Centre for Food and Drug Discovery's Partners

Prof. Dr. Gert W. Meijer

Assistant Vice President Deputy Head Corporate, Regulatory and Scientic Affairs, Nestle and Chairman, European Technology Platform 'Food for Life'

Gert Meijer is Deputy-Head of Corporate Regulatory & Scientific Affairs at Nestlé HQ in Switzerland, since November 2013.  Since 2015, Gert is also the Chairman of the European Technology Platform for the food sector “Food for Life”. He is a Dutch native and studied Human Nutrition at Wageningen University, followed by a PhD from the University of Utrecht, in The Netherlands.

Before joining Nestlé, Gert worked at the National Institute of Public Health in The Netherlands for 2.5 years and then for Unilever Research & Development for almost 20 years, in the Netherlands as well as in the USA.  In his last role at Unilever, he was the global Research & Development Vice-President Nutrition & Health.  Since 2012, Gert is also a visiting professor at Ulster University (NI), teaching the application of nutritional sciences in the food industry.

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Dr Rob Grundy

Director of Innovation Partnerships, Catalyst

Dr Robert Grundy MBE has spent over 25 years in Pharma and Biotech beginning in drug discovery and development in large Pharma at Schering-Plough and GlaxoSmithKline. Rob served as CSO with Cerebricon before joining Almac Discovery in 2008. In 2014 Rob founded Anglezarke Life Sciences, a commercialisation and growth strategy consultancy. Rob has served as CEO of CIGA Healthcare, Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland and, up until January 2025 Intelligent OMICS. Rob has held or holds visiting and honorary lectureships at King’s College London and Queen’s University Belfast.

Rob formally chaired Matrix, the Science and Technology policy panel for the Northern Ireland Government and represented Northern Ireland on the Chief Scientific Advisors Network for the UK between 2022 and 2024. Since February 2025 he has served as Director of Innovation Partnerships at Catalyst, Northern Ireland’s Science Park.

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Dr Simon Grattan

Director of Research Services and Government Affairs, Almac Group

Dr Simon Grattan brings over 25 years of industrial R&D experience spanning physics, civil engineering, electronics, optical fibre sensors, structural monitoring, and life sciences. He is Director of Research Services & Government Affairs at the Almac Group, where he oversees all grant and funding activities across the Group’s portfolio, from R&D and innovation to capital projects and global expansion. He also leads engagement with government and related agencies worldwide.

Simon is Managing Director of Sengenia Ltd, an award-winning university spin-out delivering advanced fibre optic sensing solutions across multiple sectors. He holds a Visiting Scholar position at the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast and serves on the Matrix Panel for Northern Ireland, advising on science and innovation policy.

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Michael McWhinney

Group Head of Research and Development, Dunbia

Michael has worked in the food industry for over twenty-five years across several multinational blue-chip FTSE 100 companies and is part of a family farming and butchery business. He is a graduate of the Associated British Foods Leadership Development Programme and a graduate and postgraduate of Reading University. He holds an MSc in Nutrition, and PG Dips in Animal Science and Agriculture.

Michael has worked for Dunbia for twelve years as Group Head of Innovation & New Product Development and for the past seven years has headed up group Agri-Food R&D as Program Manager, ensuring effective governance and that projects are delivered successfully to strategy, on time and to budget. He is responsible for the project portfolio and oversees industry-academia and public sector advisory and engagement

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Dr Jenny Bailey Cooper

CEO and Co-Founder, Ferryx

Dr Jenny Bailey Cooper has spent her career to date working in the field of gut health. With a PhD in gastrointestinal immunology from the University of Bristol, she has over 20 years of research experience focused on intestinal inflammation, mucosal barrier function, and novel therapeutics to disrupt inflammatory pathways.

In 2019, she co-founded Ferryx, a biotech spin-out from the University of Bristol, where she serves as Chief Executive Officer. Under her leadership, Ferryx developed Ferrocalm, a next-generation probiotic designed to function during active gut inflammation—something conventional probiotics struggle to achieve. The product, based on the FX856 strain of Streptococcus thermophilus, launched in December 2022 and marked a significant milestone in gut health innovation.

