BIA Networking Lunch - Oxford

Alex Mulchrone

Senior Policy Advisor, Office for Life Sciences

Helen Farmer

Senior Policy Manager, Office for Life Sciences

Helen works in the Office for Life Science’s EU Exit and International Trade team, with a focus on international trade, particularly intellectual property, services, and digital trade. Before joining OLS, Helen worked for a number of different government departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Work and Pensions, and Defra.

Sharon Egan

Senior Policy Manager, Office for Life Sciences

Sharon Egan works for Office for Life Sciences in the investments and engagement team. Preceding this she worked at the Department of Health and Social Care where she led a Bill team and before that, worked in public health. She has also worked in a range of Government departments and bodies including HMRC, the Healthcare and Care Quality Commission, Food Standards Agency and as a regulator in HSE. Once upon a time she was a scientist in genetics and microbiology, specialising in antibiotic genes.

Steve Bates OBE

Chief Executive Officer

What does your role at BIA involve?

Steve Bates is the CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association, the UK’s Trade Association for innovative life science companies with over 550 members. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. He serves on the UK Government’s Life Sciences Council and the UK Biosecurity Leadership Council. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. He is active member and former chair the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of EuropaBio since 2015.

Previous experience & achievements

Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMEs. He is a driving force behind the scale up agenda, spearheading policy agenda to unlock UK pension fund capital into productive UK growth in life sciences. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before joining the BIA in 2012, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair working on NHS reform and the Northern Ireland peace process. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.

Piers Scrimshaw-Wright

CEO, Oxford Science Park

A science and business park specialist, Piers is the Science Park's Chief Executive, responsible for leading the on-site team, asset management and the ambitious development plans. Piers is a qualified chartered surveyor with over 20 years’ experience in development and asset management. A former Director at Arlington, then Goodman, Piers was responsible for the development of Uxbridge Business Park (with significant HQ lettings to Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen), the acquisition and development of Colworth Science Park and Harwell Oxford, and then an ambitious development programme in France, Spain and Germany. More recently, he has been involved in a niche UK Science Park start-up company. Piers began his career at GVA in London.

Andrew Hotchkiss

CCO, Immunocore

I joined Immunocore as Chief Commercial Officer in October 2017 to bring the innovative and transformational science at Immunocore to market. Having stepped into the role of CEO in February 2018, I am delighted to lead the vision for one of the UK’s top biotechnology companies. With more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, I have held numerous cross-functional roles spanning sales, marketing, commercial strategy, country management and regional leadership with Eli Lilly & Co. Additionally, having worked in roles that encompass corporate strategy and business development, I can bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the BIA Board and continue to help move the BIA in its forward trajectory. At Lilly, I served in a number of global leadership positions across multiple therapeutic areas and geographies including as Vice President International Business Unit Leader Oncology, President Biomedicines Business Unit, Australia, Canada and Europe and Snr VP Digital Ventures as regional head and country head of a company with commercial, manufacturing and research presence. I represented the company directly with governments across multiple countries so I have a deep understanding of the policy and operational challenges faced by the industry. I have also served as Chairman of the European Markets Committee at EFPIA. I was on the Board of the ABPI for over 6 years and was also Chair of the American Pharma Group.

Dr Ali Jazayeri

CSO, OMass Therapeutics

Ali Jazayeri joined OMass Therapeutics in October 2018. He was previously Chief Technology Officer of Heptares Therapeutics, a company he joined in 2007 as one of the first scientists and was involved in the transfer of the GPCR stabilisation technology from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to Heptares. Following successful implementation and industrialisation of the original technology, he led the development of novel methodologies that significantly increased the efficiency and reach of the technology and resulted in the generation of novel IP. In addition, he was one of the key members of the executive sub-team that lead the acquisition of G7 therapeutics, spin out company from University of Zurich and went on to lead the further development and integration of their technology as part of the Heptares Zurich management team. Prior to Heptares, Ali worked as a post-doctoral scientist in Clare Hall Laboratories (a Cancer Research UK institute) and Kudos Pharmaceuticals (later acquired by AstraZeneca) where he carried out research on the role of cell cycle checkpoint kinases in DNA damage response pathways. He has a BSc in Genetics from University of Manchester and obtained his PhD in molecular biology with Prof Steve Jackson at the Gurdon Institute from University of Cambridge.

Rachael Robbins

Head of Manufacturing, The Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre

Rachael is an experienced senior manager with over 10 years experience in big pharma at GSK. A strong and broad background of GMP manufacture has been obtained in her career from working in multiple disciplines across Operations, Technical and Quality roles. This has led to leadership experience in organisation design and development, extensive knowledge in quality systems and has led major change projects and lean initiatives. She was formally a Senior Manufacturing Manager responsible for leading Operations for a CDMO.