Professor Chas Bountra

Chas is Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation - University of Oxford, Director - Centre for Medicines Discovery, Professor of Translational Medicine - Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Associate Member - Department of Pharmacology, Professorial Fellow - Keble College and Director - Oxford University Innovations. In these roles he has helped many faculty members and students create new therapeutic discovery projects, enterprises, infrastructures and institutes, build partnerships with industry, and create large multi-disciplinary national and international collaborations. He has mentored and help grow the careers of many young researchers.As Director of SGC-Oxford (2008-2020) he established a leading research group in human protein structural biology and epigenetics chemical biology, and arguably one of the most successful open innovation, public-private partnerships in the world. As Vice President and Head of Biology at GlaxoSmithKline (2002-2008), he was involved in the identification of >30 clinical candidates for many gastro-intestinal, inflammatory and neuro-psychiatric diseases. In earlier roles in Glaxo or GlaxoWellcome, he was involved in the launch and development of the first treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Alosetron) and was the first to show that neurokinin NK1 antagonists are anti-emetic in preclinical and clinical studies.