Meet the Facilitators
Learn more about the experienced professionals who will be guiding and supporting you throughout your Discovery Spark journey.

Alexander Bishop
Cripps

Alexander Bishop
Managing Associate
Cripps
As a managing associate in the corporate team, Alexander specialises in corporate transactions and advising owners and management teams.
He works with owners and management teams of companies ranging from larger market leaders to owner-managed and family businesses in a variety of sectors.
His transactional work includes mergers and acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and helping companies raise finance through both debt finance and equity investment. He also advises on general corporate matters including restructuring and drafting bespoke shareholder agreements and articles of association.

Andrew Pledger
Barclays Eagle Labs

Andrew Pledger
Ecosystem Manager
Barclays Eagle Labs
The Eagle Labs mission is to connect the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through a network of business incubators, expertise and support. Andrew works closely with innovators and entrepreneurs providing free advice and guidance, connecting businesses with the Eagle Labs network. He also runs a series of growth programmes and seminars.

Ceri Cook
Kreston Reeves

Ceri Cook
Accounts & Outsourcing Senior Manager
Kreston Reeves
Ceri has worked at Kreston Reeves for 16 years and has built up a portfolio of different businesses providing a range of services from annual compliance, management accounts and advisory work. She manages clients from a range of different industries and enjoys the variety of her work. Ceri is part of KR’s business advisory team and likes helping clients reach their goals.

Daren Booth
Innovate UK

Daren Booth
Innovation & Growth Specialist
Innovate UK
Daren Booth is an experienced, trusted, and pragmatic business support, growth and leadership development specialist. Working exclusively with ambitious and innovative SME businesses in the Southeast: Kent, Medway, and East Sussex as part of the Innovate UK Business Growth national team. Daren has worked across a wide range of business support programmes that blend non-financial innovation and growth support as well as initiating and securing various grant funding programmes and schemes. This experience spans key activities such as advisory support, developing with clients the business case for funding and grant aid, managing grant funds and formal allocation of awards to suit funder requirements. Innovate UK Business Growth is a key part of the UK innovation agency’s investment in the innovative businesses that drive economic growth. It complements Innovate UK project funding with intensive, specialist-led support for such ambitious businesses.

David Rosevear
Kreston Reeves

David Rosevear
Business Services Manager
Kreston Reeves
Since joining Kreston Reeves in 2016, David has worked with a diverse range of clients and developed a large portfolio covering various sectors where he can assist with all of their accounting, tax and other financial needs.
Since 2018 he has worked alongside many start-up Biotech and Life Science companies to help assist them with all of their accounting needs, with an aim to allow them to focus on what they do best – developing new and exciting medical devices and products for market. In many instances, he has assisted them in raising finance in order to help with the development of their products, supported in due diligence for mergers and acquisitions as well as guiding them on their journey after they have made a successful exit.

David Savva
Alchemy Street

David Savva
Founder
Alchemy Street
David Savva is the founder of Alchemy Street and has over 20 years’ freelance experience in film making and performance coaching. David has worked with the top agencies and delivered film & interactions assignments all around the globe including work with NGOs. Together with David are an extensive and established network of freelancers enabling Alchemy Street to support a range of scale of client projects.

Dianne Lee
DLRC

Dianne Lee
CEO
DLRC
Dianne founded DLRC in 2005 and has held responsibility for managing the business as well as project work during that period.
Following exponential growth, in 2020 DLRC acquired Orphix Consultancy, based in Munich, Germany, and expanded its footprint into mainland Europe, adding expert resources. By mid-2023 the company announced its expansion into the US with the incorporation of its Boston office, DLRC Inc.
Prior to DLRC Dianne was an independent contractor for 10 years for many key pharmaceutical companies, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Serono UK, and worked at Schering Plough and SmithKline & French.
Dianne’s expertise is fortified by her qualifications in Applied Biology, a Diploma in Company Direction (Institute of Directors), and her TOPRA Fellowship. Committed to advancing global healthcare, she champions DLRC’s unwavering dedication to regulatory excellence, while fostering positive impacts on both people and the planet.

Emily Abel
DLRC

Emily Abel
Regulatory Associate
DLRC
Emily joined DLRC in 2024 and is a regulatory associate supporting teams with the preparation and submission of regulatory documents to the MHRA, EMA and FDA. Prior to joining DLRC, Emily completed an industrial placement year (as part of her degree) at a global pharmaceutical company. There she helped with the submission of information relating to clinical trials to the MHRA as well as updating product information and labelling for products registered in the UK and EU. Emily has a BSc (Hons) Pharmacology degree from the University of Bath.

Eyram Adjogatse
Probacure

Eyram Adjogatse
CEO
Probacure
I connect early-stage pharma R&D candidates with partners and other supporters.
I’m the CEO of Probatech, a consultancy founded to make sure that new healthcare products are developed to their full potential.
Over a varied career, I’ve found it unsettling that the world’s healthcare needs aren’t met because potential solutions have been overlooked. Sometimes it’s due to a lack of knowledge, sometimes a lack of resources.
But I believe it doesn’t have to be this way and I’m now dedicated to helping startups and university teams drive their new drugs and vaccines to the next milestone before running out of time.
Having worked in pharmacy, in drug discovery research and as a consultant, I’ve gained a unique perspective on the challenges of bringing healthcare products to market. I’ve collaborated with biotech startups, Fortune 100 pharma companies and academic labs all over the world, and that’s given me a better idea of the big picture.
Over the last 7 years, I’ve helped numerous life science organisations to understand how to get to their next developmental or commercial milestone without wasting time or money. Together with my team at Probatech, I’m using this experience to make vital connections between knowledge, people and resources to fast-track new healthcare products to the clinic.
Whether you’re a startup with an exciting pipeline, or a larger organisation looking to support new ideas, please feel free to drop me a message.
I’d also love to hear from anyone who shares a passion for healthcare innovation, ecosystems and entrepreneurship in general.

Helen Banyard
The Good Stuff

Helen Banyard
Co-Founder
The Good Stuff
Helen has chalked up almost 30 years of experiencing the challenges faced both agency and client-side. Starting out life writing radio commercials, moving on to learn the ropes of account management in agencies, and eventually leading global projects with her team.
Helen worked her way up through the ranks to lead one of Kent’s oldest agencies, and is now one-half of the team responsible for kicking The Good Stuff into existence.
Her focus is on the importance of brand – understanding what makes businesses tick, and how to bring that alive in people’s minds with energy and a clear point of difference.
She’s collaborated with a mix of global, national, and regional clients and has vast experience across multiple industries and disciplines. working with the likes of TNT, Intercontinental Hotels Group, British Transport Police, Leeds Castle, Dreamland, Discovery Park, various councils and tourist boards.

James Easley
The Good Stuff

James Easley
Co-Founder
The Good Stuff
Strategically minded, with a passion for connecting people, creativity and systems, James has spent 30+ years in industry, honing his trade running three successful agencies – The Good Stuff being his fourth.
Working across a range of clients, from solopreneurs and start-ups, to SMEs and globals; from Sony Mobile and MTV to DFDS and Maersk, Shepherd Neame to Porchlight, British Transport Police to Stormtrooper Beer.
He enjoys uncovering the deeper drivers behind a brand, to create the clarity and distinctiveness needed to to create open market space – helping them lean into their strengths and align with what they are truly meant to be.

James Steggles
Logical Biological

James Steggles
Chair & Founder
Logical Biological
James founded Logical Biological as he saw there was a need among human biospecimen customers for an improved level of reliability and responsiveness. He thought that putting customer service, accuracy, and quality assurance at the heart of the organisation would resonate with purchasers and scientists. James holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and has co-authored 5 academic research papers. James has previously held Business Development, Product Management, Operational and Commercial roles at Abcam and BBI Solutions.

Jamie Culver
Projectfusion

Jamie Culver
Operations Manager
Projectfusion
Jamie Culver aids professional services firms, government departments, and organisations to ensure their data is kept secure and compliant. He has assisted with thousands of transactions and set up data rooms for companies in a number of industries from renewable energy to the UK home office. Jamie has worked with Projectfusion for 8 years, and his operations role encompasses anything from ensuring customers are happy and confident using the platform, to integrating payment platforms with the Projectfusion website. As a small team, all have to work together to contribute to the success of Projectfusion and their clients.

Janne Bate
SRG Talent

Janne Bate
Principal Search Consultant
SRG Talent
Janne, a business graduate, began her career in recruitment nearly 25 years ago in Technical Engineering. She has since hired across Tech, Engineering, IT, and Life Sciences, leading to her current role as a Principal Consultant in the SRG Search team. Janne’s interest in AI ethics led her to specialise in roles within Computational Biology, AI, and Machine Learning, especially in healthcare. She excels in placing specialists from graduates to C-suite, prioritising candidate and client experience to ensure high employee retention. Her expertise spans small start-ups to big pharma. Passionate about AI ethics, Janne is a member of Women In AI (#WAI) and participates in international webinars, networking with top AI professionals.

