Board
Tim Edwards
Chairman
Tim Edwards
Chairman
Tim is an entrepreneur, mainly in the life sciences sector, operating across both private and listed companies. He is Chair of AstronauTx, EndLyz, and Storm Therapeutics, three private biotech companies working on the discovery of novel medicines spun out of the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), Oxford University and Cambridge University; Chair of Schroders Capital Global Innovation Fund plc and SID of Record PLC, both public companies, and Chair of the Institute for Research in Schools, a charity.
He has led two companies to exit via M&A in 2012 and 2016. Previously Tim was a Governing Board member of InnovateUK, the UK's Innovation agency, a founding Non-Executive Director of the UK Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult; and Chair of the UK BioIndustry Association.
Jane Rhodes, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Jane Rhodes, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Jane Rhodes, PhD, MBA is Chief Executive Officer at AstronauTx Ltd., She is an accomplished leader with 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Previously Dr Rhodes was President and Chief Business Officer at Verge Genomics, and has held a variety of operational roles in business development, innovation, corporate strategy and R&D at Biogen and Forma Therapeutics.
A neuroscientist by training, she has a strong track record of company formation, successful equity financing and forging large enabling Pharma partnerships. Dr Rhodes currently serves as Chair of the Board of Pheno Therapeutics and as a Non-Executive Director at Turbine AI.
She holds an undergraduate degree in Pharmacology and Physiology and a PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Manchester and a Masters in Business Administration from the Babson College F.W. Olin School of Business.
Mark Corrigan, PhD
Independent Non-Executive Director
Mark Corrigan, PhD
Independent Non-Executive Director
Dr. Corrigan is a leader in life sciences with over thirty years in the pharmaceutical industry and has brought several new medicines to patients worldwide. Following his academic training in psychiatry and appointment to the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Dr. Corrigan spent a decade at Pharmacia rising to positions of increasing responsibility ultimately as Group VP for Global Clinical Research and Experimental Medicine. He then joined Sepracor, a mid-size specialty pharma company in the C suite and leading Research and Development.
Following a successful exit, Dr. Corrigan took his first CEO position at Zalicus leading the company through a merger. Subsequent to that effort Dr. Corrigan co-Founded Tremeau Pharmaceuticals, assuming responsibility for R&D and serving on the Board. He later assumed the leadership of Correvio Pharma, a publicly traded, global, commercial stage company leading their acquisition by Advanz Pharma in 2021.
Dr. Corrigan currently serves on the Boards of Wave Life Sciences, Trevena, Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals and Therapeutics and a Strategic Advisor to Ceretype. He has served on the Boards of Cubist, Avanir, CoLucid, Nabriva, Novelion and BlackThorn amongst others. He is a visiting Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Laurence Barker, PhD
Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF)
Laurence Barker, PhD
Investor Director
Laurence is a Partner in the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) and has supported the funding and formation of numerous DDF companies developing transformational new medicines for dementia. He joined SV Health Investors in 2016 having played an active role in setting up DDF.
Prior to joining the DDF, Laurence was Head of Investment Management in Worldwide Business Development at GSK where he was responsible for managing GSK’s venture investment portfolio, covering both direct equity positions as well as a venture fund-of-funds portfolio. In addition, he led licensing transactions for the pharma R&D business.
Prior to GSK, Laurence worked in business development at biotech companies Syntaxin and MorphoSys. Laurence received his Masters degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and an MBA from Cambridge.
Marianne Uteng, PhD
Novartis Venture Fund (NVF)
Marianne Uteng, PhD
Investor Director
Marianne is a Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to joining NVF, she worked in Novartis Global Drug Development and, before that, in the Pre-Clinical Safety Department at the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research, where she led teams delivering health authority-required and non-routine safety assessments for early and late stage programs across many therapeutic areas. Concurrently, she supported the Novartis BD&L Search & Evaluation Team, and spearheaded collaborations with biotechnology companies and academia for development of innovative in vitro/in vivo systems.
