Andrew R Leach

Head of Industry Partnerships and Head of Chemical Biology: EMBL-EBI

At EMBL-EBI Andrew is responsible for a number of widely-used resources including ChEMBL, SureChEMBL, UniChem and ChEBI. His group is also involved in various international collaborations and consortia including Illuminating the Druggable Genome, Open Targets and EUbOPEN. His industry team works with the many commercial organisations and companies that make extensive use of the EBI's resources. He joined EMBL-EBI from GSK, where he was involved in the development and application of new platform capabilities for drug discovery in areas including computational chemistry and cheminformatics, fragment-based drug discovery, cardiovascular safety, proteomics and biological mass spectrometry. He also contributed to therapeutic projects and led GSK’s early Discovery portfolios against protease, ion channel and epigenetic targets.

Brian Marsden

Associate Professor, Research Informatics

Brian is responsible for driving research informatics and research computing capabilities at the Kennedy Institute and the Centre for Medicines Discovery.

After completing a D.Phil. within the Iain Campbell lab at the University of Oxford, Brian was awarded a Wellcome Trust Prize Fellowship which he spent at the Abagyan lab at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA, devising novel methods for proteins structure superimposition and also implementing high performance compute and storage clusters. He then worked as part of the Computational Chemistry group at BioFocus PLC before settling down at the SGC in Oxford and now the Centre for Medicines Discovery where he continues to be responsible for all aspects of Informatics, IT and structural bioinformatics. He has a particular interest in the development of novel data capture and visualisation methods for structural and chemical biology data.

Chas Bountra

Project Lead, UK SPINE: Knowledge Exchange

Chas is Professor of Translational Medicine in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and Associate Member of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. He is also a Visiting Professor in Neuroscience and Mental Health at Imperial College, London. Chas is an invited expert on several government and charitable research funding bodies, and an advisor for many academic, biotech and pharma drug discovery programmes. In 2012 he was voted one of the “top innovators in the industry”, in 2014 received the “Rita and John Cornforth Award” from the Royal Society of Chemistry, in 2017 and 2018 was voted “Master of the Bench” from the Medicine Maker Power List, and in 2018 was awarded the “Order of the British Empire” in the New Years Honours List.

Harriet Teare

Programme Director, UK SPINE Knowledge Exchange

Harriet Teare was a Researcher in Healthcare and Policy, contributing to a programme of work addressing Global Access to Medicines (in collaboration with members of the Structural Genomics Consortium, Oxford). She had previously provided research governance and ethical support to the DIRECT project: an IMI-JU funded collaboration exploring stratification in Type 2 diabetes, the Rudy Study: a research network for rare diseases of the blood, bone and joints, and led a work package focusing on consent in the Genetics Clinic of the Future:  a Horizon 2020 project mapping the complex challenges that need to be tackled to introduce genome sequencing more widely into the clinic. Harriet obtained a DPhil in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry from Merton College, Oxford, and previously worked as a Senior Policy Advisor at Cancer Research UK, focusing on issues relating to science and research, and public health. Harriet remains an Academic Affiliate of HeLEX.

Clare Denton

Knowledge Exchange Coordinator

Clare joined the team as the KE coordinator in October 2021.  Her role is to facilitate excellent communication within team, coordinate meetings, events, workshops, conferences and hackathons, focus on patient led trials and support both project manager and KE manager.  Her previous role was Visitor Services Manager at the Museum of Natural History, Oxford University.

Paul Mercer

Head of Collaboration: The Francis Crick Institute

Paul has experience working both in the pharma setting and academia through positions at Pfizer, Novartis and Imperial College London before joining the group of Professor Rachel Chambers at UCL. His latest position was a Principal Research Associate at UCL.

Paul has a successful track record of leading collaborative research involving pharma and academia, translating basic research into novel therapeutics for difficult-to-treat chronic respiratory diseases. These projects have ranged from target discovery through to clinical proof of concept.

Graeme Wilkinson

Head of Virtual Drug Discover: Medicines Discovery Catapult.

Graeme Wilkinson has a background in applied mechanistic pharmacology gained through a PhD at the department of cell physiology and pharmacology, University of Leicester, and postdoc at the Glaxo Institute of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge.

Graeme joined the pharmaceutical industry with Astra in 1997 and then AstraZeneca, and has worked on drug discovery projects across many disease areas including roles leading open innovation, and drug repositioning activities.

