the wider ecosystem, at campuses including Alderley Park in Cheshire and Manchester Science Park & City Labs, both in the acclaimed "Oxford Road Corridor" with strong links to the local Universities and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the largest NHS trust in the UK. Andy is passionate about building early stage companies, and has spent over a decade working with organisations like Innovate UK and NIHR, firstly as a grant-awardee, and more recently as a grant assessor and monitoring officer.
Fiona Rudkin
CEO of mycoBiologicsFiona Rudkin is CEO and co-founder of mycoBiologics Ltd – an anti-infectives biotech company. She has a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology with Industrial Experience from The University of Edinburgh and a MSc in Neuroscience and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Aberdeen. She has 15 years’ experience in antibody drug discovery, including within the Global Biotherapeutics Division at Pfizer, and was awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship to lead the creation of mycoBiologics Ltd. Recently she completed the Entrepreneurial Development Program at MIT and has secured significant non-dilutive funding to advance mycoBiologics Ltd's therapeutic programmes.
David Sarphie
CEO of Seroxo LtdDr David Sarphie is a medtech entrepreneur with 30 years’ experience in project management, senior management and CEO positions within start-up medical technology development companies. His speciality is building early-stage medtech businesses based on innovative medical technologies. Dr Sarphie earned a DPhil in Medical Engineering at the Univ of Oxford before co-founding PowderJect (which was founded on the technology he had co-invented).PowderJect was sold to Chiron in 2003 for almost $900m. Since then, Dr Sarphie has helped found a number of early-stage medical companies, including Acrobot, Bio Nano, Oxford MediStress and its sister company, Seroxo.
Rosie Scott
Medical Director and Co-Founder of Definition HealthDr Rosie Scott is a practising NHS Consultant Radiologist based in Brighton and also Medical Director of Definition Health. She co- founded this digital health company to support hospital staff in the end- to- end care of their surgical patients from pre-assessment through to recovery and in doing so created cost efficiencies and also opportunity for standardisation and personalisation of delivery of care. She is on the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Program cohort 7 where she has the opportunity to develop and grow the company and support others to also develop their own innovations to support the healthcare system
Steve Silvey
Deputy Head of Licensing & Ventures – Life Sciences at Oxford University Innovation (OUI)Steve is responsible for creating strong commercial outcomes from university research, including forming and running spin-out companies, investing in early-stage ventures and negotiating licence deals, with a special focus on digital health. He has over 20 years of experience at governance and senior executive levels in fast growing, innovative companies.
Hannah Sore
Co-founder & CEO of PharmEnable TherapeuticsA medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what is possible with small molecule therapeutics and breaking down the barriers of inaccessibility.
Hannah brings over 25 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge. During her time at Astex Therapeutics, she is delighted to have contributed to the discovery stage of TruqapTM (capivasertib).
Hannah completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.
Ben Thomas
CEO and Co-Founder of AMPLY DiscoveryBased in Belfast and Aberystwyth, AMPLY's CEO and co-founder Dr Ben Thomas has a background in AI-software development and bioinformatics as well as a career in farming, financial asset management, predictive marketing analytics and commercial energy industries.
Mihriban Tuna
CEO of ImmutrinMihriban is an executive leader with over 20 years’ experience in biologics drug development across biotech and pharma. She is currently CEO of Immutrin and Entrepreneur in Residence at Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Previously, Mihriban was Chief Scientific Officer at Adaptate Biotherapeutics (acquired by Takeda), Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery at F-star Therapeutics and an early employee at Domantis (acquired by GSK).
Mihriban holds a BSc in Biology from Middle East Technical University, a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Sussex and an EMBA from University of Cambridge Judge Business School.
Douglas Thomson
CEO of Pneumagen LtdDouglas Thomson is CEO and co-founder at Pneumagen. His background is in infectious disease vaccine research and development. He was previously at SingVax, in Singapore, as CEO, and Microscience Ltd as Business Development Director. Douglas sits on the board of Omideon, a St. Andrews based biotech company focused on the development of novel treatments for cancer; he is a non-executive director of EnteroBiotix, a microbiome therapeutics platform and product company and is a Venture Partner with the KAMRA fund, which is focused on infectious disease.
Emma Tinsley
CEO of WeatherdenEmma Tinsley is a leading biotech executive and the CEO of Weatherden, a global integrated clinical consultancy and experts in scientific strategy and clinical development. Emma has deep experience of company formation, clinical development strategy, operating model transformation and investment management and was previously at SV Health Investors in the biotech company creation team creating immunology and oncology companies; and prior to this, in the Life Sciences team at KPMG.
Neil Torbett
CEO of PhoreMostNeil is an experienced biotechnology professional. Prior to PhoreMost, Neil co-founded Activiomics Ltd, where he served as COO until its acquisition by hVIVO in 2014. Previously, Neil worked at Piramed Pharma, where he was involved in the management of a successful research collaboration with Genentech. Piramed was sold to Roche in 2008.
Neil holds a BSc in Biology from the University of York and a PhD from the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute. Neil completed postdoctoral training at the UCSF Cancer Center. Neil also holds an MBA from The Open University.
Laura Towart
Founder & CEO of Vivan TherapeuticsLaura founded Vivan Therapeutics to advance a ground-breaking personalised approach to cancer developed at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Laura became passionate about personalised medicine during her PhD studies at Weill Cornell Graduate School for Medical Sciences/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Since then she has been actively involved in translational advances in medicine. In 2008 she co-founded Celmatix, and was the founding CEO, helping build a next-generation women's health company leveraging big-data and genomics. Laura is an avid startup/technology strategist/angel investor, with a focus on personalised medicine. Laura is driven to help foster biotechnology communities globally, and is an active advisor/speaker/mentor.
Dan Turner
CSO at Enhanc3D GenomicsDan has over 20 years of senior leadership experience within the fields of genetics, molecular biology, and sequencing research. Before joining Enhanced Genomics, he held many roles at Oxford Nanopore Technologies including Senior Vice President, Vice President and Senior Director of Applications. During his more than 13 years with Oxford Nanopore he established various strategic collaborations and led projects to demonstrate the range of applications of the company’s technology. He holds a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and completed an MSc and PhD in Genetics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
Luis Valente
CEO & Co-Founder of iLoFBusiness manager, strategist, and entrepreneur with a drive for using innovative and creative strategies to solve complex problems.
Forbes 30-under-30 for Science and Healthcare, with a background in Computer Science, I have spent several years focusing on innovation and improving strategies in companies from Tech to Healthcare.
A deep belief in the power of Technology as the core driver for democratizing Personalized Medicine had me co-founding iLoF: a fast-growing deep-tech company using AI to build a cloud-based library of disease biomarkers and biological profiles.
Currently on a mission to accelerate adequate treatments for millions of patients living with complex, heterogeneous diseases around the globe.
Eric Van der Putten
Chief Business Officer at Modra PharmaceuticalsEric is the Chief Business Officer of Modra Pharmaceuticals. He started his career in 1983 as head trial department of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Between 1990 and 2007 he held several positions at companies specialized in clinical research including NDDO Oncology, where he acted as COO and CEO. After INC Research acquired NDDO Oncology in 2005, Eric became Vice President Oncology for Europe of INC Research. Eric is co-founder of SMS-oncology, a specialized oncology CRO established in 2007 where he worked as COO and CEO. Eric is also a partner at Aglaia Oncology Funds.
Richard Vellacott
CEO of BiologIC Technologies LimitedRichard is co-founder and CEO of BiologIC Technologies. BiologIC’s integrated bioprocessing platform is trusted by leading customers to enhance yields, process robustness and scalability of advanced biology products. Our vision is to help customers engineer biology to solve enormous challenges faced by humanity in a sustainable, accessible way.
Through a number of C-suite roles, Richard was instrumental in growing Horizon Discovery Group plc from an emerging private company of £3m revenue in 2012 to a recognised global leader in gene editing delivering revenue of £60m at a valuation of £350m as a public company.
Michele Vendruscolo
Professor of Biophysics at University of CambridgeMichele Vendruscolo is Professor of Biophysics, Director of the Chemistry of Health Laboratory and Co-Director of the Centre for Misfolding Diseases at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge, where he moved over 20 years ago. His work is aimed at establishing the fundamental principles of protein homeostasis and protein aggregation, and at exploiting these principles to develop methods for drug discovery in neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 500 scientific papers and 20 patents and given over 500 invited lectures at international meetings. He has been founder and chief scientific officer of Wren Therapeutics (now WaveBreak Therapeutics).
Edwin Wagena
CEO of Sutura TherapeuticsEdwin is an experienced senior executive, trained as epidemiologist with a PhD in Medicine, with more than 20 years of experience in drug development. Since 2008, Edwin specialised in the development of ATMPs and orphan drugs.
Edwin Joined Sutura in May 2021 as COO and was promoted to CEO in November of that same year. Before joining Sutura, Edwin held senior positions at Kiadis Pharma (CDO), Ixaka (previously Rexgenero, COO) and Atelerix (CEO).
Clare Wareing
Founder of Cumulus OncologyWith a thirty-plus year career encompassing academic research and extensive phase 1 to 3 oncology trial management in the pharma, biotech and services sector of the industry, Clare used her collective experience in the oncology sector to found (2000), scale and sell (2012) niche oncology CRO, Nexus Oncology. This experience of successful business management and exit enabled Clare to found Cumulus Oncology, an alternative approach to the traditional biotech model. Cumulus creates and manages a growing number of its own biotech companies. Operating a ‘hub’ and ‘spoke’ model the company is a hybrid of a fund and an operations company.
David Weinkove
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Magnitude BiosciencesDavid Weinkove has worked in the field of ageing for over 25 years and is the Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing. He is also a Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University, where he researches how bacteria impact ageing using the nematode worm C. elegans as a fast-ageing in vivo model. In 2018, David co-founded Magnitude Biosciences to apply to the power of the C. elegans and automated imaging technology to industrial drug discovery. As Chief Scientific Officer, David helps clients find solutions to their drug discovery challenges using C. elegans where possible.
David Wentholt
Director of BDODavid is a Director at BDO with over ten years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences strategy & CDD consulting sector. David has completed 100+ CDD projects and 15+ strategy projects in healthcare & life sciences. He has worked closely with businesses in the digital health space including companies like Doctolib (HCP booking platform), Cambio (EHR provider), Optibrium (drug discovery software provider) and Caidr (health assessment platform) amongst others. He is keen on helping businesses develop their growth strategies from a product/service, geographic and client perspective.
James Westcott
CEO of ThirtyFiveBioJames is currently CEO of ThirtyFiveBio. Prior to that, James was a Director and part of Vertex Pharmaceuticals' Oxford research site leadership team working on various severe diseases with genetically-validated causality. James has led pre-clinical projects in polycystic kidney disease and immuno-oncology TAs, working mostly on progressing small molecules from screening to the clinic, being part of 3 projects that have progressed to the clinic (AurA-kinase inhibitor tozasertib, ATR-kinase inhibitor berzosertib and PKD1-corrector VX-407). James led primary pharmacology groups supporting hit discovery and lead optimisation. James received his PhD from the University of Bristol’s Organic Chemistry Department, studying Polyketide Synthases.
Sam Whitehouse
CEO of LightOxSam is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the medical technologies and commercialisation. Working across a range of industrial applications including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and life sciences. Currently the CEO of LightOx Ltd a company developing light-activated therapies for Oral cancer treatments and also Executive Chairman of High Force Research, a longstanding Chemical Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) in the North East.. Sam is also a Royal Society - Entrepreneur in Residence, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dan Williams
CEO of SynaptixBio Ltd.Dan Williams is an accomplished biopharmaceuticals leader with two decades of industrial experience from bench to operational and scientific executive roles.
During his career Dan has served as Vice President of Research Operations at Adaptimmune PLC. and Chief Product Officer at Meatable B.V.
Dr. Williams is the CEO and co-founder of SynaptixBio LTD., a developer of therapeutics to treat TUBB4A leukodystrophy.
James Wong
MedTech SuperConnector at Imperial College LondonJames brings investment, corporate and board experience from supporting medical technologies and life sciences companies in the UK, Europe and the US.
Roles held include Member of the TechBio UK Advisory Group at BioIndustry Association; Expert-in-Residence at Imperial College London; Venture Partner at MedTech SuperConnector; Investment Principal - Life Sciences at Oxford Science Enterprises. Before this, James was Head of Corporate Advisory at Mercia Asset Management; Investment Director at Fosun Pharma; and Investment Manager at NBGI Ventures.
James started his career at Cambridge Consultants and holds an MPhil in Computational Biology from the University of Cambridge, funded by EPSRC
Kirsty Wydenbach
Head of Regulatory Strategy and Drug Development Clinician at WeatherdenDr Kirsty Wydenbach is a renowned regulatory expert and pharmaceutical physician who leads the strategy division at Weatherden, a global integrated clinical consultancy. Kirsty joined Weatherden from the MHRA where she was an expert medical assessor in the Clinical Trials Unit, with a particular interest in ATMPs and FIH studies. She currently chairs the Clinical Trial Science and Regulations Expert Group of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, is an expert on the Scientific Advisory Board of CRO Simbec-Orion, a committee member of the Association for Human Pharmacology in the Pharmaceutical Industry (AHPPI) and a visiting lecturer for King’s College London.
Hakim Yadi
CEO & Co-Founder of Closed Loop MedicineHakim is a Co-Founder and chief executive of Closed Loop Medicine. Closed Loop Medicine is a TechBio company developing combination prescription drug plus software products, with the aim of bringing forward the promise of precision care.
Hakim joined Closed Loop Medicine having been the founding CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance Ltd, the pan-Northern health partnership established to improve health outcomes across the North of England.
He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and in 2017 he was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to Healthcare Technology and the Economy.
Mudassar Yasin
Global Strategy and Business Development Manager at Hydrogel Healthcare LimitedMudassar is an ex Civil Servant and joined Hydrogel Healthcare Limited in 2012, a company that has over 30 years experience in the field of hydrogels. Coupled with his drive for developing strategic market intelligence and identifying hidden opportunities, he is currently responsible for shaping the company's strategy and growing the company. Mudassar also has active interests in cultural diplomacy and sustainability.
Mudassar holds a Bachelor's degree in International Business & Management with a focus on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Emerging Economies from the University of Bradford. He is also a member of the World Technology Universities Network.
Klara Zareba
Business Associate at MICA BiosystemsKlara Zareba stands at the intersection of scientific innovation and business development, bringing a unique blend of expertise to the biotechnology sector. With an academic background in medical biotechnology and business management she is well-equipped to bridge the gap between research breakthroughs and market success. Her role in project management and business development is characterised by a collaborative approach and a keen insight into market trends, making her a valued contributor to any initiative
Stephane van Rooijen
CEO of Flamingo TherapeuticsStephane van Rooijen (MD, MBA) is CEO of Flamingo Therapeutics and serves on its Board of Directors.
Stephane van Rooijen started his career at Arthur D. Little.
He joined Genzyme (now Sanofi) in 2004 and held leadership positions as the European Cardiovascular Business Unit Leader.
In 2012 he joined Viropharma (London).
In 2014, he co-founded Confo Therapeutics as CEO.
In 2016, he became CEO of Dynacure, and later oversaw the merger in 2023 between Dynacure and Flamingo Therapeutics.
Stephane studied medicine at KU Leuven and obtained an MBA at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Georgetown University, Washington DC.