Oxford, UK: February 11, 2022: Oxford Science Enterprises, the Science Business Builder and preferred investment partner of the University of Oxford, today announces the appointment of Craig Fox PhD as Operating Partner, Life Sciences and Caroline Cake MBA, MEng, as Entrepreneur in Residence, Health Tech.
As Operating Partner, Craig will work across Oxford Science Enterprises’ life sciences portfolio and apply his extensive operating and scientific expertise to support the growth and development of early and late-stage companies. He will also help identify novel scientific opportunities leading to the formation of new spinouts.
As an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), Caroline will lead the creation and development of a new Health Tech enterprise based on ground-breaking research from the University of Oxford. The team will also benefit from her extensive network across government, the private healthcare sector and NHS as well as her deep understanding of health policy and data science.
The EIR model has been successfully deployed by Oxford Science Enterprises as exemplified by the creation of Base Genomics, led by former EIR Ollie Waterhouse and acquired by Exact Sciences in 2020, and the recently launched Salience Labs led by former EIR Vaysh Kewada.
I am delighted to welcome both Craig and Caroline to the team. Their operational expertise and highly relevant networks will be invaluable to our organisation, academic founders, and enterprises.
Alexis Dormandy, CEO Oxford Science Enterprises, said: “I am delighted to welcome both Craig and Caroline to the team. Their operational expertise and highly relevant networks will be invaluable to our organisation, academic founders, and enterprises. The appointments of Craig and Caroline, two seasoned executives with impressive track records, builds on the recent strengthening of our senior leadership team. I am thrilled to have them both on board.”
Craig Fox, PhD, Operating Partner, Life Sciences.
Craig brings over 20 years of drug discovery and development expertise to Oxford Science Enterprises, with vast experience as a research scientist managing initial target selection through to Phase 2 clinical studies. He joins from C4X Discovery where he was Chief Scientific Officer and an Executive Board Member for more than six years, guiding its transition from a technology-based company to a therapeutics business. Craig has also worked at a number of biotechnology companies supporting multiple financing deals, the creation and management of strategic collaborations and licensing deals with Pharma.
Caroline Cake, MBA, MEng, Entrepreneur in Residence, Health Tech.
Caroline has over 25 years’ experience working in commercial, government and charitable organisations and has a proven track record in delivering transformational health tech initiatives. As CEO of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), she established the company as the national institute for health data science and played a pivotal role in the UK’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Under her leadership, HDR UK created Health Data Research Hubs, which supported the RECOVERY Trial to identify dexamethasone as the first drug to be effective against COVID-19, the PRINCIPLE Trial to identify budesonide as the first treatment to shorten recovery time in patients not admitted to hospital, and the vaccine rollout by providing access to real-world data on vaccine effectiveness. She also led the development of the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway, which is already transforming the scale and impact of UK health data research. Caroline also worked for the PSC where she was a founding director and prior to that she worked as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company.
– ENDS –
Notes to Editors
About Oxford Science Enterprises
Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) is an independent, billion-pound investment company, created in 2015 to found, fund and build transformational businesses via our unique partnership with the University of Oxford, the world’s #1 research university.
This partnership enables us to work with the brightest academic minds tackling the world’s toughest challenges and guarantees us unrivalled access to their scientific research. In collaboration with our global network of entrepreneurs and advisors, we go well beyond funding to we shape and nurture these complex ideas into successful businesses.
Actively focused on a core portfolio of around 40 companies spanning three high-growth, high-impact sectors – Life Sciences, Health Tech, Deep Tech – we adopt a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience.
To date, we have invested £0.5 billion in over 80 ambitious companies built on Oxford science, helping progress 28 from seed to Series A, and 22 to Series B and beyond, including 2 IPOs and 7 trade sales. A key player in Oxford’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, we are highly motivated to foster an environment that catalyses pioneering research and steers it to commercial success. We are committed to doing this in an inclusive and sustainable way.