ELRIG appoints two senior drug discovery leaders to scientific advisory board

ELRIG, the Cambridge-based not-for-profit, volunteer-led organisation serving the global drug discovery community, has appointed Dr Hitesh Sanganee and Dr Marcus Schindler to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

The appointments are intended to strengthen ELRIG’s scientific leadership and support the organisation’s programme of conferences and forums, which remain free to attend. The two new members join SAB Chair Del Trezise and existing members Mel Leveridge, Saleha Patel, Chas Bountra, Cathy Tralau-Stewart and Steve Rees. The Board’s remit includes horizon scanning to identify scientific themes for future events, selecting speakers and recommending event locations.

Backgrounds in industry and venture capital

Dr Sanganee is a Venture Partner at Octopus Ventures and an independent consultant to biotech and healthtech founders. He spent over two decades in R&D, including a period as Executive Director and Global Head of Emerging Innovations at AstraZeneca, where his work spanned open innovation, drug repositioning and external collaboration. He holds a DPhil and BA in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Schindler was previously Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President for Research and Early Development at Novo Nordisk, leading a team of more than 2,600 scientists across over 100 drug discovery projects and 60 strategic partnerships. His earlier career included roles at AstraZeneca, OSI Prosidion, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK. He holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge and currently advises AI and biotech companies including Causaly and Cradle.bio.

Dr Del Trezise, Chair of ELRIG, said the combined scientific and industry experience of the two appointees was “an outstanding addition to the Board.”

Dr Sanganee commented that joining the SAB was “a great opportunity to help curate the cutting-edge science and technology that will define the next decade of drug discovery.”

Dr Schindler noted that ELRIG’s role in connecting academia, biotech and industry was “exactly the kind of approach our field needs.”

For more information, visit: https://elrig.org/the-team