Richard is the Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre, London. He is responsible for Johnson & Johnson Innovation across EMEA and is Head of the London Innovation Center.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation, he was CEO of XO1 Limited until the company was acquired by Janssen in March 2015. Prior to his role at XO1, Richard was Head of Strategy and Business Development at specialist pharmaceutical and medical device company BTG Plc, where he led its transformation into a leading interventional medicine company through multiple acquisitions. Richard also served as an Executive-in-Residence for Advent Venture Partners LLC where he was a turnaround CEO for several portfolio companies. Previously he was Senior Vice President, Business Development at Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT).

Richard trained in medicine at the St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College and worked in clinical practice in internal medicine before entering the biotechnology industry. He also has a degree in immunology from UCL and an MBA from The Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where he is currently a Fellow in Healthcare Management and teaches the MBA elective in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

Richard resides near Cambridge, UK. In his spare time Richard enjoys skiing, running, flying and sailing.

Peyman Gifani, obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering. He then gained a Cambridge/ Wellcome Trust Senior Interdisciplinary Research fellowship to work jointly in the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre (Department of Genetics) and the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, (Department of Engineering). Through his career, he has gained multidisciplinary experience in areas including systems and synthetic biology, drug discovery, nonlinear dynamical systems, machine learning and AI. He is a former committee member of the Cambridge University Entrepreneurs (CUE). Prior to his PhD, he co-founded a biotech company that won several awards.

He is the founder and CEO of AI VIVO as a Cambridge, UK-based company with a unique computational platform to accelerate drug discovery via intelligent systems pharmacology. AI VIVO provides an innovative methodology that captures nonlinear dynamics hidden in biological data and translates them to novel unexpected discoveries. To achieve predictions with unparalleled accuracy, a proprietary data representation algorithm unfolds insightful data associated with diseases, drugs, and targets as input to our optimised prediction engine powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Using the AI prediction engine, AI VIVO develops a portfolio of IP-protected, pre-clinical discovery programmes as differentiated assets with a much higher probability of clinical success.

The platform provides potential to enter into collaborative partnerships with biotech, pharma, CRO, and research institutions to create sustainable mutual value for various application areas including:

TARGET DISCOVERY: custom discovery programs for novel target/pathway identification using A unique data representation for common and orphan diseases.
LEAD OPTIMIZATION: perform lead discovery campaign in diverse therapeutic areas to identify compounds that reverse disease phenotypes.
COMBINATION THERAPY: Predict compound combinations to improve the efficacy of current therapies, drug resistance, and differentiation protocols.
MOLECULAR DE-NOVO DESIGN: Design new compounds using the AI engine that can learn to generate structures with certain specified desirable properties.
THERAPEUTIC REPOSITIONING: leverage approved drugs, existing development candidates or shelved assets through indication expansion.
PRECISION MEDICINE: Discover biomarkers for patient stratification and smart clinical trial design.

James Sabry is Senior Vice President, Genentech Partnering, where he oversees both Business Development and Alliance Management Groups. These groups have been considered to be some of the best in the industry.

Sabry grew up in Toronto, Canada and received an M.D. from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. Completing an internship in internal medicine at Toronto Western Hospital, he moved to Harvard Medical School where he completed a residency in Neurology, being named Chief Resident in Neurology in 1987.

He then moved to San Fransisco and, in 1994, completed a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in the Biochemistry Department at UCSF while also holding an adjunct clinical appointment in the Department of Neurology.

James was President and CEO of Cytokinetics until 2007. During that time, he grew the company from inception to over 200 employees and took the company public on NASDAQ in 2004. In 2007, he became Chairman of the Board of Directors and a member of their Scientific Advisory Board.

In 2008, he became President and CEO of Arete Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for diabetes.

In 2010, Sabry moved to Genentech to take his current position. He maintains membership on the Scientific Advisory Board of Cytokinetics. He is also on the external advisory board of QB3 at UCSF.

Will is Executive Chairman of CellCentric Ltd, an epigenetic-based cancer drug discovery and development company, originally spun out of Cambridge University. The lead product is a small molecule inhibitor of p300/CBP for the aggressive form of prostate cancer (CRPC), as well as other tumour types including bladder and haematological cancers. Additionally, Will is President & CEO of Cancer Targeting Systems Inc., a non-viral gene product company for cancer imaging and treatment, founded out of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore.

Will gained a PhD in Immunology and Virology sponsored by Unilever (UniPath), before holding a post-doctoral position at the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC). He went on to Procter & Gamble Healthcare, where he was responsible for clinical development in a number of therapeutic areas, including respiratory and GI. Will holds a Masters degree in Clinical Research as well as an MBA from London Business School.

Will is on the Board and Executive Committee of the BioIndustry Association (BIA). Previously he was on the Council of the BBSRC, which distributes £500m a year on bioscience research on behalf of the Government. He is a co-founder of Angels 4 Life Sciences, an investor forum which works closely with Angels in MedCity. He has mentored for OneStart, including two overall competition winners.

David applies 35 years of healthcare experience with a focus on technology translation and new venture creation to address global health and wellbeing challenges.

His primary experience was gained as a biomedical scientist within the UK National Health Service and clinical diagnostics innovation within Amersham International and Johnson & Johnson. He has led startups, including an Oxford University spin-out, applying nanotechnology for medical devices and advanced sun-care products. Furthermore, as a former CEO within Philips Healthcare and Consumer Lifestyle, David led personalised medicine and pro-active healthcare businesses.

David is passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles, and is a sports coach and Great Britain Cross Triathlon age-group athlete in his spare time.

Jackie Hunter is the Chief Executive Officer of Benevolent Bio. Benevolent
Bio unites traditional pharmaceutical development methodology with
Artificial Intelligence to augment the research capabilities of its drug
scientists so that they can gain new insights to increase the efficiency of
medicines development. 

Jackie has over thirty years of experience in the
bioscience research sector, working across academia and industry
including leading neurology and gastrointestinal drug discovery and early
clinical development for GlaxoSmithKline.  She founded OI Pharma
Partners in 2010 to support the life science sector in harnessing the
power of open innovation and most recently was Chief Executive of the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.  She holds a
personal chair from St George's Hospital Medical School, which was
awarded in recognition of her contribution to bioscience research. In
2010 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for
Services to the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Maxine is the Business Development Lead for the Medical Sciences Division at Oxford University. Her academic background is in genomics and biomarker discovery. She completed her undergraduate studies at Imperial, followed by a PhD under Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys at Leicester and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Following her academic training she moved to industry as a group leader and programme manager at biotech companies in the US and UK for ten years before moving to Oxford University to manage academic-industry research consortia.

Maxine established the Medical Sciences Business Development Team in 2010 with Professor Sir John Bell. Her team explore new commercial research partnerships for Oxford University and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust and have secured >£40m of funding for biomedical research in Oxford. They oversee Strategic Research Alliances with multiple corporate partners including UCB, Celgene, Pfizer, Novo Nordisk and Bayer. The team also coordinate a range of opportunities for Oxford staff to engage with industry and access translational expertise through Industry Sponsored Fellowship programmes, SME-focussed networking events and the Oxford Medical Sciences Industry Experts in Residence programme.

Andreas Hougaard Laustsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow & Head of the Tropical Pharmacology Lab, which he has started at the Technical University of Denmark. He specializes in antibody discovery, toxinology, and snakebite antivenom, and holds an M.Sc.Eng in Pharmaceutical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology from the University of Copenhagen.

He is a co-founder of 5 biotech companies: Biosyntia, VenomAb, Antag Therapeutics, Chromologics, and Bactolife. Combined, his ventures and research activities have attracted over GBP 5 million in funding. Andreas is recognized as Denmark's Coolest Engineer, a Top 10 biotech entrepreneur under 30 in Europe, a Top 6 entrepreneurial academic in Europe under 35, and features on Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2017.

Prior to co-founding medicxi, Kevin was a partner with Index Ventures for 12 years, having joined the firm’s life sciences team in 2003.  Kevin spearheaded Index’s very first experimental asset-centric investment, in PanGenetics, which was later acquired by Abbott Pharmaceuticals. He is currently chairman of Levicept Ltd., Apcintex and Crescendo Biologics as well as being a board member of several other startups.

Prior to joining Index, Kevin was with Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), where he was appointed Head of Research in 1994 and, in 1997, Research Director and Chief Technology Officer. He led the development of CAT's platform technologies and their application in the discovery of a number of human antibodies, two of which are now on the market: Humira (Abbott Pharmaceuticals) and Benlysta (GlaxoSmithKline). Kevin was part of the management team that floated CAT on the London Stock Exchange; it was subsequently acquired by AstraZeneca.

Kevin received a BSc in Molecular Biology from Edinburgh University and a PhD from Cambridge University.

Professor Christopher R. Lowe was founder Director of the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge and conducts research in both diagnostics and therapeutics in the healthcare biotechnology sector. He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has 395 peer-reviewed publications, 8 books and monographs, >100 patents and has supervised >95 PhD students and has a number of national and international prizes: “Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement”; “Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education”; “Most
Entrepreneurial Scientist of the UK”; OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours; BBSRC Commercial Innovator of the Year in 2011.

He has been the driving force for the establishment of 11 spin-out companies including ProMetic Biosciences Inc (Market Cap $1.9- 2.1B), Cambridge Sensors Ltd, Paramata Ltd, Psynova Neurotech Ltd and Royale Therapeutics Ltd., has a number of directorships and fosters entrepreneurship within the University via a Master’s in Bioscience Enterprise, the University’s Seed Fund Committee and other Business School and student-led activities. He is active in various government committees and in a number of legal and entrepreneurial roles. His group's primary research interest is in healthcare biotechnology, particularly where it is applied to the biopharmaceutical, sensors and diagnostics and enzyme and microbial technology sectors. The work is highly multidisciplinary and not only covers aspects of molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, chemistry, physics, electronics and engineering, but also the entire range from fundamental science to strategic and applied science. He is currently Director of the newly established Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences (CATS) within the University of Cambridge.

Ian Tomlinson has over 25 years of experience in the life sciences sector from academic research to biotech startup to big pharma. He founded Domantis Limited with Sir Gregory Winter, which was acquired by GSK for $454 million.  He then served as Senior VP, Head of Worldwide Business Development and Head of Biopharm R&D at GSK.

Following he departure from GSK earlier this year, he is now  Chairman of the Board at the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, UK’s first open innovation biomedical campus.  He is also Chairman of the Investment Committee for Apollo Therapeutics, a £40 million fund dedicated to turning academic biotechnologies into novel medicines in collaboration with Astrazeneca, GSK, J&J, Imperial College, UCL and the University of Cambridge.

 Dr Tomlinson graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, UK.  He then spent 11 years at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where he worked on antibody genes, antibody structure and various antibody technologies prior to starting his career in industry.

Dr Kai Stoeber is Vice President of Global Innovation at Shionogi Europe and is an expert in cancer biology and biomarkers. Dr Stoeber received his M.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Bonn and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. His Ph.D. studies in the laboratory of Ron Laskey showed that dysregulation of the DNA replication initiation machinery is a major early event in the genesis of cancer, and led to a succession of translational spin-offs rooted in the basic biology of cell division. Insights into the mechanisms controlling DNA replication formed the basis for a range of promising diagnostic technologies developed in collaboration with biotech companies. From 2002-2014, Stoeber was co-principal investigator of the Chromosomal Replication Group at University College London. His work there with Gareth Williams led to a drug discovery programme focused on one of the kinases that jumpstart DNA replication initiation in partnership with CRUK’s own drug discovery lab, and resulted in the licensing of promising lead compounds to a major biopharma company for further development. A further spin-off from his research has been a novel cell cycle biomarker algorithm that identifies cell cycle kinetics in dynamic tumor cell populations and predicts response to cell-cycle phase-directed chemotherapeutic agents and selected targeted therapies. Dr Stoeber joined the Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi in 2014 where he identifies and evaluates transformative technologies as well as new targets or molecules from external sources in academia and biopharma. He remains an advocate of the importance of translational medicine in increasing the accuracy of early stage clinical development and reducing the risk of failure at later stages.

PROFESSOR ALAN BARRELL DBA., FRSA., Queen’s Award

After three score years and more than ten, Alan Barrell finds it hard to say “no” to innovation and entrepreneurial ideas which arrive in his life by all known communication means daily.

Biologist with experience in NHS medical technology, turned salesman turned businessman, entrepreneur, venture capitalist fund manager, and labelled now “pracademic”, Alan is a champion of the next generation and the vision of A World Without Borders – through Education Without Borders and Open Innovation. Entrepreneur in Residence at the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning Judge Business School University of Cambridge, Visiting Professor at University of Sunderland, Portsmouth in UK and International Executive Fellow University of Essex , and in China Guest Professor at Xiamen University, Shanghai University, Shanghai College of Science and Technology and University of International Business and Economics Beijing and School of Economics Liaoning University Shenyang. International Research Fellow at Laurea University Helsinki and Lahti University in Finland, and at the Tohoku Fukushi University Sendai Japan, Alan is also engaged in support of NHS Healthcare Reforms after being Chair of NHS Health Enterprise East Ltd for eight years. His next generation work extends to Board Membership / shareholdings in four early stage health care companies and to having been Chairman of Trustees of NACUE – National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs and advisor to Start Up Generation International and Youth Business China. In his spare time raises money for the charitable causes he supports. Bestselling book out July 2013 – co-authored with David Gill and Martin Rigby – “Show Me The Money – how to raise the money needed to get your business off the ground”, since revised to cover the latest in Alternative Finance. Knighted in Finland by the President there in 2012 for services to education – Knight First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland having earlier been one of the first ten recipients of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. Very proud to be an Advisory Board Member to Innovation Forum and MedCity London. His articles in Cambridgeshire Business and national publications “Sharing China’s Dream” displays his deep interest in China and its history and his love of the country and its people.

Travels widely but always loves coming home to Cambridge and visiting Yorkshire.

