BIA regional focus: Glasgow

Steve Bates

Chief Executive Officer, BIA

What does your role at BIA involve?
Steve Bates FMed Sci OBE has been leading the UK Bioindustry Association as CEO since 2012. He currently chairs the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of EuropaBio since 2015. He sits on the UK’s Life Sciences Council. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham.

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 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 the BIA, Steve worked for Genzyme and was an advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.

David Eustace

Operations Director, Dxcover Ltd

David Eustace has 15+ years' experience in regulated diagnostic product development and medical device production in both start-up and multinational environments; most recently as Operations Director at Dxcover Ltd in charge of taking their cutting-edge oncology diagnostic tools through the rigors of EU IVDR qualification.

Stephen Nabarro

Head of Clinical Operations and Data Management, Cancer Research UK

Stephen Nabarro is a clinical research professional with more than 25 years experience in oncology research and drug development. His scientific background includes a PhD in paediatric oncology at University College London and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Stephen has worked at Cancer Research UK for the last 17 years and his current role is Head of Clinical Operations and Data Management within the Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development.

Angela Thomas

Non-Executive Director, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

After qualifying in medicine from London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School in 1980, Angela trained in adult haematology, subsequently specialising in paediatric haematology. She worked as a consultant at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh for 25 years. Angela was a fellow in molecular biology at University College London, and was awarded a PhD.

Carol Thomson

CEO, BDD Pharma

Carol was co-founder and COO of Drug Delivery International Ltd for three years prior to becoming CEO of BDD Pharma. With more than 20 years’ experience of management in the sciences sector, Carol has developed strong operational management and leadership skills and has led the growth of BDD as an integrated development and clinical trials company, including two successful funding rounds. Carol has a degree in Genetics from the University of Glasgow and a PhD from the University of Sheffield.

Alison Walker

Head of Operations Compliance, TauRx Therapeutics Ltd

Alison joined TauRx Therapeutics Ltd. Clinical Project Management in 2015 as Deputy Global Project Lead, was promoted to Global Project Lead in March 2016, then to Head of Operations Compliance in March 2023. With over 23 years working within the pharmaceutical industry for sponsor companies across a variety of roles within formulation development, clinical trials supply manufacture, investigational medicinal product clinical trials design & supply, materials warehousing, supply chain management, clinical operations project management for global clinical trials, and operations compliance, Alison also has significant and relevant academic and NHS R&D experience. Alison has a BPharm (Hons) in Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics. Her new 2023 role with TauRx is Head of Operations Compliance, for which key responsibilities include: Set up, establish and lead a new TauRx Operations Compliance function, manage the function to ensure delivery of TauRx Operations projects to meet compliance standards set within the TauRx Quality Management System (QMS) and by applicable guidelines/regulations, Ambassador for Quality by Design (QbD) consideration within QMS processes, lead continuous improvement initiatives, support TauRx QA via project management of inspection-readiness activities, and develop effective interfaces across the TauRx Operations functions, with TauRx QA, and as necessary with Business and Commercial teams, to support delivery of cross-functional compliance initiatives.