Revolutionizing early infection diagnosis & combating AMR

Iain holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Strathclyde and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University. He has extensive medtech commercial experience, including leading three medtech SMEs before becoming the CEO of Presymptom Health in 2019. Iain brings substantial strategy and business development expertise to the company, garnered from various positions across the US and Europe, with companies including GE Healthcare, bioMérieux, Myriad Genetics, Philips, Variagenics and PathoGenetix. He has also served as an assessor and panellist for Innovate UK, led medtech technology licensing at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and completed a 3-year term on a technology appraisal committee at NICE, the UK’s health technology assessment leader. 

Roman graduated from the University of Nottingham with a BSc (Hons) in zoology and gained a PhD in immunology from the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow of the UK Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and serves as the chief diagnostic officer at the organisation, overseeing a diagnostic research programme. Roman has published several papers on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of a number of viral and bacterial microorganisms, which ideally positioned him as Dstl’s senior scientific advisor during the recent Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. He was also the principal investigator for the US Government’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)-funded project ‘Correlating Pre-Symptomatic Biomarkers for Sepsis’.

Mervyn is professor of intensive care medicine at University College London, with primary research interests including sepsis and multi-organ failure, infection, shock and haemodynamic monitoring. He developed an oesophageal doppler haemodynamic monitor that is now in widespread use worldwide, has led a number of multi-centre trials in critical care, and has authored various papers and textbooks, including the Oxford Handbook of Critical Care. Mervyn is a council member of the International Sepsis Forum, and was the first UK intensivist to be awarded ‘senior investigator’ status by the National Institute for Health Research, and the first to be invited to give plenary lectures at the European and US Intensive Care Congresses.

Simon gained a BSc in chemistry and management science in 1992 before joining the UK Civil Service as a scientific officer. He has since had a career spanning various leadership roles, as well as project and programme management positions, mainly in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear fields at the UK Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Simon still works at Dstl as the head of the Chemical Biological Radiological (CBR) division and a member of the executive team, where he is responsible for the leadership of approximately 620 scientists. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and holds chartered manager status with the Chartered Management Institute.

Tito graduated from King’s College London and earned his PhD at the Royal Postgraduate Medical Centre in London. He has worked in the IVD field for over 35 years, during which time he has established a proven record of turning innovative technologies into revenue-generating platforms, while also co-founding several diagnostics start-ups. Tito is a board member of various diagnostics companies in the UK, Europe, US and Asia Pacific, and has held senior executive positions at EKF Diagnostics, J&J and Ares-Serono. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American Association of Clinical Biochemistry and has published more than 50 peer reviewed articles on topics related to pathology, oncology and laboratory medicine.

Nadia is an accomplished senior executive in the life sciences with expertise across several therapeutic and diagnostic areas that span EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. She has held senior positions in many large corporations – including Allergan, Boston Scientific and Medtronic – while also gaining experience working with SMEs and management consulting companies. Nadia is experienced in product development and commercialisation, making her well-versed in managing robust product portfolios and leading end-to-end R&D innovation and business development initiatives. She is currently CEO of Verso Biosense and is a board member – both non-executive director and chair – of several other companies.

Paul received his medical degree from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, before gaining his MRCP Diploma from the Royal College of Physicians London and an MBA from the University of Warwick. He also completed the UK Clinical Scholars Research Training Programme at the Harvard Medical School in 2015, which was focussed on epidemiology, biostatistics, regression techniques and clinical study design. Over his career, Paul has contributed to dozens of published papers, and has worked as a consultant physician in acute medicine at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust since 2008.

Sakura has a master’s in IP law and a background in molecular biology, providing a unique blend of expertise to the intersection of science, innovation and investment. She is currently the knowledge assets investment portfolio lead at UKI2S, and has previously enjoyed a broad range of positions, including head of asset portfolio at the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, venture coach for the EIC Accelerator Programme, partner at Start Codon and chief IP counsel at Benitec. With a long history in investment and commercialisation, she has made impactful contributions guiding spinouts towards series A financing and facilitating IP/asset transfers.

Devanshi completed a BSc University of Surrey in 2011 with a focus in biomedical sciences. After a short tenure at Deloitte UK as a case handler, she spent nearly 10 years working for University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, working predominantly as a clinical trials practitioner. Devanshi currently works as a clinical affairs manager for Global Access Dx – a developer and manufacturer of advanced lateral flow and rapid diagnostics technologies – under contract to Presymptom Health.

Dawn is the founder and clinical director of MedTec Consulting, a company that provides market access and regulatory services in the UK, and is currently working under contract to Presymptom Health. She holds an honours degree in biomedical science, and a post-graduate qualification in advanced medical imaging. Dawn is a fully qualified vascular scientist, and has over two decades of award-winning UK, European and international sales and training successes.

Stephen has extensive experience working with companies in the design, development and manufacture of genetics assays using PCR based technology. As a trained molecular biologist, he worked as a QC/QA scientist for Hologic for nearly 10 years, before enjoying various senior positions in quality and regulatory departments. He is the founder and director of SQQR Biomedical, a specialist consultancy firm assisting companies with all quality and regulatory aspects, working under contract to Presymptom Health.

Hans has a master’s from the University of Bergen and a PhD from the Technical University of Denmark. Following his studies, he has enjoyed a number of different positions and, since 2019, has been the chief production officer at BioXpedia, where he is under contract to Presymptom Health.

Stine completed her bachelor’s in biotechnology engineering before doing a master’s in bioinformatics, both at the Aarhus University in Denmark. She currently works as a data scientist at BioXpedia, under contract to Presymptom Health.

Hannah has over 20 years of assay development experience, and is currently working as a lead in this position for Medtechtomarket, under contract to Presymptom Health.