Martino is now an Independent Consultant, based in Manchester. He currently has a part-time role as Entrepreneur in Residence at UMIP, Manchester. From June 2011- July 2017, Martino was the first CEO of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst an ambitious concept to develop an Incubator and Accelerator, followed by a world class Science Park for the Life Sciences sector. Martino has a PhD in Biochemistry from Cardiff University and spent 4 years at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX in Cardiovascular research. Martino joined Amersham International in 1991 and subsequently went on to manage the R&D Technology Transfer Group, based in Cardiff and developing high throughput screening technologies for the Pharmaceutical sector. Following the merger of Amersham with Pharmacia Biotech, Martino became the Science Director for the Cardiff site, Martino then became a Business Manager for Manchester Biotech Ltd. and subsequently Manchester Innovation Ltd. in June 1999. When the Universities of Manchester and UMIST merged, he became Managing Director of UMIC and MICL and is also currently a Board member of UKBI. Martino was also acting Chairman for a start-up company, sri Forensics Ltd (2011-2014) and has previously been on the Board of Cartesian Technologies , BIONOW Steering Committee and was also a non -executive Director for Queen Mary Bioenterprise Ltd (2009-Aug 2010).. Martino has also been a Board member of the Hertfordshire LEP. Most recently, Martino has been on the Trust Board for the North Herts Studio Schools (Stevenage, Letchworth and Thomas Alleyne Schools) and on the Local Governing Body for the Da Vinci Studio School Stevenage. Martino has also been appointed to the Life Science Wales Hub Board as a Non –Executive). Martino is involved in funding application and appraisals for Innovate UK, Astia and NC3Rs.

Yoshi is an advocate of Open Innovation. His work at Shionogi Europe involves identifying innovation and open science opportunities in UK and the continental Europe, and developing and managing research collaborations with academia, biotech and pharma partners. Yoshi obtained a PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, and subsequently worked as a research scientist at the university. Aside from working in his research laboratory, he served as a committee chair of a university-wide inter-disciplinary science seminar series. He was also involved in activities of the Innovation Forum, building professional networks of academic and industry experts and facilitating inter-sector conference organisations in Cambridge. Through these activities, Yoshi discovered his interest in working at a translational junction between research and application. This eventually led him to his current role in the Global Innovation Office, where he exercises his scientific knowledge to promote the transfer of discoveries from laboratories to clinical practice. 

About Shionogi
Shionogi & Co., Ltd., is a major research-driven international pharmaceutical company with two core target therapeutic areas: infectious diseases and Pain/CNS disorders, and several frontier focus areas including obesity/geriatric metabolic diseases and oncology/immunology. For more information, please visit www.shionogi.co.jp/en/ and www.shionogi.eu.

Dr Dave Tapolczay was appointed Chief Executive at LifeArc (previously MRC Technology) in 2007. Prior to that he was CEO at Medeor Pharma Ltd. and held various C-level positions, including at GSK, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, SAFC Pharma and Zeneca. He holds a post-doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford.

Kathryn Chapman is the Executive Manager of the Milner Therapeutics Institute within the University of Cambridge. The purpose of the Institute is to enable the progression of ground-breaking discoveries in academia towards better therapies. To do this, we have set up a global network of 14 academic Institutions and 45 industry partners with whom we work collaboratively to break down the barriers of academic/industry interaction. From 2018 we will also run purpose built research laboratories on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Prior to joining the Milner Therapeutics Institute, Kathryn was Head of Innovation and Translation at the NC3Rs where she spent 10 years working with over 40 pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe in various cross-company data-sharing initiatives to improve scientific and business processes and reduce animal use in drug development. More recently Kathryn initiated and directed a new challenge-led open innovation platform, CRACK IT which increases cross-discipline and cross-sector industry/academic partnerships in applied research and enhances investment in SMEs and University spin-outs.

Her PhD is in the genetics of osteoarthritis and she has previously carried out research at the University of Manchester, Harvard Medical School, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and GlaxoSmithKline generating transgenic models for drug development and disease modelling. Kathryn has 43 publications covering her own research and drug discovery and development more generally. She has been on national and international Review Panels including for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the BBSRC and Innovate UK, the 'Dragons Den' judging Panel for the Biotechnology yes competition at Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and holds an Honorary Professorship at Coventry University where she is a member of the Vice Chancellor's Advisory Group.

Glenn has a first degree in Genetics and a D Phil in Immunology. He qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young and worked in the life science practice for a number of years, advising a range of businesses as well as editing and co-authoring many of the firm's US, European and Global Life Science Reports.

He became CEO of BioCity Nottingham in 2003, growing it to become one of the largest bioscience incubators in Europe. He was a founder of R5 Pharmaceuticals, which was subsequently sold to Aesica, and he is a non-executive director of several other companies including Mobius Life Sciences, Xenogesis and Medilink East Midlands.

Eliot joined Immunocore as Chief Executive Officer in January 2015. He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Creabilis from 2010. Prior to that he was Chief Executive Officer of US biotechnology company, Solace Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Other previous roles include Head of EU Development and Operations for the EU and Asia at Pfizer. Eliot is currently Chairman of the MedCity project that promotes the Life Sciences in the “Golden Triangle”. He is an Honorary Visiting Professor of the Pharmacology and Physiology Department at the University of Liverpool and is a Board member of OSCHR (Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research).

He holds a PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Liverpool and an MBA from Henley Management College.

Paul Drayson trained as an engineer before studying for a PhD in robotics and his career as a science entrepreneur. As CEO he led PowderJect Pharmaceuticals from Oxford University spin-out to a FTSE 250 business and one of the world’s leading vaccine companies. His current business, Drayson Technologies Ltd, is a healthcare Internet of Things company.

Public policy roles have included Chairman of the BioIndustry Association, Minister for Defence Procurement and Minister for Science and Innovation.

He is an experienced racing driver and pioneer of green motorsport, holds three FIA World Land Speed Records for electric vehicles and has competed in the Le Mans 24 hours.

Paul is member of the House of Lords and has three NED roles with the University of Oxford, the Royal Navy and Airbus Group.

Laura is UK Director of Capital Cell, Europe’s first equity crowdfunding platform specialised in life sciences.

Capital Cell was established in Spain in 2015, and at August 2017 had successfully funded 14 campaigns to raise over €4.2M directly on the platform. No company has failed so far, two have gone on to secure series A funding, and one has given investors a partial exit at 2x return. Laura joined Capital Cell in 2016, and led the funding round and launch of Capital Cell UK (www.capitalcell.co.uk).

Capital Cell has a unique method of conducting multi-level due diligence on the companies it lists, including obtaining ‘Fast Market Feedback’ from the BioExpert Network- a community of >700 experts in life science and life science commercialisation. The feedback from the network is both given to the entrepreneurs in full to help them develop their pitch/ business model, and is listed alongside the campaign information on the Capital Cell site for potential investors to see (www.bioexpertnetwork.com).

