BIOINDUSTRY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Manufacturing Programme Manager
Abby leads BIA's manufacturing policy work and supports the Manufacturing Advisory Committee. She represents BIA on the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP) and is secretariate for the High Potential Modalities MMIP workstream. Abby collaborates with the bioprocessing sector with a focus on complex medicines and sustainability within medicine manufacturing.
Previous experience and achievements
Abby began her career at CPI, where she successfully completed a Degree Level Apprenticeship in Biotechnology. She then advanced to the role of Downstream Scientist, specialising in RNA process development, automation, and continuous processing. Passionate about advancing the sector, Abby also volunteers her time as ATMP Manufacturing Community (AMC) Director, contributing to the advanced therapies sector and gaining valuable cross-modality insights.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Marketing & Communications
Alina joined the BIA in October 2021 as Head of Marketing and Membership Communications. She leads the marketing team and is responsible for developing effective marketing strategies, which play an integral role in achieving BIA's strategic goals and strengthening brand awareness and member engagement. She also helps manage the BIA's Charity of the Year partnership and other strategic collaborations.
Previous experience & achievements
Alina has more than ten years of experience in management and international communications. She plays an integral role in achieving BIA's strategic goals. Her experience lies in various sectors, from the UK's further education sector and national bereavement charity to an international humanitarian and & development organisation and finance/energy events company. She is a published author on marketing, leadership and innovation with a focus on international development and sustainability.
My role involves the planning and execution of the BIA Webinars, our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Workshops, dinners/lunches, and some of our smaller-scale events at BIA. My role also involves helping my team with tasks leading up to the larger events, and to help with on-the-day-coordination at these conferences & exhibitions. Previous experience & achievements I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice law and criminology. I previously worked at British Airways Pensions where I was a part of the Committee Servies team and oversaw the Governance and Operations Committee. My role started to shift into overseeing the end-to-end event logistics for in-house corporate events at British Airways Pensions. In this role, I had the opportunity to liaise with large stakeholders in the business would work on various exciting projects with them throughout the year. I also have experience as a wedding event planner and would help with on-the-day-coordination for these events. If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why? I would invite Marie Curie as she was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the only woman to receive two Nobel prizes. Marie Curie also has a huge contribution to finding treatments for cancer and has fundamentally changed our understanding of radioactivity. ajoshi@bioindustry.org 07563031116
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Corporate
I am an Executive Director in the Pharma Partnering Group at Roche, where I have 17 years of experience in Partnering and Alliance Management. In this role I have established collaborations with companies ranging from early-stage start-ups to large Pharma. Notable partnerships I've helped establish include Genentech's personalized cancer vaccine clinical development collaboration with BioNTech, Genentech's clinical collaboration with Abbvie which generated Venclexta, Genentech's cell therapy collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies and Genentech's preclinical discovery collaboration with Bicycle Therapeutics for bicyclic peptides. More recently, I led Roche's negotiations to become a Founding Industry Member of Our Future Health, a UK-government supported consortia for early detection of disease.
In addition to partnering, I have experience working with entrepreneurs and with academia. I am on the Board of Start Codon, a Cambridge-based life sciences accelerator in which Genentech is a founding partner. I support the London-based Cancer Tech Accelerator in which Roche is a founder. I am on the selection committee for the Oncology Development Programme at Alderley Park. With respect to experience with academia, I spent 3 years at the University of California Office of Technology Transfer prior to joining Genentech.
I have a scientific background. I have a PhD and MA in Neuroscience from Cambridge University and I conducted post-doctoral studies at UCSF and the University of Colorado.
After spending 20 years in the US I moved back to the UK in 2016 to establish a partnering presence for Roche in the UK. Since returning I have become passionate about helping the UK maintain its position as a world-leading life sciences sector. I believe this passion, together with my diverse background and the support I can bring from Roche, the world's largest biotechnology company and a global leader in in vitro diagnostics, makes me an ideal candidate.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Chief Business Officer, Autolus Therapeutics
I have had the privilege to work in the UK life sciences sector for over 20 years. I am passionate about promoting our leading research, manufacturing and development capabilities. I have first-hand experience of how our innovations in cell and gene therapy can lead to new medicines with life transforming potential for patients.
Currently, I am the Chief Business Officer of Autolus Therapeutics. I was part of the team that founded Autolus in 2014, and initially served on the Company's board as a Non-Executive Director. In 2016, I transitioned into the Company to establish Autolus' Business Development function.
Autolus has its roots in the UK life sciences ecosystem. I am responsible our long-standing strategic partnership with UCL, where we have run multiple phase 1 studies, and I helped establish our partnership with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult where we manufacture for our clinical studies.
I have also led strategic biotech and pharma partnerships. Recently we announced our BioNTech partnership, which serves to advance both companies' CAR T programs and including the potential to manufacturing for BioNTech at our state-of-the-art Nucleus facility in Stevenage. I am also responsible for establishing partnerships with Moderna, BMS, and Cabaletta. On the corporate financing front, I have supported private rounds, our Nasdaq IPO, follow-on offerings and an asset financing deal with Blackstone Life Sciences with over $1.4Bn in capital raised to date.
