A Call to Lead @LifeScience ORG

What’s one question that will make you stop and think when founding a company? How do you negotiate with an Institute that’s supposed to be on your side? And why does a seasoned academic choose to lead? Today we’re speaking with Markus Zweckstetter, CEO of brainQr Therapeutics based in Göttingen, Germany. They’re developing small molecule drugs against intrinsically disordered proteins with a lead...

Why is stopping something in medicine so much harder than starting something new? How do you tell an equity story when the exit doesn’t exist yet? And what goes into deliberately building a career towards leadership so that every role is a stepping stone? Today we’re speaking with Torbjørn Furuseth, CEO of DoMore Diagnostics based in Oslo, Norway. DoMore Diagnostics is personalising cancer treatme...

What does it take to found a biotech when you were never trained for that job? How do you lead with confidence when imposter syndrome stands in the way? And why does hearing someone else describe problems like yours make them seem smaller? Today we’re speaking with Christian Kersten, CEO of AKIGAI based in Oslo, Norway, working on treatments for neuropathic pain. We’ll talk more about the science...

Why does a little pause make a big impact? How do you keep showing up when the hundredth investor says no? And what does it mean to be a CEO when there’s no team yet – and every job title belongs to you? Today we’re speaking with Mihriban Tuna, CEO of Immutrin based in Cambridge UK, a company developing best-in-class antibody-based therapy for depleting cardiac amyloid in ATTR amyloidosis. We’ll t...

Why was “if you want to help cancer patients, don’t become an oncologist” actually great advice? What’s the difference between being early and being wrong as a startup? And how do you survive long enough to be proven right? Today we’re speaking with Omar El Nahhas, CEO and co-founder of StratifAI based in Berlin, Germany, and the US. StratifAI turns routinely collected histology data into high-qua...

Why is condensing information a critical skill for a CEO? How do you keep dozens of people across different functions of a company feel like one team? And why should you keep patients and caregivers at the centre of drug discovery? Today I’m joined by Susan Hill, CEO of Mestag Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based company developing new programs for cancer and inflammatory disease. We’ll touch on the sc...

How does a cancer diagnosis completely rewire your leadership style? Why is maintaining your mindset a core responsibility of a CEO? And what is the question every leader should ask themselves before they make a decision? Today I’m joined by Danuta Jeziorska, the former CEO and co-founder of Nucleome and current CEO and co-founder of Uncover Therapeutics based in Oxford. Uncover is an immuno-oncol...

What happens when the science you built a company on becomes the science you desperately wish could save someone close? How do you transform as a leader as your company evolves? And why should you actively seek out friction when building your company? Today I’m joined by Stephanie Flueckiger, co-founder and CEO of TOLREMO Therapeutics based in Basel, Switzerland. TOLREMO is developing small molecu...

Why is self-awareness the secret ingredient to good leadership? How do you let go of a critical early team member? And what does it take to found a company during your PhD? Today I’m joined by Marc Gitzinger, CEO of BioVersys , a biotech based in Basel, Switzerland. BioVersys is a leader in the anti-infective space, developing new antibiotics for very highly drug-resistant infections. About LifeSc...

Why do people with a sense of service make better leaders? How do you walk into the boardroom – on the cusp of clinical trials – and tell them the strategy is set to fail? And what does it mean to go from CSO to CEO on the brink of a pivot? Today I’m joined by Namir Hassan, CEO of Zelluna based in Oslo, Norway. Zelluna is developing next generation off the shelf cell therapies to address huge unme...

What does it take to follow the science halfway round the world? How do you persuade a team of brilliant scientists to go from asking questions to building solutions? And why is “If you’re explaining, you’re losing” some of the worst advice in biotech? Today I’m joined by Reagan Jarvis, CEO of Anocca. Anocca is a T-Cell biology biotech based near Stockholm, Sweden, and they’re building a platform...

How do you run a company that is – quite literally – in a warzone? Why should you define your culture before building the company? And what is the secret to a co-founder relationship that’s lasted longer than most marriages? Today I’m joined by Yogev Debbi, CEO and co-founder of Mana Bio based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Mana is an AI based drug delivery startup, focusing on gene therapy including DNA an...

