We are delighted to welcome Dr Cathy Tralau-Stewart as the new Executive Director at the Milner Therapeutics Institute. Cathy will work alongside Director Tony Kouzarides and the Milner team to lead and deliver our vision to transform pioneering science into therapies. Cathy takes over from our interim Deputy Director Dr Nicola McCarthy, who has been supporting the Institute since December last year.
Cathy brings with her a wealth of experience from over thirty years in academic-industry leadership roles in the UK and US and is passionate about enabling the translation of early innovation to deliver real benefit to patients. Following her PhD in Clinical Sciences at UCL, Cathy moved to work in oncology & then respiratory R&D at GSK. She then went on to found and direct the Drug Discovery Centre, Imperial College London (2007-2012) as a new model for supporting translation of academic science.
During her time in the US, Cathy directed the UCSF catalyst translational program (2014-2018) and subsequently held senior leadership positions at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in External Innovation (2018-2021), leading an extensive network of academic alliances along the West Coast (UC San Diego, Stanford University, The University of Washington & The Fred Hutch Cancer Centre, Seattle) and also initiating the development of alliances in Australia. Since returning to the UK in 2021, she has held CSO roles at C4X Discovery and currently at ValiRx plc.
I am excited to join The Milner Therapeutics Institute. The Milner Institute’s innovative model is focused on supporting and developing collaboration between academia and industry to deliver therapies to patients. I strongly believe that this is the key to enabling patient access to important new medicines. I look forward to working with the Milner team to build upon the significant past successes of the Institute and to support the translation of innovative science to patients.
We are thrilled to have Cathy onboard with us. Her knowledge and experience will be a huge asset to the institute, and we look forward to working with her as we move into the next phase of our journey.
I am hugely grateful to Nicola McCarthy for gracefully holding the fort as interim deputy director, and for her continued support as she now leaves the position in Cathy’s capable hands.
