Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2nd September 2015 – The Board of Edinburgh Molecular Imaging Ltd (EM Imaging) is pleased to announce the appointment of John Jeans CBE CEng as non-executive Chairman with effect from 31st August 2015.
In an industrial career spanning 35 years John held senior international leadership positions in global companies including Smith & Nephew, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Amersham plc (now GE Healthcare). John headed the commercial function of GE’s Life Science business and was the Chairman of its UK Healthcare Company. His domain expertise ranges from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to in-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics; encompassing research, product development, manufacturing and commercialisation.
John is Chairman of the Council of Cardiff University and Imanova. In addition he chairs the Board of UK Biocentre Ltd, is a non-executive Director of Renishaw plc and a Board member of the University and College Employers Association.
An advisor to public and third sector organisations, he was appointed by the Prime Minister in 2014 as the UK Government’s Life Science Champion for medical technology. John leads Innovate UK’s Stratified Medicine Advisory Board and the KTN’s Health Board, and has sat on advisory panels for the MRC, EPSRC, NIHR and the Wellcome Trust. He has served on several Government bodies including Co-Chairing a Ministerial Committee on Medical Technologies, is an inaugural member of the Science Advisory Council for Wales and a founder Trustee of the Francis Crick Institute. He is also Chair of the Strategic Advisory Panel for the Singapore Government’s Diagnostics Hub.
John was previously the Deputy Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, a member of its Audit and Risk Committee and Chaired the Trustee Board of MRC Technology.
He was awarded a CBE for services to Life Sciences, Healthcare and Science in 2012.
Commenting on the changes to the Board, Ian Wilson, CEO of EMI, said:
“I am delighted to welcome John to the Board. With his extensive experience in the healthcare and diagnostics sector John is an extremely valuable addition to the Company. His deep expertise and leadership skills will be central to supporting EM Imaging in bringing its novel optical imaging technology to the forefront of the global molecular imaging market.”
John Jeans said:
“The team at Edinburgh Molecular Imaging have made great progress in establishing a strong portfolio of optical imaging opportunities and it’s a privilege to be joining the Company as it enters this exciting period of further development”.
About Edinburgh Molecular Imaging
EM Imaging is a diagnostics company, with a comprehensive R&D portfolio, focused on the development and commercialisation of novel optical imaging agents. The company’s optical imaging agents see disease in the body in real time, and help clinicians make time critical diagnostic and treatment decisions.
EM Imaging’s “SMART” optical agents visualise pathology in vivo by lighting up cells, enzymes and receptors present in disease, reducing the time to diagnose patients from days to seconds, enabling point of care treatment selection and early intervention.
EM Imaging’s novel probes only light up when disease is present. The company has patents covering the platform technology as well as on probes that can image infection, inflammation, fibrosis and cancer.
The EM Imaging team is made up of academic founders (Chris Haslett, Director of the Queen’s Medical Research Institute, Mark Bradley, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Kev Dhaliwal, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Pulmonary Molecular Imaging at the University of Edinburgh) as well as several industry experts in the field of imaging, chemistry, clinical development, regulatory affairs and commercialisation of in vivo diagnostic imaging products. www.edinimage.com
The company was formed in 2014 by lead investor Epidarex Capital, a venture capital firm specialising in early stage, life science investments. For more information, please visit www.epidarex.com.
About Optical imaging
Optical imaging is a technique for non-invasively looking inside the body, as is done with x-rays. Unlike x-rays, which use ionizing radiation, optical imaging uses visible light and the special properties of photons to obtain detailed images of organs and tissues as well as smaller structures including cells.
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