What do you do when a family member gets a life-changing diagnosis? How do you convince investors to back the impossible? And why should you ask every expert to kill your idea? I’m joined by JP Latere, CEO of Esobiotec. Based in Belgium, Esobiotec pioneered in-vivo cell therapy and was acquired by AstraZeneca in a billion-dollar deal in 2025. Of course, we’ll talk more about the deal (and the scie...

Why is leadership development a bit like working out? How does a self-confessed introvert and data-driven scientist rewire themselves to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information? What does it really mean to lead a biotech as an outsider – an immigrant, a woman, an introvert - who never set out to be a CEO? Today I’m joined by Ola Wlodek, CEO of Constructive Bio based in Cambridge UK....

Why is celebrating failure in life science just as important as celebrating success? How do you make the psychological shift from being one expert among many in the room to being a leader of experts? And what does a near-industry wide clinical failure have to do with a potential new treatment for half a billion osteoarthritis patients? Today I’m joined by Eliot Forster, CEO of Levicept based just...

How do you lead a company that’s one of the first of its kind? What can a geocaching game on a company retreat teach you about leadership style? Can AI tackle the big challenges in drug discovery today? Today I’m joined by Szabolcs Nagy, CEO of Turbine , based in Budapest, Hungary. Founded 10 years ago, Turbine is virtualising biology from the cellular level upwards using AI. About LifeScience ORG...

What do you do when entrepreneurship calls and your partner lives overseas? How much can you really delegate as a CEO? Why does a 50-year-old gene expression problem still exist – and what happens if we solve it? I’m joined by Kart Tomberg, CEO of ExpressionEdits based in Cambridge, UK. ExpressionEdits is a seed-stage company taking on the challenging bottlenecks going from DNA to protein and conv...

Why lead a company into the increasingly crowded obesity space? How do you go from a career in veterinary surgery to CEO of a medtech company? And what is so magical about Oxford when it comes to life science? Today I’m joined by Camilla Easter, CEO of Oxford Medical Products (OMP), a late-stage medtech company based in Witney, Oxfordshire, in the UK. OMP’s lead product is a non-pharmacological tr...

Why does the perception of facts matter when talking to investors? How do you attract a US-based chair to a European company’s board? And what are the advantages of running a virtual biotech with no labs of its own? Today, I’m joined by Victor Bustos, CEO of Refoxy Pharma. Refoxy is a "virtual biotech" located in Cologne, Germany, and is developing small-molecule drugs for the treatment of age-rel...

How does a United States Air Force officer end up leading a European biotech company? Is there an advantage to leading a company that’s based half a world away? And are you doing a regrets analysis as part of your decision-making? This week I’m joined by Mark Gaffney, a Boston-based CEO leading Calluna Pharma . Calluna is a Norwegian company developing therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic di...

What inspires a theoretical physicist to start a drug invention company? How do you choose the right co-founder when you're coming from academia? And, in a multi-site, multi-cultural European organisation – how does a leader manage communication with the team? I’m joined by Maximilien Levesque, physics academic turned entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of Paris and London-based company AQEMIA . Aqem...

This isn't Jack O'Meara's first rodeo. As CEO of Ochre Bio , he saw the company bring in millions to develop pioneering RNA therapies for liver disease. With his new venture Aerska , he's looking at bringing the transformative potential of targeted RNA therapy to the realm of neurological disease. In this episode of A Call to Lead , David Kirk speaks with Jack O’Meara, CEO and co-founder of Aerska...

Biotech leader Avencia Sánchez-Mejías, CEO of Integra Therapeutics , joins A Call to Lead to share her leadership and entrepreneurship story, as well as her take on innovation in Europe’s fast-rising life sciences ecosystem. In this episode of A Call To Lead, Avencia shares lessons on resilience, uncertainty, diversity, and the human side of leadership in science-driven entrepreneurship. Listen to...

How do you lead a company across continents and through uncertainty? In this episode of A Call to Lead , David Kirk speaks with Samir Ounzain, CEO and scientific co-founder of Haya Therapeutics . Samir shares how a lifelong curiosity about how cells “speak” to their environment led him from academia to building a company at the frontier of RNA-guided medicine. He reflects on what it takes to lead...

The birth of Alexandre Le Vert's daughter amidst a global 'flu scare put him on the path to leadership. Now, he's the co-founder and executive Chair of  Osivax , a clinical-stage biotech company focusing on vaccine research and development based in Lyon, France.  In this episode of A Call To Lead, Alex shares his series of fortunate events that led him to co-found Osivax,...