Leadership
The PlaqueTec team includes internationally recognised cardiovascular scientists and physicians. For more information about the leadership and scientific advisory board, please see below.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS & ADVISERS
MARTIN STAPLETON
Chairman of the Board
Martin Stapleton is Chairman of the board of directors of PlaqueTec. He is the joint principal of Ipex Capital with Jon Moynihan. Martin has been spinning out IP from corporates and managing venture funds since the 1990s. Prior to establishing Ipex Capital out of PA Consulting in 2008, Martin also spun out TIBCO Software (TIBX) and Reuters Venture Capital (RVC) from Reuters. Successful exits include Medsite, UltraDNS, Radialpoint, Visible World and Procserve.
CHRIS HAYNES
Chief Financial Officer and Board Member
Chris Haynes has extensive experience serving as CFO and board member for a number of technology companies in a wide range of disciplines, such as consumer electronics, medtech, software and services businesses. He has led multiple successful fundraising rounds, complex company structuring projects, and successful exits of venture backed technology companies. Chris is also CFO and Partner of Ipex Capital, where he is responsible for all financial and tax planning, as well as portfolio company management. He is also responsible for deal planning, execution, and managing external relationships with advisers. Chris qualified as an ACA with Ernst & Young.
SIMON WILLIAMS MBBS MRCS MFPM
General Manager and Board Member
Dr Simon Williams has day-to-day responsibility for PlaqueTec’s ongoing clinical, research and operational activities, and manages PlaqueTec’s external collaborations. Initially pursuing a career in surgery, Simon changed tack and joined the biopharmaceutical industry in 2010 where he has gained experience supporting the late stage development and commercialisation of numerous assets in various therapeutic areas. Most recently his focus was in the cardiovascular space as a Medical Director at Amgen, where he played a key role in the PCSK9 inhibitor programme in the UK and Ireland as the medical lead for all pre and post launch activities for this breakthrough compound.
DIANE PROUDFOOT PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr Proudfoot has over 25 years of experience in cardiovascular research with particular focus on vascular smooth muscle cells and markers of cardiovascular disease. Prior to joining PlaqueTec as Head of Cardiovascular Research in February 2018, Dr. Proudfoot held a British Heart Foundation Career Re-entry Fellowship at the Babraham Institute (Cambridge UK), investigating the impact of microcalcification on human vascular smooth muscle cell function. She has developed extensive knowledge in the field of vascular calcification and has won a number of investigator awards including a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellowship, based at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, working on mechanisms that initiate and regulate the formation of calcified deposits in arteries. Dr. Proudfoot has a PhD focusing on cell interactions in atherosclerosis (University of Cambridge), and a degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology (University of Strathclyde). Diane has over 30 peer reviewed publications in the field of cardiovascular research, and is currently a member of the British Atherosclerosis Society, the Biochemical Society and the Physiological Society.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
JUAN-CARLOS KASKI, MD, DM (Hons), DSc, FRCP, FACC, FESC
Juan-Carlos Kaski is professor of Cardiovascular Sciences and head of the Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre at St George’s, University of London. He is also honorary consultant cardiologist at the St George’s Healthcare Trust and chairman of the European registry on angina and of the SIESTA consortia, which are devoted to the development, characterisation and testing of novel biomarkers, involving over 25 European research centres. Professor Kaski is also president of the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (ISCP) and scientific advisor to several major university research centres, national medical research councils and national departments of health worldwide.
MARTIN BENNETT, PhD, FRCP, FMedSci
Martin Bennett is the British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Cambridge and is head of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and director of the University of Cambridge’s Cardiovascular Strategic Research Initiative at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. Professor Bennett has an extensive track record of research in the field of vascular biology, particularly focusing on cellular proliferation and senescence in atherosclerosis, and in mechanisms underlying coronary plaque vulnerability, the principal cause of myocardial infarction (heart attack).
ANDREW NEWBY, MA, PhD
Andrew Newby is former British Heart Foundation Professor of Vascular Cell Biology at the University of Bristol. In 1995 Professor Newby joined with Professor Gianni Angelini to found the Bristol Heart Institute, where he continues to study vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and the contribution of proteases to atherosclerotic plaque stability. Emeritus Professor Newby is on the editorial board of several prominent journals and is currently co-director of the EC-funded European Vascular Genomics Network (EVGN).
ROBERT STOREY, BSc, DM, MRCP, FESC
Robert Storey is an internationally renowned expert on platelet biology and is professor of Cardiology at Sheffield University. He is the head of the Platelet Research Group within the Department of Cardiovascular Science and director of the Cardiovascular Research Unit. Professor Storey is also academic director for the Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery Directorate and an honorary consultant cardiologist with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust. He is a past chair of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Working Group on Thrombosis and has been a member of three task forces for ESC Guidelines as well as author of many ESC position papers. Professor Storey is also a member of the NIHR EME board.