Dr Hannah Sore, CEO, Pharmenable & Board Member, One Nucleus 

A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what is possible with small molecule therapeutics and breaking down the barriers of inaccessibility. Hannah brings over 25 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector. During her time at Astex Therapeutics, she is delighted to have contributed to the discovery stage of TruqapTM (capivasertib). Hannah has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Barbara Fleck, Partner, Appleyard Lees LLP

Barbara is a Partner at Appleyard Lees and heads the Life Sciences team. She is based in the firm’s Cambridge office. Barbara advises her clients on IP strategy, including advice on how to protect inventions in the biotech and pharma fields and freedom to operate matters. Over the last 24 years, Barbara has worked with many companies based in Cambridge and specialises in providing commercially relevant Intellectual Property advice, in particular to start ups and SMEs. She has also supported clients through many fundraising rounds and commercial deals with third parties, successfully guiding them through the due diligence process and assisting in negotiations on licensing and collaborations agreements with large pharma companies. Many of her clients have secured significant amounts of investment, licensed assets or have gone on to be acquired by a larger company. Barbara understands the challenges faced by many biotech companies, especially in the current climate, and ensures that her client’s IP strategy is aligned with their with business objectives. Barbara and her team at Appleyard Lees handle many different technologies, including relating to antibody therapeutics, oligonucleotides, engineered peptides, cell and gene therapy, microbiome, diagnostics and biomarkers, organs on a chip and bioinformatics. Barbara is regularly recognised as a leading practitioner and leading biotech attorney in legal rankings, including in the Legal 500.  

Nicole Scola, Senior Vice President, HSBC Innovation Banking

I lead the early-stage Consumer and HealthTech portfolio at HSBC Innovation Banking, where I partner with ambitious founders from Seed to Series A to help accelerate their path to the next stage of growth. In this role, I drive strategy across our portfolio by combining capital solutions with high-impact support—connecting founders to top-tier VCs, accelerators, and advisors, delivering actionable market and fundraising insights, and enabling seamless international expansion. I operate at the intersection of founders and executive leadership, regularly advising senior stakeholders while shaping initiatives that strengthen our position within the innovation ecosystem. I’ve built and led high-performing teams focused on delivering tangible outcomes for founders, from strategic introductions to scaling playbooks that unlock growth. Over the past decade, I’ve developed deep experience across banking, venture, and healthcare innovation. I began my career with SVB in Boston before becoming a founding member of Northwell Holdings, the corporate venture arm of New York State’s largest healthcare system. There, I led joint ventures and commercialization strategy—taking consumer health and medical device products through regulatory approval to market launch. I later served as Director of Strategy at Shields Health Solutions, where I led regional growth initiatives, launched new service lines, and drove AI integration to modernize operations. I also built and scaled a relationship management function that equipped C-suite leaders with data-driven insights to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, supporting partnerships with over 80 leading US health systems. Across each role, I’ve consistently worked alongside founders and executive teams—from ideation through to commercialization, fundraising, and exit—bringing both an operator’s mindset and an investor’s perspective.

Natalie Pankova, Partner (Health & Life Sciences), Zinc

Dr Natalie Pankova is Partner of Health & Life Sciences at Zinc VC, where she oversees healthcare investments and portfolio. She is an experienced operator and investor in life science and healthcare, having led teams and built technologies across biotech, medtech and digital health on a global scale. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. 

Winsome Cheung, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

Winsome Cheung is a partner in Covington’s life science transactions team. She assists life sciences and technology companies to develop and commercialize their intellectual property assets. She advises on their strategic licensing and partnering transactions, and intellectual property and commercial matters throughout the entire product lifecycle. She advises a broad range of clients in the life sciences and technology industries, from start-ups, venture capital investors to global pharmaceutical companies. As a former scientist, she combines her scientific understanding with her legal and commercial knowledge to help companies build value and monetise their intellectual property assets.