Before Joining Capital Cell Laura was a Research Fellow at Christ Church Oxford in molecular evolutionary genetics. She has a PhD in the same subject from Cambridge, a research Masters in cancer stem cells from Bristol, and a biology degree with additional honours in the History and Philosophy of Science from Oxford. Her PhD was on the genetic basis of evolution in butterfly wing pattern mimicry.

Having spent quite a bit of time around Oxbridge as an academic, Laura considers it an absolute privilege to be able to stay at the cutting edge of science through her work with Capital Cell. Laura lives just outside Cambridge with her husband and three boys.

Andrew McLean is the lead life sciences investor for Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). OSI is a £350 million company investing in the most exciting start-ups built on world-leading Oxford science. Prior to joining OSI Andrew consulted in the pharmaceutical and biotech practice at McKinsey. Andrew is a physician by training, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Christ Church in Oxford and his work background includes stints in wine shops, hospitals and Goldman Sachs.

Jim Johnson is Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, and the Department of Surgery at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver Canada. He is also Leader of the Life Sciences Institute Diabetes Research Group. He is co-founder of the Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition, a non-profit that seeks to translate his studies on hyperinsulinemia into personalized therapeutic nutrition guidelines. He was recently appointed inaugural Director of the Novo Nordisk Research Centre in Oxford, a new hybrid academic-industry Institute that will focus on the fundamental biology of type 2 diabetes. In Oxford, he is a Senior Fellow at Harris-Manchester College.

He started his independent laboratory at UBC in 2004, after a post-doctoral fellowship on diabetes research with Ken Polonsky and Stan Misler at Washington University in St. Louis, and PhD training on pituitary physiology with John Chang at the University of Alberta. A world-leader in the fundamental biology of pancreatic islets, insulin action, diabetes and related conditions, he is the author of >115 peer-reviewed articles since 2000. His research has been published in prestigious journals including Cell Metabolism, Nature Communications, PNAS, Diabetes, and Diabetologia. Prof. Johnson is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Islets, and on the Editorial Boards of Diabetes and Endocrinology. He is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists, with several who are now successful professors or senior scientists. Prof. Johnson was named the top research under 45 by the Canadian Diabetes Association in 2016, and has held grants and scholarships from this agency and others. Jim is actively involved in outreach and science-related discourse on Twitter @JimJohnsonSci.

Paola Casarosa joined Boehringer Ingelheim [BI] in 2007. Currently she is the Corporate Vice President for Business Development & Licensing. In her career at BI she has occupied different positions within the R&D part of the organization, as well as PM Strategy and Portfolio Management.

Before joining BI, Paola was employed at Organon NV/Shering Plough in R&D. Paola received a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and had a Post-Doc experience at Bichat Hospital in Paris.

Nick is a doctor and an investor with a particular interest in health and life sciences, focusing on social impact and sustainable investing. Prior to his current role, Nick was at Pangaea Investors LLP, a mid-market growth fund and prior to that he was a sector advisor to 3i Plc.’s global private equity practice. As well as roles in private equity, Nick has held a range of prominent positions in the life sciences industry. Currently, Nick is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Independent Mental Health and Employer’s Review.

He is Chairman Emeritus of the Leadership Group, Member of the Council and an Emeritus Honorary Treasurer of the New Technology in Medicine Council at the Royal Society of Medicine. Working with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, Nick has been a key contributor in setting the future Medical Leadership Standards in the UK.

Nick holds degrees and postgraduate qualifications in both Medicine and Law. Nick trained as a surgeon in London and Oxford Deaneries, with postgraduate research in neurosurgery at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at University of Cambridge. He also holds a Master’s Degree and a Diploma from Imperial College, and MBA from London Business School, where he graduated with the prestigious Coller Prize.

Jo Pisani is a Partner leading the UK Pharma and Lifesciences Consulting Practice. She has thirteen years of industry experience in the pharmaceuticals, energy, petrochemicals, and fast-moving consumer goods industries with BP and SmithKline Beecham where she held positions in the engineering, operations, IT, and commercial functions. Before joining PwC, she spent three years with Booz&Co, a strategic management consultancy where she focused on strategic issues in the pharmaceuticals and energy sectors.

Jo assists the pharma and lifesciences sector in developing strategy and supporting deals. Her clients include Big Pharma, biotech, generics, OTC, contract manufacturers, contract research organisations, ministries of health, private equity and banks. She is a key author on PwC’s Pharma2020 thought leadership series. She is an advisory board member of MedCity.

Jo has an MBA from Warwick Business School and is a Chartered Engineer.

Hugh Ilyine is a biomedical entrepreneur, with more than 25 years’ experience including country management for multinational corporations, as well as biotechnology companies from start-up through to public listings. His experience has covered the fields of food and agriculture, stem cells, protein therapeutics and molecular diagnostics. He served 17 years previously with the Rhône-Poulenc group in the UK, France, Indonesia and Australia. With Stem Cell Sciences Ltd from 2000 to 2008 he managed the company from an Australian start up through to listings on AIM and the Australian ASX. In 2010 Hugh co-founded DestiNA Genomics Ltd, a spin-out molecular diagnostic company from the University of Edinburgh, with R&D facilities in Granada Spain. He is a founder of a number of biotechnology companies in the UK, and a Joint-Venture in Japan. He has dual British/Australian nationality, is bilingual in English/French, and lives in Scotland.

Dr Emma Sceats is the Chief Executive Officer of CN Bio Innovations, a world leader in Organs-on-Chips, technologies that are transforming pre-clinical research by reducing animal testing and providing more human-relevant data. Dr Sceats was responsible for licensing of key Organ-on-Chip patents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012, and in the same year co-wrote a successful application to the US Department of Defence resulting in a $26M contract to develop a human Body-on-a-Chip. Most recently she has raised more than £6M for CN Bio, led the licensing of a Hepatitis B drug discovery programme from global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb and has steered CN Bio’s commercial negotiations in more than 25 successful pharmaceutical/biotech deals. Dr Sceats was an inaugural recipient of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation award in 2017.

Prior to joining CN Bio, Dr Sceats served as a licensing manager at Oxford University Innovation, licensing and commercialising a diverse portfolio of IP and software developed at the University.
Dr Sceats is passionate about the technologies CN Bio is developing, and in a wider context promoting entrepreneurship, participation of women in the sciences and leadership roles, and the development of successful "world-beating" scientific enterprises in the UK. She has been invited to speak on these subjects at numerous events and on panels including the Organs-on-Chips World Congress, Cambridge GAP Summit, ON Helix, Pharma Integrates and at the House of Commons. CN Bio has attracted considerable media attention and coverage in the last two years including articles in The Economist, Bloomberg's Business Week, The Daily Mail and the Mirror newspaper. Dr Sceats has participated in televised interviews and documentaries on BBC World News, Al Jazeera and The Discovery Channel. She is a keen author whose work includes contributions to peer-reviewed scientific articles and blogs on science and entrepreneurship.

Dr Sceats was a Presidential scholar (Chemistry) at MIT and a graduate scholar at the University of Oxford.

