Careers in Discovery

"This is the best time to start a company, because if you start in a difficult situation and build good discipline around raising money, winning customers and staying lean, it can only get better - so do the hard work now."

Abel Ureta-Vidal describes himself as a Spanish-born, French-educated, British-inspired scientist, bioinformatician and entrepreneur.

Currently Chief Data Officer at sofi and Investment Director at CMS Ventures, Abel has a background as a researcher, founder, C-level executive and investor. He has a unique career perspective, and talked to us about:

👨‍💻 His start-up story

👨‍💻 Business as a personal learning journey

👨‍💻 Why you should always meet people

Enjoy!

"Being a CEO is about surrounding yourself with great people, and then enabling them to perform their functions really well."

Ros Deegan is the CEO of OMass Therapeutics, a company moving drug discovery into high definition. Ros has developed a transatlantic career focused on the commercial and strategic side of the biotech industry, spanning management consulting, business development, finance and now as a CEO.

She talked to us about:

✈️ The importance of sponsors and mentors

✈️ The difference between the UK and US biotech ecosystems

✈️ Moving from big Pharma to startup Biotech

✈️ How the pandemic has changed the way that OMass operate

Enjoy!

"Science, regardless of whether it's academic or industrial, is a passionate and intense activity and you really need to enjoy the process behind it. If you do, then the interface between academia and industry can be quite blurred."

Paul Kellam is VP of Infectious Diseases & Vaccines at Kymab, as well as a Professor of Virus Genomics at Imperial College London. As a virologist, he has worked to tackle some of the biggest threats to human health, including HIV, ebola, cancer and of course covid-19.

Paul talked us through his career and we explored:

🦠 How he balances his academic and industrial work

🦠 The unique circumstances that an epidemic creates for scientists

🦠 The ever-changing boundary of what's possible in science

Enjoy!

"It's absolutely possible to quite significantly change direction [in your career], even after five or ten years if one's determined enough, so one shouldn't be afraid of doing that."

Barbara Domayne-Hayman has led a varied career in the agrochemical and biotech sectors, currently holding roles in organisations as diverse as Autifony Therapeutics, the Francis Crick Institute, Cambridge Enterprise and LifeArc.

Barbara joined us on the podcast to talk about her career and what she's learned, including:

🈺 The benefits and challenges of a portfolio career

🈺 The data-driven health accelerator she's involved in

🈺 Why she loves early-stage companies and entrepreneurship

Enjoy!

"When you're first starting out, you look at companies that have raised tens of millions and think they've made it. It's not the case, it's just a new set of problems to deal with - and that's a good thing - so it's important not to be in the mindset of heading for a particular destination. Rather, you should be focusing on doing what you're doing to the best of your ability and trusting that opportunities will then arise."

Markus Gershater is a co-founder and the Chief Scientific Officer at Synthace, a computer-aided biology company that helps scientific organisations to make the most of laboratory automation.

Both he and the company have had a fascinating journey, and as we discussed it, Markus shared his insights on:

💻 The evolution of the CSO role as a startup grows

💻 The advantages of human scientists over AI (and vice versa)

💻 Why he hates the term "networking"

💻 The importance of being opportunistic in your career

Enjoy!

"If you're going to become effective and truly lead, having a broad view of what it takes to develop a drug in industry really is extremely powerful, critical to your success and will lead you to greater things."

This time on Careers in Discovery, we're with Joe Dukes, VP of Translational Sciences at Enara Bio, which at the time of recording was known as Ervaxx.

Our exploration of Joe's career took us through some fascinating topics, including:

💎 The importance of the big picture

💎 Developing leadership skills as an introvert

💎 Why failure is nothing to be afraid of

Enjoy!

"There's nothing more impressive than the power of technology to change and improve people's lives - computing or the mobile phone for example - and people say that the 21st century is the century of biology. It's hard to disagree with that."

Tim Brears is an experienced commercial and scientific leader, with a track record as CEO of a string of innovative biotech companies. His current organisation, Evonetix, aims to shift the paradigm in DNA-driven research with its desktop DNA writer.

Tim joined us on Careers in Discovery to discuss:

🧬 The role of a CEO

🧬 What you should know about startups

🧬 The importance of choosing your opportunities wisely

🧬 The critical importance of vision and mission

Enjoy!

"We need to go from a discipline-focused education system to a problem solving education system....in companies the tools we use to solve problems aren't discipline-specific."

Rabia Khan has built an exciting career at the intersection between science, technology and business, culminating in her current role as Managing Director, Discovery Sciences at Sensyne Health.

A true multi-disciplinary thinker, Rabia shared her insights on:

💻 Operating in high-growth environments

💻 Following your instincts

💻 The parallels between science and business

💻 Why it's important to have a clear goal, take risks and try new things

Enjoy!

"Reach out for help and support, because you can't do everything on your own. There are other talented people out there who can help."

This time on Careers in Discovery we're with Mark Frigerio, VP of Design & Development at Abzena. A chemist by training, Mark and his team work with biotech companies to help them develop and deliver biologic drugs across a range of technologies and disease areas.

We made the most of Mark's experience to discuss:

💡 Learning from both successes AND failures

💡 Moving from academia to industry

💡 Getting out of your comfort zone

💡 The importance of EQ and feedback

Enjoy!

"Some of the most junior scientists can come out with the most amazing questions that really change the way you think about things...if you can create an environment where everyone feels that they can question, it can change the way you approach R&D."

On this week's episode, we're with Alice Brown, VP of Research at GammaDelta Therapeutics. Alice has flown through the biotech ranks and now leads a team of scientists using millions of years of evolution to cure cancer.

We covered a lot of ground in this interview, including:

🦠 "Letting go" as a leader

🦠 The advantages of smaller biotech companies

🦠 Balancing career and family

🦠 How to take opportunity

Enjoy!