Episodes

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...

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."