Board Members
Chair of the Board
Shaun Grady
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.
Corporate Members
Anna Williamson
I am a member of Roche/Genentech Partnering. Before joining Roche, I worked in technology transfer at the University of California. I have a BA and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge.
With over 20 years of partnering experience, I have established and managed many collaborations, ranging from academia to early-stage start-ups to large pharmaceutical companies. I believe this global experience, combined with my understanding of the UK’s life sciences ecosystem, positions me well to support the BIA.
My experience extends beyond deal-making to building and nurturing collaborative ecosystems. I played a key role in negotiating Roche’s founding membership in Our Future Health, a flagship UK Government/private partnership, and now represent Roche on its Founders Board. I am Roche’s business lead for the UK Biobank PPP consortium. I was previously on the Board at Start Codon, a life sciences accelerator, and I hold office hours, and provide mentorship, for other accelerators in the UK.
After moving back to the UK after 20 years in the US, I am passionate about supporting the UK’s life sciences ecosystem. During my first tenure on the BIA Board, I participated in Board meetings, the WIB Advisory Committee, Parliamentary Days, the Leadership Summits (where I’ve hosted Partnering roundtables), mentoring and many other BIA events. My Board role has been rewarding and inspiring. I have seen firsthand the BIA’s vital role in championing our sector which has only served to increase my commitment to the UK and the BIA.
Chris Sheldon
I currently serve as Senior Vice President & Global Head of Business Development for GSK, based in the UK, reporting to the Chief Scientific Officer & President Research and Development (R&D) and a core member of GSK’s Global R&D leadership team.
GSK is a strong supporter of the wider UK life sciences sector, including through our development of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and long-standing partnerships with a number of universities to develop skills and talent.
I am a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive and scientist, experienced in building and leading Business Development (BD) and Investor Relations (IR) functions within world leading global biopharmaceutical companies - with a track record of multi-billion dollar enterprise value creation through exceptional deal-making.
My team and I are responsible for all of GSK's BD activities globally, covering the scouting & evaluating, transacting and alliance management of all new investment opportunities across Oncology, Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation and Infectious disease.
I have developed an exceptional network having worked in the UK at major pharmaceutical companies for over 20 years and currently serve on the Scientific Advisory board for Medicxi, a major European venture investment firm focused on the life sciences sector.
Before my BD career, I worked in discovery research at AstraZeneca as a Senior Research Chemist. I hold a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Bristol, UK and a first-class honors degree in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield, UK.
I am passionate about helping the UK maintain its position as a world-leading life sciences sector.
Chris Williams
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.
Claire Thompson
Claire firmly believes that the Life Science industry is key to ensuring the UK economy revives and thrives. She is committed to continuing to support BIA activities including working with key stakeholders to promote and enable innovation and investment in the UK, and the Women in Biotech Advisory Board.
Claire is a multi-award winning entrepreneur with >20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spanning large multi-nationals (GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer), virtual biotech and CDMOs. She is Founder and CEO of Agility Life Sciences, an award-winning formulation development CDMO which helps biotechs to turn their badly behaved molecules into products which have the best chance of success in preclinical studies, and enable 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 holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Nottingham.
Claire was the winner of the Bionow Outstanding Achievement award in 2023, 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. She 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”.
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. As a former international footballer, Claire founded the Girls In Football Teams (GIFT) Grant Foundation, which has supported more than 30 girls’ and women’s teams across the UK.
Daniel Mahony
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.
Ian McCubbin CBE
Chair of RoslinCT ( UK), Chair of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.
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
RoslinCT is a unique contract development and manufacturing organisation based in Edinburgh and Boston and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult has been and continues to instrumental in growing the UK cell and gene therapy ecosystem.
He was a formative member of the UK Vaccines Task Force and lead the manufacturing work stream between Jan2020 and May 2021. He also co-lead the Advanced Therapy Manufacturing action plan with George Freeman designed to ‘anchor’ commercial scale manufacturing in the UK. This action plan was adopted in full in the UK Life Sciences Strategy.
He retired from GSK in 2017 as SVP Global Supply leading 17 factories around the globe delivering the new product pipeline of amazing products at scale .
He had two periods of service with GSK split by 7 years in the Generics industry with IVAX and Mark Generics.
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.
Laura Lane
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.
Lisa Anson
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.
Mike Hannay
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.
Ros Deegan
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.
Sarah Korman
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.
Simon Kerry
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.
Sunil Shah
I have had the privilege of serving on the BIA Board for over five years, supporting the Executive team and helping strengthen the UK’s biotech ecosystem.
With over 20 years of experience, I co-founded Oxygen Healthcare Ltd (acquired by Piramal in 2013) and later established the o2h Group, where I now also lead o2h Ventures. Through our HMRC-approved SEIS/EIS fund, we have invested in 37 biotech companies—50% led by female founders—leveraging $10M of our own and other investors’ funds to raise over £300M and create 650+ jobs. o2h Ventures was recognised as one of the top 3 most active biotech investors, according to the BIA Financial Report 2023. I currently serve as Chairman, Non-Executive Director, Board Observer or investor in over 20 early/growth stage biotech companies.
I have initiated and overseen the launch of o2h Kickstarter Competitions in the UK and globally, providing medicinal chemistry support to early-stage biotech ventures. o2h Discovery has since supported 25+ companies—including Alevin, Kuano, Celestial Health, Serenatis Bio and Five Alarm Bio—helping them advance therapies that address unmet needs.
Beyond investment, I have fostered community-building initiatives like o2h ChaiTimes and Biotech Bikers, mentoring emerging leaders and connecting innovators across the sector.
My contributions have been recognized with awards such as the UKBAA Angel Investor of the Year, OBN Special Recognition, and Cambridge Science and Technology CEO of the Year.
I am committed to shaping policies that support biotech growth, de-risk investments, and link ventures with global capital. I believe continuity in leadership is essential to drive innovation, inclusion and patient impact. I am honoured to continue serving the BIA Board and helping build a resilient, world-class biotech ecosystem.
Associate Members
Anne Horgan
Anne Horgan is a Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, specialising in Life Sciences investments. With over 20 years’ experience spanning drug discovery, technology transfer, business development and equity financing, she began her career as a medicinal chemist before moving into senior roles at Cancer Research UK and later venture capital with Sofinnova Partners.
Anne holds a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Bristol, conducted postdoctoral research at Yale, and is an inventor on eight patent families.
Clare Terlouw
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.
Nicole Jadeja
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.
Dr Peter Finan
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.
Company Secretary
Nick Gardiner
What does your role at BIA involve?
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.
If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be?
Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator, independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection. He travelled the world and I would imagine had some excellent stories to tell.