The Management Team
Dr Andrew Thompson
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
With more than 30 years of scientific experience, Andrew left Cambridge University and founded SMi Drug Discovery. He has also worked as a consultant in the pharmaceutical sector and as a Scientific Research Project Manager on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
He has particular expertise in drug-target engagement and has published over 75 internationally recognised scientific papers covering this topic.
Professor James Brozik
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder
James is a microscopy expert with more than 30 years of experience in optical design & fabrication, single molecule imaging, molecular biology, material science, engineering, chemical synthesis and stochastic modelling.
His cutting-edge optical designs allow us to perform dynamic single-molecule imaging, understand the physicochemical properties of molecular assemblies, and build molecular-scale machines that self-assemble on lipid membranes.
His work is widely regarded in his field and he has published over 30 papers that relate to the SMi technology.
James Clark
Chief Financial Officer & Co-Founder
James is a Chartered Accountant with more than 20 years of post-qualification experience.
He was previously an Executive Director at UBS and is now a key member of SMi Drug Discovery. He is also an investor in other medical technology businesses and a co-author of two financial publications.
Stephen Reeder
Chief Operating Officer
With more than 30 years in technical and commercial roles, Stephen has a passion for the development and commercialisation of new technologies.
His experience spans both large corporations and start-ups, where he has managed software and hardware product lines and led international sales teams.
Michael Risley
Chief Development Officer
Mike is an experienced senior manager with over 15 years delivering complex CE-IVD systems through conception, QC, testing & sales.
Mike has over 20 years of scientific experience, the majority of which has been spent delivering complex IVD systems from conception through to manufacture and sales.
His background spans large and small companies, including growing Premaitha Health from start-up to globally recognised Reproductive Health business.
Dr John Hirst CBE
Non-Executive Director & Chair
As well as his non-executive role at SMi, John Hirst is chair of The British Standards Institution, the National Oceanography Centre and Anglian Water Group.
Until September 2014 John Hirst was Chief Executive of the Met Office, where he was the UK’s permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organisation. Here he established collaborations on science and service with public, academic and private sector organisations and was awarded a CBE in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List for his national and international services to Meteorology.
Dr Stephen Little
Non-Executive Director
Stephen is a British scientist and entrepreneur with a long and successful career in the fields of personalised medicine and molecular diagnostics.
Following time spent as a research leader with Celltech and later AstraZeneca PLC he founded the personalised health company DxS and, following its sale to QIAGEN, went on to establish Premaitha Health (now Yourgene Health plc) as a leader in the field of reproductive genetics.
Dr David Onions FMedSCi, DVMS, FRSA, FRSE
Norcliffe Capital Board Observer
David is an investor in biomedical companies and former Chief Medical Officer of Invitrogen/Life Technologies (now Thermo Fisher).
He founded 2 biotechnology companies (Q-One Biotech and BioOutsource) which, in total, exited for ˜$100M and he was involved in the buy-out of BioReliance which was sold for $350M to Sigma-Aldrich (now Merck KGaA).
Dr Stefan Hamill
Vice President Strategy
Stefan was formerly a senior analyst at investment banks Numis (now Deutsche Numis) and Peel Hunt, both of which he helped transform into #1 ranked franchises in UK Life Sciences. In his career in capital markets, he was consistently ranked in the top three UK Healthcare and Life Sciences analysts for more than a decade and completed some of the most high-profile transactions in the sector.
Stefan was lead analyst for clients such as the life science research tools companies Abcam and Oxford Nanopore and IP commercialisation firms Syncona, PureTech Health and Oxford Science Enterprises. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and is a CFA charterholder.