In addition to my role at Autolus, I am an advisory board member for Deep Science Ventures and NG Bio. Before Autolus, I worked at UCL Business for seven years on licensing, newco formation, translational grant funding and intellectual property, including the foundation of Orchard Therapeutics. Finally, I have worked in BD and research roles at Canbex, Eli Lilly, King's, GSK, Inpharmatica and Imperial. I hold a PhD in Biochemistry.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- CEO, Agility Life Sciences
Claire is a multi-award winning entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning large multi-nationals (GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer), virtual biotech and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisations (CDMOs). She is the Founder and CEO of Agility Life Sciences, a formulation development CDMO which supports pharmaceutical and biotech companies developing formulations which give badly behaved molecules the best chance of success in preclinical studies, and allow them to be accelerated to clinic. Claire is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge where she helps academics translate their research into healthcare products and platforms. She also holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Nottingham.
Named in the Medicine Maker Power List in 2022, and the inaugural recipient of the One Nucleus "Life Science Inspiration of the Year" award in 2021, Claire is passionate not just about the process of getting medicines to patients, but the people involved in the development. One of her mantras is "People and purpose over products and profits".
Claire was formerly Deputy Chief Scientist of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Chief Scientist of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She has made appearances for the BBC (Health: Truth or Scare), ITV News and Channel 4 (Food Unwrapped) to illustrate the science behind medicines in a way which engages the public, and demonstrates to girls where science can take them. Claire is passionate about providing opportunities for women and girls to excel in whatever they do. She Chairs the global FIP WiSE (Women in Science and Education) initiative to engage, enable and empower girls and women, professionally or personally. As a former international footballer, Claire launched and fully funds the Girls In Football Teams (GIFT) Grants scheme, which currently supports more than 30 girls' and women's teams across the UK.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Member of the Board
- Head of LifeArc Ventures, LifeArc
Clare Terlouw is Head of LifeArc Ventures, responsible for LifeArc's investments across the life science sector.
She is the head of the investment team and a member of the Early Ventures Investment Committee. Clare oversees the Early Ventures strategy at LifeArc, which is a seed to Series A investment strategy, with the ability to further fund select companies into later rounds of funding. LifeArc's investment strategy is to seek to generate positive impact on patients and financial returns by investing in early translational sciences and technologies in areas of high unmet patient need.
Clare was previously at Syncona Investment Management Ltd, a FTSE250 healthcare investment trust, where she was Head of Corporate Development. Syncona founds and builds life sciences companies to deliver transformational treatments to patients. She has 15 years of biotech and healthcare financing experience as an investment banker in the City of London, previously a Managing Director at Numis Securities, with significant expertise in growth funding for innovative life sciences companies in the private and public markets.
Clare is also a board member of the BioIndustry Association, a non-executive director of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, and an investor director on a number of private venture backed companies.
Job Titles:
- Skills Programme Executive
Job Titles:
- Member of the Chair of the Board
- Chairman, BIA Board
Daniel joined Novo Holdings in 2024 as a Senior Partner in Growth Investments.
Daniel has 25+ years of global healthcare investment experience covering biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services. In 2007, he co-founded the healthcare business unit at Polar Capital in London, growing it to over $4 billion in assets under management. Daniel was formerly a Senior Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, an Analyst at ING Barings Furman Selz in New York, and completed his postdoctoral work at DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto. He currently chairs the UK BioIndustry Association, is a Non-Executive Director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge and was in 2022 appointed as the UK Government's Life Sciences Envoy.
Daniel received his PhD in Development Biology from the University of Cambridge and his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.
In November 2024, he was reappointed as the UK Government Life Sciences Investment Envoy and will continue in that role in 2026. As the immediate past Chair, Dan will continue to sit on the BIA Board for one final year.
Job Titles:
- Head of Data Tech Policy and Public Affairs
Emma leads BIA's genomics, digital, data and artificial intelligence (AI) policy areas. She engages with members who work in these fields to understand their policy needs. Emma provides the secretariat for BIA's Genomics Advisory Committee (GAC) and looks after the TechBio community as part of this. Emma also leads BIA's influence agenda for these areas, engaging with civil servants and other senior stakeholders.
Previous experience
Prior to joining the BIA, Emma worked at the cross-party think tank Policy Connect on a Cell and Gene Therapy Parliamentary engagement programme. She has previously worked in the biomedical research sector understanding the barriers to accessing human samples and data for research. This included leading engagement at the UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre (UCL) and the Immunotherapy Trial Simulation Project (Imperial College London). Emma has a PhD in Immunology from the University of Manchester.
Job Titles:
- Independent Consultant
- Biochemical Engineer
- Skills Strategy Consultant
As an experienced Biochemical Engineer, Kate leads skills and talent programme development across STEM industries using over 30 years of experience within large pharma and small company networks. Working with BIA, she represents the sector ensuring access to the incredible talent and addressing skills gaps to start, grow and scale innovative life sciences and biotech organisations.
