ABINGWORTH - Key Persons
Alex works with the General Counsel and CFO to provide legal and compliance support to the team. She joined Abingworth in 2005 having previously been a member of the UK legal team at The BOC Group, where she was responsible for providing legal advice on a wide range of issues to one of BOC's lines of business. Alex qualified as a solicitor and spent the first six years of her legal career advising on general corporate finance and commercial transactions at Slaughter and May. Alex has an MA in Literae Humaniores from the University of Oxford and passed the Common Professional Examination and Law Society Finals at the City of London Polytechnic.
Job Titles:
- CEO of Launch Tx
- CEO, Launch Therapeutics
Anshul is CEO of Launch Tx with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries as a general manager, management consultant, commercial leader and entrepreneur. Most recently, Anshul served as Chief Commercial Officer and EVP of Peri and Post-Approval Services at PPD. He started his career at PPD as Global Head of PPD Biotech and under his leadership PPD became a market leader for CRO services in the Biotech segment. Before PPD, Anshul ran the global life sciences business unit at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), where he created a customer business model to serve the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to GLG, he worked at McKinsey, where he was an associate principal in the health care practice. He currently serves on the boards of TriNetX and Saama Technologies. Anshul earned his B.S and M.S.E in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Support
Bali Muralidhar - CEO, Chief Investment Officer, COO
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer
- COO
- Managing Partner
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Partner
- Venture Partner
Carlos is the former CEO of Immune Design Corp., a late-stage Immunotherapy company which was acquired by Merck & Co. in April 2019. He previously served as President of Elan Pharmaceuticals, and spent a number of years with Eli Lilly and Co. in discovery research and clinical development leadership roles, including Global Leader of the diabetes and endocrine franchise. Prior to his industry roles, Carlos spent nearly a decade at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester) where his roles included Professor of Medicine, Immunology and Pathology, and Vice Dean of the clinical investigation program. He commenced his career as a research scientist at Institute Pasteur in Paris. Carlos is a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Mallinckrodt, Highlight Therapeutics and Fluidigm. MD and PhD, Madrid Medical School (Complutense); Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Immunology speciality training, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- PPD in 2012 As Chairman and CEO
- Senior Advisor, CCD
- Senior Advisor, CCD / Operations & Support
David Simmons joined PPD in 2012 as chairman and CEO. He leads the company's global workforce of more than 26,000 employees, across 46 countries, in the design and execution of drug development programs on behalf of pharmaceutical industry customers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Operating Executive
Dayle joined Abingworth in March 2023 and will work with new and existing Abingworth portfolio companies to support their operational capabilities. Prior to Abingworth, Dayle was COO of GammaDelta Therapeutics, an Abingworth portfolio co. focused on the development of γδ T cell immunotherapies, until its acquisition by Takeda in 2022. Dayle was also a cofounder of Adaptate Biotherapeutics (also an Abingworth portfolio co. and acquired by Takeda in 2022). Previously, Dayle's roles have included COO of Kesios Therapeutics (an oncology drug development co.), investment manager at Touchstone Innovations where he led a number of early stage investments including Enterprise Therapeutics (potentiator programme acquired by Roche) and Storm Therapeutics, and was a cofounder and Commercial VP of Lectus Therapeutics (programmes acquired by UCB).
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Support
Emily Janvey joined Abingworth in April 2023 as a Managing Director based in our Boston office. Emily focusses on Abingworth's Clinical Co-Development practice where she is responsible for sourcing and the execution of deals.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor to
Genghis is a Senior Advisor to Abingworth having previously been a Partner and focusing on exits of venture investments via mergers and acquisitions and IPOs. Genghis's board positions included Avillion, GenSight Biologics, Healthcare Brands International, Nouscom, Novexel, Solexa, Synosia, Syntaxin and Wilson Therapeutics.
Genghis joined Abingworth in 2004 from Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) where he was a Managing Director in the European Equity Research Group based in London, responsible for coverage of the European biotechnology industry and was ranked first for Pan-European Biotechnology in the Institutional Investor surveys from 2001 to 2003. Before joining Equity Research at CSFB, he worked for CSFB's Health Care Group in the Investment Banking Division in New York. Genghis was previously a paediatrician in Melbourne, Australia and holds a Medical Degree from the University of Liverpool in the UK, a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Operations Manager, US
- Support
James retired in 2019 after more than 20 years as Abingworth's CFO responsible for finance, compliance and administration as well as investment matters, focusing on start-up companies. His directorships have included Avillion, SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Chroma Therapeutics, Clinical Designs and Syntaxin. James has been retained as a Senior Adviser concentrating on clinical co-development deals.
Previously James was CFO of Prolifix, a start-up biotech company. He trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and holds a degree in Biology with Chemistry from the University of Southampton.
Jayson joined Abingworth's Menlo Park office in November 2021, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in venture investing, start-up leadership, technology transfer, and academic research within the life sciences industry.
John Chiminski is the former Chair and CEO of Catalent, Inc. (NYSE CTLT), a global healthcare development company with sales of $3.1b and over 14,000 employees, which he let from 2009 until 2023. He joined Catalent after more than 20 years' experience at GE Healthcare in engineering, operations, and senior leadership roles. Before Catalent John was President and CEO of GE Medical Diagnostics., a global business with sales of $1.
