Episodes

The son of a military man, David Ebsworth was educated at Duke of York’s Royal Military School, where his A levels included German and Chemistry. At the University of Surrey, he earned a double honours degree covering both subjects, and then a PhD, looking at industrial relations in the German and UK chemical industries. Following an interesting, successful, diverse career in pharma and biotech, David currently manages a portfolio career focused on the UK and Europe. He chairs four of the five ...

Karen Akinsanya PhD is President of R&D, Therapeutics at Schrödinger. This followed leadership positions at Merck & Co and at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Raised initially in Bristol and then in the suburbs of Surrey, in this episode of BELS Brief Chats, Karen shares her roots in our sector, undoubtedly stimulated by the healthcare and scientific backgrounds of her parents, especially her father bequeathing to her at a young age his wooden microscope. She received her BSc in biochemistry from Queen...

From humble beginnings in Edinburgh, Martin Mackay PhD’s lifelong passion for football and his beloved Heart of Midlothian, allied to a total fascination with the ‘coolness’ of lab coats, were parlayed into a hugely impressive career, including major research leadership roles at industry titans such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Alexion. Now, “having a blast” in the world of biotech with Rallybio, he still also exerts his influence and experience on big corporates via board seats at Novo Nordisk an...

Dr Gillian Cannon currently serves on multiple boards and in an executive role at Roivant as Head of Commercial Innovation. Her 30-year career has included leadership roles in major pharma including Merck & Co, UCB and Otsuka Pharma. She hails from Newcastle, received her BSc from Edinburgh University and earned her PhD in Health Administration at Temple University. While Gillian resides in Princeton, New Jersey, she generously shares her expertise, experience, perspectives, and time with organi...

Will Harvey, MPhil, BA, PhD—When we recorded this episode of BELS Brief Chats, Will was a Professor of Leadership at the University of Bristol School of Management. He is presently Professor of Leadership at Melbourne University and Director of the Social Purpose Centre. Will conducts research, teaches and consults in the areas of reputation, leadership, talent management and migration. He is also an International Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. He has w...

Fiona Marshall discovered a love for science at school. She eschewed medicine for biochemistry at the University of Bath and then chose neuroscience for her PhD at Cambridge, while also accumulating industry experience. She lived through the transformation of Glaxo to GSK, shifted to biotech at Millennium where she worked with the likes of Allan Marchington (BELS Advisory Council member). After a mid-career break, she re-entered industry with Heptares and today is stationed in the US leading res...

At the age of 10 she wanted to be a vet, at 17 a scientist, and at 21 she settled on medicine. Gillian Leng trained as a doctor at Leeds University, studied peripheral arterial disease in Edinburgh for several years, then worked as a consultant in public health in Bedfordshire. It’s no surprise that she considers joining NICE in 2001 to be her best career move, initially to set up the clinical guidelines program. Today some 400 guidelines are in place. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NICE rapidly ...

Born into a medical family on the Isle of Skye, Dr Calum Macrae’s path to Edinburgh University and London to study medicine and become a leading cardiologist, geneticist and developmental biologist is not a great surprise. His drive to “follow the science” took him to Boston where he trained with seminal thought leaders in human genetics and gained world-class clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology. Calum’s interests—in genomics, disease modeling, developmental biology, drug disco...

The conversation between Nigel Gaymond (in London amid rain of biblical proportions) and Mike Grey (in Utah amid smoke-filled air brought about by severe drought and forest fires) brought into sharp relief the weather extremes our planet is experiencing. Brought up in the West Midlands, Mike studied Chemistry at Nottingham University with support from local company Boots. His international journey through pharma and biotech ultimately led him to the fascinating world of company formation with Pa...

Dr Annalisa Jenkins grew up in the south of England in a naval family. Having discovered a passion medicine at an early age, she received offers from several medical schools and chose St. Bart’s – because it was in London (much to her parents’ chagrin). While in med school, she gained essential financial support for her medical training by joining the British Royal Navy during the Gulf Conflict, and spent nine years in the service, seeing wartime action as the only woman in a squadron of 700 men...

Justin Gover is the ex-CEO of GW Pharma—a great UK success story—known for treatments for epilepsy and the multiple sclerosis treatment product nabiximols which was the first natural cannabis plant derivative to gain market approval in any country. Justin shares his journey from studying politics at Bristol University to honing his skills at the global village that is INSEAD, the renowned graduate business school in Paris. He cut his teeth in life sciences by selling opiates in China. Back in th...

John Young, Chief Business Officer at Pfizer, is that increasing rarity in today’s world, a one-company man who has never even interviewed elsewhere. John shares his journey from being raised in rural Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and schooled in Lockerbie, to studying biological sciences at Glasgow University, doing postgrad work at Strathclyde University, to deciding the lab was not going to be his domain and taking a job in sales with Pfizer, where he has grown and been challenged every since. Aft...

Mark Stevenson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific, grew up in the West Country in Gloucestershire (though he sheepishly admits to having lost his burr). He attended Reading University, attracted by their programme of industrial placements. Mark shares his journey from studying science and business to a training program at Perkin Elmer to developing his keen passion for new techniques around discoveries involving PCR, cell technologies and sequencing...

Dr Rupert Vessey—Former President of Early Development and Research of Bristol Myers Squibb, now Chief Scientific Officer & Executive Partner at Flagship Pioneering—shares his journey from following the family tradition into medicine with Sir John Bell at Oxford University as his advisor while juggling a love and talent for rugby to then honing in on a career in research that led to his leadership role in R&D at Bristol Myers Squibb. “The UK is in a great spot right now. I think they need acces...

Dr David Pyott—portfolio board member, philanthropist, and former CEO & Chairman of Allergan—was destined for an international life which led to him live in 10 countries and work in 7. He shares his journey, from growing up in India and becoming fluent in Marathi, to attending Edinburgh University and London Business School, to becoming CEO of Sandoz Nutrition in Switzerland, to moving to California where he spent 17 years growing then-50-year-old Allergan as its third CEO. David and his board f...

Dr Clive Meanwell shares his journey emanating from a family of teachers in Birmingham to earning his medical degree at University of Birmingham and playing first class rugby to a corporate career that led to him founding and leading The Medicines Company (acquired by Novartis in 2020) to launching a SPAC focused on transforming population health outcomes. "Very few countries have as strategic a viewpoint on life sciences as the UK."

Nigel Gaymond, BELS Founder & Executive Chairman, provides a brief overview of BELS (British Educated Life Scientists) & the BELS Brief Chats podcast.