18th Annual Healthcare Investor Conference
Thursday 8th October 2026
The King’s Fund, London
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Overview
The Optimum Annual Healthcare Investor conference is taking place on Thursday 8th October 2026 at The King’s Fund, Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN.
The Optimum conference is one of Europe’s leading life sciences thought leadership conferences and attracts major investors from across the healthcare and life sciences sector representing more than US$300bn in capital focused on the sector. Their mission is to back the future champions that will make a significant impact on patient care. The invitation-only audience of 250 also includes CEOs of many of the UK and Europe’s most innovative companies that are developing next generation therapies.
Reviews from our past speakers on what makes Optimum’s Healthcare Investor Conference unique.
2025 Speakers
Leading speakers from the healthcare and investment communities providing insights on the latest trends and impacts on the industry.
Mary Clark
Optimum
Mary Clark
Founder & CEO, Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary has a 25-year successful track record in providing strategic corporate and financial communications to both early- and late-stage healthcare companies and has worked with over 300 biotech and healthcare clients across Europe and the US. She has developed several high-profile investor focused campaigns and has been instrumental in strategic positioning ahead of fundraising rounds of private financings, IPOs and follow-on public financings.
She founded Optimum in 2013 with the mission to provide the best strategic communications advice and implement effective communications programmes to achieve high impact results. Prior to this, Mary built and led healthcare businesses at several international PR&IR agencies. She started her career at BTG plc where she was involved in the Company’s IPO and the start-up of several new tech and biotech companies.
Søren Møller
Novo Holdings Seed Investments
Søren Møller
Managing Partner, Novo Holdings Seed Investments
Søren Møller is Managing Partner of Seed Investments at Novo Holdings. Søren joined Novo Holdings (then “Novo A/S”) in 2011 as Managing Investment Director of Novo Seeds. He is responsible for Nordic therapeutic investments, REPAIR Impact Fund and Novo Holdings’ quantum investments.
Prior to joining Novo Holdings, Søren served as Global Manager of Genomics at Novozymes A/S. Before that, Søren was Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of R&D at Exiqon A/S. During Søren’s tenure, Exiqon completed an IPO, and the company was acquired by Qiagen in 2016. In his earlier career, Søren was occupied with cancer drug development as Head of Lead Identification at BioImage and as a research scientist at Novo Nordisk A/S.
Søren serves on the boards of directors of Reapplix, Sidera Bio, Orbis Medicines and Northsea Therapeutics. Since 2008, Søren has been a Board Member of Danish Biotech and Active Owners Denmark. Søren holds a MSc degree (1993) and a PhD degree in molecular biology (1997), both from the Technical University of Denmark. Additionally, Søren has academic training as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Antoine Papiernik
Sofinnova Partners
Antoine Papiernik
Chairman & Managing Partner, Sofinnova Partners
Antoine Papiernik is Chairman and Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997. Antoine actively invests for Sofinnova Capital Strategy, the firm’s flagship investment strategy.
He has been an initial investor and active board member in a number of publicly listed companies including: Actelion (ultimately sold to J&J), ProQR, NovusPharma (sold to CTI), Movetis (sold to Shire), and Shockwave Medical (sold to Johnson and Johnson). Trade sale success stories of private companies include CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis), Ethical Oncology Science (EOS, sold to Clovis Oncology) and Recor Medical (sold to Otsuka). He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies Reflexion Medical, Tissium, Pi-Cardia, SafeHeal, Noema Therapeutics, May Health, Highlife and Inspirna. Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He has been selected twice for the Forbes Midas List, in 2011 and 2012, an annual ranking recognizing the world’s top venture capital investors. Antoine is one of the few European and life science investors to have appeared on the prestigious list.
Hannah Kuchler
Financial Times
Hannah Kuchler
Global Pharmaceutical Editor, Financial Times
Hannah Kuchler is the global pharmaceutical editor for the Financial Times. She was part of the FT’s team reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic, which received an honourable mention at the SABEW awards for its coverage.
She was previously the US pharma and biotech correspondent based in New York, where she collaborated with PBS Frontline on a documentary about the opioids crisis, which was nominated for an Emmy and won a Loeb award.
Other roles have included over five years as a technology correspondent covering social media and cyber security in San Francisco.
Gil Bar-Nahum
Jefferies
Gil Bar-Nahum
Jefferies
Dr. Gil Bar-Nahum is a Managing Director and EMEA Head of Biotechnology in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Jefferies, based in London. He leads the team with a primary focus on innovative companies in Europe and Israel. Dr. Bar-Nahum has over 20 years of investment banking experience and has executed transactions for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical technology, and life science tools companies.
In the last several years, Dr. Bar-Nahum has led the execution of more than 60 financings, including 30+ IPOs for foreign private issuers (on NASDAQ), raising more than US$5.0Bn. Since joining Jefferies in 2009, Dr Bar-Nahum has also advised on more than a dozen cross-border M&A transactions and strategic partnerships. From 2002-2009 Dr. Bar-Nahum was part of UBS Investment Bank's Global Healthcare Group, based primarily in the US.
