Dr Katie Newman

PhD

Dr Katie Newman has a background in neuroscience and cell-based in vitro models. After working on a rat model of hyperglycaemia during her MSc Katie developed a strong wish to reduce the use of animals in research. Her PhD  involved investigating the causes of genetic small vessel disease (SVD) by developing an alternative in vitro approach with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and CRISPR gene editing technology. Katie is a great team-player who wants to contribute to bringing life-saving drugs on the market.

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Dr Hannah Dixon

PhD

Hannah graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester and completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham. She used a wide-ranging set of bioinformatic, computational and laboratory approaches to her doctoral research expanding on the role of the RNA helicase UPF1.  A native speaker of Spanish and Catalan, Hannah is a dedicated bioinformatician who is applying her advanced computational skills to realise the potential of data science to innovate drug safety and drug discovery.

Dr Aina Mogas Barcons

PhD

Aina is a PhD neuroscientist with expertise in neurodegenerative diseases. Graduating from the Universitat Aut`onoma de Barcelona (Spain) with a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Neuroscience, Aina completed a Ph.D. in Neural Tissue Engineering at Keele University (UK) before completing postdoctoral research in the molecular mechanism of Parkinson’s disease at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford.  Fluent in both Spanish and Catalan, Aina is passionate about applying her knowledge to target safety assessment and molecular and investigative toxicology projects and looks forward to contributing to the development of safe and effective medicines.

Peggy Guzzie-Peck

MS PhD DABT

Peggy has over 30 years’ experience working in various global scientific and management roles in nonclinical toxicology at large pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and G.D. Searle).  Previous roles included Global Head, Toxicology, Pathology, Head of Preclinical Investigative Safety Sciences and Global Head, Genetic Toxicology.  Peggy graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and is now based in Florida.  Peggy is a long-standing diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology with a diverse background over all pharmaceutical therapeutic areas, predominantly specialising in small molecules and more recently in Cell/Gene therapies.

Susan Tantawi

DABT

Based in Montreal in Canada, Susan has over fifteen years’ experience working in CROs, consultancies and biotechnology companies.  With broad toxicology expertise, Susan also has specialist knowledge of inhalation toxicity. Always keen to support the progress of a compound to the next stage, she particularly enjoys the structured organisation involved in timelines and gap analysis.  Susan is a board certified toxicologist.

Jo Kilgour

PhD

Jo Kilgour is an expert Inhalation Toxicologist, having worked in the field for 30 years, initially working in the agrochemicals and chemicals sector at Central Toxicology Laboratory as a Study Director and Project Toxicologist, and for the last 20 years working almost exclusively in inhaled drug development, formerly at AstraZeneca.

Jo works with small and large Pharma companies worldwide to deliver toxicology programs for small molecules and biologics to support First in Human studies (Phase 1) through to Phase 3 clinical trials and registration. She has represented clients in interactions with Regulators in Europe and the US, and worked on drugs (small and large molecule) targeting many therapeutic areas including COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and anti-virals.

Jo has been an active member of the British Toxicology Society and the Association of Inhalation Toxicologists, Chairing the latter since 2011. She has co-authored a number of pivotal papers under the banner of the AIT and Industry Consortia, and has been an invited expert speaker at a number institutions and events including the US FDA, the European Chemicals Agency (EChA) and the University of Birmingham.

Charlotte Warrender

Charlotte left school straight after her GCSEs’ and joined Thor Specialities as a microbiology Laboratory Technician.  Later she joined AstraZeneca as a scientist, initially working on a wide range of histopathology techniques in the Drug Safety Department.  Studying part-time, Charlotte gained a BSc in Biomedical Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. Charlotte moved into a Facility Manager’s role whilst still working as a scientist.  The role involved scheduling programmes of work within her team, attending project meetings and ensuring capacity was available when needed.  Charlotte also managed the laboratory instrumentation and stock. Joining Gentronix as a Laboratory Technician before moving into a scientist role carrying out genetic toxicology testing, then Charlotte became a Facility Manager once again.  This role involved keeping the equipment and facility compliant to GLP regulations, whilst also being involved with the expansion of laboratories within the company,  looking after health and safety and purchasing new laboratory equipment.

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Donna Martin

Donna worked for AstraZeneca for thirty years, working in Human Resources commenting, “Although that seems a long time, in those 30 years I’ve actually worked for three different companies.” Donna started her career in Wilmslow joining Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and working for Corporate Management Services (CMS). CMS later became Computer and Telecoms (CATS).  At the time of the demerger Donna moved to a Admin Team Leader role in Zeneca at the Blackley Computer Centre. During her time in Blackley she attained her Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development qualification.  After a year was offered a role back in HR but at Macclesfield at Zeneca, and subsequently moving to Alderley House on Alderley Park before eventually moving to Mereside where she has returned to. Starting as a generalist, answering general queries from a hatch, Donna specialised, following the merger with Astra, in recruitment.  Initially working as a recruitment partner, Donna went into Recruitment Standards and Processes.

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Heather Brown

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Leah Worthington

Leah has been working at ApconiX since graduating from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Biological Sciences.  Birmingham provides lots of choice which enabled Leah to split her modules between genetics, disease and some ecology, often focussing on the interplay of these topics through current and future global challenges, including climate change. For her dissertation, Leah looked at the reasons why students don’t actively consider studying ecology more despite increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of climate change and global warming.  Still considering which area to continue in her career, Leah gained some experience in ecology during the summer carrying out bat surveys for Bowland Ecology, before deciding to pursue topics surrounding human biology, leading her to ApconiX.

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