John Heard - Chief Legal Officer
The advice and assistance we can provide cover many of the big issues faced by biotech entrepreneurs.
For example, we can help with recruiting leadership teams and Board members; selecting drug targets for novel platforms; formulating business and corporate development strategies; devising clinical development plans; navigating legal issues.
And in addition to our own knowledge and experience, we can call on a wide network of leading scientific and industry advisors.
Joy Ghosh - Managing Director
Joy joined Abingworth in December 2022, where he works with the team in Boston, London and Menlo Park offices to identify new investment opportunities and support existing investments through to exit. Joy joined the Abingworth team after serving as Portfolio Manager and Managing Director at Eventide Asset Management, where he led their healthcare and life sciences investment practice and served as board director or board observer for several portfolio companies.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Senior Finance Manager
Job Titles:
- Head
- Managing Partner
- Managing Partner & Head of Abingworth Life Sciences
Lucille joined Abingworth in August 2021, bringing over nine years of healthcare experience spanning venture investing, strategy consulting, clinical practice and academic research. She works with the team in London, Boston and Menlo Park to source and evaluate new investment opportunities and to support existing portfolio companies across a range of therapeutic areas and stages of development.
Job Titles:
- Receptionist & Team Assistant
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Assistant
- Support
Natalie Anderson-Saturley Senior Investment Assistant David Bird Fund Accountant Michelle Bradley Receptionist & Team Assistant Emma Farley Fund Assistant Sofia Harley Operations Support Specialist Sofia Jara (SJ)Executive Assistant Sabah Khan Fund Assistant Gwen Kinard Operations Manager, US Elizabeth O'Brien Executive Assistant Aron Schmidt Executive Assistant Katie Stirrup Senior Finance Manager Siew Tin Yew Financial Controller
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Partner
- Scott Brun Venture Partner
- Venture Partner
Natalie joined Abingworth as a Venture Partner in August 2022. Prior to this Natalie was CEO of Adaptate Biotherapeutics Ltd an Abingworth founded company, focused on developing therapeutic antibodies to drug targets to modulate the activity of gamma delta T cells. Previously, Natalie was CSO of GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd. (also founded by Abingworth) which targeted gamma delta T-cell therapies for use in immunotherapy and was one of the founding team at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult serving as its Chief Clinical Officer advising academics and small companies developing advanced therapies. Natalie's prior experience also includes 16 years at Pfizer, leading development activities across various therapeutic areas, including cell-based therapies in the Regenerative Medicine Unit. Natalie has a first-class degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. from University College, London.
Neil has over 20 years' professional experience in venture capital, private equity and financial services. He joined in 2019 from Kennet Partners Ltd, an international growth equity company, at which he was Finance Director. At Abingworth he manages the finances and administration of the business and supports fundraising and investment activities. He has previously held senior finance roles at Robert W Baird, Baird Capital Partners Europe and at Advent Venture Partners. Neil is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Warwick.
Peter was formerly Senior Vice President for Discovery Research at GlaxoSmithKline. Most recently he Chaired the Boards of GammaDelta Therapeutics and Adaptate Biotherapeutics, both Abingworth portfolio companies. He has also held the Balfour chair in genetics at Cambridge University and research positions at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Peter holds doctorates from Oxford and Bristol Universities and is a Fellow of EMBO, the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Fund Assistant
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Partner
- Scott Brun Venture Partner
- Venture Partner
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Yew Financial Controller
For media enquires please email abingworth@medistrava.com or call +44 (0)20 3926 8535
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Operations Support Specialist
- Support
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Member of the Advisors & Venture Partners Team
- Support
Spruce San Francisco, CA NuCana Edinburgh, UK Reneo San Diego, CA Glycomine San Carlos, CA Wugen St. Louis, MO & San Diego, CA CymaBay Newark, CA Anjarium Biosciences Schlieren, CH
Bali has 15 years professional experience in healthcare across a range of functions including venture investing, R&D, clinical practice and teaching. He works with the team in the London, Boston and Menlo Park offices to source and evaluate new investment opportunities and support existing venture investments through to exit. He represents Abingworth on the boards of Anjarium, NuCana, Pathalys, Reneo, Spruce Biosciences and Wugen. He led the Abingworth's investment in Glycomine and is an observer on the board, he was also a director on the board of Exicure Inc. Bali is an executive officer on the joint steering committee of CymaBay, and since 2021 has been a member of the BVCA Venture Capital Committee.
Prior to joining Abingworth, Bali was a senior partner at MVM Partners LLP in London where he completed investments in and served on the boards of several companies, both public and private. Two of these were Wilson Therapeutics and Valneva, both also Abingworth portfolio companies. In 2018, Bali was named among Financial News' Rising Stars in Private Equity, which celebrated 25 men and women under the age of 40 standing out in the European private equity industry. Before MVM, Bali was a member of Bain Capital's healthcare deal team.
Bali obtained a degree in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford and practiced general surgery at the John Radcliffe and Addenbrooke's Hospitals in Oxford and Cambridge, respectively. He has a PhD in translational cancer research from the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, University of Cambridge, and has published over a dozen peer reviewed papers. He was also a Bye-Fellow in Medical Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge where he taught pathology, surgery and medicine.