Between 2014 and 2017 Graeme worked independently to develop a portfolio of drug discovery projects through virtual working in addition to acting as R&D director for start-up companies in the urology and auditory fields.

Graeme is now Head of Virtual R&D at Medicines Discovery Catapult with responsibility for delivering externalised drug discovery enabling advice, services and project management to UK life science SMEs and university start ups and spin outs.

Eliot Marston

Head of Strategic Projects and Partnerships: University of Birmingham

Eliot supports major research investment programmes aligned to delivery of the University’s Life Sciences Strategy. He works closely with relevant College academic and Professional Services leads on behalf of the University and its partners to represent its interests around Life Sciences to key external organisations, bodies, individuals and stakeholders. He also has a role to maximise the value of partnership working across the region, including Birmingham Health Partners as well as other NHS Trusts, West Midlands AHSN, our LEPs and Midlands Innovation/Midlands Engine, to ensure that the University is best placed to capitalise on these geographic partnerships in the development and securing of major strategic research programmes.

Philippa Crane

Knowledge Exchange Manager, UKSPINE

Philippa joined UKSPINE in November 2021, coming from a science policy background, where she has situated herself at the interface between academia and industry. Most recently this has involved research building on over 10 years’ experience in investigating the innovation ecosystem surrounding biomedical technologies, mainly at the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. Her PhD looked into the dynamics of drug discovery and development, focusing on the non-technical contributors to the termination or successful development of therapeutic projects for rare cancers. Philippa also has experience in knowledge exchange whilst working for the Royal Society (the national academy for science in the UK and commonwealth), where she was part of a small Industry Programme, concerned with integrating industrial science into the broad-ranging activities across the organisation.

Stuart Wilkinson

Assistant Director of the Innovation and Engagement team in Research Services at the University of Oxford.

The Innovation and Engagement team supports, promotes and coordinates innovation, knowledge exchange and engagement activities across the University. This includes support for researchers and entrepreneurs and who are seeking to exploit their research and business ideas.

Activities include: Innovation and knowledge exchange policy, strategy and support. Public and societal engagement with research. Regional Engagement. Due diligence for exploitation of research outputs and IP rights management. Enterprise and entrepreneurship through Enterprising Oxford and was instrumental in setting up Oxford Social Enterprise Partnership (OSEP).

Janet Lord

Professor of Immune Cell Biology and Director of the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham.

She is also Director of the MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and theme lead for sarcopaenia in the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre and leads the acute response to injury themes in the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre and the Scar Free Foundation Centre for Burns Research.

Her primary research focus is on the effect of ageing upon immune function and how this limits the ability of older adults to resolve inflammation occurring in response to infectious challenge or injury. This has led her to research neutrophil function in healthy elders and also after hip fracture and during infections such as pneumonia. She also researches the link between chronic systemic inflammation and physical frailty in old age and has published papers showing that much of the increased systemic inflammation and sarcopaenia associated with ageing can be prevented by high levels of physical activity in adulthood.

Professor Lord has a particular interest in the role played by stress (physical and psychological) and the altered HPA axis in modulating immunity and frailty in old age and following an injury such as hip fracture. She has published several papers showing that a heightened HPA axis (increased cortisol:DHEAS ratio) is associated with poor outcomes after hip fracture.

In 2013 she was awarded the Lord Cohen of Birkenhead medal for her outstanding research in human ageing by the British Society for Research in to Ageing. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015. She has published over 200 original papers and reviews.

Lynne Cox

Associate Professor: Lab of Ageing and Cell Senescence at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford.

My lab researches the biological processes underlying ageing, with a particular focus on premature ageing Werner syndrome and cell senescence, a process whereby normal body cells change following damage, stress or after many cell divisions, to a harmful state that contributes to diseases associated with ageing. We are using that core information to identify and test possible new treatments with the aim of improving health in later life. Our work is funded through UKRI (BBSRC, MRC), Research England (UK SPINE), Public Health England, Diabetes UK/BIRAX and philanthropic support from the Mellon Longevity Science Programme at Oriel College, Oxford. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and recipient of the US Glenn Foundation Award for research into the biological mechanisms of ageing, presented at the House of Lords.

