The Future of UK Life Sciences Regulation

Zubir Ahmed MP

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety, Department of Health and Social Care

Dr Zubir Ahmed MP was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on 6 September 2025. His ministerial responsibilities include life sciences, research, innovation, medicines and medtech. He was elected as the MP for Glasgow South West in July 2024. Before being elected to Parliament in 2024, Dr Ahmed was a transplant and vascular surgeon in Glasgow and has volunteered in Pakistan. He continues to practise medicine in Glasgow and maintains a medical license.

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Julian Beach

Interim Executive Director Healthcare Quality and Access, MHRA

Julian oversees the portfolio that is designed to ensure the quality and access of products to the UK market - this includes scientific advice, licensing assessment, marketing authorisations for all innovative and established medicines.

Julian is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of Quality, Regulatory and Operations in the pharmaceuticals industry. Skilled in Quality, Operations and Digitalisation of Systems, Operations Management delivery including OpEX / Six Sigma with a love for people development. Julian has strong links to industry and regulatory bodies with quality focus. He is a fellow of the RSC, with an MBA from Henley Business School, adding to BSc (Hons), Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist.

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Kate Greenwood

Senior Improvement Delivery Manager, Health Research Authority (HRA)

Kate is Senior Improvement Delivery Manager at the Health Authority, working to shape the environment for research through work taken forward by the Government and partners in response to the Lord O’Shaughnessy report on clinical trials. Kate has been working in NHS R&D at both operational and strategic level since late 1999 and has a broad historical knowledge of research management in the NHS. Previous roles include manager of a Professional research network, The NHS R&D Forum, and 15 years as Research Manager at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust leading the R&D office and Sponsorship functions. Kate currently co-leads work to improve the set-up of studies at site and chairs the HRA study set up advisory board. Kate also co-led the People-Centred Clinical Research project and supports the development of guidance for inclusion and diversity plans. 

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Anthony Harnden

Chair, MHRA

Professor Anthony Harnden is the chair of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). He is professor of primary care at the University of Oxford and until December 2024, was a registrant council member of the General Medical Council and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. He was also deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCV), playing a key role in ensuring public trust and patient safety during the distribution of the Covid vaccine. Anthony has over 40 years of experience working for NHS, mostly as a general practitioner in Wheatley, Oxfordshire. He is particularly focused on protecting patient safety through robust surveillance and embracing risk-proportionate regulation to maintain the UK as a global regulator of excellence.

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Bob Klaber

Consultant Paediatrician & Director of Strategy, Research & Innovation, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Professor Bob Klaber studied at the University of Cambridge and Bart's and The London School of Medicine, before completing his postgraduate training in paediatrics in hospitals across London. He has also trained as a medical educationalist in quality improvement and, through an MD at University College London, in mixed methods research. He is a professor of practice (population health) at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, a member of the NHS Assembly and a trustee of the Nuffield Trust.

In his current executive director role, he is responsible for strategy, research, innovation and improvement across the Trust. This also involves clinical leadership around redevelopment, sustainability, improving population health, developing the Trust’s role as an anchor institution and improving health equity. He continues to work as a consultant paediatrician at the Trust and as part of Connecting Care for Children, an integrated child health programme in north west London. Bob is also one of the leaders of Kindness in Healthcare, a network of 1400 people from 34 different countries.

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Louise Knowles

Deputy Director, Innovation Accelerator and Regulatory Science, MHRA

Louise has over 17 years of experience working in Scientific roles across the Civil Service, and joined the MHRA in October 2023. The Innovation Accelerator and Regulatory Science team provides innovators enhanced access to MHRA scientific expertise and regulatory guidance, bringing together the work of the Innovation Office, Horizon Scanning functions as well as leading on the delivery of the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) and the Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP).  She was previously the Head of Research Capacity and Growth at DHSC and part of the leadership team for the National Institute for Health and Care Research, providing the strategic leadership and oversight of the NIHR Translational Research Infrastructure and NIHR Clinical Research Network as well as leading work to deliver on the ambitions set out in the UK Vision for Clinical Research Delivery. Prior to her role in DHSC she was a Foresight Researcher at the Government Office for Science and led a number of Research Programmes for the Food Standards Agency.

