Future of Regulation and Access UK

Jonathan Benger

Chief Executive, NICE

Jonathan is the chief executive of NICE. Jonathan joined NICE in January 2023 as chief medical officer and in March 2023 became interim director of the centre for guidelines. Jonathan was subsequently appointed deputy chief executive in May 2024 and chief executive in December 2025.

Prior to this he was the interim chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at NHS England (2022), the chief medical officer (CMO) of NHS Digital (2019 to 2022), and the national clinical director for urgent and emergency care at NHS England (2013 to 2019).

In his clinical work, Jonathan is a consultant in emergency medicine at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and also does regular shifts with the Great Western Air Ambulance, which he established as its first medical advisor between 2007 and 2011.

Jonathan is professor of emergency care in the school of health and social wellbeing at the University of the West of England, and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) senior investigator. His main research interests relate to cardiac arrest, emergency and pre-hospital care, service organization and delivery, and design research.

Kylie Bromley

VP and Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Biogen

Kylie Bromley serves as the Vice President and Managing Director of Biogen UK and Ireland.

Founded in 1978, Biogen is a leading global biotechnology company that has pioneered multiple breakthrough innovations. Today, Biogen is advancing a pipeline of potential novel therapies and remains acutely focused on its purpose of serving humanity through science while advancing a healthier, more sustainable and equitable world.

Kylie's academic background is firmly rooted in science, having earned a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Melbourne. Her passion lies in improving the UK life sciences environment to ensure patients have sustainable access to clinical trials and early-stage medicines.

Kylie is Chair of the BioIndustry Association’s (BIA) Rare Disease Industry Group, sits on the ABPI Board and is the Chair of the ABPI’s Clinical Research Board Sponsored Group. In addition, she is proud to be the Executive Sponsor of Biogen’s Global Women’s Impact Network.

Nick Crabb

Chief Scientific Officer, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Nick had a 20-year career in analytical science, process technology and general management in the chemical, pharmaceutical and contract laboratory industries prior to joining NICE in 2010. His initial role was to establish and manage the diagnostics assessment programme and he was later appointed programme director, scientific affairs. Nick currently oversees our science, evidence and analytics directorate.

He has broad scientific and policy interests relating to the evaluation of technologies and interventions to support the development of clinical, public health and social care guidance. His experience includes consideration of health technology assessment (HTA) issues arising from the availability of novel new products such as cell and gene therapies and work on methods issues relating to the evaluation of antimicrobials.
Nick was the NICE lead on a collaborative pilot project with NHS England to develop and test innovative models for the evaluation and purchase of antimicrobials. Nick also has interests around the alignment of regulatory and HTA processes and collaborates closely with national and international regulators.

Jacob George

Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, MHRA

Professor Jacob George is the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). 

Jacob is also Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee and a practising consultant physician who leads the Cardiovascular Risk Service at NHS Tayside. He is qualified in Clinical Pharmacology and General Internal Medicine and is an accredited European Hypertension Specialist. 

Jacob has extensive UK and international experience and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, European Society of Cardiology and the British Hypertension Society, as well as visiting Professor at the Dnipro State Medical University, Ukraine. He is an alumnus of the Universities of Sheffield and Dundee.

Stephen Hansen

Director of Biopharma Intelligence, BioCentury

Stephen is BioCentury’s Director of Biopharma Intelligence in the U.K., where he serves as one of the company’s primary points of contact with European companies and investors. Stephen has covered clinical development, corporate strategy and finance in Europe, the U.S. and China for BioCentury for 20 years and is a frequent contributor to BioCentury’s quarterly Financial Markets Preview and annual Buyside View and European Finance reports. Stephen is frequent contributor to and occasional host of BioCentury’s weekly podcast. A European Mediscience Award winner, he holds B.A.s in Biology and History from Bethel University and an M.Phil. in History from the University of Oxford.

Maria Koufali

Life Sciences Industry Director , NIHR

Dr Maria Koufali is the Life Sciences Industry Director at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and formerly led the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway as Head of the programme.

Maria Koufali, is an experienced senior leader in life sciences research and innovation, bringing over 20 years of cross-sector expertise in working with global pharmaceutical companies, digital health firms, diagnostics developers, and MedTech SMEs. She holds a PhD in Pharmacology and Neuroscience, an MBA (Distinction), and is the first NHS R&D Director nationally to be awarded the Nye Bevan Executive Health Leadership Award. Maria currently leads the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway at NIHR/DHSC, a nationally mandated clinical trials accelerator. Maria currently serves as Trustee and Chair of the Industry Advisory Board at the BBSRC-funded Quadram Institute, where she shapes translational and commercial strategy. She brings to the new contract a proven ability to develop national infrastructure, deliver commercial growth, and work across government and industry to accelerate innovation that benefits patients and the UK economy.

Phil L’Huillier

CEO, Scancell Holdings

Phil brings a wealth of leadership experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, with a proven track record of driving growth and innovation. Before joining Scancell, he served as CEO of CatalYm GmbH, a cancer immunotherapy company, where he significantly enhanced the company’s visibility and investor base. Under his leadership, CatalYm secured over $200 million in successful financing and advanced its lead program from Phase 1 to randomized Phase 2b clinical trials.