Prior to that, Dr. Bar-Nahum worked as an Equity Research Analyst for UBS where he served as an Associate Director covering companies in the Life Science Tools and Biotechnology space. Dr. Bar-Nahum received his PhD in Basic Medical Sciences from the Department of Biochemistry at the Sackler Institute of New York University School of Medicine. The subject of Dr. Bar-Nahum's doctorate work was published twice in the journal Cell. Dr. Bar-Nahum also received an MS from New York University’s School of Medicine in Cell and Molecular Biology and a BS from the University of Illinois in Microbiology.
Kristin-Anne Rutter
Cambridge University Health Partners
Kristin-Anne Rutter
Cambridge University Health Partners
Kristin-Anne joined Cambridge University Health Partners in 2021, with a mission to lead the vision for life sciences in Cambridgeshire, harnessing the talent, expertise and potential of the city’s cluster to deliver breakthrough scientific discoveries and rapidly prove and scale these to improve healthcare across the NHS.
Previously, as a Partner in McKinsey & Company’s London Office, her focus was on improvement and innovation in healthcare delivery. She led thinking on how digital and data can create value for patients and systems and how the barriers to successful adoption and uptake can be overcome. Kristin-Anne was the founder of the McKinsey Health Tech network in 2013, bringing together the most innovative tech and digital solution providers and supporting them to deploy in health systems. She supported the UK government to identify opportunities to strengthen the UK Life science industry and the deployment of innovation in the NHS.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Kristin-Anne worked as a doctor in Iceland and was a product manager for Neuromonics, a start-up company in Australia bringing a treatment for Tinnitus to market. Currently, she also leads the Secure Data Environment programme for the East of England and recently headed up a workstream for Roland Sinker’s NHS review into how to bring more innovation into healthcare.
Daniel Mahony
Novo Holdings Growth Investments
Daniel Mahony
Novo Holdings, Growth Investements
Daniel joined Novo Holdings in 2024 as a Senior Partner in Growth Investments.Daniel has 25+ years of global healthcare investment experience covering biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare services. In 2007, he co-founded the healthcare business unit at Polar Capital in London, growing it to over $4 billion in assets under management. Daniel was formerly a Senior Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, an Analyst at ING Barings Furman Selz in New York, and completed his postdoctoral work at DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto. He currently chairs the UK BioIndustry Association, is a Non-Executive Director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, and was in 2022 appointed as the UK Government’s Life Sciences Envoy.
Daniel received his PhD in Development Biology from the University of Cambridge and his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford.
Ruth McKernan
SV Health Investors
Ruth McKernan
SV Health Investors
Ruth joined SV in 2018 as a Venture Partner. She has co-founded a number of SV companies; AstronauTx, LoQus23 and Cumulus alongside the Dementia Discovery Fund as well as Alchemab.
Ruth has over 25 years in the pharma industry having held roles at Merck and Pfizer, leading several Research Sites in the UK and US. She has set up new Research Units, including Pfizer Regenerative Medicine and Neusentis, initiated multiple neuroscience partnerships, acquisitions and spinouts and played an active role in taking more than 10 compounds into the clinic. Immediately prior to joining SV, Ruth spent three years as Chief Executive Officer of the UK Government’s Innovation agency, InnovateUK, supporting the UK’s Industrial Strategy with responsibility for investing an annual budget of £1bn into Technology centres and SMEs.
Outside of SV, Ruth is a Trustee for Alzheimer’s Research UK and previously served as Chair of the UK’s BioIndustry Association. She is an enthusiast for innovation and entrepreneurship, sitting on multiple innovation and translation boards including the Academy of Engineering and the Francis Crick Institute. Ruth was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to business and innovation in 2013 and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2015. In her spare time Ruth is an award winning science writer, avid gardener and spokesperson for Women in Innovation. Academic credentials - Ruth has a BSc in Pharmacology and Biochemistry, a PhD in neuroscience and Honorary DSc from two Universities.
Olivia Cavlan
LifeArc Ventures
Olivia Cavlan
LifeArc Ventures
Olivia Cavlan is a Partner at LifeArc Ventures. Olivia was previously Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer at the UK biotechnology company Alchemab Therapeutics, which she co-founded, with responsibility for global business development, partnerships, and corporate strategy. Before Alchemab, Olivia was an Investment Principal at SV Health Investors and a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she was part of the leadership team in the Healthcare Private Equity and Pharmaceutical practices. At McKinsey, she co-led the global Real World Evidence practice and QuantumBlack’s biopharmaceutical offering, focusing on target discovery and clinical development. She has led global biopharma R&D transformation initiatives and developed clinical and commercial strategies for preclinical and clinical assets. Olivia is a Non-Executive Director of the UK BioIndustry Association and a member of the Investment Committee for Cancer Research UK’s (CRUK) Seed fund. She co-founded and sits on the Board of Sevenless Therapeutics, a company specialising in small molecule pain treatments. She holds an MBChB in Medicine and a BSc in Pharmacology from Bristol University.
Philip Brainin
Sound Bioventures
Philip Brainin
Associate, Sound Bioventures
Before joining Sound Bioventures in December 2022, Philip worked as an intern at Sunstone Life Science Ventures in Copenhagen, where he conducted due diligence on incoming deals and analyzed European cardiovascular companies.
