Our 2019 Finalists

Emmanuelle has led a distinguished transatlantic career in research, holding a fellowship at the Rockefeller University in New York, working as a research scientist at the New York University Medical Center and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and leading research at European institutions that include: the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Hannover Medical School. Emmanuelle’s defining contribution is her foundational work to decipher the molecular mechanisms of the bacterial CRISPR/Cas9. This led to transformational breakthroughs in gene editing capability, which have enabled countless advancements in healthcare science. This contribution to science has been recognized through the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Gruber Foundation International Prize in Genetics and the Leibniz Prize, Germany’s most prestigious prize for research.

Art Levinson begin his days in pharma as a researcher at Genentech, rising through the ranks to become CEO in 1994. After leading the company for 14 years to an acquisition for $47bn by Roche, Levinson took early retirement, which turned out to be quite brief. Levinson held board positions at Apple and Roche, before Larry Page tapped him to lead Calico, a revolutionary company focused on life extension.

Levinson’s achievements have won him numerous accolades for business leadership, alongside which he has also won significant recognition for his research contributions. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 scientific articles and has been a named inventor on 11 United States patents.

After a career in the Royal Navy, Simon made the transition into the Charity sector in the UK, rising swiftly to take the helm of the Multiple Sclerosis Society as CEO, the UK’s largest charity for MS. After leaving this role Simon joined British Heart Foundation as CEO, making his mark on the organization through redoubling a commitment to R&D. Under his leadership, BHF has grown its annual spend to 25% of its budget, creating a healthy translational medicine pipeline with 12 new products. Simon brings a personal motivation to his work, having lost his father to heart disease, and has worked to impact the heart disease ecosystem outside of the UK, as the President of the European Heart Network.

Sandra Horning’s wide-reaching career has spanned academia, medical practice and the pharmaceutical industry. Sandra joined Stanford University School of Medicine as fellow in Oncology before joining faculty in 1998, where she still holds the position of Emerita Professor of Medicine, Oncology & Blood & Bone Marrow Transplantation. Within her research in academia, Sandra was part of the first wave of clinical research exploring the possibilities of targeted therapies in the late 1990s. As a cancer survivor with a history of disease having affected her family, Sandra has carried a personal mission through her work, staying closely engaged to contribute to the research community at ASCO and rising to serve as the group president in 2005.

In 2009 Sandra chose to leave academia to join Genentech, rising through the global product development team for Oncology and Hematology to Senior Vice President before accepting the CMO position in 2014. During this time at Genentech Horning has been involved in the launch of groundbreaking cancer therapies: Zelboraf, Erivedge, Perjeta and Kadcyla.

Jean began his career in industry at Novartis, working his way up from junior commercial roles to lead the company as the CEO of Belgium and then the CEO of France. He then joined UCB in 2011 as President of European operations, before taking the helm as CEO. Within this position Jean has made his impact at UCB through driving patient value, leading UCB to out-punch bigger pharma to position themselves as at the centre of the vanguard of those defining a new patient-centric pharmaceutical industry. He has also held board positions at PHRMA, and EFPIA and has served as the Deputy Chair of the Innovative Medicines Initiative.

Trevor Mundel began his career at Parke-Davis, developing his skills as a clinical researcher before moving to Pfizer in 2000, becoming the Head of Experimental Medicine. Trevor joined Novartis in 2006, rising to the position of Global Head of Development, before leaving to join Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the President of Global Health.

At The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Trevor has concentrated on R&D and intervention design to combat the leading causes of death and disability in low-income countries. He has spearheaded investment into HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, enteric and diarrheal diseases. In pursuit of these goals, he has sought to champion collaboration with pharma, spurring industry partners to commit more resources to invest in global health.

Dr. Barker has worked across healthcare technology, industry bodies and academia. Within industry, he has led the healthcare divisions in Europe for both IBM and Mckinsey. After leaving Mckinsey’s European Healthcare Practice, he founded one of the first internet healthtech startups in 1993, with HealthVillage. Within industry bodies, he led the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) between 2004 and 2011, initiating policy programmes in stratified medicine, as well as translational partnerships between academia and industry. He was also formerly a member of the Executive Committee of EFPIA (the European industry association) and a Council member of IFPMA. He is currently the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation, a major European initiative to transform R&D, and has recently published a book on the future of healthcare ‘2030 – The Future of Medicine: Avoiding a Medical Meltdown’.

After studying Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Paul Stoffels began his career working as a physician in Africa, where he became a contemporary of the AIDs researcher Peter Piot. He then returned to Belgium in 1991 to join JNJ, rising to become Head of Development for their HIV compunds. He left to co-found Virco and Tibotec, which specialized in the treatment of infectious disease, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. Both of these ventures were acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2002, with Paul re-joining the company as Company Group Chairman of the Global Virology Franchise.

Paul carried his spirit of entrepreneurship back into the company, launching Johnson & Johnson Innovation in 2013, which works to build a global network in innovation, through strategic partnerships, licensing and acquisitions. Paul also oversees JJDC, the oldest corporate venture fund in the life science industry.

Sjaak Vink is a serial-entrepreneur and CEO of The SocialMEDWORK, a buyers club that helps create access to innovative pharmaceuticals that are not yet available within the country of purchase. He is one of the founders and was the pioneering CEO of myTomorrows, the first independent online marketplace for experimental medicines. Vink is a business economist with more than twenty years’ experience as an entrepreneur, promotor of innovation and source of inspiration for impact creating entrepreneurs and managing boards worldwide. Vink is also a Board Member of the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Development Drugs. Vink was also involved in launching the Entrepreneurs Manifesto for Change, signed by Nobel Prize winners Muhammad Yunus and Kofi Anan and by hundreds of successful ‘next generation’ entrepreneurs all over the world, committing to creating a better world.

After his brother was diagnosed with ALS, Jamie changed career from Mechanical Engineering to enter the field of translational medicine. He founded ALS TDI, a non-profit biotechnology company, which he led as CEO until 2007, building it into the world’s leading ALS research program, pioneering open research models. In 2004 Jamie co-founded PatientsLikeMe, with CNNMoney predicting that this will be one of the 15 companies that will change the world. Fast forward to today, it seems this prediction has borne out, with PatientsLikeMe playing a significant role in the paradigm shift towards patient-centric R&D.

Jamie has stayed involved in entrepreneurship, co-founded three other companies: AOBiome, Genetic Networks, and TheSocialMedwork. Jamie and his brother were the subject of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner's biography His Brother's Keeper and the documentary So Much So Fast.