John Young, Chief Business Officer at Pfizer, is that increasing rarity in today’s world, a one-company man who has never even interviewed elsewhere. John shares his journey from being raised in rural Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and schooled in Lockerbie, to studying biological sciences at Glasgow University, doing postgrad work at Strathclyde University, to deciding the lab …
Mark Stevenson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific, grew up in the West Country in Gloucestershire (though he sheepishly admits to having lost his burr). He attended Reading University, attracted by their programme of industrial placements. Mark shares his journey from studying science and business to a training program at Perkin Elmer …
Dr Rupert Vessey—President of Early Development and Research at Bristol Myers Squibb—shares his journey from following the family tradition into medicine with Sir John Bell at Oxford University as his advisor while juggling a love and talent for rugby to then honing in on a career in research that led to his leadership role in …
Dr David Pyott—portfolio board member, philanthropist, and former CEO & Chairman of Allergan—was destined for an international life which led to him live in 10 countries and work in 7. He shares his journey, from growing up in India and becoming fluent in Marathi, to attending Edinburgh University and London Business School, to becoming CEO …
Dr Clive Meanwell—founder & CEO of Population Health Partners; founder & former CEO of The Medicines Company—shares his journey emanating from a family of teachers in Birmingham to earning his medical degree at University of Birmingham and playing first class rugby to a corporate career that led to him founding and leading The Medicines Company …
Nigel Gaymond, BELS Founder & Executive Chairman, provides a brief overview of BELS (British Educated Life Scientists) & the BELS Brief Chats podcast.
We’re delighted to welcome Dr Rupert Vessey to the BELS Advisory Council. Based in the US as EVP and President of Research & Early Discovery for Bristol Myers Squibb, his work includes several initiatives in the UK. His perspectives on the sector in the UK and globally will be invaluable as we expand the work …
Thankfully, COVID lockdown restrictions are now easing. The number of daily COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the UK recently hit record highs. Over half of the adult population has now received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 2,228,772 people have been fully vaccinated. While the UK health and life sciences sector has made …
British-educated life scientists at home and abroad share a heritage of great achievement which continues demonstrably and collaboratively amid the COVID pandemic. Since founding BELS 20 years ago, we’ve operated under the premise that only good things can come from strengthening connections between British-educated life scientists and the UK health and life sciences. With this …
The success of the UK’s response to covid-19 has come with industry and academia collaborating at speed, along with government support for a nimble, empowered UK Vaccine Taskforce, well equipped to evaluate potential vaccine candidates and free to secure contracts outside of Brexit–negotiating volume, pricing and delivery. This allowed the UK to go it alone …
The most visible work now being done in Oxford is on the vaccine front where the University, its spinout Vaccitech, and its partnership with AstraZeneca are garnering global headlines for making warp-speed progress on their vaccine. This has been topped off with news of BARDA providing AstraZeneca with up to $1.2 billion to fund Phase …
Oxford on Steroids—Innovating to Save Lives amid the Age of Covid Read More »
Much like the Bletchley Park codebreakers helped win World War II by breaking the German Enigma Code, a swiftly-recruited, specialist-volunteer team from Barts Health, Queen Mary University of London and Genomics England is assembling at Charterhouse Square in Central London to decipher the highly-complex, virulent-virus COVID-19. Led by Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, Chief Scientist at …
With a new decade upon us, we finally have some clarity and go-forward in the UK’s political system. Meanwhile, the UK life sciences environment has continued to go from strength to strength despite three years of Brexit purgatory. Clear signals are emanating from Number 10 that science and life sciences are viewed as vital to the …
UK Life Sciences 2020–inspirational, aspirational, forging ahead Read More »
When I moved to the US over 30 years ago I was chasing a woman, though I assume most of my British-educated colleagues working outside the UK in the life sciences left to take up new jobs. Regardless, none of us kicked up quite the public storm that’s coming from Harry and Meghan’s decision to step …
What do Harry & Meghan have in common with BELS? Read More »
For the UK to fulfill its international aspirations in the life sciences, tapping into the soft power of its influential diaspora, including the 3,000+ life science leaders within the British Expats in Life Sciences (BELS) global community, should be a high priority for UK organisations across our sector—government, quasi-government orgs, industry, academia, charities, healthcare orgs, service providers, …
Soft Power Can Deliver a Powerful Punch for UK Life Sciences Read More »