Previous experience & achievements
In addition to her role at BIA, Kate works as an independent consultant supporting organisations to develop their skills and talent strategies. She has oversight for quality governance of technical and professional education as IfATE Non-Executive Director and is a Board member of North Hertfordshire College. Kate holds MBA from Open University and a PhD in Bio-Chemical Engineering from UCL. As a Chartered Engineer (CEng FIChemE), she held previous senior leadership roles across diverse pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D portfolios including Solid Dose, Parenteral & Inhaled Devices.
Job Titles:
- Director of Policy and External Affairs
Martin leads the BIA's policy and public affairs team, overseeing all of the BIA's policy development work, Advisory Committees and engagement with government and other stakeholders. He also supports the BIA Chair, Dan Mahony, in his role as the Government's Life Sciences Investment Envoy and leads BIA's investor relations. He is chief editor of BIA's finance reports and a regular commentator on the life sciences sector in the national media.
Previous experience & achievements
Outside BIA, Martin serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge University Science Policy Exchange (CUSPE). He has over fifteen years experience in policy and public affairs and has worked at the Royal Society, the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and the Association of Medical Research Charities. He holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Sheffield.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Partner, Epidarex Capital
Pete has more than 25 years of experience in both drug discovery across the pharmaceutical industry and in building early-stage therapeutics companies. Prior to joining Epidarex, Pete was Global Head of the Respiratory Disease Area and Site Head for the Novartis Institute of BioMedical Research in the UK. In this role, he had strategic and operational oversight for the respiratory portfolio from target discovery through to proof-of-concept trials in the clinic.
Pete is a former Executive Director of the Novartis Developmental and Molecular Pathways Platform based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this capacity, he led target discovery, validation and early drug discovery programs across a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, autoimmunity and inflammation. The approaches used have been extensively published in Nature and Cell.
Pete's experience from senior transatlantic industry roles to dealing with the day-to-day complexities of building venture-backed start-ups, ensures he is well qualified to join the BIA's Board. He has an extensive global network of Pharma and Biotech contacts. Pete's background in successfully funding innovative therapeutics start-ups is particularly relevant to the BIA's goal of further establishing our industry as a global hub of drug discovery and development.
Job Titles:
- Membership and Business Development Manager
Ekin works with the current members and engages with new companies to help grow the BIA community and sustain a healthy life sciences ecosystem in the UK.
Previous experience & achievements
After studying molecular biology and genetics for 8 years, including M.Sc., Ekin decided to get into entrepreneurship and ran her own company for 5 years. Getting bored of working alone and missing being involved in science, Ekin was fortunate enough to join the BIA.
Job Titles:
- Senior Policy and Public Affairs Executive
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Corporate
- Pharmacist
- Chairman of Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Chair of RoslinCT
Ian has a passion for biological science, in particular Cell and Gene Therapy due to the transformational medical benefits and the potential economic benefit created for the UK by this innovative treatment platform
Ian trained as a pharmacist and has remained committed to the patients that receive our medicines and treatments and place their trust in our industry to improve their health and keep them safe.
Jane Wall - Managing Director
25 years of experience managing teams in academic publishing and membership organisations: providing strategic and editorial direction combined with business acumen; driving operational, organisational and community development, profitability, and innovation. Previous roles at Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis (Informa PLC), Oxford Brookes University, Fire Protection Association and Food and Drink Federation. Jane holds a first degree in Italian and European Literature from Warwick University, MA in Social Anthropology from SOAS and MBA from Oxford Brookes Business School.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Vice President, Lilly Ventures ( Head of Europe ), Eli Lilly and Company
Laura is the European Regional Head of Lilly Ventures for Eli Lilly & Company. Her focus is on Lilly's venture capital strategy for Europe covering both direct investments into biotech and life science companies, and fund-of-fund relationships and investments, as well as supporting the wider external innovation efforts across Lilly. As an organization, Lilly is determined to improve the UK's attractiveness for scientific and medical research so that cutting edge science can be developed into life-changing healthcare products for patients.
Laura is a PhD-trained scientist who brings diverse business, transaction and operational experience to the BIA. Over the last 15 years she has participated in the pharma/biotech research and innovation sphere with her experience spanning key pillars of our industry: pharma leader; venture capital; technology transfer; charity sector; founder and executive of biotech and life science start-ups; and life science consulting. Her strong appreciation of the different pressures and needs of each of these contributors; as well as the acute need for cross-sector collaboration to achieve our goals of serving patients better, not only drives her as an individual but also provides a valuable breadth of experience she can leverage for the BIA.
Prior to Lilly, Laura was part of the investment team at Advent Life Sciences. She was involved across the full spectrum of investment activities; supported the wider portfolio; and led on business development and pharma outreach activities. While at Advent she also served on the Boards of Aleta Biotherapeutics Inc., Artax BioPharma Inc., Highlight Therapeutics S.L., and Ventus Medical Ltd. Prior to Advent, Laura held CEO and COO positions at several UK life science/biotech companies in Birmingham, Oxford & London.
Laura gained her masters and doctorate from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the non-profit Collaborative Community against Coronavirus (3CCorona) CIC.
Job Titles:
- Credit and Finance Manager
Lauren is responsible for the corporate finances of the BIA. This includes working with the BIA's outsourced finance function, the Operations team and the Director of Business Development and Membership Services.
