MANAGEMENT & TEAM
The company's scientific and commercial team has extensive entrepreneurial experience in start-up technology companies, with many staff having founder or early employee experience. This is complemented by experience in established multi-national enterprises such as SmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Incyte Genomics, Dupont, Marconi, Nortel Networks, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, MRC Geneservice, Human Genome Mapping Project, National Institute of Biological Standards and Controls and the Cavendish Laboratories, University of Cambridge as well as at several world-renowned hospitals and universities.
Robert Booth – Chief Executive Officer, is an Economics graduate and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants with over 25 years financial and general management experience, including a successful IPO on the main London Stock Exchange (LSE). His experience has been gained in both multinational and start-up companies within the pharmaceutical, biotech and IT industries. Rob was a joint founder and CFO and CEO of the life science informatics company, Synomics Limited and previously held senior positions in Pharmacia, SmithKline, Cambridge Life Sciences, Tadpole Technology Plc and General Electric CAE. During his career Rob has been responsible for raising over $50M and has been involved in significant development and licensing deals, including with AstraZeneca, Roche, Wyeth Ayerst, Incyte Pharmaceuticals, IBM and DEC. Rob is also a specialist in establishing and maintaining operational and financial controls in rapid growth situations.
David Grainger – Chief Scientific Officer, graduated with a first class degree from Cambridge University in 1989 before completing his PhD at Cambridge in 1992. He is also a British Heart Foundation Senior Research Fellow and has directed an internationally recognized group of researchers in the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University in the field of inflammation, with a particular interest in cardiovascular disease. A team led by David was responsible for the first successful demonstration that molecular profiles could be used in the clinic to diagnose heart disease (published in Nature Medicine in 2002).
David's research has been published in a range of leading peer-reviewed journals including Science and Nature, and he sits on the editorial board of a number of journals as well as reviewing grant applications for major funding bodies in both Europe and the US. In addition, he has sat on the scientific advisory board of a number of biotechnology companies, as well as run a successful consultancy business. In addition to over 75 scientific publications, David is an inventor on 109 patents and patent applications.
David is also the Director of the Translational Research Unit, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust founded in 2002, comprised of a dedicated clinical trials unit based at the UK’s premier cardiothoracic hospital in Cambridge, UK.
In addition to his academic activities, David also has considerable commercial experience, as CEO of FingerPrint Diagnostics prior to its merger to form Pronostics, and also as CEO of TCP Innovations (a successful technology consultancy), CSO of Funxional Therapeutics (a Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company with drugs entering clinical trials) and Non-executive Director of Prolinex (a supplier of novel nutritional supplements).
Barry Herron – VP Sales and Marketing, has over 25 years senior level experience in healthcare sales and marketing, in both start-ups and multi-national corporate environments, gained in SmithKline, Schering Plough, Vestar Inc, Gilead Science Inc. and First Circle Medical. Barry’s industry and clinical network is extensive, he has worked internationally, been personally responsible for closing multi-million dollar deals and appointed and managed distributor networks on a global basis. Barry’s knowledge and experience will allow Pronostics to generate early direct sales, build key relationships across the industry, put in place the distribution channels needed to maximise roll out our portfolio of products, and further, to ensure Pronostics is able to strategically partner and licence effectively.
Dr David Mosedale – VP of R&D, received his PhD from the Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge in 1996 following which he conducted post-doctoral research at the Dept. of Medicine, University of Cambridge, into the role of TGF-b and chemokines in atherosclerosis, the structure of TGF-b complexes and novel biomarkers for the presence of atherosclerosis. He is an expert in immunofluorescence methods, ELISA and microarray technologies and has many publications to his name. Latterly, he was a founding principal investigator at the Translational Research Unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK, where he headed an epidemiology group examining risk factors for coronary artery disease in the UK population. He has broad experience of designing clinical trials specifically for novel diagnostic technologies, as well as in-depth expertise in statistical analysis. He has also acted as a consultant to TCP Innovations Ltd on a range of projects. David continues to be associated with the Dept. of Medicine, University of Cambridge.
Dr Jodie Smith – Head of Development, was the second employee of SmartBead Technologies, prior to its merger to form Pronostics, and was instrumental in defining the applications development plan and architect of the company's UltraScreen immunoassays. She previously worked at DuPont (U.K.) Ltd Nutrition & Health Division as Research Scientist, Biosciences where she was responsible for the identification and development of novel biomedical and cosmetic applications for cereal co-products. Jodie graduated with a first-class degree before obtaining her PhD in Biochemistry from Lancaster University.
Dr Anil Kumar – Head of Manufacturing, is an expert in surface chemistry and chemical and biochemical synthesis. Prior to working at Pronostics,he was a Senior Scientist at Solexa Ltd. Anil gained his PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Lucknow, India.