Kadi Kuuskmae-Perry
DLRC

Kadi Kuuskmae-Perry
Senior Consultant
DLRC
Kadi has over 17 years of experience in EU and UK regulatory affairs focussing on regulatory strategy, sc. advice and CTA applications, pre- and post- MAA submissions and other types of regulatory authority interactions. The product types covered range from medical devices, generics, drug-device combination products to novel small molecules and ATMP’s. Prior to joining DLRC, Kadi held various regulatory positions at Mylan, Remedica and Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Estonia. Kadi has BSc in Biology and MSc in Regulatory Affairs.

Kat Arney
First Create the Media

Kat Arney
Founder and Chief Creative Officer
First Create the Media
Kat Arney is a multi award-winning science writer, public speaker and broadcaster. She founded First Create The Media in 2018, assembling a team of brilliant humans to help innovators and pioneers in the life sciences tell their stories to the world.
Kat holds a first class degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD from Cambridge University. After leaving the lab, she spent 12 years in the science communications team at Cancer Research UK, co-founding the charity’s ground-breaking Science Blog and acting as a principal media spokesperson.
Kat is the author of three books, Herding Hemingway’s Cats: Understanding how our genes work, How to Code a Human and Rebel Cell: cancer, evolution and the science of life, and has presented numerous radio shows and podcasts, including Genetics Unzipped and The Suffrage Science podcast: How women are changing science, also produced by the team at First Create The Media. She is the presenter of the series Ingenious on BBC Radio 4, telling stories about our genes, and Bug in the System, a three part flagship documentary series about the past, present and future of cancer.

Liz Morgan
DLRC

Liz Morgan
Principal Consultant & Senior Team Leader
DLRC
Liz has over 20 years of experience in Global Regulatory Affairs. In addition to being a Senior Team Leader, Liz has provided regulatory expertise to clients for a variety of projects and therapeutic areas. Support has included Regulatory leadership, strategy and advice, Centralised MAA and US BLA, global clinical trial authorisations, National, EU, and US scientific advice and Due Diligence. Prior to joining DLRC, Liz held positions in Regulatory Affairs at Mylan and Pfizer and has a BSc in Biotechnology.

Lucy Lehane
Lehane Consulting

Lucy Lehane
Expert in Female Health Diagnostics
Lehane Consulting
Lucy is an independent Medical Diagnostics Consultant who began her career in the National Health Service as a Clinical Scientist. It was here that she gained first-hand insights into the importance of diagnostic testing in patient management and positive health outcomes.
Her interest and passion in Women’s Health developed further when Lucy joined Unilever, working on one of their portfolio health brands at Clearblue. During her time at Clearblue, in the commercial world of diagnostic testing, Lucy held various leadership and people management roles in Product Management, Technical Marketing, Business Development and Medical Affairs.
Whilst with Clearblue, Lucy worked across the product range of pregnancy, fertility and home health managing the development of the Clearblue Expert Scientific Advisory and supporting the brand to be led by science. Lucy understands the importance of the voice of the customer, and how to develop products that are easy to use whilst delivering technical innovations for trusted, home use tests that consumers choose to give them the answers they are looking for.
Alongside her OTC experience, Lucy has also spent time in the world of professional diagnostics. Most recently working at LumiraDx in a global role, as Medical Affairs Director until 2023 when she then established her own consultancy business – Lehane Consulting Ltd. providing medical diagnostics expertise to guide businesses to bring their diagnostic products to market. 70% of clinical decisions in the NHS are based on the results of a laboratory or point of care (POC) test, and such tests are central to successful diagnosis treatment and management of patients. However bringing diagnostic innovations to market is fraught with challenges so with Lehane Consulting, Lucy endeavours to apply her 25 years of experience in the IVD industry to provide expert medical advice for product development, market understanding, devising clinical studies and communications to help bring products to life.
Lucy lives near London, with her husband, 2 children and 2 dogs and loves to spend time watching her children’s sports matches.

Mark Wong
Probacure

Mark Wong
Principal Consultant
Probacure
Mark has been involved in building research organisations for over 20 years with wide-ranging domain expertise in preclinical development, translational science and research technology. He is a BD leader and strategic growth advisor with experience driving major collaborations and transforming young operations into global players.

