Meet the team

Our team brings a rich background of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and CRO drug development expertise to companies we invest in.

Alek Safarian

Alek Safarian

CEO

Lorna Collings

Lorna Collings

CFO

Dr Bruce Goldsmith

Dr Bruce Goldsmith

Operating Partner

Dr Robert Balfour

Dr Robert Balfour

Investment Director

Katie Sunnucks

Katie Sunnucks

Associate

Andre Badalyan

Andre Badalyan

Senior Analyst

Julia Jones

Julia Jones

Investment Manager

Dr Graeme Martin

Dr Graeme Martin

Consultant

Laura Higgins

Laura Higgins

Accounts Assistant

Advisory Board

Professor Jyoti Choudhary

Professor Jyoti Choudhary

Advisor

Jyoti is a Professor of Functional Proteomics at the Institute of Cancer Research. Her research focuses on developing and implementing novel mass spectrometry, and data analysis approaches for proteome discovery. She is also Head of the Proteomics Facility at the Institute of Cancer Research. Before joining the ICR, Jyoti was Head of Proteomic Mass Spectrometry Platform at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. She was a cofounder of Cellzome AG, which was spun out of GSK.

Professor Gerard Evan

Professor Gerard Evan

Advisor

Professor of Cancer Biology, Kings College London and Principal Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. He is an expert on oncogenes – the genes that drive cancer development and has played a vital role in identifying some of these genes, e.g. the transcription factor Myc, and revealing how they fuel the disease. Until May 2022 he was Sir William Dunn Professor and Head of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, and prior to that, he was a distinguished professor of cancer research at UCSF. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Society.

Professor Jasmin Fisher

Professor Jasmin Fisher

Advisor

Jasmin is a professor of computational biology at UCL. The Fisher Lab develops computational tools to study the evolution of cancer and its underlying mechanisms to identify personalised treatment. Before joining UCL, Jasmin was a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge and an Associate Professor in systems Biology at Cambridge University.

Dr Michael Steward

Dr Michael Steward

Advisor

In a research career spanning 30 years, Michael has worked across academic, biotech and pharmaceutical industries, specialising in protein and antibody engineering. He was formerly Head of Lead Discovery and Director of Antibody Technologies within GSKs Biopharm R&D unit. Before this, he served in a senior role at Domantis Ltd and has also performed prominent roles for other biotech companies and organisations working in diverse areas such as immunodiagnostics and epigenetics.