Previously, Phil led Merck Sharp & Dohme’s (MSD) European Innovation Hub & Business Development, where he headed a team that successfully completed a number of acquisitions and partnerships. Prior to MSD, he served as Executive Director of Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT). He has also been instrumental in the formation of multiple companies and has held Non-Executive Director roles at Achilles Therapeutics, Artios Pharma, Blink Therapeutics, PsiOxus Therapeutics and others. Phil holds a PhD in biology and an MBA.

Chris Molloy

CEO, BIA

Chris Molloy is a senior international life sciences executive, scientist, board director and advisor with more than 35 years’ experience across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, diagnostics, digital health, data science and healthcare innovation. 

His career has spanned leadership roles from global drug discovery at Glaxo to venture-backed biotech, R&D technology, executive search and national innovation strategy. He founded and led Medicines Discovery Catapult, the UK’s national centre for drug discovery innovation, and during the COVID-19 pandemic served as founding Director of the UK’s Lighthouse Labs network, the largest diagnostic programmes in British history. 

Chris has chaired and advised multiple biotech and healthcare companies, supported governments and investors internationally. He serves as a Trustee of The Institute of Cancer Research, is an Honorary Professor at The University of Manchester, and is Independent Chair of PharosAI. 

Gwenaelle Pemberton

Executive Partner, Syncona

Pharmaceutical Regulatory (RA) & Quality (QA) Leader /Advisor with global and regional experience gained over approx. 35 yrs in large pharmaceutical, biotech and start-ups.  At Syncona (VC), part-time, I advise on regulatory aspects in due diligence and provide direction to Portfolio Companies, inform Boards on Regulatory and Quality risks and how to mitigate them.  At Resolution Therapeutics, part-time, I develop the Regulatory strategy and lead Regulatory activities.

At Beacon Therapeutics, set RA/QA global vision, strategy and drove operation, was part of C-suite. At Gilead, led International Regulatory Affairs (all territories ex-US,) championed recruitment and developed high calibre, diverse and very efficient teams of over 260 in 36 countries, delivering early access of medicines to patients in compliance with complex regulatory environments including in cell therapy (Kite). Was part of the international leadership team.

Executive Coach helping founders, CEO and senior leaders maximise their potential and transition from academia to business enterprise based on extensive experience in senior leadership position including C-suite.

Samantha Roberts

Managing Director, Syncona Investment Management

Samantha has responsibility for running the business day to day, making the required changes to drive Syncona’s future strategy and using her clinical and reimbursement expertise to drive value creation across the portfolio and future investments. Sam is a Board member of Spur Therapeutics

Sam has over 20 years’ experience in bringing healthcare innovation to patients through her background as a clinician, payor and regulator. Most recently as Chief Executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) where she led the organisation to be more agile and innovative, increasing the speed of medicines assessments by 25% and assessments of digital and AI technology 30-fold.  Prior to NICE, Sam worked across the private sector at McKinsey & Company and as Managing Director, Health & Care at Legal & General as well as in the public sector as Chief Executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative and Director of Innovation, Research and Life Sciences at NHS England.

Sam holds a medical degree, an MBA, and a DPhil in Evidence-Based Health Care from the University of Oxford.

Charlotte Roy

Life Sciences Policy and Influencing Manager, Muscular Dystrophy UK

With an MSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham, Dr Charlotte Roy began her career in the contract research sector before moving into health charities, where she has worked across research communications and policy. As Life Sciences Policy and Influencing Manager at Muscular Dystrophy UK, her work focuses on influencing policy across the research-to-access pathway, helping to ensure that new treatments can be developed, assessed and adopted in ways that deliver meaningful benefits for people living with muscle wasting conditions.

Matt Westmore

Chief Executive, Health Research Authority

Matt Westmore joined the Health Research Authority (HRA) as Chief Executive in February 2021.

Since taking up the role, he has led the organisation’s transformation to focus on making the UK the easiest place in the world to do excellent health and social care research that people can trust. Under his leadership, the HRA has focused on supporting a health and social care research system that stays fit for the future and helps the UK economy grow.

Matt has a background in research funding, policy, and practice. Prior to joining the HRA, he held senior leadership roles at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), including as an executive director of an NIHR national coordinating centre, interim director of INVOLVE—the NIHR’s centre for patient and public involvement—and led the team that developed the NIHR Dissemination Centre. He also established an international forum of health research funders focused on increasing the value of publicly funded research. Matt was Director of the Wessex Institute at the University of Southampton, the University’s largest business and consultancy unit, where he was Professor of Healthcare Enterprise. He has made a significant contribution to research transparency policy in the UK and internationally. Matt is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southampton and holds a PhD in high-energy astrophysics. He began his career training as a medical physicist in the NHS and worked as a medical physicist and Technical Director for a medical devices company.