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In this episode, we speak with Catherine Campbell, Associate Director of the MedTech team at BioTalent. With over a decade of experience in the sector, Cat shares her perspective on the evolution of MedTech and the growing role of AI across the industry.

She reflects on her early career from helping out in her father’s pub to her first official role as a medical technician and how those experiences shaped her leadership style. Cat also gives us a glimpse into life beyond recruitment, from long walks in Hampstead Heath to a surprising Olympic pick: synchronised swimming.

Her favourite quote, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them,” perfectly captures her drive, leadership, and outlook on life.

Tune in for a conversation packed with industry insights, personal stories, and authentic perspective.

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Introducing Behind The Talent, BioTalent’s new podcast series, created to share the stories, perspectives and passions of the people driving our business forward.

Each episode offers a glimpse into the voices of the individuals who shape our culture, contribute to our success, and bring our purpose to life.

In this episode, Brand Manager Becca Boulton chats with BioTalent CEO and founder James Cox about his journey from launching BioTalent in 2018, his passion for life sciences recruitment, and the company’s rapid growth since joining The IN Group in 2023. James shares his approach to leadership, the importance of culture, and why focusing on what you can control is his core philosophy.

We also get an insight into James, who’s a big fan of Viking history, a keen tennis player, and once earned £3.12 an hour carrying compost at a garden centre. Whether he’s leading a team or playing Monopoly (orange properties only!), James brings ambition and authenticity to everything he does, qualities that continue to shape BioTalent’s journey and inspire those around him.

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In the latest instalment of the BioTalent Social podcast, our very own Steven Fuller, Global Community Manager of Race In Stem, sat down with Sarah Mardle to talk leadership, gender bias, the evolution of the life sciences industry and creating lasting change.

“I definitely wanted to be a scientist and I was able to do two degrees, one in pharmacology and one in biochemistry, and was also lucky enough to have a year out in industry. And that really opened my eyes to what I might want to do next.”

Sarah Mardle is an experienced healthcare executive known for her adept leadership in quality, regulatory, and operations management. With a two-decade track record in biotech, pharma, and medical devices businesses, she has guided organisations through complex projects, regulatory processes, and sustainability initiatives.

As the Business Operations Director at Team Consulting, a medical device consultancy, Sarah oversees the strategic development and operational management of Team's Business Operations teams. She is committed to fostering diversity and implementing sustainable practices.

Listen to the complete conversation (or watch on YouTube) to hear how Sarah has grown from strength to strength professionally, but also gain insight into her personal life and how she navigated life and a senior position.

More about BioTalent Social

Our BioTalent Social podcast is for professionals in the life sciences industry, who can have access to wide-ranging discussions that are led by market-leading experts, who offer sharp, focused insights on current affairs within the Life Sciences sector.

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Our BioTalent Social podcast is for professionals in the life sciences industry, who can have access to wide-ranging discussions that are led by market-leading experts, who offer sharp, focused insights on current affairs within the Life Sciences sector. 

In this conversation, Steven Fuller had the pleasure of engaging with Heather Wells, a Senior Director of Quality Management at a mid-sized CRO.  Throughout our discussion, Heather shared her vast and illustrious career journey within the realm of Quality Assurance, reflecting on her early career, and how she grew as a professional across pharma, bio, and research as a now-recognised GxP Quality subject matter expert. 

Visit us on our website at www.biotalent.com

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‘You’re going to go through some hard times, but you’re going come out the other side.’ This episode of My Race in Science delves into the risks of ignoring changing terminology, the importance of mutual respect, and the necessity of representation at every level of the life sciences industry. 

We discussed the pitfalls and the positives experienced by people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community, the resources available, and the power of being yourself, even when the negativity around you starts to take its toll. 

How do we open up positive discussion? How do we empower others in the life sciences? It all starts with a willingness to learn. 

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‘Standing out in some way is part of the journey of life.’ In this episode of My Race in Science, we explored the infinite value of self-belief, mentoring, and meaningful allyship in the fight against discrimination in the life sciences space. 