After earning his medical degree from Copenhagen University, Philip worked as a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School to obtain his ph.D. degree. During his postdoctoral studies he established a biobank in the Brazilian Amazon Basin for which he was awarded the Lundbeck Foundation Talent Prize 2021 for dedicated young researchers. Subsequently, he worked with strategy support and business development for biotech start-ups and completed a MBA at Copenhagen Business School, where he graduated with the highest GPA ever achieved in the program.
Based in Copenhagen, DK.
Hakan Goker
M Ventures
Hakan Goker
Managing Director, M Ventures
Hakan Goker, PhD, is the Managing Director of M Ventures and heads the Biotechnology Investments covering Healthcare and Life Science Tools and Technologies sectors. Hakan joined M Ventures in 2013 and has been investing in the sector for 19 years.
Previously, Hakan was a partner at Aescap Venture investing in European opportunities. Hakan started his investment career at Atlas Venture focusing on global investment opportunities in healthcare and medical technologies across US, Europe and Asia. He was instrumental in the creation and financing, business and R&D strategies of multiple companies in their formation years including Bicycle, Nimbus Discovery, and f-Star while at Aescap and Atlas. Hakan continues his active investing role and represents M Ventures on multiple portfolio companies. He comes from an academic background receiving his Ph.D. in oncology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London, UK and continuing his scientific career with post doctoral work at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital. He gained his B.Sc. Hons, from University College London. Hakan is based in Amsterdam at the M Ventures head office.
Nicole Mather
IBM
Nicole Mather
IBM
Nicole leads Life Sciences for IBM Consulting UKI and EMEA working across biopharma and health research organisations to deliver change for patients. Building on a vision to transform the future of the industry, her teams combine a collaborative culture, innovative approaches and technical depth to enable business transformation. Working with IBM Research enables cutting edge AI technologies and methods to be incorporated into client solutions from clinical trials acceleration and innovative manufacturing to cyber, hybrid cloud and SAP transformation.
Currently, Nicole serves as a NED at the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult and Wellcome Sanger Genome Research. As the founding Director of the Office for Life Sciences, across the Departments of Health and Business, Nicole led the development of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy for UK government and acted as SRO for Genomics England. Prior to OLS, Nicole had over 15 years’ experience as a strategy consultant at Deloitte and Kearney. Nicole was previously an Executive Director of NHS DigiTrials and a Non-Executive Director of the Health Research Authority. She holds a DPhil in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford.
Bonnie van Wilgenburg
Monograph Capital
Bonnie van Wilgenburg
Monograph Capital
Bonnie van Wilgenburg has been a VC investor at Monograph’s London office since 2021, where she leads investments and helps build biotech companies. She serves as a board director at Autobahn Therapeutics and previously led due diligence on MiroBio, acquired by Gilead.
Before joining Monograph, Bonnie spent four years at Forbion, where she was a board observer at Inflazome, acquired by Roche in 2020 for US $450 million. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an academic scientist in immunology, virology, and stem cell research at the University of Oxford and the University of Melbourne. She earned her DPhil in immunology from Oxford.
Amanda Gett-Chaperot
Kurma Partners
Amanda Gett-Chaperot
Kurma Partners
Amanda is a Partner at Kurma Partners, a venture capital firm based in Paris and Munich. Focussed on biotech, Amanda invests in early-stage companies as well as company creation. Prior to Kurma, Amanda was investor with the Roche Venture Fund and Seventure Partners. Earlier as Roche Global Business Development Director and Strategy Director Emerging Technologies, she focussed on external innovation (biotech and academia). Amanda began her career in academic research, as a postdoctoral fellow in Switzerland (ISREC, Lausanne; IRB, Bellinzona), a PhD in Immunology and BMedSci (honours) from University of Sydney. Amanda also holds an MBA from IE Business School.
Toby Sykes
ICG
Toby Sykes
Managing Director, Life Sciences, ICG
Dr Toby Sykes joined ICG in 2021 as Managing Director in the Life Sciences team.
Previously he was a Managing Partner at Syncona and a Managing Director at Essex Woodlands, where he was responsible for sourcing and managing venture and growth investments across Europe and North America.
He has over 20 years of transaction experience in Life Sciences, including 18 years’ investment experience. He has held board positions at a number of Life Sciences companies.
Victoria Darbyshire
J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Victoria Darbyshire
J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Victoria joined J.P. Morgan in 2004, moving to the European Research team within Asset Management in 2007. She works as an analyst covering the healthcare sector, contributing to the European and Global funds. She became a CFA charterholder in 2009 and has a BSc in Chemistry from Durham University.
Nick Keher
Oxford Nanopore
Nick Keher
Oxford Nanopore
Nick Keher is the Chief Financial Officer at Oxford Nanopore Technologies, where he oversees the Group’s finance function and investor relations. He brings significant experience in financial leadership within complex scientific businesses, contributing to the company's strategic financial planning and market positioning.
Before joining Oxford Nanopore, Nick served as CFO at both Clinigen Group and Benevolent AI, both listed businesses in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. His earlier career includes a role as Managing Director and Head of the European healthcare equity research team at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Prior to RBC, Nick held positions at Investec and GSK, following a transition from practising pharmacy to finance.