Marianne received her MSc in biochemistry from the University of Oslo and her PhD in molecular biology, cell biology and biophysics from a joint program between European Molecular Biology Laboratories and the University of Oslo.
Todd Foley, MBA
MPM BioImpact
Todd Foley, MBA
Investor Director
Todd is a Managing Director at MPM BioImpact and serves on a number of MPM portfolio company boards, including Aktis Oncology (Chairman), Repare Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RPTX) and Tetherex Pharmaceuticals. Todd also serves as Chairman of portfolio companies ashibio and Crossbow Therapeutics. He previously served on the board of Semma Therapeutics, a potentially curative diabetes cell-therapy company founded by MPM and Doug Melton at Harvard, which was acquired by Vertex for $950M in 2019 in one of the largest ever preclinical M&A deals. He guided Selexys Pharmaceuticals to an acquisition by Novartis for $665M in 2016. Later, Novartis launched the Selexys drug, Adakveo™ in late 2019 to treat sickle cell disease.
Prior to joining MPM in 1999, Todd’s career in the life science industry included business development at Genentech (Roche) and management consulting with Arthur D. Little.
Todd earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Professor Philip Scheltens, PhD
EQT Life Sciences, Dementia Fund
Professor Philip Scheltens, PhD
Investor Director
Prof. Philip Scheltens studied at the VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands, gaining his MD in 1984, and PhD in 1993. He was appointed as Professor of Cognitive Neurology in 2002 and founded the Alzheimer Center at Amsterdam University Medical Centers in that same year, which he directed until 2022. Currently he is partner at EQT group and heads the Dementia Fund at EQT Life Sciences, that he started in 2020. He has been the (inter)national PI for over 35 studies, including phase 1-3 multicenter clinical trials. He supervised >100 PhD theses since 2000. He founded and led the Dutch National Plan against dementia and served as chair of the board until 2021. He currently sits on the advisory panel of the Dutch National Strategy for Dementia 2022-2030.
Philip served as co-editor-in-chief of Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy from 2013-2022 and co-led various EU projects. He authored over 1100 peer reviewed papers and > 75 book chapters and co-edited several major text books.
He is member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) since 2011 and member of the board from 2015-2020. In 2016 he was awarded the European Grand Prix for Alzheimer’s Research. In 2020 he was Knighted in the Order of the Netherlands Lion by the King of the Netherlands. In 2021 he was elected honorary member of the European Academy of Neurology. He acts as chair of the World Dementia council since 2021. In 2023 he received the Bengt Winblad Life Time Achievement Award.
Jonathan Tobin, PhD
Brandon Capital
Jonathan Tobin, PhD
Investor Director
Jonathan is a Partner with Brandon Capital based in its London office where he heads Brandon’s European operations. He specialises in life science investing and serves on the boards of Pheon Therapeutics, Myricx Bio, NRG Therapeutics, and Catalym. Prior to joining Brandon, Jonathan was Managing Director at Arix Bioscience, a UK and US-based biotech VC firm, and before that was a Principal in Healthcare Ventures at Touchstone Innovations.
He has previously also worked in business development and academic research. Jonathan has a degree in Biology from Oxford University; a PhD in Molecular Medicine from UCL, and an MBA from Imperial College London.
Observers
Prof Richard J Hargreaves, PhD, HonFBPhS
Bristol Myers Squibb
Professor Richard J Hargreaves, PhD, HonFBPhS
Observer
Richard is currently Senior VP Head of the Neuroscience Thematic Research Center at Bristol Myers Squibb. Richard has previously held leadership positions in neuroscience and imaging at Celgene, Biogen and Merck Research Laboratories. Richard has led teams that have advanced numerous novel CNS PET imaging agents and neuroscience drug candidates to the clinic seven of which have achieved registration. He has published >250 journal articles.