From sharing stories to speaking up for others – you don’t need to have experienced first-hand discrimination to be an impactful advocate. 

While diverse teams are starting to populate senior leadership positions, the persistence of the ‘Old Boys Club’ mentality still acts as a barrier to progression for minorities in today’s world, particularly for women of colour. 

How do we break the mould and inspire change, and what does that process look like? 

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Our BioTalent Social community came together for an informative discussion on ‘The Next Generation of Cell & Gene Therapies,’ hosted by our very own James Hume. The discussion touched on a multitude of topical themes and insights, including: 

• The role of tech-transfer offices in turning early-stage interventions into products
• Current challenges and opportunities for CGT start-ups in Europe
• The complexities of clinical trials, and how we can make this smoother
• PHDs: the importance of scientific and entrepreneurial learning
• Viral vs. non-viral vectors
• Mindset in CGT: the importance of resilience, perseverance and ambiguity tolerance

Thank you to our wonderful panel members Stephen Sullivan, Kerstin Papenfuss and James Hume for their sharp and focussed insights. 

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In our most recent podcast, we were invited to listen to a conversation between Jogesh, Bowry, Recruitment Consultant here at BioTalent, and Mirasbek Kuterbekov, Senior Scientist at Hoxton Farms where he combines his passion for animal welfare with his expertise in tissue engineering to create the most delicious slaughter-free animal fat.

Mirasbek is a Senior Scientist at Hoxton Farms, where he combines his passion for animal welfare with his expertise in tissue engineering to create the most delicious slaughter-free animal fat. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Specialist at The Dow Chemical Company as part of their Research Assignment Program working on a wide range of projects from plastics recycling to tech scouting. Originally from Kazakhstan, Mirasbek had the opportunity to study and work in the US, Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands before his most recent relocation to London, UK. He has been active in several LGBTQIA+ organisations throughout his career and is currently a Director at the OUTbio UK, an independent network run specifically for the LGBTQIA+ professionals and their allies within the biotech community in the UK.

*In this podcast episode, Mirasbek discussed his early career, growing up in Kazakhstan and finding a passion for science, where he was highly influenced by his chemistry teacher before gaining a scholarship to study in the U.S. The cultivated meat industry was also discussed, outlining the environmental benefits which included a reduction of carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, as well as the number of ethical impacts it has on humans, animals and plants. The topic also explored the LGBTQIA+ community, where Mirsabek impactfully spoke about how watching the annual Pride march in the New York inspired him to open up about his sexuality. Mirsabek now co-organises his own Pride network, OUTBio, regularly hosting monthly events.

If you would like to discuss project managing and strategies on how to build comfortable and safe teams, wherever in the world you might be, please do reach out to us or visit our website at www.biotalent.com*

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Take a listen to our latest episode, 'Clinical in Switzerland: Start up Bio vs. Pharma'. Please note this panel discussion is a pre-recorded webinar. We felt the content was so impactful, we decided to share it with our podcast listeners. 

Led by Indya Lofthouse-Smith, the discussion delved into an array of topics and insights, which included: 

• From accessible candidate pools to quality of life: why Switzerland is such a desirable place to work and live
• There are benefits to working in both a specialist and cross-functional role, and worth exploring both
• To gain a leadership position in start-up bio or pharma firm, be both strategic and tactical
• Digital health, particularly AI, has accelerated over the last year and projects relating to this are being delivered
• Switzerland’s large university presence allows for mentorship and study project opportunities for young people in their career
• To the future: China’s ever-growing presence within Switzerland

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Meet our next confirmed speaker, Lorraine Liu. Lorraine is the Global Competency Leader of Project Control Management and at the same time Manager of 13 Project Controls globally at DSM.  She is a CBC (China burn Canadian) and passionate about how things work since she was a kid, which might be an indication of her future career in the Engineering field. After obtaining her degree in Biotech Engineering and 2nd degree in International Economic Law, she clearly knows Engineering will be her career direction.  She is a multi-languages speaker, able to communicate in 4 different languages (Chinese, Japanese, English and German) which combine with her Engineering education background brings her on a continuous ex-pat journey in the field of Project management and Engineering. She works as Project Control Manager in multiple countries (China, US, Canada, Germany, Singapore) at multiple mega-investment(up to 5.2Billion EUR) CAPEX projects. With living more than 15 years in different countries, she is deeply aware of the value of diversity and inclusion and how different voices could bring the best outcome. She is currently living in the Netherlands and seeking her next journey in her career. 