Nicki Thompson, CEO, TRIMTECH Therapeutics Limited 

Nicki has over 25 years’ experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D in a variety of senior scientific and commercial leadership roles. She is CEO of Cambridge-based TRIMTECH Therapeutics (an MRC LMB/UK DRI spin-out), which focuses on a novel targeted protein degradation (TPD) approach to treat neurodegenerative diseases. Nicki recently led TRIMTECH through its recent $31M seed financing. She was also founding CEO of Amphista Therapeutics, steering Amphista through Series A and B funding rounds, raising ~$150 million in funding and closing two pharma collaborations (deal value $2.3Bn).  Her previous roles include VP/Global Head of External Drug Discovery (Roche); Senior Director, Business Development (GSK).  Nicki’s Biotech experience includes Chair of Nanna Therapeutic’s Board (acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.), Chair of the Board of Camena Bioscience and Head of Drug Discovery at Syntaxin.

Dr Catriona Crombie, Strategy Consultant, Catriona Crombie Consulting 

Catriona Crombie is an innovation strategist and rare disease advocate with deep expertise in translational science, funding models, and regulatory pathways. She has led major programmes to address market failures in rare disease drug development and to strengthen discovery‑to‑patient pipelines. Alongside her consultancy and trustee roles, she works with partners across academia, industry, and patient organisations to design practical, scalable solutions that improve access to life‑changing treatments.

Nina Knight, Chair & Founder, Acrodysostosis Support & Research, Development & Operations Officer, Aspire Biosciences 

Nina Knight is a mother and passionate rare disease advocate. Inspired by her daughter’s diagnosis of Acrodysostosis, she founded Acrodysostosis Support & Research to connect families, raise awareness, and drive research. Alongside her advocacy work, Nina is Development and Operations Officer at Aspire Biosciences, where she connects rare disease patient groups bringing data, expertise, and community with companies to help address unmet needs.  

Jayne Hughes, CEO, Amy & Friends 

Jayne Hughes BEM is a dedicated advocate and Founder of Amy and Friends, a UK-based charity supporting children and families affected by Cockayne Syndrome and related genetic conditions. Inspired by her daughter Amy, Jayne has worked tirelessly to raise awareness, fund vital research, been instrumental in setting up a specialist clinic at the Rare Disease Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, and has built a compassionate support network for families navigating these rare disorders. Her commitment to improving lives and driving progress in the field has been recognised with the British Empire Medal (BEM), reflecting her outstanding service to the rare disease community.

Dr.Femida Gwadry-Sridhar, CEO & Founder, pulse Infoframe

Dr.Femida Gwadry-Sridhar is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pulse Infoframe Inc. Since 2011, Pulse Infoframe has provided robust solutions for disease registries, natural history studies, and other observational and regulatory-grade studies.​ A recognized thought leader in RWE, Dr. Gwadry-Sridhar has authored over 220 publications in top-tier scientific journals. She is a strong advocate for female entrepreneurs in digital health and has contributed her leadership to various community and non-profit boards.​

Dr Madeleine Wakeling, COO, Harness Therapeutics

Madeleine has 24 years’ experience in biopharmaceutical R&D, and programme and portfolio management. Previously working for BioVex, GSK, MedImmune, MRC, Autolus, Crescendo and Cellinta, Madeleine has held increasingly senior programme management/ leadership positions with vast experience in building and leading high performing matrix teams from discovery to clinical stage across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Alongside programme management, Madeleine also has significant alliance and operational management experience. Madeleine holds a PhD in Molecular Virology from the University of Edinburgh and is PMP® certified.

Kerry Waters, Commercial Director, Vernalis

Kerry brings 30 years of drug discovery experience across government, pharmaceutical and contract research industries, including 8 years in business development. During her time as both a lab-based researcher and BD professional, Kerry has established successful relationships in cross-functional groups globally across sites and other scientific organisations; built extensive networks of clients, suppliers, and collaborators from pharma & biotech industries; and negotiated key strategic partnerships with VCs. Kerry currently works as a Commercial Director at Vernalis. 

Kate Brunswick – Business Development Associate, Agri-TechE

Kate Brunswick, Business Development Associate from Agri-TechE brings hands-on experience in fresh produce production, both out in the field and within controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems, giving her a well-rounded perspective on the challenges of UK food production.

She combines this with supply chain knowledge and a track record of working with UK supermarkets on new product development (NPD), helping translate ideas into products that meet real consumer needs. Passionate about building meaningful, commercial, partnerships across the sector, Kate is known for her collaborative, down-to-earth approach and her ability to connect people to drive innovation and practical outcomes.