Chairman: Dr Phillip Cowley BSc., PhD
Phill is a Section Head in the Chemistry Department at the Newhouse site of MSD. His key interests are in the optimisation of lead compounds for the treatment of CNS disorders

e-mail: phillip.cowley@merck.com

Vice Chairman: Dr Robert Williams BSc, PhD
Rob is Head of Preclinical Development for Cancer Research UK. He is a pharmacologist with experience of drug discovery and early development in cancer, inflammation and metabolic diseases. He has previously held positions with Glaxo, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Prolifix.

e-mail: robert.williams@cancer.org.uk

Honorary Treasurer: Dr Phil Jeffrey BSc, MSc, PhD
Phil is Director of DMPK and Medicinal Chemistry in the Immuno Inflammation CEDD at GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage. His background is in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics and he has experience in drug discovery and early phase development in a number of therapeutic areas including the CNS, GI, pain, cardio-vascular and anti-infectives

e-mail: phillip.x.jeffrey@gsk.com

Honorary Secretary: Dr Stephen Collingwood BSc, PhD
Steve is a medicinal chemist with over 15 years industrial experience with particular emphasis in the respiratory disease therapeutic area. Currently he is a medicinal chemistry group leader and multidisciplinary project team leader at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Horsham, West Sussex.

e-mail: steve.collingwood@novartis.com

Media Relations Officer: Dr Andrew J Ratcliffe
Andrew is currently Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Cellzome,. He has over 18 years industrial experience, having worked previously at Rhone Poulenc Rorer and UCB. Andrew's interests are in discovery and development of new medicines in the respiratory and inflammation arena.

e-mail: andrew.ratcliffe@cellzome.com

Dr Wendy Alderton
Wendy Alderton is Director of Biology at Summit plc. Wendy has 14 years of experience in reseach and pre-clinical drug development in oncology and inflammation therapeutic areas in the pharmaceutical industry. Wendy has previously held positions at GlaxoSmithKline, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, UK and PIramed Ltd.

e-mail: wkalderton@btinternet.com

Mr Jack Allen
For the last 30 years Jack has gained extensive knowledge and experience of drug research at several major companies in the pharmaceutical industry. During this time he has conducted and managed various groups and projects in DMPK in a number of disease areas. Currently employed at AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, Cheshire, where he has been for the last eight years. Major roles have been as a functional project/team leader in both discovery and development DMPK. Prior to that was employed by Sanofi-Synthelabo (re: Sterling Winthrop) for 17 years at Alnwick in Northumberland, as section head of Preclinical Metabolism and then Clinical Metabolism. Finally, was employed by Hoechst-Roussel at Milton Keynes as a DMPK scientist (5 yrs) and prior to that spent ten years in academia in the area of pharmacology.

e-mail: jack.allen@astrazeneca.com

Dr Richard Armer BSc(Hons), PhD
Richard is a medicinal chemist with experience in a wide range of therapeutic areas having worked at Pfizer, Organon, Ardana and Oxagen. He is currently Research Director at Lectus Therapeutics in Cambridge.

e-mail: richard.armer@lectusth.com

Dr Katherine Brown
Kate is a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Imperial College London. Her laboratory is part of the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection located on the South Kensington campus. Her research principally involves structure-function studies of proteins from microbial pathogens with applications in vaccine and antimicrobial development.

e-mail: k.brown@ic.ac.uk

Dr Diane Coe
Diane has been a medicinal chemist for over 12 years, she is currently working within the Respiratory and Inflammation CEDD at GlaxoSmithKline at Stevenage working on treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.

e-mail: diane.m.coe@gsk.com

Dr Richard Davenport MSc, PhD, Post
Richard is currently a Group Leader in Medicinal chemistry at Takeda Pharmaceuticals working in the therapeutic areas of Pain and Metabolism. He has over 11years industrial experience having worked previously at Celltech/UCB, working in the area of inflammation

e-mail: rdavenport@takedacam.com

Dr Paul Vincent Fish BSc PhD
e-mail: paul.fish@pfizer.com

Dr Neil Hales
Neil is senior consultant at the medicinal chemistry consultancy Allodigm, where he specialises in chemical library design and lead generation. Neil also provides expert support for pharmaceutical patent litigation and due diligence during pharmaceutical in/outlicensing negotiations. He previously worked as Principal Scientist for AstraZeneca in Cancer and Infection Research Areas at both Alderley Park in Cheshire and Gatehouse Park in Massachusetts, where he gained a broad experience of lead identification and lead optimisation across a range of different therapeutic areas.

e-mail: neilhales@allodigm.com

Dr Eric Karran BSc, PhD
Eric is Chief Scientific Officer, Neuroscience Research and Early Development at Johnson and Johnson’s Beerse site in Belgium. Eric has over 25 years' experience in the Pharmaceutical industry, including previous Director-level positions in SmithKline Beecham (now GSK), Pfizer and Eli Lilly. He has a broad experience of different therapeutic areas, including inflammation, cardiovascular and neuroscience. Eric is a biochemist by training with an interest in enzymology and pharmacology.

e-mail: ekarran@its.jnj.com

Dr Ruth Lock
Ruth is currently responsible for managing the DMPK aspects of inhaled respiratory programs at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Horsham, West Sussex. She has DMPK experience in a wide range of therapeutic areas, having previously worked at Servier, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

e-mail: ruth.lock@novartis.com

Dr Mark Searcey
Mark is Reader in Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia. His research interests are in the design and synthesis of new compounds targeted at protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions, as well as in the design of prodrugs for the effective delivery of therapeutic agents

e-mail: m.searcey@uea.ac.uk