Richard Hargreaves holds a BSc and Ph.D. from Chelsea/Kings College, London University UK. Richard is an honorary visiting Professor in Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oxford UK, an honorary fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and has been recognized by awards from the ASPCT for his work on CNS discovery imaging, by the British Pharmacological Society with the Sir James Black Award for Drug Discovery and by BMS with the Jack Grebb award for excellence in Research and Development Leadership.
Katherine Jackman, PhD
Brandon Capital
Katherine Jackman, PhD
Observer
Katherine Jackman is an Investment Manager at Brandon Capital based in Melbourne. She serves on the Board of Brandon portfolio companies both as a Director (NRG Therapeutics) and Observer (AstronauTx, Allay Therapeutics).
Prior to joining Brandon Capital in 2016 Katherine worked in academia including postdoctoral positions at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne. Her main focus during this period was on the impact of progranulin deficiency – a known cause of certain subtypes of dementia – on cerebral vascular integrity and susceptibility to stroke.
Katherine has Bachelor of Science and PhD in Pharmacology from The University of Melbourne and an MBA (Deans’ Honours list) from Melbourne Business School.
Arno DeWilde, PhD
EQT Life Sciences
Arno de Wilde, PhD
Observer
Arno is a Director in the EQT Life Sciences team, and a co-founder of its Dementia Fund. Next to Atalanta Therapeutics, Arno serves on the board of Vectory Therapeutics, AstronauTx and Asceneuron. At EQT Life Sciences, he additionally focused on investments across a broad range of life sciences companies, including NewAmsterdam Pharma, Nobi, QurAlis and Muna Therapeutics.
Prior to joining EQT Life Sciences in 2019, Arno worked as a physician-scientist at Amsterdam UMC, where he practiced medicine for six years and trained in Neurology. His research at the Alzheimer Center in Amsterdam focused on imaging and biofluid biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, where he co-authored over 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Next to his work in venture capital, he is a Member of the Societal Advisory Board of Amsterdam UMC.
Arno holds an M.D. from Utrecht University, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from VU Amsterdam, and an M.B.A. from INSEAD.
Ruth McKernan, PhD, CBE, FMedSci
Founder
Ruth McKernan, PhD, CBE, FMedSci
Founder
Ruth has spent 27 years in the Pharmaceutical industry and was head of the Merck Neuroscience Research Centre in Harlow, the Pfizer Discovery Technology Centre in Cambridge Mass and the Pfizer site in Sandwich. As a neuroscientist she has over 120 publications in the areas of ion channels and regenerative medicine.
She has spanned the academic, business and government worlds with aplomb. Ruth was the CEO of InnovateUK, supporting the growth of SMEs in the UK and helping to develop the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Ruth is now a Venture Partner with SV Health Investors. She works particularly on companies that create new medicines for dementia and has been involved in founding 4 companies including Cumulus Neuroscience, a digital health company whose technology accelerates clinical trials in neurodegeneration, which she chairs. Ruth also sits on the Board of Cerevel and is a trustee of Alzheimer’s Research UK and a member of Cancer Research UK.
Ruth received a BSc in Biochemistry and Pharmacology and PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from Kings College, London.
David Reynolds, PhD
Founder
David Reynolds, PhD
Founder
David is a highly experienced pharmaceutical research and development leader having worked for nearly 20 years at Merck Sharp & Dohme, Lundbeck and latterly Pfizer, where he was the Cambridge Neuroscience & Pain research site head.
David has held a variety of R&D leadership roles with responsibilities ranging from exploratory biology, through drug discovery, early clinical development and in-licensing in multiple disease areas, with a focus on neuroscience and pain.
Before joining the Dementia Discovery Fund and founding AstronauTx he spent three years as the Chief Scientific Officer of Alzheimer’s Research UK, Europe’s largest dementia research charity supporting academic research, translational drug discovery and providing information to patients and their families about their disease.
David holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK.