Enterprise Tuesday: Anticipating the future of AI in health, pharma and more

David is a Senior Director of Emerging Innovations at AstraZeneca and leads a team focused on finding and testing the future of pharma and life sciences, with the goal of influencing AstraZeneca’s R&D strategy. The team covers all aspects of science and technology from Quantum Computing to Engineering Biology to Drug Delivery modalities, working with academics and start-ups to develop novel therapeutic options for patients.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca 7 years ago David was a strategy consultant with PwC’s Strategy&, where he advised large pharma, biotech and government clients on issues related to R&D strategy, innovation, market access and growth. David holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, and is currently studying for an Executive MBA at London Business School. David is passionate about entrepreneurship and supporting start-ups in their journey to define the next generation of treatments.

A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. She brings over 20 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Prior to his current role, Vincenzo was the Operation Officer and Chief of Staff for Enterprise Data & Analytics Programme, PMO director for Optimising Medical Evidence Generation Activities and Patient Centricity Excellence Director responsible for the strategic direction and delivery leadership of the overall capability programs to enable lifecycle teams to build patient value in R&D.

Following his passion for advancement of medicines for patients, before joining AstraZeneca, Vincenzo has led several projects at GlaxoSmithKline- UK in World Wide Business Development, in the Centres of Excellence for Drug Discovery, in Global Project & Portfolio Management and in Global Medical Affairs.

Vincenzo has contributed to several patented inventions, successfully led the in-licensing of gene-therapy treatments and built the Global Strategy, Operations and Governance for a number of programmes in Global Medical Affairs, in Global Medicine Development and in BioPharmaceutical R&D within GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

Vincenzo is a doctor in medicinal chemistry with an international Project Management accreditation and an MBA in strategic management.

Emily joined Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) and Cambridge University Health Partners as the Business Engagement and Clinical Innovation Lead in April 2022.

Emily’s role is to translate research and innovation into the NHS. Prior to this, Emily worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge in organic chemistry and machine learning. She previously obtained a Master’s from the University of York and a PhD from the University of Leeds. Emily has also held a European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) fellowship and conducted research into rare forms of cancer at pharmaceutical charity LifeArc.

Dr Roeland P-J E Decorte is the Founder & CEO of Decorte Future Industries (Techstars 2020; Young Business of the Year 2023), a venture-backed company using machine learning to extract health data from sound. Its technology allows any smartphone or any device with a microphone to provide hospital-grade health analyses anywhere, anytime to anyone. Decorte is also the president of the Artificial Intelligence Founders Association, which he co-founded alongside Dr William Casey King, Sr Director of AI Strategy at Microsoft, Director of the Capstone Programme at Yale University and nominee of President Biden’s AI committee. Decorte further co-organised the launch of Google’s Emerging AI Community.

Decorte Future Industries is backed by US and UK venture capital funds, and is building a machine learning engine that enables the extraction of complex health data such as cardiovascular, respiratory, mental and physical health metrics, all from sound collected by standard microphones. The company is partnered with one of the largest hospital chains in the world (Apollo Hospitals, serving 200M+ patients), as well as with Fidelity Investments and Microsoft, with Microsoft executives sitting on Decorte’s boards. Decorte is currently validating its technologies through clinical trials in the US, EU and India.

Decorte started his company shortly after his PhD in ancient codebreaking at the University of Cambridge, which he joined as likely the youngest of his nation in its 800-year history. He personally built the initial exoskeletons and AI controls that kickstarted his company, attracting the interest and ultimately endorsement – while still a one man band – of the UK Ministry of Defence and government. Decorte eventually steered the company’s health technology towards exclusively sound-based analysis. Decorte Future Industries has offices in Cambridge and London.