Lauren works closely with Membership and Events team staff in invoice generation and collection. Another aspect of her role is providing Credit Control Services to the organisation.
Job Titles:
- Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Lewis leads the BIA's policy work on finance and tax, which involves campaigning to increase investment in the UK's life science industry. He engages with members across the sector to understand their policy needs. Lewis also provides the secretariat for the BIA's Finance and Tax Advisory Committee (FTAC).
Previous experience & achievements
Previously, Lewis has held a number of roles related to policy within the STEM sector. These have included work at the Royal Society of Chemistry, where he led on policy areas including research culture, diversity and inclusion, and funding; as well as supporting the passage of the Environment Act 2021 through Parliament at DEFRA. In addition, he has worked as a Project Officer at the Royal Society, managing projects to make the landscape of STEM in the UK more inclusive and diverse. Lewis has a MSc in Natural Sciences from the University of Birmingham, where he majored in Biology and Physics.
Job Titles:
- Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Linda leads on intellectual property (IP), engineering biology (EngBio), R&D and innovation policy and animal research. She provides the secretariat to BIA's two advisory committees - Intellectual Property (IPAC) and Engineering Biology (EBAC) as well as the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Life Sciences.
Previous experience & achievements
Prior to joining BIA, Linda worked as a Policy Analyst at a non-profit looking into university-business collaboration and knowledge exchange in the UK and as a researcher at a public policy-focused think tank identifying challenges to state-level public service delivery and rural health in India. Linda has an MA in Global Political Economy from the University of Sussex.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Corporate
- CEO, Redx Pharma
Lisa Anson is the Chief Executive Officer of Redx Pharma Ltd, appointed on 1 June 2018.
Lisa has been President of AstraZeneca UK since 2012 and has significant leadership experience in pharmaceuticals. Over a 20-year career at AstraZeneca plc, Lisa has held a number of senior management roles in both the US and the UK, including Global Vice President, Oncology and as Vice President of emerging brands, where she worked closely with the Research and Development teams.
Lisa holds an MBA (awarded with distinction) from INSEAD, France and a First Class honours degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University in the UK. Upon graduating, she joined KPMG in London as a management consultant and then moved to California, where she worked for Salick Health Care (now Aptium), a California-based cancer disease management company, prior to joining Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (USA) in 1998 as a business development manager.
Lisa was President of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), a position from which she stepped down in July 2018. She has been a Board member of the ABPI since 2012, where she has chaired a number of UK industry committees and worked closely with Government and a wide range of industry stakeholders.
In my role, I lead marketing efforts like SEO, content marketing, email campaigns, and PR to boost BIA's visibility in the biotech community and engage with both potential and current member companies. I'm also here to assist our members and external stakeholders with any marketing needs or requests. Previous experience & achievements I have over four years' experience working in both the not-for-profit and corporate sectors. I've led multi-channel marketing campaigns that focus on engaging members and building brand awareness with both members and the public. I understand the importance of a clear, consistent visual identity when communicating with key audiences. It's fascinating how the right tone, message and branding can strengthen a connection with the audience and build trust. If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why? I would choose Nikola Tesla. While he wasn't technically a scientist - he was an engineer and inventor - but his work in electromagnetism transformed both science and engineering. I'm fascinated by his ideas, especially on wireless energy and sustainability. I'd love to hear his thoughts on how his inventions could improve life today, as I believe there is still so much potential to harness them. And, of course, I'd ask what he thinks of Elon Musk's work with electric vehicles, space travel and renewable energy solutions like SolarCity. ldascalciuc@bioindustry.org +44 7597 797120
Job Titles:
- Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Job Titles:
- Policy and Public Affairs Executive
Maddy joined from OVID Health, where she worked across communications, public affairs and patient advocacy projects for clients in pharma, medtech and healthtech. She holds an interdisciplinary degree in Arts and Sciences from UCL, where she conducted qualitative research on the implementation of the NHS genomic medicine service.
Job Titles:
- Senior Digital Marketing Executive
I oversee our social media channels and send regular newsletters to keep BIA members informed about the latest sector news and developments. I focus on sharing updates related to life sciences, biotech, start-ups, and pharmaceutical companies to foster discussions and ensure the continued digital visibility of BIA. Previous experience & achievements I have experience in the third sector as a Digital Communications Officer, where I worked for an organisation supporting refugee employment in the UK. I have a bachelor's in political science and a keen interest in international relations, which has equipped me with a deep understanding of political dynamics and their relevance to the BIA. I have created and led exciting campaigns over the last few years, including supporting those affected by the explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, and supporting sustainability in rural schools. If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why? I would invite Nobel Prize winner David Hubel. His groundbreaking research on the cerebral cortex has significantly advanced our understanding of complex functions such as memory, planning, and language, ultimately contributing to a clearer understanding of our surroundings. mwalakira@bioindustry.org 07741249902
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Chief Product & Supply Chain Officer at Bicycle Therapeutics
Mike has had a long and storied career working in major pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, the NHS and academia. He qualified as a pharmacist, moving into ever more senior roles in the global pharmaceutical industry, at Sanofi, UCB and Teva before joining Astra Zeneca to head-up their CMC organization. He left AZ to lead a UK based division for Thermo-Fisher, before moving into national innovation roles in the NHS which brought together academia, industry and social care organizations to improve health outcomes. He joined Bicycle in 2021 to lead the construction of the company's product development capabilities and supply chain.
