As part of our Alums outreach effort, we met up with Fiona Marshall, a former student at the Department of Pharmacology.
Fiona Marshall is President of Biomedical Research at Novartis, where she leads approximately 5,300 scientists and associates across six research sites dedicated to discovering high-value medicines for patients.
Before starting her current role in November 2022, Fiona served as senior vice president and global head of discovery sciences, preclinical development and translational medicine at MSD (Merck & Co in the US). Before that, she was a founder and chief scientific officer of Heptares Therapeutics, a UK-based biotechnology company focused on structure-based drug design. Earlier in her career, Fiona was director of molecular pharmacology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and spent 10 years at GSK, holding senior positions in molecular pharmacology and neuroscience.
Fiona holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Bath and a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Cambridge, both in the UK. She received the 2012 WISE Women of Outstanding Achievement for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, the 2015 RSC Malcolm Campbell Award for Chemistry, and the Vane Medal from the British Pharmacological Society. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, and an honorary fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry.