CATS team
The activities of the Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences is managed and supported by a small team based at the University of Cambridge, with input from an advisory board made up of academics and industrial scientists.
Professor Anne Willis
Co-Director
Anne obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of London while working in the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories (now CRUK) on DNA repair. In 2004 she was appointed Director of Cancer Research Nottingham and Chair of Cancer Cell Biology. In 2010 Anne became Director of the MRC Toxicology Unit. She was awarded an OBE for services to biomedical sciences in 2015, and appointed Fellow of the British Toxicology Society in 2018. Anne joined CATS as co-director in April 2020.
Professor Laura Itzaki
Co-Director
Laura's background is in Chemistry and Biochemistry. She moved to the Department of Pharmacology in 2013 and was appointed Professor of Structural Pharmacology in 2017. Her group's interest is in applying protein engineering and design to interrogate and modulate cellular processes. She is scientific co-founder and CSO of PolyProx Therapeutics, a biotherapeutics company based at the Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge. Laura joined CATS as co-director in April 2020.
Professor Graham Ladds
Co-Director
Graham obtained a PhD in life sciences from the University of Warwick focusing on G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pharmacology. He moved to the Department of Pharmacology in 2015 and was appoint Professor of Receptor Pharmacology in 2022. His group apply multidisciplinary approaches to study the molecular basis of biased agonism on GPCRs. He has close links to a number of global pharmaceutical companies, is a current Royal Society Industry Fellow, a Fellow of the British pharmacological society and was a co-founder of a spin-out company Septegen. Graham joined CATS as co-director in June 2024.
Meghana Patel PhD
Executive Manager
Meghana is the Executive Manager at CATS and is responsible for the development and operation of the activities of CATS. She manages the CATS team and drives collaboration and partnership in research translation, education, training and policy. This includes working with academics and senior staff across the University, industry leaders and external partners, actively seeking new opportunities for funding and collaborative activities to bring mutual benefit. Meghana obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she later continued her scientific path as a research associate. She later joined GSK to work in drug discovery in the Academic Industry partnership. Meghana has over 15 years of experience spanning academia, industry and the charity sector. Before joining the CATS team, she was working at LifeArc and commercialisation offices across various universities in London (UCL, Imperial College and QMUL). She joined CATS in June 2020.
Juraj Rievaj PhD
Senior Research Facilitator
Juraj became the CATS team member in 2020, after spending 11 years in wet lab physiology research in both academic and industrial environment. He has a background in medicine and physics and PhD in Neurobiology. He is responsible for implementing the University’s Institutional Translational Partnership Award from the Wellcome Trust by encouraging academics to engage in translational research, organising Gateway to Translation seminar series, supporting collaboration between the University and with industry, and administrating funding schemes aimed to support translational research within the University.
Keyuri Mehta
Team Administrator
Keyuri joined the CATS team in May 2023 as the CATS Team Administrator, she has a Masters in Regenerative Medicine from Queen Mary University of London. Keyuri handles administrative responsibilities for various CATS initiatives, including the Expert in Residence and Access to Expertise programs, additionally provides support with the industrial partnerships such as AstraZeneca. Moreover, she also manages the CATS communications and events portfolio.
Laura Roberts
Project and Events Coordinator
Laura is the Project and Events Coordinator at CATS and primarily takes the lead to coordinate CATS events - she took the lead in organising the very successful Annual Bio-Innovation Conference 2024 upon her joining CATS in November 2023. Laura has extensive experience in coordinating and running all kinds of events, from exhibitions to programmes and dinners, having been doing so since 2008. In her previous roles she has been fortunate to have coordinated events in Cambridge - UK, Germany and USA - travelling to each of these locations to ensure the smooth running of them all. Prior to joining CATS, she worked at Cambridge Enterprise for ten years. During her time there she coordinated many events, was a personal assistant and coordinated the launch of the International Outreach Programme. Laura has many years of experience working with investors, industry and those in academia.