TechBio UK

Philippe Marc

Chief of Staff and Head of the Data & Digital Office, Novartis Biomedical Research

Philippe Marc is Chief of Staff and Head of the Data & Digital Office at Novartis Biomedical Research. He shapes and drives the company’s AI research strategy, aligning scientific priorities with enterprise goals to accelerate innovation in drug discovery. He leads the translation of strategy into high-impact programs, governance frameworks, and investment priorities, enabling scalable adoption of AI across Research. With over 25 years in life sciences, he brings deep expertise in bioinformatics, data science, and R&D transformation.

Lee Dunham

CBO and Co-Founder, Houdini Bio

No bio provided

Peter Hamley

CEO and Founder, Scripta Therapeutics

Peter Hamley is founder and CEO of Scripta Therapeutics, a new techbio based in Oxford. Scripta is flipping the script on drug discovery by implementing a novel approach involving multiomics, imaging, computer vision and target identification to modulate transcription factors. The output is a portfolio of disease modifying therapeutics for neurodegeneration. 

Hugely experienced in the pharma and biotech world, Peter was previously CSO at Samsara Therapeutics, building a team at the intersection of neuroscience and ageing biology. While at Sanofi, he led global departments in drug discovery and business development, advancing multiple programs across numerous disease areas. His earlier roles include positions at AstraZeneca and the University of Pennsylvania.

He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, an MBA from the University of Bath, and a BSc in Chemistry from Imperial College London. He has authored over 60 patents and publications.

Melanie Ivarsson

Chief Executive Officer, Health Data Research Service

No bio provided

Jason Mellad

Co-founder and CEO, OtoImmune

Dr Jason Mellad is Co-founder and CEO of OtoImmune, a precision immunology company focused on revolutionising the early detection, management and treatment of autoimmune and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Previously he was co-founder and CEO of life science venture builder fund, Start Codon, and epigenomic biomarker discovery pioneer, Cambridge Epigenetix (now Biomodal). Dr Mellad holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Cambridge. 

Chris Molloy

CEO, BIA

No bio provided

Joanna Soroka

Investment Partner, Hitachi Ventures

Joanna combines deep technical expertise in biotechnology with business acumen in strategy and innovation. As Investment Partner at Hitachi Ventures, she leads global healthcare investments across techbio, biotech, life sciences, platforms, data, AI, and automation.

Prior to Hitachi Ventures, Joanna was at PwC, where she advised pharma clients at the intersection of digital technologies and medicine. She also held strategy, R&D, and innovation roles in healthcare IT, diagnostics, and precision medicine at Konica Minolta.

Joanna holds an M.Sc. in Biology from Jagiellonian University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the Technical University of Munich, and completed postdoctoral training in Genetics and Oncology at Cancer Research UK.

Clare Terlouw

Head of LifeArc Ventures, LifeArc

Clare Terlouw is Head of LifeArc Ventures, responsible for LifeArc’s portfolio of direct and LP investments across the life sciences sector. The venture investment fund focuses on early stage life sciences companies at seed to Series A, with significant follow-on investment reserved for successful portfolio companies.

Clare has significant expertise in funding innovative life sciences companies in the private and public markets. She was previously Head of Corporate Development at Syncona Investment Management Ltd, a FTSE250 healthcare investment trust which builds and invests in life science companies, and has more than 15 years of biotech and healthcare financing experience as a UK investment banker at Nomura, Numis Securities and Peel Hunt. Clare was a physiotherapist in Canada prior to moving into finance.

Clare is a board member of the UK Biotechnology Industry Association and director of a number of venture-backed companies.

Esther Wershof

Senior Scientist, Altos Labs

Dr Esther Wershof is a Senior Scientist in the Machine Learning group at Altos Labs, where she architects AI-driven platforms to model cell rejuvenation and reverse disease. Operating at the cutting edge of Lab-in-the-Loop engineering , she recently co-led the global team that won the prestigious $100k ARC Virtual Cell Challenge at NeurIPS 2025 and launched a pioneering open-source benchmarking platform that is setting new standards for perturbation prediction.