Mike has had close links with academia for many years, working in a wide variety of advisory roles including Visiting and Honorary Professorships at Durham, De Montfort and Leicester universities. He is passionate about shaping life science policy, as evidenced by his roles in Medilink, the National Centre for Rural Health and Care, the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Mike is known as an influential change-maker. He is only happy when carefully crafted policy translates into action, and he is immensely skilled at bringing to the table multiple stakeholders, often with very different perspectives. Whilst being an advocate for the causes about which he is passionate, Mike is also an empathetic listener and has a rare skill in helping diverse groups find common solutions.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Senior Leadership Team
Miriam's role includes full diary management, reading, monitoring and responding to CEO's email, answering calls and liaising with members/stakeholders/clients; drafting of correspondence on CEO's behalf and delegating work in the CEO's absence. She also supports project planning and managing ad hoc projects, especially from nascent ideas to project plans, including formative meetings, planning and organising events.
Previous experience & achievements
Miriam joined BIA in June 2018 as an Executive Assistant to Steve Bates. Previously she has worked within the Human Resources Department of ITN and held a wide variety of secretarial/administrative roles across higher education institutions. She holds a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director for Membership and Business Development
Natalie's role is to manage all activities directly relating to the recruitment and retention of members. She has direct responsibility for the renewal and growth of membership income, development of member lifetime value (LTV) and related revenue streams.
She oversees the smooth running and growth of membership services directly relating to member benefit through our Business Solutions scheme, but also in developing opportunities for member organisations overseas, through member supporter/sponsorship of BIA events and projects and working with BIA colleagues to ensure engagement of existing and new members in policy, influence and community activities.
Previous experience and achievements
Natalie has broad experience in client-facing, income-generating roles with a focus on membership, marketing and events. She has worked within Professional Services and PR but for 15+ years her experience falls within the not-for-profit membership industry. Most recently she worked at the International Chamber of Commerce United Kingdom as the Commercial Director responsible for incoming generating activity and worked with key stakeholders to develop new initiatives.
Job Titles:
- Membership Systems Manager
Natalie is responsible for planning and overseeing the renewal processes for BIA members in addition to delivering efficient onboarding processes for new members whilst ensuring a smooth and ongoing engagement experience, member satisfaction and positive member journeys. In addition, Natalie also oversees the CRM/CMS systems to maximise on membership engagement and smooth user journeys.
Previous experience and achievements
Prior to joining the BIA, Natalie has worked in various membership roles at the Association of Corporate Treasurers, the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, the British Cardiovascular Society and the Federation of Master Builders. She has over 12 years extensive membership operations and customer service experience across the professional body and trade association sectors. Previous to this, Natalie also worked across a range of organisations in the not-for-profit and charity sector including Mencap, Phoenix Futures and Diabetes UK where she was instrumental in helping to deliver effective Policy and Marketing campaigns to better and enrich lives of those living with various health conditions and their family/carers. Natalie has BA in History from the University of the West Indies and a Masters in Marketing Management from Middlesex University.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Member of the Corporate
- Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, EMEA, Johnson & Johnson
Nerida Scott is the Regional Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, EMEA, located at the Innovation Centre in London. Nerida oversees the EMEA portfolio of co-investments and collaborations to construct, prioritise and advance the early external innovation portfolio of J&J, which includes pharmaceuticals, medtech and consumer health, exploring new models to support external R&D collaboration and grow early-stage innovation networks.
Nerida has been an integral part of the J&J Innovation team since 2015, and before that, she was in the UK Biotech sector for 15 years as Director for Business Development & Licensing and Executive Team member at Vernalis PLC and at RiboTargets. Previously she was in the UK Healthcare team at the Boston Consulting Group.
Nerida brings 25 years of diverse business and transaction experience to the BIA board. She represents innovation on the UK government's Life Sciences Council particularly focusing on: strengthening the UK clinical trials infrastructure; the generation of and access to high quality data within the NHS for research; the need for functional genomics capability; and advocating strongly that the UK needs to not only value the life sciences sector for inward investment, but needs to develop and deploy the sector's innovation across the NHS to generate improvements in the nation's health, wellbeing and productivity.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Bioprocessing Consultant
Netty has been a consultant for BIA since 2014. Her role is to support BIA's work on bioprocessing, including the COVID-19 Vaccines Expert Advisory Group, Manufacturing Advisory Committee (MAC), Science and Innovation Community (SIC), bioProcessUK Conference and Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership (MMIP). In 2016, she was a member of the MMIP Advanced Therapies Manufacturing Taskforce and continues to help drive skills recommendations from it.
Netty has been a bioprocessing consultant since 2003, following 15 years in bioprocess development working for Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, British Biotech and Applikon. She holds a BSc in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from Birmingham University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Company Secretary
Nick is responsible for overseeing the BIA's operations, ensuring that all activities are professionally delivered to the highest standard and providing an organisation-wide operational perspective to and support for, activities and projects. He has specific responsibility for office management/facilities; financial systems/processes and credit control; the people, skills and talent workstream; company secretariat; human resources and IT/telecoms.
