The External Innovation function implements a range of investment and collaboration models to accelerate innovation and increase value throughout the DHBL (incorporating neurology and oncology) portfolio to deliver new therapeutic options for patients.

• Management of Global External Innovation Team reporting to the Chief Discovery Officer• Responsible for UK External Innovation activities • Budget forecast and reporting• Search and evaluation of new scientific opportunities • Scientific review and technical due diligence of early R&D and licensing opportunities • Brokering external innovation approaches with senior leaders and stakeholders • Leadership of strategic and operational aspects of strategic collaborations• Leveraging funding and identifying risk-sharing collaborations• Negotiation of contractual agreements• Promotion of External Innovation through publication and speaking invitations• Member of various internal and external leadership teams and governance committees

• Establishing new alliances to validate new targets for neurodegenerative diseases (including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and other related dementias)• Industry-academic alliance management and governance • Search and evaluation of new collaborative opportunities • Influencing drug discovery project strategy to enable go/no-go decision making• Evaluating potential in-licensing / partnership opportunities• Negotiating contractual agreements (collaborations, MTA, CDA etc.)• Supervisor to PhD CASE award students • External promotion of Open Innovation approaches• Global Open Innovation Task Force leader• UK NBG Discovery Leadership Team member

• Established new projects for the global Neuroscience Product Creation Unit portfolio • Project leader for an international multi-disciplinary (in-vitro and in-vivo pharmacology, electrophysiology, DMPK and safety) neuroscience drug discovery team • Managed projects through target validation, high-throughput screening and lead optimisation milestones • Built a productive working relationship with neuroscience discovery, translational and clinical colleagues based in the UK, USA and Japan• Line managed and led a neurobiology systems pharmacology and occupancy team• Delivered key milestone presentations to joint steering committees • Carried out due-diligence of external drug discovery companies• Outsourcing to external contract research organisations• Supervisor to PhD CASE studentships

• Managed an in-vitro GPCR assay development and psychiatry target validation team• Contributed to academic collaborations• Mentored internship projects for novel schizophrenia targets• Member of Schizophrenia Task Force

• Identification of novel signalling mechanisms for a novel stroke target• Participation in an external collaboration to identify novel therapeutics

CNS Drug Discovery research with a focus on psychiatric disease indications• In-vitro pharmacological characterisation of GPCRs including 5-HT7 receptors • Ex-vivo and in-vitro monoamine neurotransmitter transporter studies