Speakers
Ramesh Durvasula
Anta Gkelou
Cassandra Padbury
Panel session
The TechBio landscape has continued to evolve rapidly in the last year. Join us as we discuss the lessons we have learned, and look ahead to what we expect to see in future. There will also be an opportunity to get answers to questions you may have about the broader picture of data driven life science in the UK.
Anta is a Partner in the Sofinnova Capital Strategy. She joined us in 2017. Previously, Anta was an immunology scientist at Danone Nutricia, where she was involved in translational research and development of prebiotic and probiotic products for immune resilience.
Anta completed her PhD at the National Heart and Lung Institute of Imperial College in London in collaboration with Pfizer UK, where she studied the biology of oxidative stress-driven steroid insensitivity in COPD. She continued her post-doctoral studies at the National Institute of Health of France, INSERM, where she investigated the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate cardiomyocyte function post myocardial infarction at the European Hospital George Pompidou in Paris.
Cassandra works with clients across sectors from consumer, FMCG, medical devices, pharmaceutical and industrial and energy to improve business performance by foreseeing change and taking advantage of technology. She has been helping recognise opportunities and realise the value of ideas with over 20 years in R&D and tech consulting, now specialising in strategic advice for engineering biology. As a Project Fellow for the World Economic Forum Bioeconomy Initiative she works with a community to identify challenges and opportunities for globally advancing the bioeconomy towards sustainable commercial activities. She studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and has a DPhil in Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Oxford and an executive MBA. She has previously worked at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford and alongside a biotech start up at the Babraham Research Institute, Cambridge.
Dr Hakim Yadi OBE is a co-Founder and chief executive of Closed Loop Medicine. He joined CLM from the Northern Health Science Alliance Ltd, the pan-Northern health partnership which brought together for the first time 20 research-based NHS hospitals, the North’s Academic Health Science Networks and Universities to collaborate on improving health outcomes across the North.
As the founding CEO of the NHSA, Hakim was instrumental in raising the profile of the region in parliament, with investors and the media to help focus resources on improving healthcare services for the 15 million population living in the North and its eight great cities. Central to the NHSA’s mission was to raise awareness of the region’s high mortality rates and to seek national solutions to improve these morbidity levels by working with all local agencies to improve health – and therefore wealth and well-being -outcomes.
Hakim was also highly successful in working with companies in the North to attract substantial domestic and overseas investment into the region’s life science sector, one of the most vibrant in the country.
Having worked with specialist drug and digital companies all around the world, he has a deep understanding of innovation systems integration. Hakim started his career at PA Consulting, where he co-managed the company’s translational medicine team. During his time at PA, he was seconded to the UK Government where he worked as the Chief Operations Officer and was a founding member of the UK Department of International Trade (DIT) Life Sciences Organisation (LSO).
He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and in 2017 he was awarded an OBE for services to Healthcare Technology and the Economy.