The Team

Jenny is a leading health communications leader. She began her career as a political journalist and led high-profile campaigns in-house and agency-side. Prior to launching OVID she successfully built up an award-winning healthcare communications practice at another agency. She is a former political adviser to a government health minister and is a regular speaker at conferences and events on topics such as political strategy and policy-making, women’s health, social care, oncology, mental health and rare diseases. Jenny is a trustee of MS Trust, PharmaTimes and PRCA judge, and Findacure Patient Group mentor.

Roudie has worked in public policy and campaigning for over 15 years. She is the former Head of Government Affairs at the ABPI and previously led Pfizer UK’s corporate public affairs function. She worked for Boris Johnson across policy and strategic development in the health, life sciences, tech and charity sectors at City Hall, securing £200m for life science and digital health hubs in London. Roudie began her career as an Oxfam campaigner and has advised life sciences, health and technology clients

Richard ensures OVID runs smoothly and oversees our growth strategy. An engineer by training, he has spent nearly 15 years in the tech sector working for innovative start-ups, global corporates and large public sector organisations. His expertise and knowledge includes R&D and emerging technologies. He is skilled at translating and communicating complex technologies to a wider audience, including senior stakeholders.

Keith is an internationally-renowned expert and leader in life sciences innovation. He founded the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in 2012 and established a team of over 250 cell and gene therapy experts in state-of-the-art laboratories in London and a unique large-scale manufacturing centre in Stevenage that has been central to the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry. In April 2020 he retired from the Catapult to take up a portfolio of interests. He is currently Chair of the Pharma Advisory Board at Deep Science Ventures, a venture studio that systematically builds and optimises new companies. He is also an industry advisor to the UK Vaccine Task Force. Prior to the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Keith held various leadership positions in public and private life science organisations including the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service, Serologicals Inc and Bioscot Ltd. He has been a Director of the BIA, Chair of the Catapult Network, a Director of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, Chair of the UK Blood Forum, a Director of the European Blood Alliance and Director of the International Plasma Fractionators Association. In 1993, when at Bioscot, he received the Queen’s Award for Export.

Athena Lamnisos is a senior third sector leader and is currently CEO of leading women’s cancer research charity, The Eve Appeal. Athena is experienced at forging partnerships between private, public and not for profit sectors. She has a track record of directing successful change programmes in the arena of public health and oncology and is passionate about making service user voices central to strategy.

Prof Salisbury was Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health until the end of 2013. He was responsible for the National Immunisation Programme and led the introduction of many new vaccines. He is the chair of the WHO Global Certification Commission for Polio Eradication and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House’s Global Health Programme. He previously chaired the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, the WHO committee that sets global immunization policy. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2001.

Rachel leads OVID’s pharmaceutical PR services offer. She joined OVID from GSK, where she led global communications for the inhaled respiratory medicines team. An experienced and well-respected PR leader, she is the former UK Communications Director for GSK. Her background is in science communications and cancer, having previously been a Science Press Manager for Cancer Research UK, where she worked with all the leading national and trade health journalists on a regular basis.

Grace joined OVID from specialist life science PR agency Zyme Communications, where she managed client accounts in the respiratory, oncology, digital, diagnostics and AI sectors. She is a geneticist by training and before her career in health communications she worked as a research assistant on a genetics project, as well as a clinical trials assistant. She is passionate about telling clients’ stories in national and clinical outlets.

Edward has a background in stakeholder research and communications, collaborating with companies across a range of industries. He previously worked in client liaison at The Parliamentary Review and holds a First Class degree from The University of Warwick in Politics and International Relations. He has a particular flair for producing engaging social media strategies and policy research for clients such as ACT for Cancer.

Andrew has over 15 years experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry across Clinical Development, Medical Affairs and Government Affairs coupled with an extended stint in the Department of Health, Andrew has a proven track record of influencing individuals and policy in a wide range of disease areas – as well as Brexit, PPRS and the Life Sciences Strategy.

Claire is a writer, editor and editorial project manager. She pens content and advises on communications strategies for a range of healthcare clients. She is a regular contributor to specialist publications, including HSJ, Nursing Times and Guardian Labs. Claire serves as contributing editor at the industry-leading DigitalHealth.net.

Clare is a highly experienced public affairs, policy and communications advisor. She also has excellent knowledge of the NHS – having previously worked at the NHS Confederation. Clare used to manage the policy team for Alzheimer’s Research UK, has been seconded to the Office for Life Sciences and worked for Bupa as a communications consultant.

Claire is an experienced marketing communications professional whose background lies in health and behaviour change communications across marketing, brand, creative and digital. Having worked both in-house in senior roles and as an Account Director in the health communications agency world, she has led teams to deliver award-winning campaigns, content and communications activity.

Katie is a former journalist and health communications specialist with more than 20 years’ experience across print, online and broadcast media. She spent the early part of her career working at the BBC before moving into health journalism. She has held senior positions at: The Pharma Letter, The Pharmaceutical Journal and Nursing Standard. Her key skills include content strategy, arranging advisory boards and the coordination of media campaigns.

Ruth is the founder of Person Before Patient and is based in the Netherlands. She has vast amounts of experience in global patient advocacy in the pharmaceutical world, as well as working for trade associations in the UK and abroad. She is also a former Director of Services for QUIT in the UK, focusing on smoking cessation.

Sarah has a background in journalism and advises on content, social, digital and comms strategies, including crisis comms on social media. She has advised the world’s biggest pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, and also works with technology and FMCG clients.

Natalie has worked in communications and marketing for 15 years on clients ranging from global corporates to small start-ups and educational bodies. She has extensive experience as an events and partnerships facilitator, working on projects such as the Beijing & London Olympics / Paralympics, Rugby World Cup and UK School Games. She is also an accomplished writer across multiple fields: web copy, social media, crisis statements, scripts and articles (B2B, consumer and technical).

Ace has extensive experience in graphic design, concept development and brand management across a variety of sectors. He has worked in China and the UK with brands on developing innovative and visually striking microsites, logos, event assets and brand identities. Ace believes that by working closely with both marketing and communication teams we can better integrate design into a client’s overall strategy and image. Ace has worked for a number of OVID’s clients in the charity sector and also designed our website – a great example of his creativity and attention to detail!