I serve on the Clinical and Translational Theme panel of the Biochemical Society, the MRC Ageing Research Steering Group, and strategic advisory board of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity, in which role I co-authored the APPG’s National strategy report on “Health of the Nation – a strategy of healthier longer lives” launched by the Secretary of State of Health and Social Care. Internationally, I am a primary international member of Norwegian Centre for Healthy Ageing Network NO-Age, co-chair of the Special Interest Group in Ageing Biology of the European Geriatric Medicine Society and serve on the quinquennial review panel of the NIA Division of Aging Biology (US). I have very recently been appointed as co-lead of the new Building Links in Ageing Research and Translation Network and national coordinator of the UK-wide Ageing research network UKANet (https://www.ukanet.org.uk/).

Gayle Marshall

Lead Scientist (Biomarkers), Medicines Discovery Catapult

Gayle is a highly successful scientist, with over 20 years of pre-clinical and clinical biomarker research experience.

Gayle has spent the last 4 years setting up and leading the biomarker for precision medicine capability at Medicines Discovery Catapult, funded by Innovate UK. Through collaborative R&D we are supporting translation of medicines from pre-clinical through to a clinical setting, developing and delivering biomarker strategies to de-risk and accelerate clinical development.

Previous to this, Gayle led an oncology translational science laboratory team within AstraZeneca (AZ), supporting biomarker strategies of over 10 drug discovery programs from pre-clinical through to clinical development. Gayle also led assay development and delivering clinical biomarker data across AZ’s Oncology portfolio.

Charlotte Green

Scientific Liaison for the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU), University of Dundee.

I joined the DDU in 2018 leaving behind a 10 year academic research career in the area of metabolic disease. My role within the DDU is to evaluate new areas of biology to determine its potential for new therapeutics within the DDU’s Innovative Targets Portfolio (ITP) and identify and develop a pipeline of new collaboration opportunities, building relationships with both academic and industry collaboration partners. I have a background in both pharmacology (BSc Hons) and cell and molecular physiology (PhD).

Satomi Miwa

I was originally a sport scientist and became interested in energy metabolism, mitochondria and oxidative stress. I then obtained my PhD on mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and ageing in Cambridge University under supervision of Prof. Martin Brand. Since then my research interests are in the areas of mitochondrial function in ageing and diseases, and I work both on mechanistic investigation and translational studies. Recently senescent cell targeted therapies that involve manipulation of mitochondrial function have become one of my research focuses.

I am interested in critical evaluation of methodologies and have made an important discovery which explained previously unknown ‘background’ signal in Amplex Red based hydrogen peroxide detection, one of the most widely used methods for ROS measurements by biological materials. I found that carboxylesterase in mitochondrial matrix in various cell types can convert Amplex Red to resorufin in absence of oxygen, light nor any catalysts, and proposed that inhibitors for carboxylesterase such as PMSF should be included in the experiments. This has now become a necessary step for Amplex red assay.

In the area of cell senescence, I have made the original discovery that post-mitotic neurons develop senescent phenotype.  I have also shown the effects of dietary restriction in reducing senescent cells in multiples of tissues, which were linked with improved tissue conditions.

Current research projects:

• Understanding the nature of mitochondrial dysfunction in senescent cells
• Novel senolytic discovery, with mitochondrial focus
• Senescent cell targeted therapies against skin ageing
• Using senolytics as adjuvant cancer therapies
• Developing in vivo imaging tool for senescent cell monitoring

Philip Atherton

Chair of Clinical, Metabolic & Molecular Physiology

Philip was awarded a BSc (1^st class) in 2002, and PhD in 2005 on the subject of skeletal muscle molecular signalling networks. Following a postdoc at the University of Nottingham UK, on a BBSRC grant (molecular mechanisms of age-related sarcopenia), he was awarded an RCUK fellowship in Molecular Physiology, where he studied responses of muscle to nutrition and exercise as a function of age. Thereafter (2012), he was promoted to Associate Professor and then full Professor (2017), at the University of Nottingham. Philip has been PI/Co-I on successful grants >£10M from UK research councils (MRC, BBSRC), charities (e.g. DMT), industry (pharma/nutritional) and EU sources. He has published >250 peer-reviewed articles (H-index 60 (Google Scholar), with ~18,000 citations (rate ~3000/year), an i10 index of 118, and 7 invited book(s) chapters. Philip is Senior Editor for Nutrients, Applied Physiology, Nutrition & Metabolism and founding Editor-In-Chief of Physiologia. He is also on the Medical Research Council (MRC) Population & Systems Medicine Board (PSMB). Philip oversees a lab hosting 3 technicians, ~20 clinical/non-clinical students & 3 postdocs. His team are based at Derby postgraduate entry medical school under the auspices of a UK MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre of Excellence for Musculoskeletal ageing research (CMAR) and Nottingham’s National institute for health (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre. Philip’s work involves the combining of detailed clinical physiology with the application of stable isotope tracers, OMICs, and in vivo/vitro molecular biology - to discover predictors of, the mechanistic basis for, and means to mitigate health declines in both ageing and disease(s).

