CRT - Scientific Advisory Board

Herbie Newell is Professor of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and Director of Translational Research at Cancer Research UK. He is Past-Chairman of the British Association for Cancer Research, and the Laboratory Research Division and the Pharmacology and Molecular Mechanisms Group of the EORTC. Professor Newell was involved in the development of the licensed anticancer drugs carboplatin (Paraplatin) and ralitrexed (Tomudex). His current research interests include the development of molecularly-targeted anticancer drugs, in particular kinase inhibitors, and the identification of drugs that modulate DNA repair as a mechanism for over coming resistance to cytotoxic drugs and radiotherapy.

He is an author of over 180 scientific articles and Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology. Professor Newell has acted as a consultant for international and national Pharma and Biotech companies including: Astex Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Aventis, Biotica, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Novartis, OSI Pharmaceuticals and Xenova.

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Dr Karen Zinkewich-Péotti

Dr Karen Zinkewich-Péotti is VP Oncology Research at UCB, a leading global biopharmaceutical company (www.ucb-group.com). She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Montréal, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Georgetown University. She joined Celltech in 1993 and worked on a number of antibody and small molecule projects. Dr. Zinkewich-Péotti joined Aventis (Paris) in 2000 and took on a number of roles there, ultimately with overall responsibility for Oncology Research. She returned to Celltech (now UCB) in 2002 to spearhead a new Oncology initiative, establishing a portfolio of antibody and small molecule projects. She has led research efforts that have resulted in three clinical compounds, with the most advanced, currently in Phase 2 trials. She says: “Oncology research and cancer patient care have been my passion for many years, and despite the challenges, I remain optimistic that our increased understanding of the disease, will lead to significant treatment breakthroughs.”

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Prof Paul Workman

Professor Paul Workman is Director of the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute for Cancer Research, Sutton, UK. He is also the Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in The Institute and the University of London and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Manchester and Leeds. Previous positions include Cancer Research Section Head at AstraZeneca (1993-1997); Director of Laboratory Research and Cancer Research UK Professor of Experimental Cancer Therapy in the Department of Medical Oncology, Beatson Laboratories, University of Glasgow (1990-1993); UICC sabbatical visitor to Stanford University and Stanford Research International, California (1989); and staff member of the Medical Research Council Clinical Oncology Unit, MRC Centre, Cambridge University (1976-1990). Professor Workman is a Cancer Research UK Life Fellow (1991) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2002). He has published over 400 research articles in cancer pharmacology and drug development and edited several books and journal issues in the field. Professor Workman has been closely involved with a number of drugs that have entered clinical development, including the EGFR inhibitor gefitinib (Iressa), the HSP0 inhibitors 17-AAG and NVP-AUY922, and the PI3 kinase inhibitor GDC-0941. He has been a consultant to large range of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and is a Scientific Founder of Chroma Therapeutics and Piramed Pharma, recently acquired by Roche. His current research interests are in the discovery of a range new molecular cancer therapeutics and biomarkers and in the development of personalized molecular cancer medicine.

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Prof Julian Blagg

Professor Julian Blagg graduated in chemistry from the University of Oxford in 1984 and completed his DPhil at Oxford in 1986 working with Professor Steve Davies. He completed a 2 year Royal Society postdoctoral research fellowship with Professor Wolfgang Oppolzer in Geneva, Switzerland. He joined Pfizer, Sandwich, UK in 1988 as a medicinal chemistry team leader in the Urology and Cardiovascular therapeutic areas. In 1998 Julian led chemistry in the Inflammation area at Pfizer, Groton, USA, returning to the UK in 1999 as head of the Pfizer laboratories located at the University of Kent at Canterbury. In 2001 he returned to Sandwich where he led medicinal chemistry teams in the Sexual Health and Obesity therapeutic areas. In 2007, Julian was appointed Head of Exploratory Medicinal Sciences (EMS) in Sandwich with overall responsibility for lead discovery and platform groups enabling therapeutic area delivery.

In October 2007 Julian was appointed Professor and Head of Chemistry at the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, part of The Institute for Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey, UK. He is Deputy Direct of the Centre for Cancer Therapeutics and is leading drug discovery teams in the design and synthesis of safe and effective drugs for the treatment of cancer.

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Dr Bob Jackson

Dr Bob Jackson held academic appointments at the Institute of Cancer Research, UK and Indiana University, USA. In 1982 he joined Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis where he directed anti-cancer and anti-infective discovery programmes. This was followed by an appointment as Director of Cancer Biology at DuPont Pharmaceuticals. In 1991 he joined Agouron Pharamaceuticals Inc, La Jolla, California, as Vice-President of Research & Development. He returned to the UK in 1997 as Research and Development Director and Chief Operating Officer of Chiroscience Ltd, Cambridge. Subsequent positions included Research and Development Directorships at Celltech and Cyclacel.

During his industry career he supervised discovery and development of 25 drugs that were taken to clinical trail, of which 5 are now marketed drugs, while others remain in development. He is author of two books, and over 150 other publications.

Consulting positions Bob held include member and chair of the Experimental Therapeutics Study Section (NIH), member of the Board of Scientific Counsellors, Developmental Therapeutics Program (NCI) and member and chair of the CR-UK Discovery Committee. Current interests include pharmacodynamic modelling of biomarker data, and biomathmatical studies of the cell cycle.

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