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Head of Quality (innovative and accomplished Quality Systems Professional) with a broad background in Pharmaceutical and Laboratory sciences (specializing in business development) with R&D and commercial manufacturing (sterile and non-sterile) experience with over 15 years of industry practice.  Overall background and specialities include GMP & GLP, which have led to the strategic management of major programs such as gap analysis and transformation of Product Quality Systems (PQS), SOP transformation and optimization, QMS frameworks, and operational systems audits. She is passionate about continuous improvement activities and consistently building quality in each area of the life sciences.  Advocate and Gala Committee Member for the Tourette’s Association of America, Advocate for Make-A-Wish NJ and Powershift Ambassador for Shark Tank’s Daymond John. 

www.tourette.org is the Tourette Association of America and the TS Impulse Jam 2022 benefit concert is here: https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/c87HCyPXq4urNyogFZBuZw?domain=tourette.org

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Quality is so important within the Life Sciences; however, identifying similarities and differences which are all very much organically grown across pharma, biotech, Medical Devices and CROs and the interactions between them across different GxPs stands for interesting discussions.

Come together with our BioTalent Social community and join a panel of market-leading experts as we identify how to build and grow your career within quality, uncovering the tips and tools required to succeed.

Panel

• Darren O'Connor - Host and Chair at BioTalent
• Katie Henchir Terry - Vice President, Quality at Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc
• Greg Whitehead - Chief Quality Officer at Rubius Therapeutics
• Jared R. Auclair - Associate Dean of Professional Program and Graduate Affairs in the College of Science at Northeastern University

Katie Henchir Terry

Katie is a biotech veteran with over 20 years of experience across technical operations and quality. She excels at building right-sized quality management systems enabling drug approval, global drug supply, and ongoing product quality oversight. Katie is passionate about advancing organizational & quality culture focused on patient safety, data integrity, and continuous improvement. She currently serves as the Vice President, of Quality at Acceleron Pharma Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. Katie holds a Bachelor of Science from Utica College and an M.B.A from Simmons School of Management.

Greg Whitehead

Greg brings more than 25 years of quality-related experience to Rubius. He joins the company from bluebird bio, Inc., where he most recently served as vice president, quality. During the four years he spent at the company, Greg oversaw a 10-fold expansion of the quality unit to support multiple gene therapy clinical trials and to prepare for commercial production in the U.S. and Europe. Under his leadership, he established a culture of quality dedicated to patient safety and data integrity. Prior to bluebird bio, Greg spent 10 years at Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, LLC, most recently serving as director, of corporate quality. While there, he established the corporate quality vision and mission and the company’s strategic roadmap for continuous improvement in quality systems. He also led critical initiatives, including regulatory interactions and the successful transition from clinical to commercial production upon product approval. Earlier, Greg was a supervisor of bioanalytic chemistry at BioPort Corporation in Michigan and lead medical technologist in the toxicology testing centre at Sparrow Health System in Michigan. Greg received his B.S. in forensic science from Michigan State University.

Jared R. Auclair

Jared R. Auclair is currently the Associate Dean of Professional Program and Graduate Affairs in the College of Science at Northeastern University and Associate Teaching Professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology. In addition, Dr Auclair is the Director of the Biopharmaceutical Analysis Laboratory (BATL), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Center of Regulatory Excellence in Biotherapeutics and Advanced Therapies and oversees the International Council for Harmonisation training. Lastly, Prof. Auclair serves as the Technical Supervisor for the Life Science Testing Center at Northeastern University, which is a state and CLIA-certified lab. Dr Auclair collaborates with both academic researchers, industry and government in the area of biopharmaceutical and cell/gene therapy development and analysis. He has expertise in mol. biology, protein biochemistry, analytical chemistry, protein crystallography, and biological mass spectrometry; and is interested in use-inspired research for the biotechnology industry.