Eleanor Platt

Molecular Scientist within the Biomarkers team at Medicines Discovery Catapult.

Eleanor undertook a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Bath and completed her M.Phil. in Molecular Cancer Studies at the University of Manchester, with a focus on the role of glucocorticoid receptor in small cell lung cancer cell apoptosis.

She was offered the opportunity to work within the pharmacokinetics laboratory in a large CRO, processing and testing patient biological samples. She subsequently worked within the R&D Department at a leading molecular diagnostics company for five years, developing PCR-based diagnostics to better direct treatment of patients with cancer and infectious diseases.

Eleanor’s current research interests focus on ageing and age-related diseases, particularly expression of age-related biomarkers in plasma and the mechanisms through which bisphosphonates such as Zoledronate may reduce the rate of ageing, as well as the incidence of cancers and cardiovascular disease.

Ghada Alsaleh

Ghada first trained as a pharmacist before following her ambition to become a scientific researcher. Ghada had always been fascinated by the research world and did not want to restrict herself to dispensing drugs. After qualifying as a pharmacist, she moved to France to follow her ambition to become a scientific researcher and pursued MSc and doctoral research at the University of Strasbourg under the supervision of Prof Jean Sibilia and Dominique Wachsman. Her PhD project was to study the role of the joint-resident cells known as ‘fibroblast-like synoviocytes’, a crucial cell type in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a common autoimmune disease. She showed that these cells, which were considered for a long time passive victims of the disease, behave like cells of the innate immune system. They participate in the production of inflammatory mediators that contribute to the articular destruction and the activation of T and B lymphocytes, which perpetuate the immune response in the synovium. She successfully contributed new insights about the MicroRNAs as a new way of controlling the inflammatory response during rheumatoid arthritis. She discovered miR-346, which acts as a negative regulator of inflammation by inhibiting TNF-α and IL-18 synthesis in activated synoviocytes. This work provided a new mode of inhibition of TNF-a to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

To pursue her career as a scientist, Ghada moved to Oxford in 2017 to join Professor Katja Simon’s group at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology as a post-doc, where she developed a growing curiosity about ageing and the regulation of biological processes that are disturbed during the ageing process. She recently showed that TFEB, a master regulator of autophagy and lysosomal, is specifically reduced in old human lymphoid cells, which contributes to compromised memory T and B cell responses in the elderly. This work has uncovered novel targets and biomarkers for developing anti-ageing drugs for human T cells.

Ghada has recently been awarded a research grant by Versus Arthritis for her proposal “Targeting autophagy for the treatment of osteoarthritis” and joined the Botnar researcher centre as a Senior Research Fellow. Her overall aim is to identify the contribution of the age-related TFEB pathway to the development and progression of osteoarthritis and to use this knowledge to develop new treatments for OA and various age-related diseases.

Mark Ramondt

Co-Founder at MultiplAI

Serial entrepreneur, angel investor and startup mentor/advisor with 25+ years of experience in corporate finance and open innovation at large multinationals. Helped to build the startup ecosystem in Argentina and Latin America over the past 8 years. Passionate about sustainability, equality, and the impact of deep tech like next-gen sequencing and artificial intelligence on quality of life.

MultiplAI Health is a diagnostics company leveraging advances in next-generation sequencing and artificial intelligence to develop technology that converts all of the RNA in the blood into an image ideal for algorithmic analysis, enabling universal testing for cardiovascular and other complex diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality globally and in the UK. Yet, risk-screening protocols have not evolved for decades and rely on limited clinical risk scores, out of date and inaccurate blood tests, and costly imaging tests that 75% of people on earth have no access to. We want to change this, providing access to universal testing for cardiovascular diseases thus contributing to the massive opportunity to improve quality of life, especially for underserved populations, as we age.