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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.

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Emily Merrell

Director of the Advanced Therapy Treatment Centre (ATTC), Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

Emily Merrell has worked within the Healthcare sector for 25+ years with global development experience spanning Biotech, Pharma, CROs, and the NHS. In addition to roles in drug development, Emily has also worked as a consultant within The National Healthcare System (NHS) where she led the development and implementation of a virtual COVID hospital that resulted in improved outcomes for COVID-19 patients. She was also previously Head of the Catapults ATTC Network Coordination during phase 1 of the ATTC Programme focused on Clinical Adoption of ATMPs. Her clinical development experience spans all therapeutic areas and all stages of the clinical development lifecycle, from First In Human trials to Long-Term Follow-Up and Post Marketing surveillances. Prior to joining the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult as current Director of the ATTC Network, she was Senior Director of Therapeutic Expertise and Head of the Centre for Cell & Gene Therapy at ICON driving the strategic & operational growth of the Centre’s capabilities which has so far supported the delivery of 170+ Cell and Gene Therapy Clinical Trials over the last 5 years across a diverse range of therapeutic areas, development phases and technologies. Emily has a passion for enabling new ways of working by challenging ‘traditional models’ and cultivating more integrative working within and across organizations as the driving force of improving health outcomes for patients worldwide.

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Jackie Mulryne

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Jackie Mulryne is a seasoned regulatory life sciences practitioner who provides sophisticated regulatory, policy, and compliance advice to clients in the pharmaceutical, medical technology, cosmetics, and foods sectors. She regularly advises on complex regulatory issues that arise throughout the product life cycle, including maximizing regulatory protections and the overlap with intellectual property rights, classification of products, clinical research, authorization and approval, advertising and promotion, and market access strategy. Jackie partners with clients to develop strategies to help bring innovative products to market and helps companies develop and implement cross-border regulatory compliance programs.

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Gillian Murphy

Ambassador, Blood Cancer UK

No bio provided

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Ed Piper

VP, Medical & Scientific Affairs Director, AstraZeneca UK

Dr Ed Piper is VP, Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs at AstraZeneca. He trained in Medicine at United Medical and Dental Schools of Guys and St Thomas’, University of London. In 2001 he moved from clinical practice into the pharmaceutical industry and has worked for Aventis, Takeda and AstraZeneca.

He has worked across all stages of global drug development (phase I-IV) with a particular interest in Respiratory Medicine having developed biologic medicines for patients with severe asthma and inhaled combination treatments for use more broadly.

He is currently responsible for AstraZeneca UK medical strategy across cardio-renal, respiratory, immunology and vaccines therapy areas, leading a team of ~140 employees in various disciplines including medical affairs, real world evidence, regulatory affairs, and population health. He is an enthusiastic advocate for effective collaboration between NHS, academia, and the pharmaceutical industry to improve patient outcomes and reduce heath inequalities.

Throughout his Industry career he has interacted with Regulatory Agencies around the world and is keen to support MHRA innovation that benefits both patients and UK life sciences ecosystem.

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James Pound

Interim Executive Director Innovation and Compliance, MHRA

James Pound joined the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2008. He has worked in a variety of roles within the MHRA and is an executive leader within the Agency with responsibility for our Innovation Accelerator (the home of our innovative pathways for medicines and medical devices), the clinical investigations and trials group and the standards and compliance function which includes our Medicines GXP compliance teams, British Pharmacopoeia and medical devices audit and compliance. James led the cross-Agency response to clinical trial assessment delays in 2023 which were successfully eliminated in Autumn 2023 with sustained performance by the Agency since then.

He holds an honours degree in Chemistry and has previously worked in a variety of roles in development and manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry.

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Sam Roberts

CEO, NICE

Dr Sam Roberts is the chief executive of NICE.

Before joining NICE in February 2022, Sam was the managing director of health and care at Legal and General, a financial services firm. In this role, she had responsibility for identifying promising areas for investment across health and care.

