Dr Fiona Marshall FMedSci FRS

Fiona Marshall is a molecular pharmacologist who has made notable contributions in the BioPharmaceutical Industry. In her current role as Global Head of Discovery Sciences and Translational Medicine at MSD, she leads teams in disease biology, therapeutic discovery and translational pharmacology. Fiona is distinguished for her discoveries in the field of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) – an important family of proteins which are common sites of drug action.

Her work at GlaxoWellcome included the identification of receptors activated by neurotransmitters as well as cellular and microbial metabolites. Fiona was a founder and Chief Scientific officer of SoseiHeptares a GPCR medicine company where her team pioneered new techniques to solve X-ray structures of GPCRs and utilize structure-based drug design methods leading to a pipeline of drugs in clinical development.

Fiona won the 2012 WISE award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the 2015 Royal Society of Chemistry Malcolm Campbell Award and the 2018 Vane Medal from the British Pharmacological Society. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Honorary Fellow of both the British Pharmacological Society the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Subject groups

  • Chemistry

    Chemistry, applied

  • Biochemistry and molecular cell biology

    Biophysics and structural biology, Cell biology (incl molecular cell biology)

  • Anatomy, physiology and neurosciences

    Cellular neuroscience, Pharmacology (non-clinical)