Dr Peter Simpson, Medicines Discovery Catapult’s Chief Scientific Officer, has been elected to the Board of Directors at the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS), the community of life sciences professionals working to advance research through the use of technology.

SLAS is a non-profit, mission-driven Society that serves a global membership base of more than 18,000 professional and aspiring scientists from industry, academia and government institutions.

At Medicines Discovery Catapult, Peter is establishing state-of-the-art research capabilities for this new national centre of applied R&D expertise. He is deploying innovative research partnerships, to help companies accelerate their drug discovery progress and validate new technologies.

With extensive experience in drug discovery at major pharmaceutical companies, Peter was elected to the SLAS Board on account of his expertise and strategic drug discovery knowledge. Previously Director of Discovery Sciences at AstraZeneca, he pioneered its industry-leading Open Innovation strategy for early discovery. Peter has also led on innovation policy across the UK’s Northern Powerhouse as Director of N8 Research Partnership of eight research-intensive universities.

Peter is joined in his role by two new Board Directors also based within Europe: Emilio Diez, an experienced Pharmaceutical Industry consultant, and Severine Tamas, Managing Partner of Novoptim.