Ian is non-voting Chairman of the European Mediscience Awards Voting Panel. 

Ian is the founder of the awards, in 2002; the awards programme and Gala Dinner celebrates its 23rd  anniversary this year. The European Mediscience Awards Gala Dinner has been held annually, in London, in June, every year since formation.

Ian is a Director of Ford Sinclair Ltd, the event organisers.

Arron joined Edison’s healthcare team as an equity analyst in January 2023 and has covered over 30 companies within the sector since joining. Prior to this, he worked at GSK for four years and completed a PhD in chemical biology through the GSK/University of Strathclyde Collaborative PhD Programme. During this time, he conducted extensive research into novel therapeutic technologies, with a particular focus on covalent drug discovery, oncology, and various rare diseases. Arron also holds an integrated MSci degree in chemistry from the University of Bristol.

Mette has broad international experience within biotech and life sciences both as an investor, as a board member, and operationally, covering business development and licensing, management and financing. 

Mette has been appointed to numerous board positions in both private and public companies in Europe and the US. She currently has six board positions in the US and Europe and work as strategic advisor for several companies and initiatives.

Mette previously founded and managed Lundbeckfonden Ventures, completing around 40 European and US investments over a 12 year period, and was part of the management at the Lundbeck Foundation. Before that, she was co-founder and CEO of 7TM Pharma A/S. She started her biotech career as part of the management team of NeuroSearch A/S, responsible for business development and licensing.

Mette started as a patent agent and, over the years, has co-founded several biotech companies. Mette graduated as a biologist from the University of Copenhagen and has an MBA from Henley Business School.

We are delighted to welcome Renee to the Voting Panel again, and further details will be available in due course. 

Melody has more than 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Since 2000, as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rx Communications Group, she has built one of the most recognized and widely respected U.S.-based Investor Relations agencies focused on this sector. As such, Melody and her team represent both privately held and publicly traded companies, worldwide, implementing highly customized programs that measurably impact both visibility and valuation.

Prior to Rx Communications, Melody was a life sciences investment banker and top-level consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. She also served as in-house investor relations officer and spokesperson for two publicly traded healthcare companies, where her efforts were instrumental in the successful acquisitions of both companies.

As a leading expert in the field, Melody has been quoted in the financial and trade media, regularly represents Rx Communications at key industry conferences, including as panel host and sponsor and is an active member of the National Institute for Investor Relations (NIRI).

Victoria joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management in the European Research team covering the healthcare sector over fifteen years ago. She also contributes to the J.P. Morgan Global Healthcare Fund. She became a CFA Charterholder in 2009 and has a BSc in Chemistry from Durham University.

John A. Dawson, CBE, is a highly experienced and globally respected figure in the healthcare sector. 

Most recently, he was Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Biomedica where, during his 13-year tenure, the business grew into a global market leader in viral vector technologies for cell and gene therapy, and delivered multiple high value partnerships. The company successfully manufactured the life-saving Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021.

Under John’s leadership, Oxford Biomedica’s success resulted in it entering the FTSE 250 index in 2020. John was subsequently awarded a CBE for services to UK life science in recognition of the unprecedented speed and success at which Oxford Biomedica delivered the COVID-19 vaccine.

Prior to Oxford Biomedica, John held various senior executive roles including at Cephalon, Inc. where for most of his tenure he was Managing Director for Europe. 

Prior to this, he served as the Financial Director for Serono UK. Mr. Dawson is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc in Mathematics from Swansea University. 

John is a non-executive director at Ergomed, which provides specialized services to the pharmaceutical industry, Chinese Speciality Pharma Ltd., which brings innovative specialty and rare disease products to China, and Norgine, a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company that has been bringing transformative products to patients for over a century.

Chris has worked as an equity research analyst focused on the healthcare sector for over 20 years, covering pharmaceuticals, medical technology and services within the industry.

Over his career, Chris has worked for both Buy and Sell side businesses, including AXA Investment Management, Dresdner Kleinwort and Evolution Securities. He joined Cenkos (now Cavendish) to cover small-cap Healthcare in 2016.

Prior to moving into the City, Chris completed a degree in Biochemistry and PhD in Nutrition.

Helena has over 18 years of experience within the Financial Services sector. In 2016 Helena joined the Life Sciences and Healthcare team at HSBC Innovation Banking, the partner of choice to the innovation economy.

In her current role as VP, Helena works with a pioneering group of clients who strive to make scientific advancements across Biotech, Techbio, Diagnostic and Tools. This includes supporting clients throughout their growth journey from seed stage to IPO.

Helena was born and raised in Hackney and holds an MSc in Psychology with an active interest in researching subjects that are often stigmatised including the menstrual cycle. During her spare time Helena enjoys Pilates, Yoga and Art. 

Liam joined the team at SP Angel in 2019 where he helped set up the healthcare franchise for the firm. Prior to SP Angel he worked at Northland Capital Partners covering small and mid-cap healthcare companies. 

Liam holds BSc and MSc degrees in Biological Sciences from the University of Bristol and Imperial College London.

Frazer has spent almost 40 years in the life sciences space, joining MEDiSTRAVA in 2019 following 33 years of buy-side and sell-side experience in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He spent over ten years on the buy side managing money at both long-only institutions, including as an investment advisor to Biotechnology Investments Ltd., and at a major hedge fund. For over 20 years on the sell side he was a top-rated healthcare sales specialist working for Credit Suisse, Berenberg and Redburn servicing a wide variety of global institutional investors. He has a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College London.

Stef runs an independent advisory business that enables clients including established life science companies, start-ups and investors in the life sciences ecosystem to formulate their strategies, raise finance and fulfil their potential. Previously, he was a top ranked life sciences analyst in London where he built two #1 franchises that dominated UK life sciences investment banking for over ten years and helped advise, finance, and build some of the most successful companies in the UK sector, including billion-dollar-plus successes such as Abcam, Oxford Nanopore and Syncona.

Jessica brings almost two decades of journalism experience to ICR Healthcare, having worked as a business reporter for international newspapers and newswires including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, and the Observer. She has covered sectors including healthcare, financial services, technology, and media in both London and the U.S. For the past eight years, Jessica has been advising international clients on financial and corporate communications.

When not working, Jessica can be found planning her next surfing trip, having discovered a late-onset love for the sport.

Nick is a former investment banker, biotech and medtech entrepreneur and existing board member and advisor in different healthcare verticals. He recently announced the launch of Alis Biosciences, of which he is the Founder. Alis is a new vehicle designed to support companies, stakeholders and shareholders whose market capitalisation is less than their cash position. Alis will operate all over the world, helping to the solve capital misallocation in the healthcare markets, while still allowing, where possible, for science to thrive. Nick has been active in the global healthcare markets for over 25 years.

Uli is a Partner at Bryan, Garnier & Co., the European Growth Investment Bank joining forces with Stifel. He is a founding partner of Code Securities Limited, a specialist life science investment bank which was formed in 2003, acquired by Nomura in 2005 and continued as Nomura Code Securities until late 2013. As Director, Corporate Finance, Ulrich Kinzel was instrumental for building the continental European M&A and Equity Capital Markets business. Subsequently, Uli built the European healthcare franchise for international boutique advisory group goetzpartners (now Fortlane Partners). He has advised leading international life science companies in more than 60 successful M&A and ECM transactions, including cross-border European, Asian and US public and private takeovers as well as IPOs and secondary offerings on all major European Stock Exchanges. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Munich University.

Tara has a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Structural Biology, both from Imperial College London. She is currently working at Polar Capital, which she joined in September 2021, as a consultant focused on independent research for the team. Prior to joining Polar Capital, she was the Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences Research at Shore Capital.

Previously Tara spent over 15 years working in equity research, specialising in European pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medtech at Lehman Brothers and Jefferies. She has also worked with a number of healthcare-focused startups through her life sciences consultancy, SSquared Consulting, most recently working with the UK government’s Vaccine Taskforce.

Craig is a Partner in IP Group’s Life Science investment team. He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1998 and worked in new product development for Glaxo Wellcome, followed by a series of business development roles in UK biotech. He was then part of the founding management team of an in vitro diagnostics company before moving into venture capital investment with Inventages, a life science focused VC fund. He subsequently worked for Fusion IP plc, a specialist investor in university spin-out companies, before joining IP Group in 2014.

Craig has a first-class honours degree in Pharmacy from Cardiff University and a PhD from the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham. He also holds an MBA with Distinction from the University of Warwick where he was awarded a Sainsbury Management Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Nick is an experienced Non-executive Director and Chairman with a background as a successful corporate financier. He has considerable experience of businesses in the Healthcare, Medical, Biotechnology, Environmental and Technology sectors. Nick is a non executive director of Cambridge Cognition Holdings plc and a strategic advisor to Chinese gene therapy company Santo Therapeutics. He was previously chair of Destiny Pharma plc, an anti infectives business, and chair of Oxford BioMedica plc, a leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company. Through Ipso Ventures, Nick helped found Therakind, a successful developer of paediatric medicines.

Julie joined Panmure Liberum in November 2015 from Canaccord Genuity. She has 25+ years’ experience in life sciences research, covering both UK and continental European companies across a wide range of healthcare subsectors. Julie has a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Kent and experience in industry in both Europe and the US. She is also Chair of the NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Connect a translational research funding panel for medical devices, diagnostics and digital health technologies.

We are delighted to welcome Alex to the Voting Panel and further details will be available in due course. 

Ivo Staijen joined HBM Partners in 2003 as investment advisor for the biotechnology and pharma sector. HBM Partners is an independent Swiss healthcare investor with $2.2 billion assets under management. The company acts as advisor to HBM Healthcare Investments, a healthcare-dedicated investment trust, specializing in early- to mid-stage investments in biotech, medtech, diagnostics and services. HBM Partners also manages several other healthcare funds dedicated to specific sectors or geographies. Ivo currently heads up the Public Equity team at HBM Partners and is Portfolio Manager of the HBM Global Biotechnology Fund. He has over 24 years experience in investments and capital market transactions in the healthcare space. Prior to joining HBM Partners, Ivo was a senior biotechnology analyst at Bank Sarasin, and prior to that, department head at MDS Pharma Services Switzerland. In 1992, Ivo obtained a M.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. During his studies, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Biology at MIT, Cambridge MA, in 1991. Ivo received his Ph.D. in Biology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1996. He has been a CFA Charter Holder since 2004.

Kenny Walker-Durrant is a partner at Goodwin, specialising in the life sciences sector. His expertise lies in corporate law, particularly in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, and venture capital transactions. He works closely with emerging growth companies and venture capital investors, advising them throughout the corporate lifecycle, from early-stage investments to exits. 

Kenny’s notable experience includes advising Centessa Pharmaceuticals from its inception, on its $250 million fundraise in conjunction with the company’s acquisition of 10 biotech companies and guiding the company through a successful $397.5 million IPO. He has also played a key role in high-profile transactions, such as advising DJS Antibodies on its acquisition by AbbVie, ReViral Limited on its acquisition by Pfizer for up to $525 million, and Alys Pharmaceuticals on its simultaneous acquisition of six companies and securing $100 million in financing. 

Kenny has been recognised as a “Next Generation Partner” for Venture Capital by The Legal 500 UK 2025, highlighting his technical expertise, deep market knowledge and pragmatic approach to complex legal matters in the life sciences industry.