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Dr. Hemmel Amrania YC21 is the founder of Digistain. A platform cancer diagnostics technology that promises to eliminate the overuse of cytotoxic chemotherapy. He is a world-leading expert in infrared imaging. He holds the degrees of MSc and PhD in Physics from SupOptique, Paris, and Imperial College London, where his work as a Post Doctorate Researcher in the field of laser-based medical imaging saw him file for 7 patents and receive the Imperial College's Outstanding Research Prize as well as the Royal Society Innovation Award for his contribution to breast cancer imaging. He spear-headed Digistain's R&D from its beginnings in a physics lab, securing both public and private funding for clinical trials all the way to clinical deployment. Hemmel’s specialities include Quantum Detection, Microscopic Optics, Infra-red, Laser, Multispectral, and Chemical Imaging on which he is the contributor for the book Vibrational Spectroscopy for Biomedical Applications. His cutting-edge achievements also include two world firsts in the demonstrations of live cell chemical imaging using a benchtop device and intermediate band-gap solid-state solar cells. 

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In our most recent podcast, we were invited to listen to a conversation between Taylor Whelpton, Head of Global Engineering here at BioTalent, and Andreas Zander, an Engineering Project Director who has worked across the world on different projects, most recently, building a new, state of the art biologics manufacturing facility, for Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna.

Andreas is a Project Director at Boehringer Ingelheim, currently working on a project specialising in human vaccine production.  He started his career as an apprentice in a Nuclear Power Plant before moving into working for a start-up which is where he ignited his passion for working in the chemicals industry. Andreas believes that he thrives when designing and building pharmaceutical plants.

In this podcast episode, Taylor and Andreas discussed how to approach and manage a project in countries with very different cultures from our own, as well as the benefits of starting a leadership career from an entry-level engineering background and the different perspectives to project directorship. If you would like to discuss project managing and strategies on how to build comfortable and safe teams, wherever in the world you might be, please do reach out to us or visit our website at www.biotalent.com

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Corryn Gardiner is a Director of her own Quality Assurance Consultancy who works with pharmaceutical companies to help with the set-up and/or ongoing maintenance and responsibilities relating to the Pharmaceutical Quality System and maintaining licences.

After spending over 10 years working in Quality Assurance Corryn believes and strives for quality and compliance to work hand in hand, without one being compromised for the other. Corryn has worked at and supported global pharmaceutical companies and related organisations including Fisher Bioservices part of Thermofisher Scientific, Eisai, Roche and Alexion. In addition to her varied Quality Assurance roles across the lifecycle of a medicinal product, Corryn acts as a Responsible Person and Responsible Person of Import. 

Corryn holds a BSc in Biochemistry with Forensic Science from the Queen Mary University of London.

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Dr. Matthias Steger is co-Founder and CEO of Endogena Therapeutics, a biotech company with a novel drug discovery concept based on selective regulation of endogenous stem cells to repair and regenerate organs and tissues.

Matthias worked for 22 years in the pharmaceutical-biotech industry. Prior to Endogena, he worked as Global Head of Research & Technology Partnering, at Roche, setting up and managing > 50 collaborations and acquisitions for novel drug modalities, new drug discovery technologies, as well as enabling technologies, such as translational models, biomarkers, and drug delivery/formulation. Matthias has also lead and implemented various corporate strategies exploring novel drug discovery approaches, and as such has initiated and built up Roche’s stem cell research.

In addition, Matthias worked as an independent consultant for various biotech companies, academic institutes and venture capital firms, exploring novel drug discovery – and partnering/investment strategies. He also has prior entrepreneurial experience by building up a pioneering orphan GPCR drug discovery company, which lead to a successful acquisition. Matthias started his career in research, as a medicinal chemist at Roche, exploring novel platforms and drug design approaches, as well as traditional drug discovery programs. He also gained a financial perspective of the industry as an investment banking analyst at Kepler Equities.

He served as an executive board member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), as well as the chair of the industry committee of the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). Matthias has a Diploma in Organic Chemistry (University of Zürich, Switzerland), and a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Sussex, UK, as well as an MBA from HSG (St. Gallen, Switzerland).

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Yogesh’s career in pharma spans over 38 years and he has operated his own UK registered limited company for the past 12 years. All his formal education has all been in the United Kingdom and he is proud to be a British Citizen. Yogesh is also proud of his heritage and ancestorial roots in India and he has tried to integrate the best of both cultures.

Yogesh developed a passion for the natural sciences as a young teenager at a London middle school when he was inspired by his chemistry and biology teachers. That led him on his journey in science higher education and then a career in the biopharmaceutical industry.

The excellent training Yogesh received at David Begg Associates and the University of Strathclyde, for the qualification on eligibility as a Qualified Person (QP), taught him to understand the many risks associated with manufacturing that could lead to the making of a defective product or defects could arise via poor packaging and/or distribution controls that render a batch or part batch to become unsafe and/or ineffective.

Yogesh is passionate about ensuring that everyone involved in the manufacturing, quality control and supply chain understand the risks and they follow the correct procedures for ensuring protection and control of the product for its Quality, Safety and Efficacy requirements.

Yogesh promotes for a very good understanding of Quality Risk Management by all staff involved in drug product manufacture and control. The key message being is there is poor or no chance of a patient knowing a product supplied is defective in any way. And even a small number of defective units can cause harm or even death.

Yogesh has lived and worked in the USA, Canada, UK, Switzerland and The Netherlands. He has a comprehensive understanding of the USA & EU regulations, quality standards and the expected requirements for the manufacturing, testing and certification of both sterile and non-sterile medicinal products including cell and gene therapy products.

Qualified as a lead GxP auditor, Yogesh has played key roles, including principal lead for hosting Regulatory Agency Inspections for a number of companies. These inspections were highly successful for the company Yogesh represented.

To date, Yogesh has conducted ca 25 national and international audits of 3rd party manufacturing organisations, quality control laboratories, API suppliers and a number of GCP inspections at Clinical Investigation sites.

Yogesh is a Chartered Chemist, a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, a member of the Research Quality Association (MRQA), and H is registered as a “Qualified Person” under the Permanent Provisions of the EU Directives.

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Baris was always fascinated by technology and curious about how things were built. He started coding when he was a teenager and made this passion his job. His appetite for new challenges made him travel and work in different countries and companies. He created his own company to taste entrepreneurship and learned a lot from these diverse experiences. 

Currently, he believes that all the new technologies developed for different purposes like games, entertainment, transportation could help to understand user’s needs by analysing the collected data and provide high-value digital healthcare. The best solution for him is when the solution is fully integrated within the life (digital life) of users instead of expecting them to learn one more application.

His source of energy is summarised by: keep Moving, keep Learning, keep Doing and keep Winning.

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Our new Diversity in Life Sciences Series.

A trained Scientist with a passion for the people, Alex developed a strong interest in healthcare through working in the industry at Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis and used his commercial acumen to transition from research and development into pharmaceutical recruitment consulting. Customer focus and in-depth industry knowledge have allowed Alex to partner effectively with Biotechnology organisations, CROs and pharmaceutical clients.

Alex grew up in Barbados, which is known as the ‘Amputation capital’ of the world. This ignited his passion for treatment, disease and science. He later studied at Kings College London and studied pharmacology, he has also researched airway lung inflammation. Alex adores the mission of the pharmaceutical industry, which is to help people and enable people to live longer lives. Alex moved into recruitment to help companies find the best talent to perform these important roles.

‘Diversity of thought enables the breakthroughs needed in research and development.’ As recruiters, there is a lot of ownership, as they are the interface within the external market. Alex believes it is vital to wear a diverse lens on the marketplace and not to insert our own biases on the initial recruitment processes, as this can affect the overall process.

