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.
Magnus Ivarsson, PhD
Chief Translation & Early Development Officer
Magnus Ivarsson, PhD
Chief Translation and Early Development Officer
Magnus is a highly seasoned neuroscience expert with more than 20 years of global experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He has held a range of senior research leadership roles with responsibilities ranging from early discovery, translation and early clinical development for both small molecules and biologics with a focus on sleep, EEG and neurodegeneration.
Magnus career includes more than a decade at large pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer and Merck in the United Kingdom and AstraZeneca in Sweden) and over the last 10+ years, he has held senior leadership positions at multiple successful biotechnology companies in Boston, USA (e.g. Aliada Therapeutics, Vesalius Therapeutics, Alkermes Plc, Rodin Therapeutics and Proteostasis Therapeutics). In these roles, Magnus has been pivotal in advancing both small molecules and biologics into the clinic and he also played a key role in the acquisition of Rodin by Alkermes in 2019.
He has also been an honorary associate professor at University of Melbourne, Australia, a research fellow at University College London, UK and earned his Ph.D. from Lund University in Sweden.
Jamie Bilsland, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Jamie Bilsland, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Jamie is a highly experienced neuroscience drug discovery scientist, with a focus on the neurodegeneration and pain therapeutic areas. He has expertise spanning basic biology, target identification and validation through to early clinical development.
Jamie has worked in the field for 30 years, and his career spans large pharma companies (Merck, Pfizer), academic drug discovery (Alzheimer’s Research UK Drug Discovery Institute, UCL) and biotech (C4X Discovery). He has been CSO of AstronauTx since 2019.
Jamie holds a PhD from the School of Pharmacy, University of London. He is an honorary Professor at the Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK.
Hannah Pearce, PhD, MRPharmS
Senior Vice President of Operations
Hannah Pearce, PhD, MRPharmS
Senior Vice President of Operations
Hannah has more than 15 years’ experience in leading portfolios from early concepts through to launch and post marketing commitments.
Hannah joined AstronauTx at the early stages of the Company creation, prior to this she worked for Pfizer initially as a project lead guiding the pharmaceutical sciences strategy before transitioning into a portfolio and project management role as one of the global Development Directors.
She is a registered pharmacist with a clinical diploma and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Microbiology from Brighton School of Pharmacy.
Elliott Bayle, PhD
Head of Chemistry
Elliott Bayle, PhD
Head of Chemistry
Elliot has more than 10 years’ experience in drug discover leading programmes from target validation and hit finding through to candidate nomination and preclinical development.
Elliott joined AstronauTx in late 2023 from STORM Therapeutics where he led projects in multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Fellow and member of the leadership team at the Alzheimer’s Research UK Drug Discovery unit at UCL. He has experience of drug design across multiple target classes, disease areas and chemical modalities gained from working in biotech, academic and CRO environments.
Elliott has a PhD in synthetic and medicinal chemistry from the University of Cambridge.
Keith Wafford, PhD
Head of Biology
Keith Wafford, PhD
Head of Biology
Keith has over 30 years’ experience in drug discovery with expertise in neuropharmacology and sleep mechanisms.
Keith has worked in preclinical research across many areas of neuroscience including pain, psychiatry and neurodegeneration while at both Merck and Eli Lilly, leading discovery programs from preclinical to clinical stages. He has extensive experience in academic partnerships with over 200 publications.
Keith has a BSc. in Neuroscience from the University of Sussex and a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge.
Antonella Pirone, PhD
Head of Translation
Antonella Pirone, PhD
Head of Translation
Antonella is a results-oriented neuroscientist with extensive experience in biotech and pharmaceutical companies, specializing in preclinical and translational studies. Recently she has contributed to two successful biotech acquisitions with strong preclinical and phase 1 data packages. Prior joining the biotech world, Antonella careers include more than 15 years of research work at multiple academic Institutions across many countries (Italy, Austria, Germany and USA). She has a solid professional experience as team and project leader in drug discovery from early research to clinical development. Strong interpersonal and networking skills, with a wide interest range from basic science to drug discovery and business development. Her passion for innovation and entrepreneurship led her to join the Startup and leadership program (SLP) in Boston.
Angela Glen
Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Angela Glen
Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry
Angela has over 25 years of experience in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry, delivering therapeutic candidates across a variety of therapeutic areas including CVN-766, a selective Orexin-1 receptor antagonist for psychiatric and CNS controlled metabolic disorders.
From target identification to preclinical testing, in Big Pharma (Novartis, Takeda CNS) and Biotech (Millennium, Ionix, Phoremost and Storm), Angela has extensive experience of drug design, cross-functional collaboration and managing external strategic alliances.
Daniel Hothersall, PhD
Senior Principal Scientist
Daniel Hothersall, PhD
Senior Principal Scientist
Daniel has more than ten years’ experience as a pharmacologist in drug discovery research.
Daniel joined AstronauTx in 2021, coming from a role as Team Leader at Domainex, a UK-based drug discovery CRO. Prior to this he held positions as industrial and academic postdocs at Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the University of Dundee, focusing on receptor pharmacology.
Daniel holds a PhD in GPCR pharmacology from University College London.
Tanya Finn
Executive Assistant
Tanya Finn
Executive Assistant
Tanya has over 10 years senior team support experience, Before joining AstronauTx, she served as Executive Assistant to the Dementia Discovery Team at SV Health Investors for several years. Earlier in her career, Tanya worked in similar senior team support roles with Dementias Platform UK and with the Oxford University Pro-Vice Chancellor’s office.
She holds an Bsc Hons degree in International Relations and Modern History from the University of Essex.