Nick’s academic background includes qualifications in pharmacy, which laid the foundation for his deep understanding of the life sciences sector. His extensive experience in capital markets and financial management equips him with the tools to navigate the complexities of the industry, ensuring robust financial health and investor confidence for Oxford Nanopore.
Renée Aguiar-Lucander
Hansa Biopharma
Renée Aguiar-Lucander
Hansa Biopharma
Renée Aguiar-Lucander is CEO of Hansa Biopharma, a European based commercial stage company with a novel immunomodulatory technology based on a proprietary platform. She joined Hansa in April 2025 and was previously CEO of Calliditas Therapeutics AB, where she successfully built and led the company to achieve the first ever accelerated approval by the cardio renal division of the FDA. During her tenure, the Company listed on NASDAQ in both Sweden and the U.S. and successfully launched TARPEYO, the first ever approved drug for IgA nephropathy, a rare kidney disease. The Company had a fully integrated US commercial entity generating product sales in excess of $100m in 2023. In September 2024, Calliditas was acquired by Asahi Kasei Corporation for over $1bn.
Prior to Calliditas, Aguiar-Lucander had a long and successful career in the healthcare investment sector, holding senior investment roles in Omega Funds and 3i Group. She is a Board member of AC Immune, Inventiva Pharma and SwedenBio as well as being a senior advisor to Athyrium Capital Management.
Jeremy Skillington
Poolbeg Pharma
Jeremy Skillington
Poolbeg Pharma
Jeremy Skillington, PhD began his biotechnology career in the Business Development group of Genentech, Inc in California in 2002. At Genentech he was responsible for executing over 40 licensing, investment and collaboration transactions. Returning to Ireland in 2009, Jeremy led Business Development and was a member of the Senior Management team at Opsona Therapeutics Ltd before becoming a founder and CEO of immuno-oncology company TriMod Therapeutics Ltd. In 2014 Jeremy joined German life science investment fund HS Lifesciences GmbH to provide start-up and business development support to portfolio companies ImmunoQure AG and Ethris GmbH. Jeremy joined Inflazome Ltd on its founding in 2016 and as VP of Business Development was instrumental in their acquisition by Roche in September 2020 for €380m upfront and significant downstream milestones for their portfolio of NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors. He has been CEO of publicly listed Poolbeg Pharma Plc since June 2021.
Jeremy studied Biochemistry at the University of Galway, Ireland where he was awarded his PhD. He performed post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco in the lab of Prof Rik Derynck. He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College, Dublin in the School of Biochemistry & Immunology.
Ray Barlow
SynOx Therapeutics
Ray Barlow
SynOx Therapeutics
Ray was appointed as CEO of SynOx Therapeutics in May 2021. Ray has over 20 years’ experience of the biopharmaceutical industry gained through leadership positions in scientific, clinical, commercial, and executive roles. Ray has diverse experience gained in global pharmaceutical companies (AstraZeneca, J&J and Amgen), publicly listed biotechs (Emergent BioSolutions Inc, Crucell N.V., e-Therapeutics PLC and Kiadis N.V.) and private companies such as Asterion Limited.
JRay has very strong corporate development experience, right across the value chain and has led and closed numerous M&A, licensing, commercial, manufacturing, equity-based and IP-based deals collectively worth multiple billions of dollars. Prior to his industrial career, Ray completed a PhD at Manchester University, UK and did postdoctoral research at McGill University, Canada.
Clarke Futch
HCRx
Clarke Futch
HCRx
Clarke B. Futch is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HCRx. Mr. Futch is responsible for all of HCRx’s business activities, sets the strategic direction of the firm and remains actively involved in new opportunities. He is considered an early pioneer in the royalty space, having been named in 2010 one of the future leaders in biotech finance by BioWorld, a leading industry publication. Since 2001, he has led/coled 60+ royalty-related acquisitions with an aggregate value of nearly $4 billion. Mr. Futch brings over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical/healthcare investing and financing, having raised over $8 billion in equity and debt principal capital across eleven vehicles and executed more than 165 transactions, including royalty, equity, debt and M&A financings. Before co-founding HCRx, Mr. Futch served as a partner at Paul Capital Partners where he co-managed the firm’s royalty activities as a member of the royalty management committee. Previously, he served as a founding member of the healthcare group at Thomas Weisel Partners (now Stifel), and as a vice president at Raymond James. Mr. Futch currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Managers of HCRx Holdings as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Valinor Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Futch holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Peter van de Sande
Synaffix – A Lonza Company
Peter van de Sande
Synaffix - A Lonza Company
Since his appointment as CEO of Synaffix in 2011, Peter has been responsible for implementing a strategic shift at the Company, refocusing exclusively on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). In a short timeframe, this shift has seen Synaffix transition from an academic spin-out into a leading biotech in the field of ADCs. This new strategy has been validated by a string of commercial licensing agreements with prominent ADC developers across the US, Europe and China, ultimately leading to the acquisition by Lonza in 2023. Prior to joining Synaffix, Peter spent over 10 years in the chemical industry, holding various executive positions at CPS Color (now Chromaflo/Corob). He received his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, an Executive MBA degree from Kellogg School of Management and a Master of Business Law (MBL) degree from Sydney University.
