Speakers
Hazel Jones
David T Dexter
Rafael E Carazo Salas
Steve Gardner
Chang Lu
Innovation showcase
Come and hear from 5 of the most exciting organisations working in this space as they walk us through their achievements, and how they will change the landscape. Vote for the one you think will have the greatest impact to give them a chance to speak again in the final plenary session.
Hazel has significant oncology research experience, both in pharma/biotech and academic/charity sectors. She has a focus on long term strategic planning, both of logistics and scientific deliverables, as well as driving operational change. Hazel brings with her a broad understanding of all stages of drug development. In her capacity as Interim CEO Hazel will lead, scale, and grow the Company’s global business operations. She will also be crucial in delivering the Company’s strategy to commercial and academic partners. Prior to joining Enhanc3D Genomics, Hazel held various roles within AstraZeneca, including Executive Product Director of Clinical Data, and Head of Business Planning and Operations in Oncology R&D. She was also previously Head of Combination Therapies at Cancer Research UK.
Professor Dexter joined Parkinson’s UK on the 1st of March 2017 and became Direct of Research on the 1st of April 2023. David has 37 years research experience in Parkinson’s, 24 years of which was spent at Imperial College London where he was Professor of Neuropharmacology and Deputy Head of The Division of Brain Sciences. His research team made significant contributions into understanding the molecular mechanisms that cause Parkinson’s and in the development of novel therapeutics and founded the Parkinson’s UK Brain Bank in 2002. At Parkinson’s UK he manages the charities grants funding programmes, external research communications and involvement of people affected by Parkinson’s in research. David also manages Parkinson’s UK’s strategic partnerships such as the Critical Path for Parkinson’s etc. and is the biology lead in the Parkinson’s UK Virtual Biotech programme.
Rafael Carazo Salas is Professor and Chair of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bristol, and Founder and CEO of CellVoyant, an AI-first biotech company with a mission to accelerate the development of life-changing cell therapies that cure disease. Rafael did a PhD at EMBL Heidelberg and postdoctoral work with Sir Paul Nurse in London and the Rockefeller University in New York before holding independent PI positions in ETH Zurich and at the Gurdon Institute in the University of Cambridge. With over 25 years of interdisciplinary research experience, he has provided key contributions to the cell and systems biology fields and is a prominent figure in the field of bioimaging.
Dr Chang Lu is CSO of OutSee, a Cambridge-based tech-bio company with a knowledge-based, AI-enabled drug discovery platform. OutSee works with biotech and pharma on a service or partnership basis and is currently closing its seed round. Chang is the first author on the company’s proprietary core technology paper and would be happy to discuss the company via clu@outsee.co.uk
In addition to her role at OutSee, Chang is a visiting fellow at MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London. She holds a BSc in Mathematics and completed PhD in Biochemistry from Tsinghua University. At OutSee, Chang leads all scientific programs, and provides strategic directions in commercial partnership activities.
Leo is an associate in the Cooley Technology Transactions Group. He is technology-focused commercial lawyer who also provides deep expertise in data privacy and AI regulation. His breadth and depth across these areas means he is singularly well-positioned to handle ‘data heavy’ clients and situations. For this reason, the core of his practice is built around supporting clients in verticals that are inherently data intensive: