Our Board of Directors

Dr Simon Goldman

Investor Director

Dr Jan Thirkettle

Board Chair (interim)

Nicolas Koebel

Chief Executive Officer

Prof. Dimitri Kullmann

Chief Scientific Officer and Scientific Founder

Dr Caitriona O’Rourke

Director

Dr Bernard Ravina

Independent Director

Dr Federica Draghi

Investor Director

Dr Carmine Circelli

Investor Director

News

Dr Simon Goldman

Investor Director

Simon manages the UCL Technology Fund’s life-science team, focusing on therapeutics, delivery systems, diagnostics and medical devices arising from the University College London knowledge ecosystem. He completed his PhD (and postdoctoral training) in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, prior to which he worked for seven-and-a-half years at Goldman Sachs in Melbourne, predominantly on the Healthcare/Biotech and Portfolio Strategy Research teams. Simon worked in several roles across the UK and Australian biotech startup sectors before joining Albion Capital in 2015.

Dr Jan Thirkettle

Board Chair (interim)

Jan has more than 25 years’ experience in pharmaceutical development and has had leadership roles in the commercialisation of therapeutics across all modalities. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Harness Therapeutics. Prior to this he was start-up CEO and Chief Development Officer of Freeline Therapeutics (2016-2021),overseeing the establishment of a platform for a novel AAV capsid and program management. Jan has also held roles at GSK spanning from Discovery to Manufacturing (1997-2015). He established GSK’s cell/gene therapy platform and played a pivotal role in the commercialization of Strimvelis, the first autologous ex vivo gene therapy approved by the EMA. Jan holds an MA in Chemistry and a DPhil in Biological Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

Nicolas Koebel

Chief Executive Officer

Nicolas has over 20 years’ leadership experience in pharma & biotech, at GSK (2005-2015), Orchard Therapeutics (2016-2022), and EpilepsyGTx (since 2022). As Global Commercial Lead at GSK, Nicolas was responsible for the commercialisation strategy for a pipeline of seven gene therapies, including Strimvelis, the first autologous ex vivo gene therapy approved by the EMA in 2016. He was one of the founders and the first employee of Orchard Therapeutics. He played a key role in the evolution of Orchard from an early clinical-stage biotech to a public, fully integrated company with two commercially approved gene therapies and pioneered the commercialization of Libmeldy in several European markets. Orchard was acquired by Kyowa in January 2024. In addition to Nicolas' experience in pharma and biotech, he also holds a Master’s degree in International Economics and Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Prof. Dimitri Kullmann

Chief Scientific Officer and Scientific Founder

Dimitri is a Professor of Neurology at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His career has focused on the fundamental mechanisms of synaptic transmission and neuronal and circuit excitability in epilepsy and other neurological disorders for over three decades. He has authored over 250 publications and was the Editor-in-Chief of Brain between 2014 and 2020. More recently, Dimitri has collaborated on several promising strategies for gene therapy of focal epilepsy. His work was recognized with the American Epilepsy Society Basic Science Research Award in 2023.

Dr Caitriona O’Rourke

Director

Caitriona is Senior Business Manager at UCL Business (UCLB) and brings extensive experience in commercialising UCL technologies, including therapies for rare diseases and CNS disorders. Prior to joining UCLB, she worked as a research associate within UCL, contributing to various life science and pharmaceutical research projects covering the areas of tissue engineering, drug delivery, regenerative medicine, biomaterials, and stem cell biology. Caitriona is also Director of companies including Avatar Ltd and Glialign Ltd and holds a PhD in Tissue Engineering from the Open University and an MSc in Neuropharmacology from the National University of Galway, Ireland.

Dr Bernard Ravina

Independent Director

Bernard has over 25 years of drug development experience in government, academia, and industry, and was a practicing neurologist. He is a founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Vima Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing oral therapies for movement disorders launched in 2025 with $60 million Series A funding led by Atlas Venture. Previously, Bernard has held leadership positions at Biogen, Voyager Therapeutics, and Praxis Precision Medicines.

Dr Federica Draghi

Investor Director

Federica is Managing Partner of XGEN Venture and currently serves on the boards of EpilepsyGTx, Protembis, Aavantgarde and InnovHeart. She co-founded XGEN in 2021 leveraging extensive expertise in life sciences and venture capital. Before XGEN, Federica was Investment Director at Genextra from 2006, where she continues to contribute as a board member and co-investor in its portfolio companies. Her previous roles include board positions at Erydel and Kuste Biopharma, as well as operational roles such as COO of Congenia. Federica began her career in academia as a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Cambridge, UK, focusing on the structural biology of mitochondrial proteins. She is actively involved in the life sciences community as a co-founder of Italian Angels for Biotech (IAB) and a former board member of Assobiotec. Federica holds an MBA from Columbia University, a PhD specializing in protein crystallography, and a master’s degree in biochemistry (summa cum laude) from the University of La Sapienza in Rome.

Dr Carmine Circelli

Investor Director

Carmine joined British Business Bank in January 2021 from the Northern VCTs, a generalist scaleup investor, where he focused on life sciences investments. Prior to this Carmine was an Investment Executive in the technology ventures team at the Development Bank of Wales. He also has university intellectual property commercialisation experience from his time with Cambridge Enterprise. Carmine holds a PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Manchester.  Within his current role as Investment Director, Life Sciences in the Bank’s Direct and Co-investment team, he has led the development of direct life sciences investment at the Bank, building a portfolio of 18 companies.