Nick Bastin
Optimum
Nick Bastin
Managing Director, Optimum Strategic Communications
Nick has over 30 years of experience advising companies and individuals from over 35 different markets on a wide range of multi-market, multi-stakeholder communications. Nick specialises in helping clients build powerful narratives around corporate reputation, employer brand and investor and capital market objectives.
Nick has strong transaction experience and has helped clients raise over €30bn through IPOs and has advised on M&A transactions with a combined deal value in excess of €150bn.
Premal Pajwani
PRP Advisory
Premal Pajwani
Senior Advisor, Optimum Strategic Communications
Premal is a Senior Adviser to Optimum and is the founder and principal of PRP Advisory, a specialist independent healthcare consultancy firm. Premal previously worked as the Global Healthcare Specialist for J.P. Morgan Asset Management in London for 8 years.
Prior to this, Premal was a Healthcare Portfolio Manager with at First State Investments. From 2000 to 2007, Premal was a Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities and Eden Financial. From 1991 to 2000, Premal worked as a Research Analyst covering Pharma at various banks and brokers in NYC. Premal holds an M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and a B.Com. from University of Bombay, India.
Past Speakers
A selection of some of our brilliant panellists from previous years.
Professor Chris Whitty
UK Government
Dr Mehmood Khan
Hevolution Foundation
Dr Mehmood Khan
Chief Executive Officer, Hevolution Foundation
Dr. Mehmood Khan's was formerly Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer of Global Research and Development at PepsiCo, and President of Global R&D at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Before moving into the private sector, Dr. Khan was a faculty member in endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic and Medical School, where he served as Director of the Diabetes, Endocrine and Nutritional Trials Unit. He also led programs in diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism, and nutrition in Minneapolis.
Dr. Khan is a member of the Board of Directors of Reckitt Benckiser and of the Saudi Research, Development, and Innovation Authority (RDIA), Executive Chairman of Life Biosciences, a member of the Saudi National Biotechnology Strategy Steering Committee, and Chairman of the Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology of the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Nerida Scott
Johnson & Johnson Innovation
Nerida Scott
Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, EMEA
Nerida Scott is the Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation EMEA, based at the Innovation Center (IC) in London, UK.
In this role, Nerida oversees the EMEA IC portfolio of co-investments and collaborations to construct, prioritize and advance the early external innovation portfolio of Johnson & Johnson. She identifies and accelerates science and technology outside the company in areas of strategic value to consumer health, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, exploring new models to support external R&D collaboration and grow early stage innovation networks.
Nerida has been an integral part of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation team since 2015. She was Vice President New Ventures & Transactions, and she led a senior team to identify, develop and execute early-stage transactions with diverse partners in the life sciences ecosystem, including academia, venture capital, entrepreneurs, NGOs and governmental organizations.
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Nerida was Director for Business Development & Licensing and Executive Team member at Vernalis PLC, a UK biotech company with US commercial activities, responsible for transactions from evaluation through negotiation to closing. Before that, Nerida worked in business development at RiboTargets, a biotech building on Nobel Prize-winning science from the lab of Venki Ramakrishnan. Her experience also includes The Boston Consulting Group in London, where she was a project leader providing strategic counsel to clients on M&A opportunities, R&D, manufacturing and business strategies.
Nerida has a broad background in operational and commercial activities with over 20 years of diverse business and transaction experience, including acquisitions and divestments in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
Nerida received her BSc from Sydney University, Australia, and her PhD in Biochemistry as the Prince of Wales' scholar, Trinity College, Cambridge University, UK. Nerida is a member of the UK Biolndustry Association Board, as well as having a Board position with several Johnson & Johnson entities.
Linden Thomson
AXA Investment Managers
Annalisa Jenkins
Genomics England
Kasim Kutay
Novo Holdings
Gemma Game
Norges Bank Investment Management
Gemma Game
Head of Healthcare, Equity Strategies, Norges Bank Investment Management
Gemma Game is a Senior Portfolio Manager responsible for Healthcare at Norges Bank Investment Management. She has over 20 years’ experience investing in the global healthcare sector. Gemma joined NBIM in 2014 from AXA Investment Managers, where she was head of the healthcare team. Previously, Gemma was a fund manager at BlackRock responsible for healthcare investments on the Global Equity team. Gemma studied pharmacology at Cambridge University.
Professor Tony Young OBE
NHS England
Catherine Pickering
iOnctura
Catherine Pickering
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, iOnctura
Catherine holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and an MBA. During her career she has held various licensing and business development positions in pharma and biotech.
Before founding and building iOnctura, she led the global oncology and immuno-oncology licensing and business development function at Merck. During her time at Merck she was also an integral member of the oncology franchise leadership team, a cross functional team responsible for creating the strategy and managing the oncology business.
Edwin Moses
NED Various
Maina Bhaman
Sofinnova Partners
Deborah Harland
SR One
Francesco de Rubertis
Medicxi
Francesco de Rubertis
Co-founder & Partner, Medicxi
Francesco is a co-founder and Partner at Medicxi. Prior to Medicxi, Francesco was a Partner at Index Ventures for 19 years, having joined the firm in 1997 to launch its life sciences practice. Under his leadership, the asset-centric approach to life sciences investing was conceived and implemented. Francesco currently serves on the boards of a number of portfolio companies, including Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Levicept, Alys Pharmaceuticals, TOAD Oncology and Kaerus Biosciences.
Francesco's prior investments include CellZome (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), GenMab (Copenhagen: GEN.CO), GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT), Micromet (acquired by Amgen), Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX), Molecular Partners (SIX:MOLN), PanGenetics (acquired by Abbott), Parallele Biosciences (acquired by Affymetrix), Profibrix (acquired by The Medicines Company) and Versartis (NASDAQ:VSAR).
Francesco received a BA in Genetics and Microbiology from the University of Pavia and a PhD Molecular Biology from the University of Geneva. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Whitehead Institute at MIT and is a CFA Charterholder.
Clive Cookson
The Financial Times
Clive Cookson
Science Editor, The Financial Times
Clive Cookson has worked in science journalism for the whole of his professional life. He left Oxford University with a First-Class Honours degree in chemistry and, after training on the Luton Evening Post, joined Times Higher Education - first as science correspondent in London and then as American Editor in Washington.
Clive returned to London as technology correspondent of the Times and then moved to BBC Radio as science and medical correspondent. He went back to print journalism as technology editor of the Financial Times. In 1991 he became science editor at the FT, leading a writing team covering science and health, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Since October 2023 Clive has been the FT’s senior science writer. He has won numerous science journalism awards, including British Science Writer of the Year 2022.
Oliver Maier
Bayer
Kate Bingham
UK Vaccine Taskforce, SV Health Investors
Gil Bar-Nahum, PhD
Jefferies International
Gil Bar-Nahum, PhD
Managing Director, Jefferies International
Dr. Gil Bar-Nahum is a Managing Director in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Jefferies and focuses on the Life Sciences universe in Europe, Israel and Asia. Dr. Bar-Nahum has over 14 years of investment banking experience and was most recently an Executive Director in UBS Investment Bank's Global Healthcare Group since 2002. Prior to that, Dr. Bar-Nahum worked as a Biotechnology Research Analyst for UBS where he served as an Associate Director covering companies in the Life Science Tools space.
Dr. Bar-Nahum has executed and advised on over 90 transactions across the globe in the life sciences space, with particular expertise in Biotechnology. Dr. Bar-Nahum received his PhD in Basic Medical Sciences with a focus in Biochemistry from the Sackler Institute at the New York University School of Medicine. The subject of Dr. Bar-Nahum's doctorate work was published twice in the journal Cell. Dr. Bar-Nahum also received an MS from New York University’s School of Medicine in cell and molecular biology and a BS from the University of Illinois in microbiology.
Renée Aguiar-Lucander
Calliditas Therapeutics
Renée Aguiar-Lucander
Calliditas Therapeutics
Renée Aguiar-Lucander has over 30 years of experience in company management, strategic and financial development of US and European private and public companies with core sector expertise in healthcare and technology. Renée joined Calliditas in 2017 as CEO and has taken the Company from its initial listing on the Swedish stock exchange in 2018 - in what was one of the largest European IPOs that year - to a successful listing on US NASDAQ in June 2020 raising $90 million and subsequently building a commercial biopharma company focused on rare disease. Calliditas was the first company globally to successfully complete a Phase 3 study in the rare autoimmune disease of IgA Nephropathy, and to bring the first ever approved drug to market.
Before joining Calliditas, Renée Aguiar-Lucander was a Partner and COO of Omega Fund Management, an international venture capital company focused on investments within the life science sector. Before that, she served as a Partner in the venture capital group 3i Group plc in London, where she managed the publicly quoted assets and was co-head of the global healthcare and technology portfolio. Prior to this, Renée Aguiar-Lucander was a European Group Head and Managing Director at a global investment bank and has more than 12 years' experience in corporate finance. Prior to her career in investment banking, she was the Head of European Sales and Marketing in a company focused on the sale of analytical software for financial services.
Isabella Schidrich
Nasdaq
Isabella Schidrich
Senior Managing Director, Nasdaq
Isabella Schidrich, Senior Managing Director, has been responsible for business development of Nasdaq in Europe since 2001. Isabella has worked with hundreds of European companies, supporting a Nasdaq listing and managing the relationship with the Capital Markets community (investment banks, PE / VC firms, IR/PR firms, legal / accounting firms) and Nasdaq-listed companies in Europe. Prior to that, Isabella gained extensive business development experience within the telecommunications industry, heading business units at BT Group and at Deutsche Telekom AG, and within the Services Industry. Isabella holds a Master in Business Administration from Munich University (Germany).
Professor James Logan
The London School of Hygience and Tropical Medicine
Rajeev Venkayya
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Asaf Homossany
Nasdaq
Asaf Homossany
Head of Healthcare, Equity Strategies, Norges Bank Investment Management
Asaf Homossany is a Senior Managing Director at Nasdaq responsible for the Nasdaq listing business in EMEA. He has over 25 years of experience in global capital markets and during his tenure with Nasdaq has supported over 250 companies from the EMEA region (including Israel, UK, France, the Nordics, Middle East and South Africa, as they listed on Nasdaq.