Dr Bruno Holthof is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust (OUHFT). OUHFT employs 12,000 staff across four hospital sites and 44 other locations. Before OUHFT, he was CEO of the Antwerp Hospital Network from January 2004 until September 2015. During this period, he transformed ZNA into the most profitable hospital group in Belgium.

Before becoming a CEO, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company. During this period, he served a wide range of healthcare clients in Europe and the United States and gained significant expertise in the areas of strategy, organization and operations. Bruno Holthof is a member of the Board of Barco, a public listed company providing visualization solutions for professional markets and a member of the Board of Armonea, a European private care home provider. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an MD/PhD from the University of Leuven.

Natasha Loder is The Economist‘s health-care correspondent. She covers the pharmaceutical industry, medical science and technology. Between 2011 and 2015 she worked as a foreign correspondent in Chicago, covering the Midwest, American education and agriculture. She has worked at the paper for 14 years, and spent over a decade as the Science and technology correspondent. Here she covered a wide range of subjects in science, technology, medicine and the environment. Prior to joining The Economist she worked as a news reporter for the journal Nature and worked briefly for The Times Higher Education Supplement and Research Fortnight. She has won a number of awards for her work covering the environment and technology.

Her role involves seeking out the best science and technology available to deliver next generation therapies for serious diseases. Once identified, Ann works with J&J and the partner organisations to put together the right collaboration framework to transform those innovations into products.

Ann has extensive experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry; prior to joining J&J she was Senior Director of Business development with UCB Pharma where she was responsible for Business Development activities to support both the Immunology and CNS early phase portfolio. Ann has also spent 13 years in various drug development roles at GSK. During her time
there she worked in preclinical development supporting the progression of multiple programmes in many therapeutic areas through the drug development process. She was also part of the GSK Neurology Centre of Excellence providing preclinical input for the early phase development portfolio. Ann is a scientist by training and holds a PhD in Biochemical Toxicology from the University of Surrey.

Professor Lionel Tarassenko is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Oxford. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, which he directed from its opening in April 2008 to October 2012. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2000), and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2013). He was made a CBE for services to engineering in 2012.

In 1996, he received a British Computer Society Medal for his work on analysis of sleep disorders. His work on mobile phones for healthcare was awarded the E-health 2005 Innovation Award for “best device to empower patients”. He received the 2006 Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering for his contribution to British engineering leading to market exploitation and he won the Institute of Engineering & Technology IT Award, also in 2006. In 2010, he gave the Vodafone lecture on m-health at the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Centenary Lecture on Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He received the 2015 Martin Black Prize for the best paper in Physiological Measurement.

Professor Tarassenko is a world-leading expert in the application of signal processing and machine learning to medical systems, with a strong track record in translation to clinical medicine. He is the author of 220 journal papers, 190 conference papers and 3 books. He holds 30 granted patents and has founded four University spin-out companies, all in the med tech sector. The latest of these is Oxehealth, which brings together computer vision and AI for healthcare. He is also a Director of the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company and the current Head of the Department of Engineering Science.

Neelam joined MedCity as it was forming in 2014 as an advisor on clinical trials and then was appointed as COO in December 2016. MedCity is a small, but influential organisation with an ambition to position the greater south east of England as a world-leading, interconnected region for life sciences research, development, manufacturing and commercialisation to stimulate greater economic growth. As COO, Neelam supports the CEO and Board in driving the strategic direction of the group. She is also responsible for delivery of the business plan. She is responsible for the day to day relationships with funders and stakeholders in projects that she oversees. Neelam continues to be the lead for clinical trials for the group.

Pior to joining MedCity, Neelam has had a number of leadership roles with the pharmaceutical industry spanning across several functions including, Head of Pharmacovigilance Operations, HR for European Commercialization and Strategy Director for Global Clinical Operations. Neelam has developed extensive experience in understanding how pharmaceutical industry works from a global, regional and country perspective, both from an R&D and Commercial perspective as well as being part of and managing multiple mergers and outsourcing relationships.

Outside of the pharma industry, Neelam has been a Service Improvement lead at the National Institute of Health Research Clinical Research Network (CRN), in charge of a national project to transform the way the CRN supported the pharmaceutical industry in conduction clinical trials.. The theme of leading transformation continued when Neelam joined Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity to develop and implement a programme to promote innovation within the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation Trust.

Alongside working at MedCity, she also supports her family community pharmacy business.

Golnaz is an associate partner at Ventac Partners, life science-dedicated venture catalyst and consulting firm with offices in Europe, US and China. Ventac Partners to date, has built and managed portfolio companies with combined value of $1 billion in biotech, medtech and pharma. Golnaz is specialized in business development of early stage life science companies, both pre- and post-IPO, business intelligence, partnerships and fundraising. Golnaz has also been advisor to family offices and venture capitals on business evaluation and technology and market assessment for heath-tech investment opportunities.
Dr Borghei is certified from Harvard Business School in executive finance, and is specialized in financial valuation of early stage life science companies through building business cases, risk and scenario analysis and similar deal-terms and transactions.

Golnaz has received her PhD from University of Cambridge in Analytical Biotechnology, followed by postdoc at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in Neuroscience and electrophysiology. She has led several research/industry collaborations focused on drug and device development in which she managed international collaborations. Among Golnaz’ publications are book chapters for NATO Science book series for Peace and Security and front cover of Analyst.

Lived and worked in the UK, North Europe and the Middle East, Golnaz has a global perspective to entrepreneurship and has been a jury member, lecturer and mentor for a number of life science start-up across the globe.

Nick is Director of Commercial Development at the Oxford Academic Health Science Network where he is responsible for working with industry, the NHS and academic partners to commercialise new innovations in the digital, medtech, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical sectors. His focus is on building partnerships to support the adoption of new technologies into the NHS.

Nick has over 25 years’ experience in commercial and business development in the life sciences sector. He has an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in the Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University. After leaving university he set up a vaccine company before working in blue chip life science companies such as PowderJect Pharmaceuticals where he was VP Corporate Affairs, responsible for strategy and government affairs. He has also had extensive experience as a consultant, specializing in strategy and corporate finance support working with public and private sector clients. From 2006-11 he was a special industry consultant to the BioIndustry Association working on pharmaceutical pricing and uptake. He played a leading role in representing the life sciences industry position on the drafting and passage of the Biotechnology Patents Directive through the European Parliament in the 1990s. He was awarded the MBE for services to biotechnology in 2001. He is a Director at the Oxford Martin School.

Andrew helps clients address industry imperatives and save lives through the power of cognitive insights. He works with clients to advance the next generation of discovery and development, acting on insights to drive value, enhance relationships across the ecosystem and empowering people to make better decisions.

Prior to transferring to Europe in July 2015, Andrew was IBM’s Life Sciences Leader for China. While in China Andrew worked with many leading multi-national companies and several Chinese Life Sciences companies who were leaders in their respective segment.

Before joining IBM in 2000, Andrew had a successful 14-year career with a leading strategy consulting company. He graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts, and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) with a Bachelor of Business. Andrew has a Masters of Business Administration from the International University of Japan and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He was a three-term board member on a government enterprise with assets of over $350M. He was a founding director of a successful dot.com start-up in the early 2000s.

Andrew is an advocate of sport and fitness as a gateway to good health. He is passionate about the role of genomics in identifying both the cause of disease and personalized solutions.

Sue Staunton heads the technology team at accountants and business advisers, James Cowper Kreston. She has worked with technology companies and their stakeholders at all stages of development from spin out to flotation for over 20 years and across a range of disciplines including life sciences, digital, space technologies and advanced manufacturing. She particularly specializes in providing strategic financial advice for such companies throughout their lifecycle.

Keith Errey is the CEO and co-founder of Isansys. Before Isansys he was the CEO and co-founder of Toumaz (London AIM TMZ) and is a strong advocate of digital and data driven methods in healthcare.

A serial entrepreneur with a long practical interest in technology businesses that originate from translational research, he was a founder of an early spin-out from Oxford University, Oxford Lasers Ltd. He then set up Oxford Synergetics Ltd, a technology transfer and facilitation consultancy where he developed a number of tools and methods for identifying and auditing technologies and developments most likely to succeed. He has wide experience in several industries including mining, telecommunications, instrumentation and medical devices, and a life-long commitment to education, having worked both as a school teacher and university lecturer.

He has physics degrees from Oxford University and the University of New South Wales.

The research of Prof. Jens Rittscher is to advance biomedical imaging through the development of new algorithms and novel computational platforms. Current focus of his research is to improve mechanistic understanding of cancer and patient care through quantitative analysis of image data. In 2013 he has been appointed to the first joint academic appointment between the Department of Engineering Science and the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK. He has been awarded the title of Professor of Engineering Science. He is a group leader at the Target Discovery Institute and is a member of the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research.

Prior to coming to Oxford Jens Rittscher was a senior research scientist and manager at GE Global Research in Niskayuna (NY, USA), one of the world’s largest and most diversified industrial research laboratories. Building on his extensive expertise in computer vision, probabilistic modelling and statistical learning, he developed new theoretical approaches that address specific real-world challenge problems in automated video annotation, visual surveillance, and biomedical imaging. In the context of biomedical imaging he worked on applications ranging from monitoring cellular processes and computational pathology to the development of an anatomical atlas for zebrafish imaging. In addition he held a position as an adjunct professor at the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy (NY, USA).

Professor Angela J. Russell gained her M.Chem. degree from the University of Oxford in 2000 and her D.Phil. in Organic Chemistry in 2004 under the joint supervision of Steve Davies and Tim Perera from Yamanouchi plc (now Astellas Pharma Inc.). In March 2006 she became a Departmental Research Lecturer in Organic Chemistry and in July 2007 was awarded a prestigious Research Councils’ UK Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry jointly between the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology in Oxford. In 2012 she was appointed as University Lecturer, and in 2014 became an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. Angela’s research interests broadly encompass the development of small molecules to control developmental processes. Angela has realised several successful multidisciplinary research collaborations, including identifying small molecules to upregulate utrophin for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, developing novel inhibitors and activators of developmental signaling pathways and new anti-cancer agents. Since 2005 Angela has initiated a number of collaborative programmes involving the discovery and development of small molecules to manipulate stem cell fate. Angela’s work has resulted in >60 publications and patent filings to date.

In addition, Angela has founded two University spin out companies: MuOx Ltd in 2012, which was acquired by Summit plc in 2013, and OxStem Ltd in 2014.

Prof Angela Russell has been named as a ‘Rising Star’ in the BioBeat 50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness 2016 report. Released annually, the report celebrates 50 outstanding women entrepreneurs and business leaders who are recognised for their contributions to global health innovation.

Angus is a Healthcare Technology Specialist with IBM’s European healthcare organisation. He advises IBM’s European healthcare clients and business partners on the use of information technology and has a focus on population health management. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, an MSc (with distinction) from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Healthcare Informatics and a Masters in Public Health (with distinction) from the University of Manchester. Angus sits on the committee of the Health and Care Scotland subsection of the British Computer Society, is a Fellow of the BCS and is a Non Executive Director of NHS Lothian.

Len Seymour is Professor of Gene Therapy at the University of Oxford, where he specialises in the use of genetic engineering and virology in treatment of cancer. He leads a university research containing some twenty scientists with expertise across the spectrum of virology and cell and synthetic biology. In 2003 he was the Founding Chairman of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, aiming to establish this new technology as a mainstream medical discipline. He has strong interests in both clinical and commercial translation of sciences and is a founding scientist of Psioxus Therapeutics, the Native Antigen Company and Oxford Genetics.

Nicola is a partner at law firm Penningtons Manches and advises technology companies on all aspects of corporate law including the delivery of funding rounds and strategies for growth and realisation of value. She has acted for numerous companies from early stage through to major institutional funding rounds, strategic acquisitions and exit via sale or IPO. Her clients include organisations in the life sciences, digital and clean tech sectors, many of which have an international dynamic to their business. She has advised over 100 start ups and spin outs from various universities including Oxford University, Warwick University and Bristol University. Nicola leads the Technology Transfer Sector at Penningtons Manches.

Nicola is recognised by both Chambers UK and The Legal 500, winning praise for coming up with ‘simple but effective solutions to complex legal issues’ and for being ‘absolutely charming and very competent’. She has also been described by clients in the directories as being ‘absolutely passionate about her job’ and as having ‘a palpable determination to drive change that is a pleasure to witness.

Enrico qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse, specialising in technology, before working for Clifford Chance, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch where he worked in business management, COO, CFO and strategy roles. He has held a number of director positions in technology, fund management and entrepreneurial ventures. Enrico has raised money for a number of private companies, most recently advising a financial services technology company on its pre-IPO funding and subsequent trade sale. Enrico has over 10 year’s tech board experience, currently on the Boards of Surrey NanoSystems, Zegami, Covatic and Bibliotech.

Juliet Rogan leads a national team of High Growth Relationship Directors focused on supporting companies scale from start-up to exit. Over the last 6 years Juliet has worked across Barclays Corporate and Investment bank, specialising in the Tech Media and Telecoms Sector and played an integral role in building Barclays’ high growth franchise and venture debt product. Previously Director for Barclays’ Technology, Media and Telecoms team, she has worked with a portfolio of some of the most exciting technology companies in London. She joined Barclays in 2010 after qualifying as an accountant at KPMG.

Adam is the COO for Oxford University Innovation Ltd (OUI), the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford, and is responsible for the Licensing & Ventures and Consulting Services activities, in addition to several business support groups. He has worked for more than 15 years in commercial roles encompassing business development and licensing, new venture formation, product development, lobbying/advocacy and general management. Prior to his current role Adam led the Life Sciences Licensing & Ventures Group at OUI, where he oversaw the formation of more than 20 new spin out companies and led the creation of LAB282, a £13M partnership with Oxford Sciences Innovation plc and Evotec AG to accelerate Oxford drug discovery activities. Between 2010 and 2013 Adam worked as Deputy General Manager for the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd, a joint venture between the University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions Inc, which raised more than $30M to conduct the first ever efficacy study of a next generation TB vaccine in infants. Prior to this Adam worked in healthcare consulting with Technomark Ltd and then in increasingly senior commercialisation roles at OUI.