Alex then discussed the intensity of discrimination, by referencing the research of Dr Winston Morgan during the COVID-19 pandemic and the link between structural racism and disease. Alex believes that in order to overcome discriminatory issues, regulatory changes are required to support diversity and inclusion. Similar to the Equality Act 2020 that mandates organisations of a certain size to publish information relating to the gender pay gap; ‘it pushes a shift in thought.’

Alex’s passion for Inclusion and Diversity has led him to leverage his knowledge of the hiring process to implement change aimed at making the job application process fairer and more accessible to all. Alex is a strong diversity and inclusion advocate and influential leader and is driving positive change within the life sciences landscape.

www.biotalent.com

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With a career spanning over two decades in the Pharma industry Florin Muraru is a Regulatory Affairs executive with exposure to all steps of the registration process for pharmaceutical products, including CTAs, CP, MRP, and national submission.

With an impressive strong regulatory expertise on drug development has vast experience in regulatory, cumulated more than 12 years in the Regulatory aspect of product development. Florin has the notable experience to develop and manage regulatory teams, in the last role had a major contribution to the successful implementation of an innovative, Regulatory HUB model service.

During this episode, we touched on the challenges that the global health crisis has created, how the regulatory landscape has enabled its processes to remain agile, and the impact the pandemic will have throughout 2020 and onwards. Florin believes his passion for regulatory affairs is based on the fact that he has the ability, based on clear rules to deliver an accessible product that provides medicine as fast as possible to patients, doctors, and clinical specialists.

Florin discusses the importance to use your knowledge to adapt to the climate to support products and therapies, adhere to regulatory guidelines, assist with the development of the product and address, solve and overcome challenges promptly. There are challenges every single day, with the unprecedented crisis creating many problems but also new unfamiliar obstacles. One of which includes the level of communication and the way discussions are presented to ensure it is understood when considering a good, strong, scientific proven argument for registering a new product or regulatory strategy.

The ability to adapt to the current climate is of utmost importance. A lasting impact for Florin, he has realised, there is no interest in profit within regulatory affairs, individuals in his field are commonly interested in alliance and the health and safety of their patients. The world and industry reacted rapidly to the pandemic, showing us that healthcare professionals will not sacrifice the quality of care over profitability. The lessons learned in the first wave of the pandemic, create a future based around enhanced collaboration and the agile development of future products and therapies.

Visit our website for more information: www.biotalent.com

ItsInOurDNA

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This is episode three and we are joined with Michael Potts an Experienced Manufacturing and Operations Director. Michael sees himself as an entrepreneur, with over 20 years’ experience in Pharmaceutical operations. He enjoys leading people, teams, departments and organisations to deliver excellence for the organisation and also for the individuals.

Michael has a democratic leadership style, which helps ensure that he is inclusive and well-balanced to effectively communicate throughout his organisation. The collective power of great Leadership, trust and collaboration as the norm, in order to work together towards a common goal – “people shape an organisation”. He reiterated the importance of continuous development and learning to be the best leader and remain prepared to disrupt and bring forward challenges; no great success is achieved without failure.

As we approach the new ‘normal’ – Mike touches on the importance of the health sector and how adaptable and innovative the frontline operations have been operating in order to innovate solutions to problems. Compassion has become critical during the current crisis, and understanding the needs of your team is a fundamental strategy to improve morale, enhance your teams' wellbeing and enabling the team to stay connected in times of uncertainty. If you are looking to improve your leadership style – lead with empathy.

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To celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, we sat down with Sanne Marie Løkke Olsen. Sanne is a Business Unit Leader at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Sanne grew up a mother who worked in pharmaceutical and met one of her inspirational friends – who researched molecules to fight cancer and discover new cures for diseases, which ignited her passion and desire to follow in her scientific footsteps. 

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During this episode, we sat down with Sion Wyn an expert and pioneer in computer system validation, compliance and international regulations within the Life Sciences sector. During the episode, we discussed compliance requirements, the evolution of data integrity, ethical challenges and potential risks of use of systems for public health, product quality and patient safety – to ensure they are balanced with new and innovative tech for the benefit of the consumer.