Speakers
James Bennett
Pahini Pandya
David Thornton
Innovation showcase
Come and hear from 5 of the most exciting organisations working in this space as they walk us through their achievements, and how they will change the landscape. Vote for the one you think will have the greatest impact to give them a chance to speak again in the final plenary session
James is Head of Operations and Partnerships at Coding Bio, a biotechnology company combining high-throughput functional screening with machine learning to discover and develop next-generation immunotherapies. He leads business development, strategic collaborations, and operational initiatives, helping to translate Coding Bio’s scientific innovations into impactful partnerships and programs.
Dr Pahini Pandya is the CEO and Founder of Panakeia, a pioneering AI-driven molecular profiling company. Panakeia’s AI-driven software provides comprehensive multi-omic information (DNA, RNA, protein, metabolite changes) directly from routinely used images of tissues and cells in minutes instead of days or weeks. The software enables same-day treatment decision-making in the clinic and fast-tracks drug development for biopharma without the need for time and resource intensive laboratory tests.
Trained as a cancer researcher. Pahini spent the last decade furthering translational research in the field. She pursued a PhD in cancer biophysics at King’s College London, a postdoc at the University of Cambridge and has several publications in top journals.
Educated at the Stanford and Cambridge business schools, Pahini has also held several leadership positions across entrepreneurial organisations and helped numerous start-ups commercialise research. She has been recognised as Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, and received multiple awards for entrepreneurship.
David Thornton joined Genomics Limited in September 2024 as President, where he assumed responsibility for the company's internal operations, with a strategic focus on scaling its existing businesses.
David transitioned to Genomics from IQVIA, a Fortune 500 corporation specializing in Human Data Science. During his tenure at IQVIA as Senior Vice President and a member of the Global Executive Leadership Group, he led the Commercial Engagement Services Division, driving advancements in patient and commercial engagement through the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced data analytics. His prior leadership roles at IQVIA include overseeing Biotech Commercial teams across Europe and directing business development initiatives for Real World Evidence throughout the U.S., EMEA, and Asia Pacific regions.
Earlier in his career, David held diverse leadership and advisory positions within various healthcare-focused enterprises.
As the founding CEO of Vitarka Therapeutics, Vineeta has more than 15 years’ experience in drug development. She has led multi-million-pound multi-site projects at UCL, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ipsen Bioinnovation. As an asset leader, she has delivered 2x therapeutics being tested in 6x clinical trials and 3x therapeutics for clinical development. She is a co-inventor on 13x granted patents and 4x filed patents. She co-discovered mutations and functional properties of TDP-43 gene which causes Motor Neuron Disease. This was a breakthrough discovery, with an entire disease pathology now termed as “TDP-43 proteinopathies”, impacting over 50 million patients globally. Her work as first author and co-author is published in several imminent journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, etc. with a citation record of >7000.