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.

Laura Roca-Alonso

Chief Operating and 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.

Timothy Bretherton

Chief Financial Officer

Timothy is a qualified chartered accountant with 12 years’ experience in operational and finance roles. Includes line management to deliver all aspects of financial accounting, control, reporting and analysis, budgeting, and forecasting. Prior to joining the Company, Timothy was a Consulting Manager at PwC London for 4 years where he led numerous rationalisation projects to design and implement improved accounts and budgetary workflow automation processes and to provide value added services to client operational stakeholders. He also spent 3 years in audit at Mazars London and 4 years with Zurich Insurance plc in a variety of roles. Timothy holds a degree in Economics received from University of Leicester and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.