In his role, Asaf is responsible for Nasdaq’s listing strategy in EMEA, including supporting pre-IPO companies, VCs, PE funds and advisers in the region with capital raising in the US or on any of Nasdaq’s European exchanges. An expert on IPOs, capital raising and capital markets, Asaf is familiar with the unique challenges that SMEs and growth companies face when navigating this space. He works closely with management teams of private companies as they prepare for their IPOs on Nasdaq and their transition into the public markets but also oversees the on going relationships between such companies and Nasdaq post IPO to help them maximise the benefits of being a listed company in the US.
Sean Marett
BioNTech
Peter Stein
Norgine Group
Mike Ward
Decision Resources Group, part of Clarivate
Elisa Petris
Syncona
Allan Marchington
ICG
Allan Marchington
Managing Director and Head of Life Sciences, ICG
Allan joined ICG in January 2021 and is Managing Director, and Head of Life Sciences, responsible for the Life Science Fund strategy and team at ICG.
Prior to ICG, Allan was Founder and Managing Partner of Bridge Valley Ventures, a successful life science investor, and prior to this was a Partner and Founder of Apposite Capital. Before this Allan was at Abingworth.
Formerly a PhD medicinal chemist at Pfizer, he later founded and was CEO of his own life sciences company before it was successfully acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2000 where he became SVP Technology. On his return to the UK in 2003 Allan joined Abingworth to begin his investment career.
Niccolò Cominacini
Citi
Niccolò Cominacini
Citi
Niccolò Cominacini currently runs the Depositary Receipt Sales team for UK & Europe. He has extensive client experience both in sales and account management, he previously had direct responsibilities for clients in the Life Sciences sector such as Adaptimmune, Immunocore or Orchard Therapeutics. Niccolò earned his MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona. He also holds an MSc degree in Economics and Finance from Bocconi University, Milan. Prior to Citi, he worked for Accenture in Spain and the USA.
Kieran Murphy
Gamma Biosciences & SPT Labtech
Kieran Murphy
Chairman, Gamma Biosciences & SPT Labtech
Kieran was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of the $19B Healthcare division of General Electric. Prior to overseeing GE Healthcare, he was president and CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a global leader in life sciences tools and diagnostics providing a broad range of technologies and services for biopharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing. Under Kieran’s’s leadership, GE Healthcare Life Sciences emerged as a market leader in the bioprocessing industry. Prior to joining GE, Kieran served as CEO of Whatman plc, a global supplier of filters and membranes for life sciences applications.
Geraldine O’Keeffe
EQT
Geraldine O'Keeffe
Partner, EQT
Geraldine O'Keeffe joined EQT in 2008, as Partner within the EQT Life Sciences team. Her association with LSP began the same year and continued until 2022, culminating in the integration of LSP with EQT, subsequently rebranded as EQT Life Sciences.
Before affiliating with LSP, Geraldine served as a Senior Equity Research Analyst at Fortis Bank in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Prior to Fortis, she held the position of Head of Infectious Disease at Biotrin, a medical diagnostic company based in Dublin, Ireland, which has since become an integral part of Diasorin.
Geraldine holds a BSc Hons in Microbiology and Biochemistry from University College Cork, an MSc in Biotechnology from University College Galway, and a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies from the Dublin School of Business.
Guillaume Vignon
BeiGene
Philippe Lopes-Fernandes
Ipsen
Kevin Mannix
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd
Stavros Mercouris
KKR
Isabella Eichler
Altor Private Equity
Werner Lanthaler
Evotec
Anne Marden
JP Morgan Asset Management
Jan van de Winkel
Genmab
Simon Amies
Cooley
Simon Amies
Partner, Cooley
Simon is a partner in Cooley’s life sciences practice advising on mergers & acquisitions (public and private), initial public offerings and other capital-raising transactions, and venture and growth capital investments. Simon has extensive experience in advising companies at all stages of their development, as well as counseling investors and investment banks. He has represented a wide range of clients in the life sciences, technology and sustainable technology industries.
Antoine Papiernik
Sofinnova Partners
Martin Murphy
Syncona
Paul Major
Bellevue Asset Management
Roel Bulthuis
Inkef Capital
David Pinniger
Polar Capital
Vicky Darbyshire
JP Morgan Asset Management
George Freeman
Government adviser on Life Sciences
Lynn Lewis
Gilmartin Group
Lynn Lewis
Founder & CEO, Gilmartin Group
Lynn spent the first half of her career as a Wall Street equity research analyst and investor focused on evaluating innovative companies within the medical device and healthcare sector. She pivoted in 2008 to strategic consulting with emphasis on investor relations, capital markets advisory and support in forecasting financial and operational milestones. Having created and executed investor relations programs and strategies for over 100 companies (public and private) at various stages of development, Lynn has a proven track record of success. She is actively involved with her clients, enabling companies to effectively communicate their business strategy, operational goals, and financial profile to Wall Street constituents. Lynn and the team at Gilmartin work with many of the most successful IPOs in the medical technology sector, advising initially on capital markets and IPO readiness, and continuing on, partnering on IR strategy and long term shareholder engagement.