Previous experience & achievements
Nick has extensive industry and not-for-profit management experience. Prior to this role, he ran the Clinical Laboratory Division of Lab21. This involved providing specialist laboratory services to the healthcare, pharmaceutical and clinical trials markets. In that role, Nick had management responsibility for all operations, income, laboratory and customer services and client liaison across the Group. He also has specific and extensive experience of diagnostic testing within the HIV and HCV disease areas. This was gained through building Delphic Diagnostics into a one-stop shop for clinicians, enabling more effective patient monitoring and subsequent treatment options. Nick also has broad management experience within the not-for-profit and charity sector, working for a trade body representing and building the profile of the business communication industry and prior to that working for the world's oldest active society devoted to natural history.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Partner at International Law Firm Bird & Bird
- Partner, Bird & Bird
Nicole is a partner at international law firm Bird & Bird, specialising in supporting companies in the life sciences sector.
She is passionate about science and the dynamic and diverse sector which the BIA supports. With a science degree and first-hand experience of the life sciences industry (including working in phase II and phase III clinical trials before qualifying as lawyer), she is well placed to understand and advise on legal issues relevant to the sector. At Bird & Bird, Nicole supports innovative biotech companies developing cutting edge technologies, such as gene and cell therapy, on a broad range of intellectual property and regulatory matters. She also advises global pharmaceutical companies on business-critical patent and SPC litigation and represents clients in the UK courts and the Unified Patent Court.
Nicole has been actively involved in the BIA for over 10 years, most recently as Vice-Chair of the IP advisory committee. As a member of the Board of the BIA, she will continue to support the BIA deliver on its goals, in particular, in supporting the secretariat and Nick Gardner, COO, on legal matters.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Chief Corporate Development & Strategy Officer, Alchemab Therapeutics
- Founding Team Member and Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer at Alchemab Therapeutics
Olivia Cavlan is a founding team member and Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer at Alchemab Therapeutics. Prior to Alchemab Olivia was an Investment Principal at SV Health Investors and a Partner with McKinsey & Company where she was part of the leadership team in the Healthcare Private Equity and Pharmaceutical practices. Alongside her role as a Non-Executive Director for the UK BioIndustry Association, Olivia is a member of the Investment Committee for Cancer Research UK's (CRUK) Seed fund. She also co-founded and sits on the Board of Directors of Sevenless Therapeutics, a small molecule pain company. Olivia is a medic originally, holding an MBChB in Medicine and a BSc in Pharmacology from Bristol University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Associate
- Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital
I am a partner at the venture capital fund Cambridge Innovation Capital. We invest in early-stage businesses that have the ambition to become category leading global businesses with a focus on life sciences and deep tech. In the last ten years we have invested in 44 businesses, the majority of which have their origins within UK academic research with a particular focus on the Cambridge (UK) ecosystem. During this time I have led CIC's investments in a wide range of start-up and early stage companies including CMR Surgical (grown to have the second highest installed base of multi-port surgical robots in >30 countries), Inivata (sold to NeoGenomics for $440 million), Microbiotica, Carrick Therapeutics, PetMedix, Morphogen-IX (sold to Centessa), Gyroscope Therapeutics (sold to Novartis for up to $1.5 billion), PetMedix (sold to Zoetis), Pretzel Therapeutics, T-Therapeutics and Sortera.bio. I had previously spent 20 years in drug development and commercialisation in both large pharma (Sanofi, Roche), the regulatory authorities (MHRA) and biotech including CMO at Arakis, CEO/Founder of Treague, founding CEO at the University spin-out Avilex Pharma and being part of the founding management team at KalVista (Nasdaq: KALV). Prior to joining industry I spent seven years as a hospital doctor in the UK and Australia training as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. I am passionate about translating UK cutting edge medical science into sector-leading commercial companies that can bring substantial societal benefits at scale and have a significant global impact on human health.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- CEO, OMass Therapeutics
As CEO of OMass Therapeutics, private biotechnology company applying native mass spectrometry to discover novel small molecule medicines, I am passionate about the potential of the life sciences sector in the UK to contribute positively to the UK economy and to change the lives of patients through innovation.
I have over 20 years of experience in biotech, pharma and consulting in Europe and the US. I am a strong generalist with senior-level experience in strategy, finance, operations and project leadership at early-stage companies, and a successful track record in business development and financing, including supporting the transition from private to public. At OMass I have led its strategic development into a therapeutics company, raising >£110m. I joined OMass from Bicycle Therapeutics where I served as President, Chief Business Officer and a Director of the US subsidiary of the Company. I established the company's Boston-based subsidiary and over a three-year period led three major transactions. Prior to that I served as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Operations at Trevena, Inc. During my tenure at Bicycle and Trevena, the companies moved four programmes into the clinic, and raised over $300 million in private and public financings. I have an MBA with distinction (INSEAD) and a first-class degree in Natural Sciences (Cambridge). In addition to my role at OMass, I support emerging business leaders through mentoring and previously served on the advisory group for Harwell Science Park and the 2024 Prime Minister's Business Council.
