Meet the team

Therapeutics leadership team
Alastair Smith

Alastair Smith

Chief Executive Officer
Biography

Alastair is Chief Executive of Avacta Group plc.

He has been responsible for the management and strategic development of the company and has led the public and private M&A activities of the Group since the IPO on AIM which was completed via a reverse merger in 2006. Alastair is a respected and trusted executive with many years experience of investor relations in the UK, Europe and US and has successfully delivered multiple follow-on fundraisings for the Group totalling over £120m.

Avacta Group is developing next generation oncology drugs based on its proprietary Affimer® and preCISIONTM platforms through its clinical stage Therapeutics Division based in Cambridge, UK. Its Diagnostics Division, based in Wetherby, UK, is developing a pipeline of diagnostic immunoassays utilising Affimer® reagents and works with partners world-wide to develop Affimer-powered products. The Group has around one hundred employees across its two sites and a business development team in the US.

He has a degree and PhD in Physics from Manchester University and, following a period of working in the US, took up a position at Leeds University in 1995. At the age of 38 he was awarded a Chair of Molecular Biophysics and had, over ten years, grew one of the leading biophysics research groups in Europe before he left his academic career in 2007 to focus full time on delivering value to Avacta shareholders.

Tony Gardiner

Tony Gardiner

Chief Financial Officer
Biography

Tony joined Avacta from AHR, an international architecture and building consultancy practice, where he has held the role of Finance Director since 2011.Between 2007 and 2011, Tony was the Chief Financial Officer of AIM listed Fusion IP plc, an IP commercialisation company, which was subsequently acquired by IP Group plc in 2014. There, he played a key role in supporting the Chief Executive Officer in growing the business and oversaw all finance activities as well as directly supporting life sciences and health technology companies in Fusion’s portfolio.Tony has also held senior finance roles within Eversheds LLP, KCOM Group Plc, Eldon Electric Ltd and Hickson International Plc.

Fiona McLaughlin

Fiona McLaughlin

Chief Scientific Officer, Therapeutics
Biography

Dr Fiona McLaughlin is a highly experienced oncology drug developer, bringing over 25 years’ experience in research and translational drug development in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, having led teams from early research through to clinical development. Fiona started her career at GlaxoSmithKline and has subsequently held leadership positions in multiple biotech companies including Vice President, Translational Research at Antisoma plc and Director of Pre-clinical Development at BTG plc (now part of Boston Scientific).

Other roles include Head of Biology at TopoTarget A/S, where she was responsible for the pre-clinical development of belinostat which went on to gain FDA approval to treat peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Most recently, Fiona was Vice President of New Opportunities at Algeta ASA (acquired by Bayer), a Norwegian biotech developing alpha radio-pharmaceuticals, that gained FDA approval of Xofigo to treat castration resistant prostate cancer.

Fiona has also gained broad experience during her career as a Consultant, providing scientific and strategic advice to biotechs, Not-for-Profit Organisations, and Venture Capitalists in UK, Europe, USA and Australia, including helping drive oncology strategy at the CRUK/AstraZeneca Alliance Laboratory. Fiona received a PhD from the Haematology Department at Cambridge University and has a BSc in Biochemistry from Glasgow University.

Karen Harrison

Karen Harrison

Chief Operating Officer, Therapeutics
Biography

Reporting to the CEO, Karen is responsible for Operations within Avacta Therapeutics, supporting the research and development functions with the sole focus of creating maximum value for the organisation’s stakeholders. Aligning all employees to the company’s goals, Karen strategises and prioritises operational requirements, establishes achievable performance measures and sets comprehensive goals for Avacta Therapeutics’ business growth and success.

Karen has over 30 years’ experience managing complex global B2C organisations; designing, planning and implementing strategies, plans and procedures, with a focus on operational excellence, promotion of company culture/vision, and continuous improvement. Her last 15 years have seen her successfully undertake VP/SVP roles, predominantly within the healthcare and life sciences sectors.  She has grown PE backed businesses with a focus on value creation through expansion, partnerships, and acquisitions, and also has significant experience of successfully delivering business transformation and integration globally in competitive, consumer-focused environments.

Simon Bennett

Simon Bennett

Chief Business Officer, Therapeutics
Biography

Simon has over 26 years’ commercial experience in the biopharma industry. He has worked with companies from large and mid-sized pharma such as Bristol-Myers-Squibb and Menarini Group to early stage biotechs, supporting business development and licensing activities in addition to being involved in all aspects of business and corporate development. Simon has been involved in over 80 commercial deals across Europe, North America, Australasia, Japan, Russia/CIS and South America.

Simon’s career began at University of Oxford spin-out, Oxagen Limited where he established and built a franchise in Women’s Health, initially as Programme Director and later as Director of Business Development. He subsequently joined next generation sequencing company Solexa where, as Business Development Director, he was responsible for all commercial activities and external communications leading up to the reverse takeover of Nasdaq-listed Lynx Therapeutics to form Solexa Inc. which was later acquired by Illumina. Since then, Simon has worked as a consultant providing expert commercial and business development resources to a wide range of biopharmaceutical companies. Prior to moving into industry, Simon was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Imperial College London. He has published widely, particularly in the field of complex disease genetics.

Christina Coughlin

Christina Coughlin

Head of Research and Development
Biography

Christina Coughlin, MD, PhD is the former Chief Executive Officer of CytoImmune Therapeutics. Dr. Coughlin joined CytoImmune from Rubius Therapeutics, Inc. where she served as the Chief Medical Officer and led the clinical development, translational medicine and regulatory efforts in the allogeneic red cell therapy platform. Prior to Rubius, Dr. Coughlin was with Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc., where she served as Chief Medical Officer and was responsible for the development of autologous CAR-T and TCR-T cellular therapies.  Dr. Coughlin served as the Chief Medical Officer for Immunocore, Ltd where she led the development of KimmtrakTM, recently approved for the treatment of metastatic uveal melanoma. Dr. Coughlin has held other leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields in her career including Oncology Asset Team Leader at Pfizer and Clinical Program Team Lead at Novartis. Dr. Coughlin is an oncologist and immunologist, having received her M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and completed fellowships in Hematology and Oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and in the Translational Research Group under the direction of Carl June, M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Scientific Advisory Board
Professor James Spicer

Professor James Spicer

Biography

James Spicer MB., BA., PhD., FRCP is Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine in the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Studies at King’s College London, and Consultant in Medical Oncology at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospitals. He has a PhD in cancer biology, and a degree in biochemistry from the University of Oxford. He has established and runs a world-leading Phase 1 clinical trials programme in solid tumour oncology at Guy’s Hospital, where the portfolio of studies includes novel immunotherapies discovered and developed at King’s as well as many externally sponsored studies.

Professor Krishna Komanduri

Professor Krishna Komanduri

Biography

 

Professor Krishna Komanduri, M.D. is division chief of Hematology-Oncology at UC San Francisco’s Division of Hematology-Oncology. In addition to his role as division chief, Professor Komanduri is physician-in-chief of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as the clinical director of the UCSF Living Therapeutics Initiative. As division chief, he also holds the Julius R. Krevans Distinguished Professorship. Professor Komanduri formally held several key leadership roles at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami.

Professor Komanduri also serves on the United Health Care Oncology Advisory Committee and on the Optum Health Blood and Marrow Transplantation Advisory Committee. He is a past Chair of the American Society of Hematology Scientific Committee on Host Defense, is the current Chair of the ASTCT Cellular Therapy Committee and Chair-Elect of the Government Relations Committee.

Among his honors, he was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2009), and was recently inducted in to the Henry Kunkel Society (2021) and into the second class to be named Fellow of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (2021).

Dr. Stéphane Champiat

Dr. Stéphane Champiat

Biography

Dr Stéphane Champiat MD, PhD is a physician at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France. He has been working since 2012 in the Drug Development Department of Gustave Roussy where he is involved in the development of cancer therapeutics, in particular new immunotherapies. He has been principal investigator or co-investigator of more than 50 phase I clinical trials run by many of the worlds leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He is particularly involved in the coordination of the immunotherapy toxicity management program and the development of the intra-tumoral immunotherapy strategy at Gustave Roussy.

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