Prior to that, Sam was the first chief executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative. This is a national umbrella organisation for health innovation, hosted by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI).

She originally trained as a doctor and practiced medicine in South Africa, the UK, and Australia before undertaking an MBA. She then joined McKinsey and Company, where she worked in a wide range of industries before specialising in healthcare.

After McKinsey, Sam moved into the NHS as a senior manager at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She was also a director in UCLPartners, an Academic Health Sciences Centre and Network. Last year, she took on the role of director of innovation, research and life sciences at NHSEI.

Over the last 5 years Sam has become involved in research, working with health economic models to inform evidence-based policy at the London School of Economics. She then moved to the University of Oxford where she undertook a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy).

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Paul Smith

Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Infinitopes

A senior regulatory affairs professional with 35 years of experience in drug development and over 25 years in Biotechnology Regulatory Affairs. Originally trained as a toxicologist at SmithKline Beecham before moving into Regulatory Affairs. With Amgen for 19 years until 2016 and has since then has been working in start up biotechnology companies (Tusk Therapeutics/Infinitopes Limited) or as a consultant.

Experience across all areas of drug development and has provided bespoke regulatory services to start up and established biotechnology companies for all aspects of product life cycle management. 

Focussed on developing successful regulatory strategies to maximise opportunities for accelerated product approval in UK, EU and US. Particular focus on oncology products (targeted therapies, immunotherapies) and cell and gene therapies.  Provides  senior level drug development experience to start up biotechnology companies at board and investor level. 

Currently Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Infinitopes Cancer Vaccines, Oxford. 

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Lawrence Tallon

CEO, MHRA

Lawrence Tallon is the Chief Executive Officer at the MHRA (the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency). Before that, he was the Deputy Chief Executive at Guy's and St Thomas' (GSTT) NHS Foundation Trust, the largest and one of the most prestigious healthcare provider organisations in the UK. He joined GSTT in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, and immediately set to work on securing vital international supplies of medical equipment and PPE for the Trust and the wider UK supply lines.

He led the successful merger of GSTT with the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in 2021, creating a power-house of cardio-respiratory medicine and research. His role includes oversight of the Trust's multiple major strategic changes programmes. Lawrence also leads the Trust's approach to Innovation and Improvement including the creation of the newly formed Centre for Innovation, Transformation and Improvement (CITI). He also sits on the Board of King's Health Partners Ventures, a limited company to accelerate spin out of Med Tech start-ups.

In the decade prior to joining GSTT, Lawrence worked in a range of strategy and leadership roles in university hospitals in the UK and overseas. He was Director of Strategy, Planning and Performance at University Hospitals Birmingham, Managing Director of the Shelford Group of UK university hospitals and Executive Director of Policy at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar, one of the leading academic medical centres in the Middle East.

Lawrence began his career working for the UK Government in Whitehall, as a fast stream civil servant at the Department of Health, before working for the Secretary of State for Health and running the headquarters of the NHS Chief Executive. He worked on a range of high profile national policy issues, gaining cross government exposure to No.10 Downing Street, Her Majesty's Treasury and the Cabinet Office, and becoming a senior civil servant within the Department of Health.

He holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in History from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and a Master's degree in Global Health Policy from Imperial College London.

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Rosie Lindup

Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager, BioIndustry Association

What does your role at BIA involve?
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.

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Jane Wall

Managing Director, BIA

What does your role at BIA involve?
Strategic leadership of the organisation and oversight of P&L to ensure that BIA is a sustainable, successful, and ever-evolving association. Serving the needs of existing members, growing new communities, and increasing member benefit; producing sector-leading thought leadership and events, growing influence, reach and impact.

Previous experience & achievements
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.

If you could invite any scientist to dinner, who would it be?
Galileo Galilei: having been slightly obsessed with Italian culture and the Renaissance, I was fascinated by Florence, the Medicis and their patronage of artists and scientists. I am always in awe of the bravery and foresight of individuals willing to push human understanding beyond what was/is generally acceptable at the time: Galileo was willing to risk the ire of the Inquisition and to live condemned as a heretic in times when the punishment was extreme – to become the ‘father of modern science’.

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