Job Titles:
- Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Rosie leads the BIA's policy work on access to medicines, rare diseases, cell and gene therapies and antimicrobial resistance. This involves providing the secretariat for the BIA's Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (CGTAC) and Rare Disease Industry Group (RDIG). She is also responsible for organising the BIA's annual Parliament Day, which brings CEOs and senior representatives from BIA member companies to Westminster to meet with politicians and policymakers.
Previous experience
Previously, Rosie worked as a Senior Research Consultant at a Westminster-based public affairs agency, where she supported clients from a range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, technology and financial services. Prior to that, Rosie worked as a Management Consultant at KPMG, where she assisted on financial and regulatory projects with large corporate clients. She has a BA in Human, Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Sam leads the events team at BIA, working on developing and expanding BIA's extensive events programme as well as evolving BIA's existing sector-leading events. Sam overseas the end-to-end event logistics, marketing strategy, planning and execution of the events programme and is also responsible for building exciting event supporter opportunities for BIA members. She also helped establish the Women in Biotech mentoring programme and is responsible for the smooth running of the scheme.
Previous experience & achievements
Sam has extensive experience in events and business development roles, having previously worked at the Chartered Governance Institute developing and delivering their event & training programme. She also worked on a joint project with Sport England helping to establish the Sports Governance Academy and has previously worked in recruitment. Sam has a degree in Business Studies from the University of Liverpool.
Ensuring that activity of the BIA and its members is turned into effective, impactful and far-reaching content. Saq will lead the content team in helping us to maximise our thought and sector leadership through strategic content development and production. Previous experience and achievements. Saq has held various editorial and marketing roles within academic, professional and STM publishing over the past 10-12 years, including his last role as Publisher at The Chartered Governance Institute. Previous employers include the Royal Society of Chemistry and Cambridge University Press. Saq holds a BA in History from Queen Mary and an MA in Publishing from UCL. If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why? Bill Gates: As the co-founder of Microsoft, Gates revolutionised the computer industry and made personal computers accessible to millions. In addition, through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he has dedicated his resources and efforts to addressing global health, education, and poverty, making a significant impact in areas like eradicating polio and improving access to healthcare and education in developing countries. slal@bioindustry.org 07596595199
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- General Counsel and Head of Business Operations at Isomorphic Labs
Sarah Korman is General Counsel and Head of Business Operations at Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet company launched from Google DeepMind in 2021 with a mission to advance human health through AI-first drug design. Sarah brings strong business acumen and broad legal experience from the biotechnology industry. She was previously Chief Legal Officer at Absci, General Counsel at Neuvogen, Head of Intellectual Property for Final Drug Products at Amgen, and held roles specialising in intellectual property at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the World Intellectual Property Organization and in private practice. Sarah earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry and metallurgical/materials engineering, a PhD in materials science and engineering (nanotechnology), and her Juris Doctorate with Certificate in Intellectual Property Law. Sarah is a U.S. National Science Foundation Fellow and an inventor on various patents directed to nano-enabled therapeutics and drug delivery technologies. Sarah is passionate about the enormous potential for AI to improve drug discovery and advance a new era of medical breakthroughs. Sarah values collaboration, is inspired by diverse perspectives and is a strong advocate for responsible AI policy. In the capacity of a NED, Sarah has a wealth of experience in partnership, energy and strategic thinking.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cambridge United Football Club
- Chairman, AstraZeneca UK
Shaun Grady is the most senior official for AstraZeneca in the UK, reporting to CEO Pascal Soriot. He is responsible for representing AstraZeneca's whole enterprise across the UK. In this role, Shaun works closely with senior leaders across AstraZeneca to champion and support AstraZeneca's science and R&D function, operations and manufacturing, commercial business, and corporate priorities across the life sciences ecosystem in the UK. Shaun manages critical relationships with senior Government representatives, life science business leaders and industry associations, as well as leading on advocacy for key policy priorities. As UK Chair he also represents AstraZeneca's global enterprise, to support and leverage the UK's unique diplomatic and economic networks to improve trade and international cooperation in life sciences. Additionally, Shaun chairs a number of groups within AstraZeneca, including the UK Leadership Team, the UK Employee Forum and the UK Inclusion and Diversity working group. Before becoming the Chair of AstraZeneca UK, Shaun led the company's business development function, where he worked for over 20 years.
Shaun is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cambridge United Football Club, and a Board member for the CBI President's Committee, the Cambridge Arts Theatre, and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC). He is also a member of the Innovate Cambridge Advisory Council, a member of the Beijing BioPark Advisory Committee and an Honorary Fellow at The University of Cambridge Judge Business School and Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge.
Job Titles:
- Senior Policy and Public Affairs Executive
Siddharth Subramaniam Senior Policy and Public Affairs Executive, BIA What does your role at BIA involve? Sid is heavily involved with the BIA's policy work on the UK's clinical trial environment, cell and gene therapies, and antimicrobial resistance. His role also entails providing the secretariat for the BIA's Cell and Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (CGTAC). He is also responsible for helping organise the BIA's annual Parliament Day, which brings CEOs and senior representatives from BIA member companies to Westminster to meet with policymakers. Previous experience & achievements Earlier in his career, Sid worked in Management Consultancy at KPMG. He subsequently worked at two strategic communications agencies, where he supported clients across pharmaceuticals, rare disease advocacy, technology, lotteries, and consumer goods. His past clients include Novartis, Alpha-1 Europe Alliance and Google. He has a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol, and an MA in Politics and International Relations from Durham University. If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why? I'd invite Laura Deming - a contrarian venture capitalist and scientist. She started working on ageing research at 12, dropped out of MIT, and now runs The Longevity Fund, backing companies trying to radically extend the human healthspan. I'd love to hear her insights on the future of longevity and building transformative science-driven companies. ssubramaniam@bioindustry.org 07701278405
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- Chief Executive Officer, Curve Therapeutics
I have been engaged in the life science sector for 40 years with a career including pharma, biotech, research institutes and at venture capital; I have worked at the bench, in operations management, business development, as a CEO and in investment. My career has primarily been in the UK but includes positions in Sweden (Active Biotech) and Belgium (Ablynx).
For the last eighteen years I have held CEO and Executive Chairman positions in UK biotechs (Karus, Aleta, Itara, Encipher, and my current position at Curve Therapeutics) that, alongside my time as an Operating Partner at Advent, has given me a strong insight and experience of the challenges of funding and growing UK biotechs.
In addition to these executive roles, I have also held non-executive (Celleron) and chair (Argonaut) roles within UK biotech companies and, of relevance to the BIA board, on both the advisory board and management board of MedCity (London), where my role was to represent the interests of early-stage biotech within a very academic-focused initiative.
I have engaged with the BIA since 1997 and was part of the emerging company committee in 2011/2012, from which Will West and I established an angel investment forum for early-stage biotechs. Under the current management team, the BIA has established a strong platform to represent the interests of the UK bioscience sector, and I would like to have the opportunity to support the team and the organisation through membership of the board.
Job Titles:
- Operations & Office Manager
Stephanie provides management support to the operational function of the BIA. Her role encompasses a wide-range of business activities such as human resources, finance, IT, governance, day-to-day office management and facilities.
Previous experience & achievements
Stephanie has worked in the charity and not-for-profit sector for 20 years. After completing a Masters in Musicology specialising in Beethoven and studying with Professor Barry Cooper, she worked in classical music including opera, artist and tour management. Stephanie has worked for a number of membership organisations and start-ups, covering music, economics, law and now life sciences with the BIA. She has a wealth of experience of supporting C-Suite teams and senior leaders, in running their businesses. Stephanie is passionate about people, helping others and enriching colleague's working lives.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate
- CEO, O2h Ventures
Sunil has now served on the Board of the BIA for more than 2 years, and worked with other board colleagues to support the Executive team navigate the challenges of COVID and served to strengthen the biotechnology ecosystem. Sunil is a serial entrepreneur having begun his career in the Life Sciences team at PA Consulting group followed by co-founding Oxygen Healthcare Ltd which was fully acquired by Piramal Enterprises Ltd (BSE: PEL) in 2013. Since this time, Sunil has co-founded the o2h Group and is CEO of o2h Ventures which are building an ecosystem to support early-stage Biotech Therapeutic companies.
Sunil is highly passionate about building and investing into early stage biotechnology. For more than two decades, he has been focused on building the o2h biotech ecosystem to support fledgling biotech innovations through investing, mentoring and providing discovery support to pre-seed and seed stage biotech companies.
Sunil absolutely loves connecting people and supporting the biotech ecosystem, during lockdown when we were not allowed to meet each other in person Sunil led a series called o2h ChaiTimes in which he assembled a panel of experts (globally) to discuss various topics of interest to other Biotechies on an online platform, this was for free for anyone to join. Post the lockdown when we were able to meet each other again, he has been hosting biotech bikers events from o2h's new site in Cambridge for Biotechies to get some exercise and talk science.
Sunil has won the UKBAA Angel Investor of the year award in 2019 as well as the OBN Special Recognition Award for his significant contribution in the Life Sciences Industry. Most recently, Sunil won the CEO of the Year award at Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards.
As a Data Insights Executive, Wendy specialises in gathering and analysing data across the UK and global biotech sectors. Her work revolves around turning complex datasets into clear, actionable insights that support strategic areas within the BIA. She translates data into intuitive visualizations and reports, allowing key stakeholders and the biotech community to easily understand market trends, research developments and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.
Previous experience & achievements
Wendy managed laboratory operations at Randox Health, where she used statistical software to analyse data and provide meaningful insights.
As an IT Business Analyst, Wendy facilitated effective communication between stakeholders and technical teams, guiding projects from planning to deployment. Additionally, she managed vendor relations, ensuring clear deliverables and adherence to project timelines.
Wendy has a BSc in Biomedical Science from Coventry University and an MBA in Business Analytics from the University of East London. Wendy has also received Microsoft-accredited AZ-900 and DP-900 certifications, demonstrating her knowledge in key data principles and databases.