Michael M Hopkins

BSc, MSc, DPhil (Sussex)

Michael is a biologist with subsequent degrees in Technology and Innovation Management (M. Sc. with Distinction), and Science and Technology Policy (D.Phil). He has more than 15 years experience researching the sociotechnical challenges associated with medical innovation. In recent years Michael has led a series of international research projects studying different aspects of the innovation ecosystems that support medical innovation (particularly in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, although not exclusively). He has been supported by grants from the European Commission, NSF, the UK's MRC, EPSRC, ESRC, Nesta and the Wellcome Trust. Additionally in recent years Michael has consulted for the Human Genetics Commission, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property, HEFCE, and Cancer Research UK. Michael has also provided training for staff in the bio/pharmaceuticals sector on bioentrepreneurship. From 2004-2006 Michael was a Research Fellow of the Economic & Social Research Council and Medical Research Council, and from 2007-2010 a visiting fellow at Cass Business School.

Michael lectures on Innovation in Bioscience and Medicine (for the School fo Life Sciences), Managing Change, Entrepreneurial Finance, and Managing Intellectual Property (for the University of Sussex Business School).

Nicola Heron

Chief Business Officer: Medicine Discovery Catapult

Nicola has over 22 years’ experience of life science research holding senior positions in both public and private sectors.

Her expertise covers research through to commercialisation in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics. Following a PhD in Chemistry from Boston in the US, she joined AstraZeneca in 1998 as a medicinal chemist leading chemistry and ultimately discovery projects. She moved to Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2009 to join one of two pilot Government Healthcare Technology Co-operatives (D4D) whose mission is to develop new technologies to support the needs of people living with long-term conditions. The success of the pilots led to the NIHR investing £30M into what is now an established part of the NIHR infrastructure. She was a non-exec on the commercial arm of D4D and gained an MBA in 2012.

She has over 45 publications, and board level experience where she advises on innovation and commercial strategy. She regularly supports national judging panels for industry and academic grants and awards.

Nicola joined the Medicines Discovery Catapult in 2018 as Head of Collaborative R&D and was appointed as Chief Business Officer in January 2021. She leads the sector engagement and commercial aspects of the business, driving MDC collaboration opportunities across the bio-tech sector.

Cathy Yelf

Chief Executive: Macular Society

Cathy Yelf has been chief executive of the Macular Society since February 2015, having first joined the Society in 2008 as head of external relations. Before working in the charity sector, Cathy had a long career in journalism, mainly at the BBC. She is also a Trustee of Action Against Age-related Macular Degeneration, a collaboration of three sight loss charities established to find new therapies to stop early AMD developing into the blinding forms and sits on the Executive Council of the Association of Medical Research Charities.

Jennie Shorley

Head of Engaged Scholarship, Head of Accreditations, Manchester Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business & Law.

Jennie is Head of Engaged Scholarship and Impact Lead in the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University, strategically driving knowledge exchange and impact, including REF2021. Jennie is also Head of Accreditations in our triple accredited school, and recently led the School's successful AACSB re-accreditation in 2021, and the successful Business School Impact System (BSIS) assessment, working to embed impact principles and activities across the Faculty. Jennie has strong international partnerships and is a Non-Executive Director of PraxisAuril, the UK's leading body for knowledge exchange professionals. She has won over £12m from the ESRC, AHRC, EPSRC, ERDF, Erasmus+ and others, and is currently Co-Investigator on the ESRC’s Good Employment Learning Lab and a British Heart Foundation Catalyst Fund. She is a national KEC evaluator, and sits on the National Centre for Cultural and Academic Engagement’s (NCACE) board as well as the advisory team for the Centre for Creativity Enabled by AI (CebAI).

Malcom Skingle

Director, Academic Liaison: GlaxoSmithKline

Malcolm Skingle has a BSc in Pharmacology/Biochemistry and a PhD in Neuropharmacology. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry all of his working life and has gained a wide breadth of experience in the management of research activities. He has more than 60 publications including articles on the interface between industry and academia. Malcolm manages Academic Liaison at GSK with staff in Stevenage, Research Triangle Park and Philadelphia. He sits on many external bodies including several UK University Department advisory groups. He also chairs a number of groups including the Diamond (Synchotron) Industrial Advisory Board, the Cogent Science Industry Partnership Board driving skills for the life sciences sector and the ABPI group working on academic liaison. Malcolm was awarded a CBE in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of his contribution to the pharmaceutical industry. He was elected as a Fellow into the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London in 2011.

Lorna FitzPatrick

Lead Scientist in cell and molecular engineering Medicines Discovery Catapult

In her current role for MD Catapult Lorna has strategic leadership in advanced techniques for molecular engineering relevant to drug discovery, identifying and developing new project and collaboration opportunities for MDC, through application of technical discipline expertise and external network. She shapes the portfolio of activities in cell and molecular engineering and leading complex collaborative projects to completion.

Previously she was the senior scientist in genome engineering for MD Catapult.  She established MDC’s genome engineering and lentiviral capability via collaborative working. This included a successful application to the HSE to ensure MDC’s adherence to biosafety guidelines and ongoing participation on the Health and Safety Committee.  She was the discovery lead on several innovative projects of a diverse background with cell or molecular engineering as the core platform with internal team members and external partners including Sixfold (in vitro), UK SPINE, Pencil Bio, Protein Silencing, In vivo translational proposal (bridging MDC cell model analysis and preclinical imaging capabilities).  Lorna engaged in collaboration with members of the Informatics team to expedite project delivery, facilitating project success, and to encourage cross discipline working.  She generated income from commercial projects and secured a second-round grant funding from Research England for a proof-of-concept project with University of Strathclyde (UK SPINE).

Jens Kieckbusch

Associate Director, Emerging Innovations at AstraZeneca.

My responsibilities at AstraZeneca include scouting, developing and delivering projects that impact patients and the business on a 5-10 year time horizon. These activities are usually delivered in partnership with academic institutions, start-ups or internal stakeholders and cover areas including quantum computing, multimorbidity, cell & gene therapy and new approaches in drug discovery.

Before joining AstraZeneca, I was a Partner in Business Development at The Wellcome Trust and led Wellcome’s product development efforts in cholera as well as vaccine impact portfolios with global health relevance.

I hold a PhD in immunology from the University of Cambridge and completed further postdoctoral training in areas relevant to cell therapy and tissue regeneration.

James Edwards

Associate Professor, Ageing and Regeneration

Dr Edwards graduated from Wadham College, University of Oxford with a D.Phil (Ph.D.) from the Medical Sciences Division, Nuffield Dept. of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences after completing research work studying bone tumour pathology and TNF-family ligands in the bone remodelling process. This was followed by cellular, molecular and pre-clinical research at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio with Dr Greg Mundy, and later as part of the founding research team at the Vanderbilt Centre for Bone Biology. During this time Dr Edwards developed a strong research theme investigating links between ageing and longevity mechanisms and the onset of musculoskeletal disease, with work recognised with ASBMR, ECTS and IBMS awards. This ongoing work forms the basis of the Oxford Musculoskeletal Ageing group at Oxford University.

David Weinkove

Associate Professor at the Department of Biosciences, Durham University, CEO of Magnitude Biosciences Ltd and Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing

David Weinkove was appointed as Assistant Professor at Durham University in 2008, after research training in London, the Netherlands and Utah. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. His academic research focuses on ageing in the nematode worm C. elegans. He discovered mutations in bacteria that extend C. elegans lifespan and found a drug that alters bacterial metabolism to slow ageing. His publications have been cited more than 3000 times. In 2018, he co-founded Magnitude Biosciences Ltd, a company that provides research services that measures the impact of compounds on ageing, mobility and health in vivo in C. elegans to companies across the world using their unique technology. From January, David was appointed Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing.

Kirsty Winn

External Project Lead: Medicines Discovery Catapult

Kirsty Winn is a cell biologist and pharmacologist with more than 20 years’ experience in early drug discovery and lead generation. She is currently an External Drug Discovery Project Lead at the Medicines Discovery Catapult. She is responsible for providing drug discovery advice, scientific due diligence and robust research plans alongside UK medicines discovery innovators. Prior to MDC Kirsty led integrated drug discovery programmes for a large CRO, and before that worked 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry. As a team leader in AstraZeneca’s Global HTS group Kirsty was responsible for delivering hit generation strategies, assay and technology development and leading external alliances and innovation partnerships.

