PHTA – the University of Birmingham’s flagship facility dedicated to translational health research – has announced the appointment of three highly experienced life sciences consultants to its board of directors.
The new board is chaired by Jo Pisani, a senior strategic advisor of more than 30 years’ experience. Jo has worked with major global brands including BP, GSK and PwC, and has specialised in the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industries for the last 15 years. She now supports charities, universities and new enterprises with consultancy and strategic direction, and her portfolio of trustee- and board memberships reflects her strong personal interests in critical public health issues of the day, including rare diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and dementia.
Commenting on her appointment, Jo explained: “What the PHTA aims to create is a truly collaborative hub for innovation. Rather than individuals or teams working alone in silos, the PHTA will provide access to cross-disciplinary expertise from across the University, NHS and industry, breaking down barriers to clinical adoption and speeding up the process of getting the right treatment or technology to the right patient at the right time. With Birmingham’s established track record of co-creation and collaboration, we have every confidence in the success of PHTA.”
Joining Jo as PHTA board members are pharmacologist and pharmaceutical industry entrepreneur Dr Clive Dix, and infectious disease expert and biopharma consultant Dr Steve Chatfield.
Clive’s career in pharmaceuticals spans 30 years and has seen him found multiple successful drug discovery and development enterprises. He is also a sought-after consultant to life sciences organisations, serving on various boards including C4X Discovery and the Medicines Discovery Catapult. Previously, he has chaired the BioIndustry Association and was recently deputy chair of the UK Vaccine Task Force.
Clive explained: “As a result of the pandemic, life sciences research has been thrust into the spotlight and, as novel technologies have been developed in months rather than years, it is important that we harness this momentum and continue the pace of innovation in biopharma and medtech. Birmingham, with PHTA as its new flagship facility, is poised to deliver everything that academics, start-ups and enterprises require to conceptualise, develop, validate and commercialise their innovations.”
Steve has vast experience in pharmaceutical research, development and commercialisation, including vaccines and immunotherapy, and has also served the Health Protection Agency and UK and EU governments on emergency preparedness. He is currently a non-executive director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and, throughout the pandemic, has acted as an expert advisor to the UK Vaccine Task Force.
Explaining his support for PHTA, Steve said: “The Birmingham Health Partners scientific ecosystem is rich with services and expertise that will be very attractive to companies to help translate their research, be they spin outs from the university or companies locating to Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC). As well as innovative research, many centres of excellence are located in and around the Birmingham campuses that provide an ecosystem of scientific expertise in which life sciences product development can thrive – there is therefore a huge opportunity for PHTA and BHIC to be at the heart of future health innovation.”
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The Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) is the University of Birmingham’s signature health and life sciences research facility, providing approximately 70,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art laboratory, incubation and collaboration space and was supported with funding from GBSLEP.
