Our leadership

Ali Mortazavi

Chief Executive Officer

Ali was appointed to the Board as Executive Chairman in February 2020 and Chief Executive Officer in October 2020, retaining his position as Chairman, and subsequently split these roles in March 2021 to continue as Chief Executive Officer. Ali has extensive experience in the biotechnology sector and financial markets. His most recent roles include CEO of Silence Therapeutics plc, from 2012 to 2018, as well as a founder shareholder of Evolution Group, a UK-based investment bank, from 2001 to 2008.

Ali is an experienced investor in small companies and has held numerous declarable stakes in listed/private biotechnology and technology companies. Ali holds a BSc in Computer science, an International Master of chess and a former professional chess player. During his chess career, Ali was actively involved in the development of chess databases and the analysis of chess positions using chess computer engines.

Alan Whitmore

Chief Scientific Officer

Alan has been instrumental in defining and developing the conceptual framework on which e-therapeutics’ computational platform is based.

Alan moved from academia into biotech over ten years ago and he has worked in both drug delivery and drug discovery. Alan is a clinician scientist with over 30 years’ experience in cell biology research and clinical medicine in a variety of roles including MRC Fellow, UCL Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology; Visiting Fellow, The Jackson Laboratory, US; Lecturer and Medical Advisor, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology; and Hon Senior Lecturer, UCL School of Pharmacy, as well as senior clinical management positions. He gained a BSc in Biology and Computing, and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of London, followed by postdoctoral work in Cambridge and medical studies at Oxford leading to the BMBCh in Clinical Medicine.

Alison Gallafent

Chief Intellectual Property Officer

Alison is a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney, with many years of intellectual property experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Alison has previously worked as in-house Patent Counsel for a range of pharmaceutical companies, such as Merck & Co., Glaxo Wellcome and PLIVA, and more recently as Head of IP at Silence Therapeutics plc. She has also held senior Patent Attorney roles in several leading international law firms, and has successfully represented many international pharmaceutical companies in high profile and pivotal patent cases before the European Patent Office. In recent years, Alison developed a wealth of knowledge of the siRNA patent landscape and how to strategically operate in this IP space.

Jonny Wray

Chief Technology Officer

Jonny is responsible for conceptualising, defining and implementing the network-driven approach to drug discovery pioneered at e-therapeutics.

Jonny has over 30 years’ experience in applying computational approaches to the study of complex biological problems. His PhD (Newcastle, UK) and postdoctoral (The Neurosciences Institute at The Scripps Research Institute, US) studies were in computational neuroscience focused on how networks of the brain give rise to perception and function. After leaving academia, Jonny moved into applied bioinformatics and software engineering at a number of biotech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jonny’s role at e-therapeutics merges his academic and industry experience, designing and developing the informatics to drive the Company’s network biology-based approach to drug discovery.

Laura Roca-Alonso

Chief Business Officer

Laura oversees business and corporate development, alliance management, competitive intelligence and strategic communications. She works to maximise the value of our platform technologies and the growth of the business. Laura teams up with the rest of the Executive Leadership Team to devise and drive the execution of the Company's corporate strategy.

Laura has a background in genetic medicines and has previously held senior business development and strategy positions during transformational times at fast-paced biotech companies such as Gyroscope Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis) and Silence Therapeutics plc. Laura received her PhD from Imperial College London, MRes in Biomedicine from UCL and BSc (Hons) in Biotechnology from UAB.

Michael Bretherton

Acting Interim Chief Financial Officer

Michael was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in February 2020. Michael is currently Chief Executive Officer of Sarossa plc. In addition, he is Chairman of Adams plc and Hardy plc and he is also a Non-Executive Director of Blake Holdings Limited and ORA Limited. Michael has been a Director of a number of other AIM quoted companies during the last ten years, including DeepMatter Group plc, Tissue Regenix Group plc, Nanoco Group plc and Ceres Power Holdings plc. Michael has a degree in Economics from Leeds University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. His early career included working as an accountant and manager with PriceWaterhouse for seven years in London and Abu Dhabi. As of 31 December 2021, Michael is interim Chief Financial Officer of e-therapeutics, more information is available in our Press Release from 22 November 2021.

Stephanie Maley

Chief People Officer

Stephanie has worked in human resources for over 20 years, initially in the private banking industry, then latterly in drug discovery. Stephanie is responsible for designing the HR strategy which is aligned to and underpins the strategic direction and goals of the Company. Stephanie works closely with the rest of the Executive Team to execute these goals, as well as ensuring that our people are developed, supported and engaged.