Andrew Steele

Author

I started my career as a scientist, with a PhD in physics followed by a couple of post-docs in computational biology. I’ve now taken the sideways step from science to science writing—I’ve just written my first book, Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old.

I decided to make this slightly unusual leap between physics and biology because I wanted to work on ageing. Ageing is probably the most fascinating problem in contemporary science and, I believe, understanding it is the greatest humanitarian mission of our time. Ageing, and all the diseases it causes, is the single largest cause of human suffering in the modern world and, by treating the underlying ageing process, we could potentially prevent many of these diseases simultaneously. To find out more, read my book!

Caroline Cake

Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Science Enterprises.

Caroline joined Oxford Science Enterprises as Entrepreneur in Residence in February 2022. As an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), Caroline will lead the creation and development of a new Health Tech enterprise. She has more than 25 years’ experience working in commercial, government and charitable organisations and before taking up the role, she was CEO of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK). Under Caroline’s leadership HDR UK became established as the national institute for health data science and played a pivotal role in the UK’s pandemic response. She led the creation of the Health Data Research Hubs, which supported the RECOVERY Trial in identifying Dexamethasone as the first drug to be effective against COVID-19, the PRINCIPLE Trial in identifying Budesonide as the first treatment to shorten recovery time in patients not admitted to hospital, and the vaccine rollout by providing access to real-world evidence of vaccine effectiveness. She also led the development of the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway, which is already transforming the scale and impact of UK health data research. Caroline also worked for The PSC where she was a founding director and prior to that she worked as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. She is a Chartered Engineer and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MEng from the University of Cambridge.

Tina Woods

CEO of Collider Health, Director of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity, CEO of Business for Health

Tina Woods is a social entrepreneur who brings diverse stakeholders together to address the system changes needed to improve health for all. She is Founder and CEO of Collider Health and works with private, public and third sectors, including the National AHSN AI Network, NHSX AI Lab and UK Research & Innovation on the Healthy Ageing Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Tina is also the Director of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity and leads the Open Life Data Framework. She is Co-Founder and CEO of Business for Health, a business-led coalition of socially responsible employers, purchasers, investors and innovators that is developing a Business Framework for Health with the CBI, bringing in ‘Health’ into ‘ESG’ mandates to support long-term sustainable innovation and investment in preventative health and care.  Tina’s book, ‘Live Longer with AI: How artificial intelligence is helping us extend our healthspans and live better too' was published in October 2020.  Tina sits on various advisory groups, including the BSI standards group for AI in health and care, and the Ada Lovelace Advisory Board on Health Inequalities.

Karen Froud

Project Administrator, UK SPINE

Karen joined UK SPINE in 2022.  Previous roles include office administration, process improvement, customer service & project management across Manufacturing, Building Services, Hospitality & Healthcare industries.  

Syed Muslim Abbas

Dr Syed Muslim Abbas is a public health specialist, health economist and medical educationist with over 13 years of work experience. His qualifications include; a first degree in Medicine, Master in Public Health, MSc Health economics and Health Policy, Membership of College of Physician and Surgeons Health Professionals Education and a PhD in Health Services Research. Moreover, he won the prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 2017 for MSc Health Economics & Health Policy and Birmingham Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Scholarship in 2018 for PhD at University of Birmingham.

Dr Syed has worked for prestigious higher education institutions and leading health based organisations such as University of Sheffield, Kings College London, University of York, University of Birmingham, World Health Organisation, Mercy Corps International & UNICEF. He is a published researcher (with 21 research articles published in high impact journals) and has reviewed more than 700 research articles for Journals such as BMC Trials, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, Public Health and PLOS One to date.

His research interests include quality of life research, patient reported outcomes, healthy ageing and healthcare management. Currently he is working on outcomes assessment for healthy ageing trials which is a UKSPINE funded research project.

William Bains

Chief Scientific Officer at Five Alarm Bio Ltd

William is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Five Alarm Bio, a drug discovery company based in Cambridge, UK focusing on novel approaches to anti-aging, with broad potential therapeutic applications. He has a degree in biochemistry from Oxford, a PhD from the University of Warwick, and did a postdoc at Stanford. He has worked in consultancy and venture capital, and been a co-founder of four other biotech companies before Five Alarm.

Claire Potter

MDS Head of Research Delivery and NCSi Programme Manager

Dr Claire Potter is the MDS Head of Research Delivery and NCSi Programme Manager. She is based in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences (MDS) at the University of Birmingham, where she is responsible for overseeing the operational support to the College’s key strategic Research Programmes. Claire has over 20 years of experience in project and operational management roles working in and with academia, government, the NHS, charities and industry, including a one-year secondment as the Operational Manager at the NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure. Claire has a BSc (Hons) and a PhD in Biological Sciences.

Clare Jonas

Research Communications and Engagement Lead at the Stroke Association

The Stroke Association’s goal is to support people to rebuild their lives after stroke through providing specialist support, funding stroke research and campaigning to make sure people affected by stroke get the best care and support to live the best life they can after stroke. Clare leads the planning and delivery of the Stroke Association’s research communications and engagement activity, acting as an internal expert and external spokesperson on stroke research.

Jennifer Harris

Director of Research Policy at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)

Dr Jennifer Harris is based at ABPI, where she leads on making the UK a world-leading destination for pharmaceutical R&D, to support the discovery, research and development of new medicines and vaccines. She has worked at ABPI for nearly 4 years, previously leading on clinical research policy, including how we embed patient and public involvement and champion diversity and inclusion in research. Previously, Jennifer worked at the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care on the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act where she led on evidence generation and patient involvement. She has a PhD in medical research from the University of Cambridge, where she worked on the role of dendritic cell immunity in early-stage melanoma.

Jesús Gil

Jesús was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He obtained his PhD, on the elucidation of how the dsRNA-dependent protein kinase induces apoptosis and activates NF-kB, in 2000 at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid.

From 2000 to 2003 he worked with David Beach at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, where he screened for genes bypassing senescence, identifying CBX7. In January 2004, he joined Gordon Peters' group at the CRUK London Research Institute, investigating how CBX7 regulates the INK4/ARF locus.

During 2005 he worked in Scott Lowe's laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, developing models to study CBX7 function in vivo. Since Nov. 2005 he leads the Cell Proliferation Group at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, investigating the genetic and epigenetic regulation of the INK4a/ARF locus by PcG complexes and screening for agents controlling senescence. In November 2008, Jesús was named an EMBO Young Investigator.

Hannah Chance

I am a Policy Executive in the Research Policy Team at the ABPI, having previously completed a PhD and a postdoctoral research position at King’s College London and the Francis Crick Institute. I coordinate on the ABPI’s work on multimorbidities alongside our work on discovery research, genomics and precision medicine.

Philip Bell

Philip Bell is experienced in PPI and sits on several Trial Steering Committees, including Med Tech, Pharma and Policy Research Units as well as funding boards for NIHR and is a public panel member of MRC. He has acted as facilitator on PPI Meetings at various conferences and focus groups. Recently he has been asked as a first by NICE to join as an Expert Lay Member of the Managing Covid 19 Scoping and Guidelines Committee. He has also co-authored several publications on PPI. Residing in Wales, he has PPI interests in all four nations.

Yasmin Allen

FORUM Policy Manager Academy of Medical Sciences

I originally trained as a dentist and worked in general practice, secondary care the community service before changing my career trajectory via public health and into project management and policy. I have worked in PHE, HEE, Local Authority, and within the CCG working on STP projects

My work has mainly focussed on urgent and emergency care ( I still work part time in 111), oral care for older people, mental health, interprofessional collaboration and communications (I have produced and created several videos, articles and blog posts). Within the Academy my role is to promote cross sector collaboration, support the development of the FORUM membership and deliver a relevant programme of events and reports addressing cross cutting healthcare research challenges

Dawn Beaumont-Jewell

Deputy Chief Operating Officer, NIHR CRN South London

Dawn currently works with Guys and St Thomas’ with join responsibility for the delivery of inclusive and accessible research across south London. Dawn joined the NIHR network in 2003, and considers herself a career Research Delivery Nurse who joined the ranks of management after qualifying and training as a Nurse Consultant in Oncology. Dawn’s special interests are Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI), raising the visibility of Advanced Nursing/Midwifery Practice in research and is currently supporting the NIHR Clinical Research Practitioner Program, the NIHR CRN NHS Engagement Forum, the NIHR MLTC Panel and the South London Lead Research Nurse/Midwife Forum and is a co-lead on the Impact of Transforming Research Funding group.