Andrew is a scientist and engineer with a passion for growing businesses. He believes in customer and market centric business models, that people make businesses, even in an increasingly technological age, and the importance of quality.
Andrew is particularly proud of his involvement in developing international business opportunities and growing export revenues for UK companies.

Andrew has enjoyed a diverse career with its fair share of success but not without the benefit of educational failures along the way.

Today he is an investor, non-executive director and strategy consultant working in the scientific and technology sectors.
He has been a senior executive, CEO and business owner.

Andrew has worked with companies of all sizes, both publicly quoted and privately owned, across three continents, North America, Europe and Australasia, and across a broad spectrum of technology and scientific businesses.

Andrew has been fortunate to experience the complete business cycle from start-up, through early stage commercialisation, expansion and exit, via both trade sale and IPO.

Andrew has been working with investors, both institutions and individuals, for over 30 years in addition to investing his own time and money in both new and established ventures.

One of Andrew’s cores strengths is his ability to rapidly assimilate new ideas and concepts and help organisations turn these in to achievable plans.

Andrew’s diverse and varied career has equipped him with many transferable skills, the ability to empathise with the various stakeholders’ viewpoint and the knowledge to formulate and ask critical questions in a professional, honest & transparent way.

Andrew is described by his colleagues as courageous, loyal and trustworthy. Andrew has long term business relationships that span 3 decades.

Nooman Haque is the Managing Director of Life Sciences and Healthcare at Silicon Valley Bank’s UK Branch. He leads a team dedicated to supporting early, growth-stage and established multinational businesses in all sectors of life sciences. Nooman is responsible for expanding the bank’s business in this key sector and working with the global life sciences team to support companies with all aspects of their business, beyond financing. He is actively involved within the sector, sitting on the BIA’s Finance and Tax Committee and is a frequent panellist, writer and spokesperson for the industry.

Nooman joined Silicon Valley Bank from a venture capital firm in London and previously worked at a sovereign wealth fund in Saudi Arabia largely focused on healthcare. His background includes management consulting and corporate finance.

Nooman has a Bsc in psychology and an Msc in economics, both from the University of London, and an MBA (finance) from Imperial College.

Since December 2016, Thomas is overseeing a growing portfolio of strategic academic partnerships at Evotec, including Lab282 in Oxford. From November 2013 to November 2016, Thomas was responsible for scientific advancement and commercial licensing of Evotec’s preclinical R&D projects in the areas of inflammation and immuno-oncology, with a particular focus on building high-value, performance based drug discovery alliances with academia and pharma.
From 2007 to 2013, Thomas was Sourcing Director at the Biopharmaceuticals Research Unit of Novo Nordisk, where he identified and evaluated partnering opportunities related to compounds, targets and technologies within haemophilia, autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, growth disorders and protein technologies. At Novo Nordisk, Thomas initiated a multitude of agreements with academic institutions and biotech companies both in Europe and the US.

Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Thomas was co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at the German biotech company TeGenero, where he headed the R&D efforts to develop first-in-class immunomodulatory monoclonal antibodies (2002-2007).

Preceding his entrepreneurial activities, Thomas was group leader and Assistant Professor for Immunobiology at the University of Würzburg (1999-2002) following a PostDoc at the University of California in Berkeley where he researched basic cellular immunology (1996-1999). Thomas received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Würzburg in 1995. He is (co-) author of approx. 30 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Today, Thomas has 20+ years of experience in research and drug development in academia, biotech and pharma. Fostering innovation and continuous improvement, Thomas manages cross-functional teams as an assessor / developer, sets directions and builds trust in a company.

Imelda's primary responsibility is to analyse investment proposals presented to BioCity for their scientific merit, patentability and validity of development path to market. She's on a mission to expand BioCity's healthcare investment portfolio in Therapeutics, Diagnostics, MedTech, Digital health, etc. Her role covers the evaluation of projects from sourcing to finalisation of legal documents.

Prior to joining BioCity Group Ltd, Imelda had garnered a network of relevant and valuable experience. From scientific research at Lonza Biologics, working closely with startup companies at Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable, and Business Development at Redx Pharma. Imelda holds a BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology and Business Enterprise, a PhD in Biotechnology, and is currently completing modules from Pharmaceutical Licensing Group in Finance, Intellectual Property and Legal Issues in Business Development Contracts.

Joanna is a UX researcher in the 3D Customer Experience Design Team at Nacar Design in house at HP Barcelona. She works on diverse projects related to the UX Design for the future of 3D software and services. Her main personal interest is Design for Healthcare Innovation. She gained her experience working in Digital Health projects, for example Smart Glass Applications for surgery or improving patient adherence for Multiple Sclerosis.

She holds a Master Degree in Design Management that has awaken her passion for making a world a better place by finding an intersection of design, business and technology.

Her passion for working closely with people allows her to deeply understand the needs of diverse users which converts later in the scenarios of future concepts.

Gordon Sanghera was co-founder of Oxford Nanopore, together with Hagan Bayley and IP Group. He was appointed CEO in June 2005. He brings over 20 years' experience in the design, development and global launch of disruptive platform sensor technologies.

Dr Sanghera’s PhD in bioelectronics sensing was followed by a career at MediSense an Oxford spin-out that delivered a new generation glucose technology to the market. Following the acquisition of MediSense by Abbott Laboratories Dr Sanghera held both UK and US VP and Director-level positions, including VP World Wide Marketing, Research Director and Manufacturing Process Development Director. Before its acquisition by Abbott, Gordon led the R&D of Medisense Inc. where he was instrumental in the launch of several generations of blood glucose bio-electronic systems for the consumer and hospital medical markets. He has also developed and validated production processes to meet with the regulatory requirements for USA and Europe.

Gordon has a PhD in bio-electronic technology and a degree in Chemistry.

Professor Clare Verrill is an Associate Professor in Pathology in the Nuffield Dept of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford and an Honorary Consultant in Cellular Pathology at the John Radcliffe Hospital where she is a urological pathology consultant, having achieved her CCT in 2008.

Clare’s research interests are in, amongst other things, multi-modal and digital pathology and image analysis in cancer, primarily testis and prostate. As well as her academic group (The Verrill Pathology Group) Clare’s diverse roles include NIHR BRC 3 Sub-Theme lead for multimodal pathology, CM-Path Workstream 4 Lead (Technology and Informatics), RCPath Thames
Valley Regional College Advisor and a member of the NCRI Teenagers and Young Adults and Testis Clinical Studies Group.

She is also Chair of the Oxford Digital Pathology Academic Forum – an academic group including pathologists, engineers and statisticians from which several novel collaborations have been developed and Chair of the Oxford Digital Pathology Working Group, which is an operational group, setting and implementing strategy around digital pathology and image
analysis. Clare is co-lead for the Testis GeCIP (Clinical Interpretation Partnership) as part of the 100,000 Genomes Project and lead pathologist for a number of multisite clinical trials, including ‘PART – Partial Prostate Ablation Versus Radical Prostatectomy in Intermediate Risk Unilateral Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer’ (PI Freddie Hamdy).

