Dr Jane Osbourn to join BIA board as chair
pharmafile | October 28, 2015 | Appointment | |
Dr Jane Osbourn, the vice president of research and development at MedImmune, will be the new chair of the BIA board from January 2016, the UK bioscience trade body has announced.
Dr Osbourn has over 25 years of experience in the life science sector, initially as an academic and then moving into biotech with Cambridge Antibody Technology in 1993.
She says: “It has been my privilege to serve as a member of the BIA board since January 2014 and I am delighted to be taking over as chair during a period of such great opportunity for our industry. I am also very pleased to welcome our newly elected board members, who are recognised leaders and bring a diversity of ideas and backgrounds to the team.”
Steve Bates, BIA chief executive comments: “2015 has been a great year for the industry and I look forward to working with Jane and the Board to build on this success in 2016. I am confident that our multi-disciplined and diverse board will help to steer the industry through future challenges and represent the interests of all sizes of company in our sector.”
Osbourn adds: “I look forward to working with Steve and the BIA team to help us all achieve our bold vision for the UK life sciences sector.”
Edward Hodgkin, exiting BIA chair, says: “I would like to thank all of the board members for their support over the last two years and it has been a pleasure to see the organisation and our industry move from strength to strength. I look forward to working with Jane and the new Board members as we work towards achieving the BIA’s vision.”
The announcement was made at the BIA AGM on Thursday 15th October 2015, where four new Board members were elected and one member re-elected. The newly elected and re-elected Board members will serve from 1 January 2016 for a term of three years.
New BIA board members:
Corporate members
Dr Darrin Disley, chief executive, Horizon Discovery Group
David Hipkiss, chief business officer, Circassia Pharmaceuticals
Dr Andrew Lightfoot, chief executive, Peptinnovate
Dr Neil Murray, chief executive, Redx Pharma
Other members
Dr Celia Caulcott, vice-provost (enterprise), UCL Business (re-elected)
Standing down
Dr Edward Hodgkin, chief executive, Autolus (standing down as chairman but remaining on the board)
Directors resigning from the BIA board
Dr Harren Jhoti, president and chief executive, Astex Pharmaceuticals
Patrick Verheyen, head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation
