David joined AstraZeneca in 2013 and is currently Head of Oncology Chemistry as well as Chair of the Global Chemistry Leadership Team and AstraZeneca’s Chief Chemist, representing chemistry on the IMED Biotech Unit Leadership Team. Heading up a team of over 100 research chemists across the UK and US, David has more than 19 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry as a medicinal chemist, working across multiple therapy areas including neurodegeneration, immuno-inflammation, infectious diseases and oncology. His many research interests include protein kinases, epigenetics, structure-based drug design, CNS-focused drug discovery and phenotypic screening. An expert in epigenetics and lead author of the seminal Nature paper “A selective jumonji H3K27 demethylase inhibitor modulates the proinflammatory macrophage response”, David has a particular research interest in exploring this growing area of science for oncology in AstraZeneca. Passionate about people development, David’s role as Head of Department is focused on giving individuals the right balance of support and space to foster an environment that enables creativity and great science to flourish. Now based in Cambridge, UK, David completed his PhD at the University of Leeds before going onto post-doctoral studies with Professor Robert Holton at Florida State University, working on the natural product Taxol.

Has a research Interest in neurodegeneration, immuno-inflammation, infectious diseases and oncology.