People's stories

Raised by a hard-working single mother in a poor part of South London, Michael loved experimenting as a young child. Going on to take a degree in biochemistry and then a doctorate in virology and toxicology, Michael stresses the value of having a grounding in different disciplines to help understand complex diseases like cancer. Always keen to make a difference to patients' lives, Michael talks about how he got involved in the world of investment to support new companies develop scientific discoveries into clinical applications. While often the only black person in the room, Michael treasures being part of the scientific world, which as points out attracts a wide variety of people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Patricia Bou Assi talks about how she turned down an offer to study at medical school because she realised she was far more interested in pursuing a career in medical research than clinical work. Now working for a small biotechnology company, a lot of Patricia's day involves talking with researchers to make sure they have access to the right products they need to successfully carry out their laboratory work. In this way she feels she is making an invaluable contribution to advances in medical research and treatment.

Encouraged by his mother, Bill originally intended to become a doctor but soon realised he was far more interested in laboratory science than the clinical side of things. His first job after university landed up being with a biotechnology company developing and supplying products critical to life science and medical research. This gave him the chance to learn the business side of science which ignited his appetite to lead his own company. He has now had more than thirty years building and financing both privately held and publicly traded companies. His current company helped pioneer one of the first successful COVID-19 vaccines.

Growing up in North England, Mark's story highlights the importance of taking a new direction when one career path does not feel quite right. His experience underlines the value of keeping options open and trying out different things. When Mark left school he would never have imagined he would develop a passion for diagnostics. He only grasped the importance of the diagnostic pathway to making medical decision after taking a temporary job at a diagnostics company to earn some income. From then on he became hooked. Nor could he have anticipated how much he enjoys building a start-up without taking the plunge to help run and oversee the sale of a molecular diagnostic company. Now assisting a number of companies, Mark really enjoys the highly varied day-to-day variety of his job.

Not having any idea what he wanted to do when he left school, David talks about how he first became fascinated with genetics at university while studying the impact of inbreeding on the fitness of different animals. He then goes on to discuss how he was able to harness the skills he picked up in genetics and computer coding at university to step into the biomedical industry. His expertise has proven particularly fruitful for helping biotechnology companies design new vaccines. David really enjoys the work he does because everyday he learns something new. It also allows him to work both at home and with a team.

Jeremy describes how his early dream to become a vet and time in Africa led him to look for a career that could benefit human health and society in low-income countries. Achieving his goal took resilience and determination not to follow the expected career path pursued by his peers. He reflects on the journey he has taken from working in a research institute to landing up heading a start up company to develop vaccines to curb infectious diseases spreading from animals into humans which have the potential to cause pandemics. The key to succeeding in the biomedical sector he says is for people to find what excites them most, a process that can take time and the willingness to try out different opportunities.

Deborah first got contact with the world of biomedical science as a teenager when she developed Crohn's disease, a life-long inflammatory disease. This started her journey to discovering a fascination for immunology which she loves because of its complexity and links to health. Deborah describes how her research paved the way to her starting her own company to turn small molecules produced by the body’s first line of defence into new drugs to combat difficult to treat infections and help with inflammatory disease. She outlines some of the challenges she has faced along the way in building the company. What has kept her going has been her steadfast ambition to find a way to improve the lives of patients.

Christel's story is one of perseverance and determination to embrace new opportunities when unable to pursue her original dreams. She recounts how she fell in love with biochemistry after not having sufficient grades to do veterinary science and medicine. Moving to London when unable to get a job in France, her home country, Christel talks about this helped expand her horizons. This paved her journey into the development of new antibody drugs which is now the bread and butter of her work which she finds highly rewarding and never have got involved in without the many twists and turns she has faced since leaving school.

Losing her best friend to cancer when she was just 11 years old, Fiona describes how she has made it her life's mission to improve cancer therapy. Her ability to do this was helped enormously by taking the decision to leave China and study abroad. For her this move proved invaluable for teaching her about the molecular genetics of cancer and also how a patient's disease and treatment is shaped by social and economic factors in society. Going on to found and lead three companies, Fiona describes some of the challenges and rewards of her work.

Debora always excelled in humanities subjects at school and did not consider studying science until she was 16 when she was taught by an inspiring chemistry teacher. This meant she had a lot of catching up to do when she went to university. But she did not mind because by now she was hooked on science. Going on to hold various positions in both academia and industry, Debora has experienced many different work environments. Each taught her new things and helped her move forward. What she loves about her job is the multidisciplinary nature of science and range of opportunities for people with different backgrounds. In her case, her humanities skills have proven invaluable to being able to communicate the excitement of science to raise money for the company she now leads.

Always up for a new challenge, Ros describes the many twists and turns her career has taken over the years. Her story highlights that it is never too late for a person to change direction and seek an alternative avenue should they find their skills do not fit the job they have landed in. As she says it took her many years to feel comfortable and able to deploy her talents to the best advantage. This took a lot of trial and error and courage to move on but in the end she has landed up with the perfect job for her skills. Now leading a company, what she really enjoys about this position is the scope it gives her to work on many different things at one time which means she never gets bored. Importantly, her experience reveals the broad breath of the biomedical industry and the many opportunities for people who do not necessary have the right scientific qualifications.

Dr Abeer Al Hubaysh always wanted to be a doctor from a young age because she was fascinated by physiology and anatomy. Unable to get into medical school, Abeer landed up studying biomedical engineering which allowed her to pursue her dream of working in the medical field. More than anything else it gave her the tools to look for ways to improve cancer treatment which became a major goal for her after witnessing upfront her mother's suffering when treated for cancer. Abeer is now involved with a small company pioneering a new method to preserve cells taken from patients which holds promise as a tool for improving personalised treatments including for cancer.

Originally inspired to go to university to learn how to make a robot, Elizabeth describes how she landed up studying biomedical engineering. Driven to help people with technology, Elizabeth discusses how her journey has taken her far from her home in Zimbabwe to participate in the development of a cutting-edge MRI tool to replace the use of painful and time-consuming biopsies needed to diagnose patients suspected of liver disease which is a major growing health challenge. Elizabeth believes she would never have come so far if she had not been prepared to go outside her comfort zone and have the self-confidence to persevere even when the odds seemed stacked against her.

Reeta describes how her journey into the biomedical industry was inspired by her early fascination for the brain. This led her to study how molecular changes in the brain affect behaviour at university. She highlights how this work advanced her knowledge of ribonucleic acid (RNA), a type of molecule that is involved in many cellular processes including the production of proteins. Having this grounding in RNA proved highly fortuitous for getting the job she has today at a start-up company focused on developing a platform for the delivery of RNA therapeutics. What Reeta really enjoys about this job is having the chance to work in cutting-edge science that has the potential to make an impact on people's health.