Graham Mullis
Chief Executive Officer

Graham has worked in Healthcare markets for over 25 years and held executive positions at FTSE and Nasdaq listed medical device companies including 1-800 Contacts Inc and Biocompatibles International PLC and pharmaceutical roles at Hoechst Roussel Ltd and R P Scherer Ltd. He has considerable experience in successfully launching new businesses and technologies into healthcare markets, with IPO and extensive M&A experience at a variety of medical and pharmaceutical companies. Graham joins Lab21 from Optivue LLP, a company formed to develop and license pharmaceutical & medical device applications in optical products, where he is a co-founder. He has a degree in Biochemistry & Physiology from Southampton University and an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Susan Lowther
Chief Financial Officer

Susan Lowther joined Lab21 in July 2010 bringing with her a wealth of experience, gained over 20 years in the pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare industries. She has extensive financial management expertise, gained from working with start up companies to global PLCs, covering both public and private financing, including venture capital financing and IPOs. Susan also has extensive experience of M&A activity, including acquisition and divestment.  Susan has held senior management positions at BioWisdom, RiboTargets, Lonza Biologics, Celltech and Monsanto.  

Berwyn Clarke
Chief Scientific & Development Officer

Dr Berwyn Clarke was the founder and CEO of Oneida TheraDiagnostics Ltd and has been involved in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years. Dr Clarke was Global Director of the hepatitis C virus therapeutic area at GlaxoWellcome between 1990 and 2000 and had previously held management positions within Wellcome Biotechnology and the Wellcome Foundation. In 2000 he moved into the molecular diagnostic industry with Virco UK and, following a series of M&A activities was promoted to Vice President for Research at Visible Genetics Inc. (VGI) a pioneering company in the use of molecular diagnostics for viral and cancer disease management. In 2002 VGI was acquired by Bayer Diagnostics and he became European Director for Scientific Affairs, a role he pursued until his decision to launch Oneida in May 2003. He has been significantly involved in a wide-range of corporate activities and, while proceeding with the successful search for VC investment in Oneida, pursued a number of consultancy projects for both the government and the biotech sector. He also completed a 6-month appointment as interim CEO of Replizyme Ltd., a York based company prior to the integration of Oneida into Lab21 Ltd. As a co-founder of Lab21 Dr Clarke is currently Chief Scientific Officer with additional responsibility for Business Development.

Professor Sir Christopher Evans OBE
Non-executive Chairman

A leader in the biotech industry, Sir Christopher is one of its most successful entrepreneurs. During his career he has established over 50 science companies developing over 200 new medicines and worth over £3 billion. He has successfully floated 20 of these businesses on 5 different stock exchanges around the world. Unsurprisingly, he was twice elected Cambridge Businessman of the Year and Financial Times/Cartier Venturer of the Year. In 2005, he was voted Business Achiever of the Year at the Western Mail Business Awards.

Originally from Port Talbot, he gained a degree in microbiology at Imperial College London and a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Hull. He did a Research Fellowship at University of Michigan. Academically he holds professorships and fellowships at over a dozen universities around the UK and has been awarded several Doctor of Science (DSc) degrees. He has more than 100 publications and patents on his scientific work.

He has founded many of the UK’s most successful biotech companies such as Chiroscience plc, Celsis plc, Ark plc and Vectura plc. Sir Christopher is the Founder and Chairman of Merlin Biosciences, one of Europe’s largest venture capital firms specialising in life sciences. Awarded the OBE in 1995 and knighted in 2001, he has collected many medals and awards for his achievements and accumulated an estimated fortune of £158 million according to the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List. He is also the Founder of the UK Stem Cell Foundation charity and a massive Welsh rugby supporter.

PD Dr. med. Dr.med habil Kai Deusch
Non-executive Director

PD Dr. med. Dr.med habil Kai Deusch founded Medicis in 1994 when he was still in Academia. Then, Medicis provided consulting and contract research services in pre-clinical and clinical drug development. From 1999 on Medicis focused on principal investments and consulting services in healthcare transactions and business development.

The Founder is supported by a team of Partners located in Europe and in the USA. Kai Deusch contributes more than twenty years professional experience in the Healthcare & Life Science Sector. Initially he worked for more than ten years as a clinician and medical researcher at various international institutions and subsequently as a management consultant, Investor and entrepreneur. Most recently, he has been a founding investor & CEO of a buy-out in the Medtech Sector based in Switzerland and the USA. Prior to this he has been a partner at Apax Partners (2001-2002) with responsibility for the Healthcare Sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Partner in an intellectual property commercialisation firm and founder & CEO of a Biotech Venture Capital firm that he successfully sold in 2001, management consultant in the Healthcare Practice of McKinsey & Company (1996-1999) and an internist with specialization in hepatogastroenterology & immunology.

He focuses on transactions in the area of Healthcare Services & Care Provision, Medical Technologies, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech and other Life Sciences. Kai Deusch studied Biology and Human Medicine at the Universities of Minneapolis, Mainz and London. He earned a B.Sc. in Biology , an MD (Dr. med.) in Human Medicine and qualified as a board certified Internist and an Associate Professor of Medicine (Privatdozent Dr. med. Dr. med habil.) at Technical University in Munich. Kai is supported by a team of experts that is tailored to individual project requirements. The team has expertise in financial modeling, corporate value analysis, market research & strategy, regulatory approval in the EU and the US and business development support.

Dr Edwin Snape PhD
Non-executive Director

Dr. Snape, co-founder and head of the healthcare practice at Nexus, has been involved in private equity investing for over 25 years. He has founded and/or had a role in the management of nine private equity funds aggregating approximately $400 million. These include two UK funds, three US funds, two Pacific Rim funds, one ASEAN fund and one corporate fund. He has been directly responsible for founding or investing in over 30 companies in the medical device/life sciences sector. He was a founder of The Liposome Company. He has co-invested with most of the leading venture capital and private equity firms in the US and the UK and has established an extensive network of contacts in the entrepreneurial, investment banking, legal and accounting communities. Prior to his investment career, Dr. Snape authored numerous technical papers and holds several patents in the advanced materials field. He holds B.S. and PhD degrees from the University of Leeds, England.

James Wakefield
Non-executive Director

James Wakefield, non executive director at Excalibur, the medical sciences investment house founded by Professor Sir Christopher Evans, has been in private equity for over 20 years and has completed over 250 deals. Formerly a senior executive of Bridgepoint Capital, one of the largest private equity funds in the UK. James has considerable experience in funding and then managing portfolios of small, medium sized companies which is the target size company for the Excalibur Fund. 

James invested over £200m directly in over 30 private companies and was a senior member of the Bridgepoint team to invest in more than 200 businesses at 30% IRR since 1990. He has raised over $6 billion from LP’s across the world including USA (e.g. Washington State, Calpers, New York State and others), Middle East, Asia and Europe. James was also instrumental to the completion of the US$1 billion secondary sale of NatWest’s private equity interests to a syndicate of investors, which at the time was the largest secondary sale ever. Prior to Bridgepoint he was a member of the structured finance team providing debt for MBOs, MBIs and acquisitions at County Bank Ltd.