Dr Julie Barnes has extensive commercial and scientific experience in the life sciences sector and early stage businesses making her a great female role model. In this interview for the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, she talks about how the sector has changed enormously over the last 25 years leading to the emergence of medicines for preventative healthcare. She believes there is a more open culture now which harnesses the power of large industry, the flexibility of smaller companies and the strengths of academic specialism. The next phase of change is going to be about individual choice and managing health, rather than managing disease. Julie asserts that, at present, we are treating the tip of the iceberg with a focus on the last 10% of disease that shows itself in patients. The future focus will be on changing healthcare through understanding more about disease at a molecular level and through early detection. Julie is a strong advocate for partnership between academia and industry to harness value from scientific innovation and ensure translation for the benefit of patient health.

Biography:

Julie's journey in science and business started from an early age and there were several key influences that lead her to become the CEO of Abcodia, the award winning company working in the exciting field of early diagnosis and screening of cancer. Julie's career started at Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKine), after her post-graduate (PhD) training in Neuroscience. After 15 years in industry at the forefront of drug discovery and having developed a passion for improving health, Julie joined the world of biotech in Cambridge. For the next 10 years, she experienced the challenges of building a business from the ground up. In 2009, the opportunity to bring the two threads of science and business together when she met Professor Ian Jacobs, who had dedicated his life improving the way that cancer is detected. The motivation for the opportunity came from the loss of Julie's mother to colorectal cancer at the young age of 43, but it was her business experience and the opportunity from Professor Jacobs and University College London to access a unique collection of blood samples for cancer screening experiments that made Abcodia a reality. Julie's vision for Abcodia is that it becomes a globally successful business in cancer detection and screening, delivering products that really make a difference to individuals and healthcare systems around the world and ultimately saving lives.