Mike Moran MBE is a founder of the company, Proton Partners and has 30 years of experience in strategic leadership, planning and programme delivery. He has held various executive positions in defence and healthcare in the UK and abroad and is the Former Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce & Learning & Skills Council in Hereford and Worcestershire.

Recently named as a ‘Rising Star’ in BioBeat’s 50 Movers and Shakers for 2017, Sumi is the CEO at new start up SpyBiotech and Associate Professor at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, leading the Transmission Blocking Malaria Vaccine Group.

Her academic research interests include pre-clinical and clinical development of vaccines against malaria primarily focussing on vaccines to block the sexual development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito vector and block transmission. Other vaccine targets being researched include Ebola virus and Zika virus.

Vaccines currently in clinical development are a nanoparticle vaccine targeting the sexual stage of the malaria parasite. With collaborators in malaria endemic areas including Kenya and Burkina Faso, the objective is to facilitate malaria vaccine testing where the disease is endemic as early as possible in development.

In recent years, her research group at Oxford University has developed various platforms for generating recombinant protein and virus-like- particle (VLP) vaccines for the induction of high titre functional antibody responses. This research contributed to the formation of spin out company SpyBiotech in early 2017, having won £4 million of early-stage backing from Google’s venture capital arm GV and Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI). SpyBiotech has developed a ‘biochemical superglue’ that can enable rapid development of robust and highly effective vaccines, making it possible to produce vaccines more quickly, cheaply and effectively. SpyBiotech are harnessing this unique platform to generate vaccines to major human and veterinary health challenges for Europe, the US and worldwide.

Neil is a lapsed but enthusiastic scientist, passionate about businesses with a particular focus on people.

He believes no individual can reach their full potential and no business maximise its’ success without a passion for recruiting, developing, retaining and motivating the best possible talent.

Neil has enjoyed a diverse and successful career, spanning over 30 years, based on his understanding of the importance of people and teams above technology. His experience includes working with multinational market leaders, public and private companies and small entrepreneurial organisations.

He has been a senior executive, investor, assisted with trade sales and built his own business.

Neil’s cores strengths include his ability and willingness to challenge established thinking and to ask both challenging and stupid questions.

Yael Weiss received her MD degree from Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, and her PhD in molecular genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. After practicing medicine at Sheba Medical Center for several years Yael joined Columbine Ventures and then joined Genzyme Israel as director of Medical Affairs and Business Development.
In 2004, Yael joined Merck Israel as Medical Director, a role in which she oversaw Merck’s clinical trials and supported the sales and marketing organizations. In 2007 Yael relocated to the SF Bay Area to take the position of Director, External Scientific Affairs and World Wide Licensing, West Coast and later headed the group that evaluates the clinical, regulatory and safety
aspects of Merck’s regional deals globally). Currently, Yael is VP Business Development for Ultragenyx, a company specializing in development of therapies for the treatment of rare genetic diseases.

Shaun in the Chief Executive Officer of the Clinigen Group and has the responsibility for the Group achieving its key performance indicators and plays a central role in setting the Group strategy.

Shaun joined Clinigen in January 2012 as Chief Operating Officer, progressed to Deputy CEO in July 2015 and became CEO in November 2016.

Shaun has over 25 years of international experience in both the pharmaceutical industry and the life sciences services industry. Shaun has overseen the development and sustained growth of a number of businesses across the pharmaceutical lifecycle and has a track record of leading and developing high quality, effective management teams.

Prior to joining Clinigen, Shaun held senior global strategic, commercial and operational roles at Pfizer, Sanofi, Wolters Kluwer Health and the KnowledgePoint360 Group (now part of UDG Healthcare).

Dr Chiswell has over 30 years' experience in the biotechnology industry having co-founded Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) in 1990, serving as CEO from 1996 to 2002. CAT listed on the London Stock exchange in April 1997 and Nasdaq in June 2001, and was subsequently sold to AstraZenca where it forms an important part of their biopharmaceutical franchise.

Since leaving CAT in 2002, he has focused on the development of early-stage biotechnology companies, having previously served as a director of Arakis, non-executive chairman of Sosei, Arrow Therapeutics and Daniolabs, and as CEO of Nabriva Therapeutics (2009 to 2012). Dr Chiswell currently serves as chairman of Albireo Pharma and is a director of Nabriva Therapeutics. He is a past chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and in 2006 he was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen for services to the biotechnology industry.

Sonia has recently joined DNB Bank as senior Vice President Corporate
Banking in Healthcare from Ipsen. Within Ipsen, she was responsible
for executing partnerships from discovery to phase 1. In her current and
past experiences as a group leader in mathematical modelling applied to
biological systems, or as an investment banker using scientific literature
to value opportunities in M&A deals, she believes in multidisciplinary
interfaces. Sonia graduated in corporate finance from HEC and then
pursued studies in biology through a PhD in gene therapy

Jason is Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Epigenetix whose aim is to change the way medicine is practiced by reducing several routine and important diagnostic screening to a simple blood draw using the power of the 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) epigenetic mark. Before joining Cambridge Epigenetix, Jason served as Business Development Manager at Horizon Discovery and also has extensive experience in the fields of technology transfer, IP management and product innovation consultancy. Jason has a BSc in Molecular Biology and Chemistry from Tulane University and was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Cambridge where he completed a PhD in Medicine.

Anna Williamson is an Associate Director in the Oncology Business Development group at Genentech with fifteen years of experience in life science technology transfer and business development roles.

Anna’s primary responsibilities at Genentech include in-licensing therapeutic products and technologies, structuring strategic alliances, sourcing pre-clinical and clinical stage opportunities, leading diligence teams that evaluate such opportunities, negotiating and closing deals, and managing contractual relationships.

In late 2016 Anna relocated from the US to Cambridge, UK to open an office for Genentech Partnering. In addition to continuing to support Genentech’s Oncology Business Development group’s transactional activities, Anna will focus on sourcing therapeutic products and technologies from Cambridge and more broadly within the UK, in Oncology and other therapeutic areas of interest to Genentech.

Anna conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Colorado and holds both a PhD and a MA in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Joseph Fleishaker is Senior Vice President, Head, Clinical Pharmacology and Exploratory Development at Astellas Pharma Global Development, Northbrook, IL. He
received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Duquesne University and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky. He then joined The Upjohn
Company and was involved in clinical pharmacology research at Upjohn and subsequently Pharmacia. In roles as Head of Translational Medicine, Head of
Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics, and Metabolism (PDM) and Head of Inflammation Clinical Research at Pfizer, he has promoted efficient exploratory development programs and
the use of biomarkers for translation and early decision-making. Dr. Fleishaker has authored or co-authored over 80 original research articles, review articles and book
chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Fleishaker has served as
Chairman of the Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism and Biomarker and Translational Tools Sections of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and
Therapeutics. He is past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and chairs the External Advisory Board of the University of Kentucky College
of Pharmacy.