Dr. Julian Golec FRSC trained as a chemist at the University of Hull before starting work in 1981 for Roussel (later Aventis). Here he led a joint team with Vertex to produce pralacasan, the first ICE inhibitor for arthritis. He spent a brief period (1996-98) as Head of Research at Xenova during which Traiquidar, a multidrug resistance inhibitor for oncology, was moved into the clinic and Xenova secured a multimillion-pound collaboration with Eli Lilly on PAI-1 inhibitors for cardiovascular diseases. Julian retired from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in structure-based drug design, as Senior Vice President responsible for the company’s operation in England. During his 18 years at Vertex, the company progressed from its pure research base to the producer of three highly successful drugs to gain its reputation as one of the world’s leading biotechs. While making contributions to Vertex’s global efforts in cystic fibrosis and pain, the Vertex UK site distinguished itself in oncology by producing three oncology clinical candidates: the first aurora/Abl inhibitor and the first ATR inhibitors, two of which continue in clinical trials. 

David Rubinsztein, FRS, has been a leader in the field of autophagy, particularly in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory discovered that this pathway plays an important role in degrading many of the intracytoplasmic, aggregate-prone, proteins causing neurodegenerative diseases, like Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and various dementias. He pioneered the strategy of autophagy upregulation as a possible therapeutic approach in various neurodegenerative diseases and identified drugs and novel pathways that may be exploited for this objective. He has made key contributions to illuminating the relevance of autophagy defects as a disease mechanism and to the basic cell biology of this important catabolic process.

Rubinsztein is currently deputy director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, Academic Lead of the Alzheimer’s Research UK Cambridge Drug Discovery Institute and a UK Dementia Research Institute Professor. He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2004), Professor of Molecular Neurogenetics (University of Cambridge, personal chair (2005)), an EMBO member (2011) and Fellow of the Royal Society (2017). He was awarded the Graham Bull Prize for Clinical Science (Royal College of Physicians, 2007), the 2017 Thudichum Medal (Biochemical Society) and the Roger de Spoelberch prize (2017)  for outstanding contributions to neuroscience.

Scott Armstrong is the Chairman of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital. He was previously the Director of the Center for Epigenetics Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Pediatrics at the Weill Cornell Medical College where he initiated a research program in cancer epigenetics that has made significant contributions to the understanding of cancer biology. The major focus of his career has been on delineating the biology of childhood cancers, particularly leukemia. His work has led to the development of new therapeutic approaches for multiple types of cancer that are now being tested. Dr. Armstrong received his MD and PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He performed his residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children’s Hospital Boston, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Armstrong's work has been recognized by multiple awards including the Till and McCulloch Award from the International Society of Experimental Hematology, the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research, and the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the Association of American Physicians (AAP), and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.