The Trading Board

Chair

Sir Harpal is the President of GRAIL Europe and leads GRAIL’s biopharma business globally. Prior to GRAIL, he was Senior Vice President and Head of Innovation EMEA at Johnson & Johnson. Before joining J&J, Sir Harpal spent more than 15 years with Cancer Research UK, serving as its Chief Executive Officer for 11 years. Before CRUK, he worked with McKinsey & Co, and was CEO of The Papworth Trust and Nexan Group. Sir Harpal received a first-class Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, and an MBA as a Baker Scholar from Harvard Business School. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal College of Radiologists, Association of Cancer Physicians (UK) and St John’s College, University of Cambridge. In 2016, he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to cancer research. He is a member of the Oversight Committee of the Covid-19 National Core Studies.

Gillian M Cannon has over 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and currently serves as an independent Director on 2 public and 2 private biotech Boards in Sweden, the UK and the United States, as well as acting strategic advisor for a private data company. She spent over 25 years with Merck & Co Inc in UK, US and Global roles across sales, marketing, market access and business development, followed by Senior Leadership positions at Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, UCB Pharma and Roivant Sciences. Gillian also sits on the Board of Edinburgh Innovations, helping with their industry partnerships, as well as being a member of the University of Newcastle Advisory Circle to guide fundraising efforts.

Peter Chambré is a Trustee of Cancer Research UK and Chair of Cancer Research Technology Ltd, the commercialisation arm of Cancer Research UK.  He is also Chair of Immatics N.V., a biopharmaceutical company developing new cancer immunotherapy treatments.  He has been a director of a number of public and private healthcare and life science companies, and was Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology plc prior to its acquisition by AstraZeneca in July 2006. 

Cristina is the President (CEO) of Evinova, a global health tech business of the AstraZeneca group, Cristina leads a cross-functional team taking a scientific, evidence-based approach – harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, data science, design and digital technology – to accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients and to improve health outcomes. Prior to this role, Cristina was the chief digital health officer of AstraZeneca R&D a global role covering all therapeutic areas within the organisation, including Oncology; Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism; Respiratory and Immunology; and Vaccines. Cristina has led several senior leadership roles across AstraZeneca over the last 14 years, including global commercial, in-country commercial, global finance and transformation roles. Before this, Cristina was a senior management consultant at Accenture, leading large transformation programmes in the tech industry, including setting up new joint ventures from scratch, guiding business transformation strategy reviews and implementing global initiatives for large global companies. Cristina currently contributes to courses at Cambridge University to prepare the next generation of innovators, clinicians and researchers to embrace digital health. She provides keynotes at conferences such as the Digital Health World congress, the Royal Society of Medicine and The Financial Times. Cristina is also a chartered accountant (CIMA) and has completed the MIT leading enterprise transformation programme.

Andy is an entrepreneur and investor with an established track record in founding and expanding innovative life science, biotechnology and digital health companies in the UK. He is currently Chairman of Arecor Therapeutics plc, Congenica, Closed Loop Medicine, Owlstone Medical and Vice Chair of Ieso Digital Health. He is a director of RNAVate, a council member of the UKRI MRC and an advisor to several investment funds, such as Cambridge Innovation Capital, the UCL Technology Fund, StartCodon and the CRUK Seed Fund. Andy graduated from Cambridge with a PhD in Chemistry, and his early career spanned positions with ICI (now AstraZeneca) and PA Technology. He was a founder and executive director of Chiroscience plc until 1999, and since then has founded, invested in and helped to scale over 30 innovative ventures including Vectura, Abcodia, Arakis, Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd and Geneservice. He is also a founder member of the Cambridge Angels. Andy is passionate about the translation of science to benefit society, particularly in the life sciences and healthcare sectors, where science can be translated into technology to help people globally. Andy received his CBE for services to life sciences in 2015.

Simon has over 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and currently chairing four biotechnology companies in the UK, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States. He also runs his family investment fund and consultancy company, as well as being a Trustee of the Weizmann UK. Simon joined Kymab, a UK biotechnology company, as CEO in 2019, before selling it to Sanofi two years later for one of the highest prices for the sale of a private UK biotechnology company Before Kymab, Simon spent six years at Merck Group, based at their corporate headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, as COO of the healthcare division. As COO, he was responsible for the global commercial organisation, global manufacturing, supply chain as well as allergy and biosimilars businesses. During this time at Merck, Simon was also a member of the healthcare executive committee. Simon received his BSc in Biology from the University of Sussex before embarking on his career in the pharmaceutical industry and founding various successful biotechnology companies. He has experience in multiple financial jurisdictions and a strong reputation in the investment community across Europe and the United States. Simon is well-known for his excellent communication skills and inclusive management style. He has a strong conviction that a vibrant biotechnology industry plays a vital part in the translation of cutting-edge science to saving people’s lives.