Prior to founding Gilmartin Group, Lynn was a Managing Director at Westwicke Partners offering strategic counsel to public and private entities, with specific emphasis on medical technology, diagnostics, and life sciences. Lynn was previously a Founder and Portfolio Manager at Aphelion Capital, a healthcare fund focused on public and private investments and prior to that, was a Partner at Thomas Weisel Partners (now Stifel Nicholas) and a Sr. Vice President at Adams & Harkness & Hill (now Canaccord Genuity) in equity research.
Lynn holds the CFA designation, has a MS in Finance from Boston College Carroll School of Management and a BA in Environmental Science and Mathematics from University of Vermont. When not working, Lynn spends time with her family (and dog) outside as much as possible. She serves on the board of directors of Slide Ranch, a non profit committed to environmental stewardship and education.
Gavin MacGregor
HBM Partners
Andrew Holder
Mole Valley Asset Management
Richard Girling
Centreview Partners
Justin Stebbing
Imperial College London
Lisa Urquhart
Vantage
Thomas Burt
Sofinnova
Harry Destecroix
Unit DX
Ilan Chaitowitz
Nomura Asset Management
Dale Raine
Lazard
Jonathan Tobin
Arix Bioscience
Soren Moller
Novo Holdings
Jasper Bos
M Ventures
Marc Booty
Pictet Asset Management
Ian Nicholson
F2G
Anker Lundemose
Mission Therapeutics
Sam Fazeli
Bloomberg Intelligence
Professor Sir Michael Rawlins
NICE
Andy Richards CBE
NED Various
Rice Powell
Fresenius Medical Care
John Dawson
Oxford Biomedica
Lisa Anson
Redx Pharma
Amber Tong
Endpoints News
Ulrica Slåne Bjerke
Arctic Asset Management
Joe Anderson
Sofinnova Partners
Naveed Siddiqi
Novo Holdings
Stephen Hansen
BioCentury
Hosts
Optimum Strategic Communications
Optimum Strategic Communications is an international healthcare communications firm which specialises in strategic investor relations, corporate and financial communications. Our senior healthcare specialists, based in London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Zurich, and New York, are experienced and trusted advisors to some of the world’s most exciting public and private companies, both large and small, across healthcare, life sciences and industrial biotechnology.
Over the last 25 years we have worked with over 400 healthcare companies, advising them on financial communications and investor relations, including major corporate activities such as fundraising, IPOs, and M&A, as well as corporate reputation and crisis scenarios.
We have an exceptional network of contacts across the international investment community in Europe and the US; contacts we have built and maintained over the last three decades. Our team includes ex-fund managers and analysts, scientists, as well as financial and corporate communications specialists.
For more information, please visit www.optimumcomms.com.
2025 Agenda |
10-11:00 |
Registration |
| 11:00 |
Everything you wanted to know about how to have the best exit to pharma but were too afraid to askChair: Nick Bastin, Managing Director, Optimum
|
|
| 11:50 |
Who’s listening? Tailoring the narrative for maximum punchChair: Philip Brainin, Associate, Sound Bioventures
|
| Networking lunch sponsored by:
|
12:40 – 13:40 |
Networking lunch sponsored by Citi & Nasdaq |
| 13:40 |
Welcome from Mary Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Optimum Strategic Communications |
|
| 13:45 |
Fireside chat – Biotech, boardrooms, and the occasional billion-dollar exitChair: Hannah Kuchler, Global Pharmaceutical Editor, Financial Times
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| 14:15 |
Thriving in the tough times: scaling smart and staying strongChair: Kristin-Anne Rutter, Executive Director, Cambridge University Health Partners
|
| Tea break and networking sponsored by:
|
15:05 |
Refreshment break sponsored by Babraham Research Campus |
| 15:40 |
Fireside chat – Mind over matter: Ruth McKernan’s quest to outsmart dementia (and bureaucracy)Chair: Dr Daniel Mahony, Senior Partner, Growth Investments, Novo Holdings
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|
| 16:10 |
Fever dream or new reality? Taking the temperature of the market and looking ahead to 2026Chair: Olivia Cavlan, Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer, Alchemab Therapeutics
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|
| 17:00 |
Optimum’s featured charity: Brain Tumour Research |
|
| 17:10 |
Thank you and closing from Optimum |
|
| 17:15 |
Networking reception drinks sponsored by Cooley & ICG |
| Networking reception drinks sponsored by Cooley
|
19:30 |
Ends |
When & Where
We look forward to welcoming you to our conference.
Optimum’s 18th Healthcare Investor Conference
The Kings Fund, London
Looking for a place to stay?
We have special group rates at two nearby hotels – The Treehouse & The Marylebone Hotel.
Email us for more information at irconference@optimumcomms.com.
Register your interest
Register your interest for Optimum Strategic Communications’ 18th Annual Healthcare Investor Conference on Thursday 8th October 2026 at The Kings Fund, Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN
