Diagnostics: Building capacity and capability in the UK

Sharon Peacock is currently Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at the University of Cambridge; Executive Director of the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium; and a Non-Executive Director on the board of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She has raised around £60 million pounds in science funding, published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers, and has trained a generation of scientists in the UK and elsewhere. Sharon is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and an elected Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). In 2015, she received a CBE for services to medical microbiology, and in 2018 she won the Unilever Colworth Prize for her outstanding contribution to translational microbiology. Sharon was recently awarded the MRC Millennium Medal 2021.

Elaine is the founder and non-executive director of British life sciences, tools and diagnostics company QuantuMDx Group. She is an entrepreneur with over 30 years’ healthcare and biotechnology experience with an eclectic background in nursing, genetics, chartered accounting and running hospitals. Elaine has taken QuantuMDx from concept to product, raising over £50m in both equity and grants. She has overseen strategic collaborations with established life science companies, blue chip academic organisations and NGOs. In total, Elaine has raised over £100m in funding as an entrepreneur and was awarded an OBE for services to innovation in healthcare in 2014.

Jo is a non executive director and trustee for LifeArc, MedCity, FindACure, LAM Action and the UK Dementia Research Institute. She also supports startups in diagnostics, med tech, digital and manufacturing. Jo is a passionate supporter of public health issues such as dementia, rare diseases and antimicrobial resistance. 

Previously, she spent 30 years in industry and consulting with roles with BP, GSK, Booz&Co and latterly led PwC’s UK Pharma and Life Sciences business where she assisted governments, investors and companies with growth strategies and deals. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Professor George Hanna is head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London and consultant oesophageal surgeon. He is the Director of the NIHR London In-Vitro Diagnostic Co-operative. The current interest of his laboratory revolves around volatile organic compounds analysis for biomarker discovery and understanding the molecular drivers of volatile compounds aiming to develop non-invasive breath test to detect gastrointestinal cancers. 

Evis Sala is the Professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) and co-leads the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre Advanced Cancer Imaging Programme and the Integrated Cancer Medicine Programme. Dr Sala’s research in the field of radiogenomics has focused on understanding the molecular basis of cancer by demonstrating the phenotypic patterns which occur as a result of multiple genetic alterations that interact with the tumour microenvironment to drive the disease in several tumour types. She is also leading multiple research projects focusing on the development and implementation of artificial intelligence methods for image reconstruction, segmentation, and data integration.

Clare Verrill is Associate Professor of Cellular Pathology with the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Cellular Pathologist with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her sub speciality is urological pathology and has her own research group focussing on digital pathology and AI.  The NHS Cellular Pathology Laboratory in Oxford has achieved the milestone of scanning 100% of surgical histology workload under her oversight. She is Oxford Principal Investigator for Oxford PathLAKE (one of the UK Government’s AI Centres of Excellence) and has worked with computer science partners to develop AI. She is the Principal Investigator of a phase 4 AI in Healthcare study to evaluate Paige Prostate AI in NHS settings. 

Professor George Hanna is head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London and consultant oesophageal surgeon. He is the Director of the NIHR London In-Vitro Diagnostic Co-operative. The current interest of his laboratory revolves around volatile organic compounds analysis for biomarker discovery and understanding the molecular drivers of volatile compounds aiming to develop non-invasive breath test to detect gastrointestinal cancers. 

Evis Sala is the Professor of Oncological Imaging at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) and co-leads the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre Advanced Cancer Imaging Programme and the Integrated Cancer Medicine Programme. Dr Sala’s research in the field of radiogenomics has focused on understanding the molecular basis of cancer by demonstrating the phenotypic patterns which occur as a result of multiple genetic alterations that interact with the tumour microenvironment to drive the disease in several tumour types. She is also leading multiple research projects focusing on the development and implementation of artificial intelligence methods for image reconstruction, segmentation, and data integration.

Clare Verrill is Associate Professor of Cellular Pathology with the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Cellular Pathologist with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her sub speciality is urological pathology and has her own research group focussing on digital pathology and AI.  The NHS Cellular Pathology Laboratory in Oxford has achieved the milestone of scanning 100% of surgical histology workload under her oversight. She is Oxford Principal Investigator for Oxford PathLAKE (one of the UK Government’s AI Centres of Excellence) and has worked with computer science partners to develop AI. She is the Principal Investigator of a phase 4 AI in Healthcare study to evaluate Paige Prostate AI in NHS settings. 

Rebecca (Todd) is a venture capital investor in early-stage life science and medical technology companies at Longwall Ventures. She began venture investing in 2006 while at Oxford Capital, where she took responsibility for the Oxford Gateway Funds’ investments into healthcare and life science companies. She went on to become Director, Healthcare Ventures at Imperial Innovations (now part of IP Group). Her earlier career was as a marketing consultant to pharmaceutical and life science technology companies. Rebecca has a PhD in Genetics from Nottingham University and an MBA from Oxford University. She joined Longwall Ventures in 2017 after a sabbatical break spent exploring South America in a campervan.

Jane has extensive experience in developing therapies (gene & cell, small molecules, antibodies, oligos) to clinical benefit gained from over 25 years working in large pharma and academia. Her experience has spanned the drug discovery & biomarker pathway, leading projects through target validation, lead optimisation, candidate selection through to the clinic. Jane as Director of the Translational Research Office (TRO) at UCL works at the interface between academia, NHS and Industry. She has extensive experience of differing organisational cultures and a deep understanding of the life sciences research & innovation ecosystem in the UK. The TRO comprises a team of 22 highly experienced applied scientists supporting academics deliver novel therapeutics, diagnostics and devices. The TRO are instrumental in developing the organisational translational culture, capability and processes necessary to deliver the UCL and the NIHR funded Biomedical Research Centre’s mission of "Accelerating translation for health and wealth". Embracing diversity and working in partnership is key to this vision.

Michael works for Innovate UK which is part of UK Research & Innovation.  He is responsible for the management of a Government grant funding program called the Biomedical Catalyst that supports UK SMEs developing innovative health & life science products.

To date, the program has provided £250 million in grant funding to UK life science SMEs to support the development of innovative projects/products at different stages of development that are unlikely to have proceeded without this grant funding. 

He also provides specialist expertise to Innovate UK for medical devices and diagnostics products.  This involves working closely with other bodies such as NIHR, MHRA, DoH, OLS, BEIS, ABHI, BIA, Bionow etc. to find opportunities to accelerate the development and commercialisation of products developed by UK SMEs.   

Previously, Michael was a Group Manager at Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and spent 10 years in the medical device industry.