NICOLA HERON

Chief Business Officer, Medicines Discovery Catapult

Nicola has over 22 years’ experience of life science research holding senior positions in both public and private sectors.

Her expertise covers research through to commercialisation in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics. Following a PhD in Chemistry from Boston in the US, she joined AstraZeneca in 1998 as a medicinal chemist leading chemistry and ultimately discovery projects. She moved to Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2009 to join one of two pilot Government Healthcare Technology Co-operatives (D4D) whose mission is to develop new technologies to support the needs of people living with long-term conditions. The success of the pilots led to the NIHR investing £30M into what is now an established part of the NIHR infrastructure. She was a non-exec on the commercial arm of D4D and gained an MBA in 2012.

She has over 45 publications, and board level experience where she advises on innovation and commercial strategy. She regularly supports national judging panels for industry and academic grants and awards.

Nicola joined the Medicines Discovery Catapult in 2018 as Head of Collaborative R&D and was appointed as Chief Business Officer in January 2021. She leads the sector engagement and commercial aspects of the business, driving MDC collaboration opportunities across the bio-tech sector.