Engitix announces appointment of Matthew Edwards PhD and Emma Huang PhD
London, UK – 21 May 2024 – Engitix Ltd (‘Engitix’), a biotechnology company with a portfolio of drug discovery programmes in fibrosis and solid tumours using its proprietary human extracellular matrix (ECM) platform, today announces the appointment of Matthew Edwards, PhD, as Senior Vice President of Discovery Sciences, and Emma Huang, PhD, as Vice President of Data Sciences.
Dr. Edwards is a seasoned drug discovery leader with extensive industry experience. He has developed six clinically-enabled novel therapeutics and has deep immunology and oncology domain expertise. He joins Engitix from Johnson & Johnson, where he was the Global Head of Discovery and Translational Sciences for Interventional Oncology. In this role, he developed a portfolio of immuno-oncology assets primarily designed to be delivered intra-tumorally, which included low molecular weight drugs, therapeutic antibodies and RNA therapeutics. Prior to this, further industrial drug discovery experience included leadership positions at Novartis and GSK in the respiratory and immunology therapeutics areas.
At Engitix he will be responsible for leading the company’s internal drug discovery scientific strategy.
Dr. Huang brings to Engitix a strong track record of identifying and executing on transformative opportunities harnessing data science to accelerate the development of novel therapies and solutions for patients. She joined Engitix from Johnson & Johnson, where she served as Head of Data Sciences for Interventional Oncology. In this role, she shaped and built key data science capabilities including the data, analytics, platforms, and partnerships necessary to support discovery and translational biomarker efforts.
With over 40 peer-reviewed papers, and a career spanning academia, government, and industry, Emma has consistently demonstrated her commitment to scientific advancement and collaboration through roles such as Deputy Chair of the MRC Population & Systems Medicine Board. She holds a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Caltech.
At Engitix she will be responsible for leading the company’s data and analytics strategy supporting platform development, internal drug discovery pipeline, and external partnerships.
Dr, Christopher Stevenson CSO at Engitix said, “I am delighted to welcome Matt and Emma to Engitix. We have created the roles of SVP Discovery and VP Data Sciences to expand our leadership team and capabilities. The expertise Matt and Emma bring will galvanise the team’s focus on translating the insights gained from Engitix’ proprietary platform technologies into transformational therapies for patients.”
Dr. Matthew Edwards, SVP Discovery Sciences of Engitix said, “Engitix is undoubtedly a company with world-leading disease ECM analysis capability providing a unique opportunity for novel target identification. I’m excited to take on this critical role and help build and prosecute our internal drug discovery pipeline and expedite bringing novel therapeutics to patients with high unmet medical need.”
Dr. Emma Huang, VP Data Sciences of Engitix said, “What attracted me to Engitix was its innovative ECM platform generating high-quality, disease-relevant datasets to drive drug discovery. It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity to combine these novel data with cutting-edge analytics to help develop therapeutics addressing a broad range of medical needs.”