Martin White
Green Business Hub

Martin White
Founder
Green Business Hub
Martin White began is career working in Advertising Agencies in London as a ‘suit’ in the mid 90’s before moving to Unilever… From the launch of the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Service to Oracle Software, Diageo and everything in-between, if it’s a household brand name Martin has probably worked on it! Poacher turned game-keeper, he now runs his own consultancy business focused on helping organisations understand their responsibility towards sustainability, taking action and instilling a sense of purpose for business as a force for good.

Martino Picardo

Martino Picardo
Director Discovery Park Ventures & Chairman of Discovery Park
Martino Picardo is a Director of Discovery Park Ventures and Chairman of Discovery Park. Martino is highly experienced in taking companies through their early stages of development. Following a biochemistry PhD and several years in R&D technology transfer at GE Healthcare, he was CEO at the University of Manchester incubator. Martino was the inaugural CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, which is now a leading biotech hub and advanced therapies centre. He has chaired several biotechnology companies and is currently Chairman of Vitarka Therapeutics and Evidential, and on the Board of BioNow.

Matt McCann

Matt McCann
Head of BioCapital Network at Science Entrepreneur Club and Partnerships Lead at CPI
Matt works at CPI Enterprises, the ventures arm of CPI, investing in pre-seed companies across AgriFood, Materials, Energy, Medical Devices and Therapeutics. He is responsible for originating opportunities for both investment from CPIE and collaboration with CPI itself.
Prior to joining CPI, Matt worked in a boutique management consultancy supporting university technology transfer offices and their spin-out companies. He has supported the delivery of five cohorts of a non-profit life science accelerator with alumni going on to raise over £60m post-programme and additionally manages the BioCapital Network, a community of over 350 investors actively backing UK-based life science companies.
Matt has completed commercial consultancy projects with three university spin-outs across AI drug discovery and advanced therapeutics alongside supporting the strategy for a new biotechnology incubator space in Cambridge.
Matt has a BSc in Biology from the University of Leeds and a MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge

Naz Bashir
Evolutia Venture Partners

Naz Bashir
Director at Evolutia Venture Partners
Evolutia Venture Partners
Naz has over twenty years of experience as an entrepreneur in early-stage and growth companies, in/out licensing, investment, growth strategies and in commercial and business development. He has achieved success in driving sales from licensing, strategic partnerships in the biotech, medtech, chemicals, renewable energy, and food sectors; deal packages ranging up to $100 million.
Naz sits on the board of a family office specialising in disruptive science and technology investments. He has a PhD in chemistry and an MBA from the University of Exeter.

Philippa Clark
SRG Talent

Philippa Clark
Senior Client Development Manager
SRG Talent
After earning her degree in Biomedical Sciences, Philippa briefly worked in a laboratory before moving to a commercial role with SRG nearly 20 years ago. As a Consultant and Manager, she has supported candidates at all career stages, from early talent to board level, providing guidance and training. In 2007, Philippa established the SRG Cambridge office, building a robust network across the golden triangle and beyond. She collaborates with biotech firms, start-ups, and academic institutions to create tailored talent solutions that align with their business goals. Philippa is active in networking and industry events and hosts a STEM podcast. She is passionate about making the STEM field accessible and attracting new talent to the industry.

Renos Savva
Discovery Park

Renos Savva
Head of Innovation and Venture Development
Discovery Park
Renos is a highly respected Bio-business programme director and mentor previously at Birkbeck, University of London. Before that, he was a successful entrepreneur, co-founding Domainex recognised by the Financial Times in 2018 as the ‘fastest-growing drug discovery CRO in Europe.’

Robert Copping
VOYCAP

Robert Copping
Business planning and funding specialist
VOYCAP
Founder and Director of both VOYCAP Ltd. and Sightpath Ltd., Robert brings extensive expertise in business growth, strategic planning, and funding. VOYCAP is a collaborative platform helping companies and investors raise and deploy capital for faster growth with reduced risk, while Sightpath specializes in business modeling, valuation, and funding services. Robert is also the author of The Heart of Business Success, offering insights on overcoming the challenges of business growth. As a seasoned business mentor, coach, and speaker, Robert excels in areas such as business development, funding, and exit strategy planning.