Dr Bailey Cooper has successfully guided Ferryx through investment rounds, grant funding, and commercialisation, and clinical trials. Her work is driven by a commitment to improving quality of life for individuals with conditions like IBS and IBD, and she is passionate about translating academic research into impactful health solutions.

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Iain Hendrick

Chief Project Officer, Neurovalens

Iain Hendrick holds a B.E. in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Technological University Dublin and has completed executive development programmes at Cambridge Judge Business School and MIT. With over 15 years of high-level engineering experience, Iain has developed embedded software and systems for both automotive and medical applications. Recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering for leadership potential and awardee of the Shott Scale-Up Accelerator and Enterprise Hub Member.

At Neurovalens, he has overseen the end-to-end product engineering lifecycle—from embedded C development and PCB design to manufacturing and regulatory compliance. His expertise includes digital signal processing, control systems, and electronics manufacturing for FDA/MDR-regulated devices. Previously, Iain worked for Sensata Technologies, Schrader Electronics, and Asidua, delivering embedded solutions in safety critical and high-reliability industries such as automotive telematics and IP networking.

• He has a relevant engineering degree and continuous professional education through MIT and Cambridge Judge Business School.
• He possesses significant industry experience in regulated sectors (automotive and medical) and embedded systems.
• Held technical leadership roles in safety-critical hardware and firmware development for over a decade.
• Direct experience with standards-compliant design under ISO 13485, ISO 60601, MDR and FDA 510(k) pathways.

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Marion Laverty

Head of Public Affairs, NI The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry

Marion joined the ABPI NI office in 2011, initially as the Office Manager and then moving to the position of Head of Public Affairs in 2021. Now leading on all work in NI, Marion works across a range of policy areas including medicine access, education and skills, clinical trials, data, reputation and partnerships.

Prior to joining the ABPI Marion worked as a Training Manager for NI Water and spent over ten years supporting adults returning to education. She is married to Rab, has two teenage sons and is passionate about opportunities for rural communities, supporting many initiatives in her home area, the Glens of Antrim.

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Emma Brown

Director, EMB Consulting

In a career spanning commercial drug and diagnostic development in addition to Academic research, Emma has held leadership roles driving companion diagnostic development and delivery of Precision Medicine strategies for complex Phase III clinical trials.  She specialised in Regulatory strategy for IVDs in clinical trials, including IVDR.  Her primary focus is in the field of oncology, but her experience spans other disease areas including auto-immune and rare diseases. With a pioneering mindset, Emma excels at tackling challenges, setting precedents, and developing innovative processes to optimise outcomes and efficiency.

Her current role as a Precision Medicine consultant for Pharma, Biotech and Academia involves identifying the current and future challenges faced by the Client, and through collaboration, delivering a tailored solution that works for the Client, their Stakeholders and most importantly the patient.  Emma’s ultimate goal is to enable innovation in Precision Medicine which will transform patient outcomes where patients receive the right treatment at the right time.

Steven England

Expert in Residence for Therapeutics for the University of Leeds and CEO of a mitochondrial therapeutics company currently in stealth mode, University of Leeds

Dr England is a pharmacologist and experienced drug-hunter having spent 30+ years working in early discovery, holding senior positions within a number of large Pharma companies and CROs. He is passionate about the process of drug discovery and the delivery of game-changing therapeutics to patients. Steven has led therapeutic areas, discovery programs and managed teams involved in preclinical work, translational studies and biomarkers - in support of clinical candidate nomination and up to PoC. His experience spans many disease areas and includes small, large and novel therapeutic modalities.

He is currently supporting therapeutic opportunity development at the University of Leeds as the Expert in Residence, helping programs begin their commercialisation journeys. Dr England is also CEO of a mitochondrial therapeutics start-up company which is presently operating in stealth mode.