Sylvia Stevenson
Absolute Diversity

Sylvia Stevenson
Certified Diversity Practitioner
Absolute Diversity
Sylvia has over 20 years’ experience leading large scale Cultural Change and Transformation programmes having worked in diverse industries both on a global and local scale in the private and public sectors. Her experience is underpinned by expertise as a qualified HR Professional, an accomplished Coach and Mentor and Certified Diversity Executive. She is passionate about all things that enable Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace, the NHS, and local communities. She specialises in developing and implementing strategies that deliver key improvements, such as the inclusion of women in technology or senior leadership roles; narrowing the inequality gaps which exists for career progression in underrepresented ethnic minority groups; and enhancing the focus on menopause, mental health & wellbeing.

Taryn Strong
Cripps

Taryn Strong
Senior Associate
Cripps
Taryn is a senior associate with experience in investments and shareholder arrangements. As a corporate lawyer with over 10 years of experience in the City and in-house, Taryn has a wide range of corporate experience, with a particular interest in start-ups, scale-ups, and SMEs looking to take the next step in their company’s journey, whether through initial investment, funding rounds, or M&A.
Taryn’s experience spans:
- Channel 4 – particularly supporting their indie growth fund and commercial growth fund (media for equity)
- A media ventures fund helping set up and support their investment portfolio
- Ignition Law as a consultant, advising entrepreneurs and start-ups on investment by third parties

Tim Hewson
Abel+Imray

Tim Hewson
European Patent Attorney
Abel+Imray
As a Chartered and European Patent Attorney and European Patent Litigator, Tim is able to represent clients in matters before the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
Tim joined Abel + Imray in 2001 in is based in the Bath Office, though regularly travels to see both London and Cardiff based clients. His Ph.D. was on HIV interactions with macrophages and dendritic cells, and induction of immune tolerance via the Notch signalling pathway and he has special expertise in immunology and cell biology. Before becoming a consultant and subsequently Of Counsel, Tim was a Partner of the firm for five years.
Almost all of Tim’s patent work is in the biotechnology and related fields, and includes work for universities and start-up companies as well as larger international corporations. He handles a substantial amount of prosecution work at the EPO, and he has recently worked on inventions in the areas of bioinformatics, screening assays, antibodies, diagnostic methods, expression vectors and the use of recombinant gene technology in tissue engineering and screening technologies. He has been extensively involved in prosecuting applications relating to inventions arising from bioinformatics analysis of nucleic acid sequences, and has experience of searching of gene sequence databases. Tim has also advised on IP ownership issues.

Wadah Malaeb
DLOC Biosystems

Wadah Malaeb
Founder & CEO
DLOC Biosystems
Wadah Malaeb is a biotech entrepreneur and the founder of the startup DLOC Biosystems, an Organ-on-chip startup that aims to advance drug discovery by offering pharmaceutical companies accurate drug testing services using a patented, state-of-the-art technology they invented, and developed. DLOC’s chips provide an environment where cells can grow and reorganize into tissues as if they were in the human body, providing the perfect atmosphere to massively, efficiently, and affordably conduct drug testing. Both the organ-on-chip and human-on-chip-operating-system, which Wadah have been developing for the past six years, are the subjects of patent filings in 11 worldwide territories. DLOC is also working on a third invention to integrate artificial intelligence into the new device. DLOC recently secured its first customer, offering them a drug testing service in early 2025, and is also in conversation with leading pharmaceutical companies to establish new collaborations.
Wadah holds a BE & ME in Mechanical Engineering with minors in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics from the American University of Beirut (AUB). Before founding DLOC Biosystems, Wadah worked for 5-years in biomedical engineering research; his work mainly focused on designing and fabricating bioreactors for the tissue engineering of articular cartilage tissues and on developing microfluidic devices for cell culture applications.
To date, Wadah has secured $645K in grants and $2M in convertible investments. Wadah was chosen for the 2022 Middle East list of Forbes 30 under 30, at age 28, having won various awards & entrepreneurial competitions: The “Darwazah Innovation Contest” 1st prize (twice in 2016 & 2017); the “LIRA Contest” 1st prize (twice in 2017 & 2018); the “MIT Enterprise Forum” 3rd prize in 2019. Also in 2019, Wadah won 1st prize in the Arab world’s top student entrepreneurship competition, the “Arab Entrepreneurship Rally,” and an award of $50K.
In 2020, Wadah won 1st prize in the MENA region’s top science & innovation competition and TV show, the “Stars-of-Science Season 12” (spanning all of 2020, competing with 1000s of applicants) and named “Top Arab Innovator 2020”. Wadah’s team of 26 people operate in his engineering R&D lab and a manufacturing facility in Lebanon (20 people) and in his Biological R&D collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine at AUB in Lebanon with the University of Bradford, UK (6 people).