Clare Hall is delighted to announce the appointment of its first cohort of nine Industry and Enterprise Fellows, drawn from across industrial, investment, and entrepreneurship ecosystems. The initiative embeds leading practitioners from the commercial world into the life of the College, creating new pathways for exchange between academic research and real-world applications.

Clare Hall, as a college for advanced study, has a vibrant community of students, affiliated post-docs, Fellows and Visiting Fellows from within the academic community. Additionally, the College hosts Associates and Fellow Commoners from a range of professions and industries in cross-disciplinary dialogue. With the addition of the Industry and Enterprise Fellows, that dialogue now extends more deeply into Cambridge’s thriving innovation and commercialisation ecosystem and beyond.

The programme is designed to foster two-way learning and collaboration: Fellows contribute their experience in product development, scaling innovation, and investment, while gaining early insight into emerging research across disciplines. Through this, the scheme aims to facilitate conversations between academics, students and the wider industrial and entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists in Cambridge, helping university researchers understand industry perspectives, timescales and commercialisation routes. These interactions will help bridge the gaps that exist in the translational research ecosystem, support the translation of academic ideas into societal and economic value while helping local businesses and investors engage more effectively with university expertise and talent.

In addition, the new Fellows will also mentor students and early-career researchers, offering practical perspectives on career pathways that bridge academia and industry. In turn, participation in Clare Hall’s intellectual community allows industry leaders to reflect on long-term trends and explore new ideas alongside scholars from around the world.

Through this initiative, Clare Hall aims to strengthen the connective tissue between Cambridge’s academic excellence and its dynamic enterprise environment, supporting innovation that benefits both the university and the wider region. The starting cohort encompasses a diverse range of skills, industries and expertise, including both operators and investors:

• Dr Loukik Arora is the Investment Lead in the Innovation Impact Investment Team at Macmillan. He was part of the inaugural cohort of the Science and Technology Venture Capital Fellowship, an initiative by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. He was formerly an investor with Cambridge Enterprise (Ventures), and previously supported the medtech innovation ecosystem in Singapore while at APACMed.
• Dr Keith Dear is the CEO and Founder of AI Superstrategy startup Cassi. Formerly Managing Director of Fujitsu’s £22M Centre for Cognitive Technologies, an Expert Advisor (Science and Technology) to the Prime Minister, and an intelligence officer in the Royal Air Force for 18 years.
• Dr Quentin Harmer is the Global Head of Breast Surgery R&D for Hologic. Prior to its acquisition by Hologic, he was CTO at Endomag, developing their tumour localisation technology, and growing the business from a startup. He is an engineer, technologist and mentor with over 25 years’ experience in leading the development of advanced medical devices and drug-delivery systems.
• Dr Anne Horgan is a Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, the leading Venture Capital firm in the Cambridge ecosystem. Her previous investment roles included being a Partner at AdBio Partners (Paris) and Senior Associate at Sofinnova Partners (Paris). She brings over 25 years’ experience in the Life Sciences sector, spanning across investment, technology transfer and biotech R&D.
• Dr Jiahao Huang co-founded Nuclera, a life science technology company specialising in protein prototyping to accelerate drug discovery, and helped the company raise over $150M in investment. He is now working on a new startup to enable healthy ageing by revealing molecular risk factors for age-related diseases.
• Dr Jordan Lane is the Co-Founder and CSO of Ignota Labs, which is revolutionising drug discovery by using artificial intelligence to turnaround drugs that have stalled in their development due to safety issues. He has extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with prior roles supporting 5 assets entering the clinic.
• Dr Farah Patell-Socha is a biotechnology entrepreneur and executive leader with a proven record of delivering industry-leading products to the life sciences sector. She is a Founder and Chief Business Officer of amilon bio Ltd, a venture creation company focused on building and scaling biotech businesses. Previously, she held senior and leadership roles at bit bio Ltd, DiaCarta Inc, and Revvity UK Ltd.
• Dr Helen Robinson is the Vice President of Biology at Artios Pharma in Cambridge, with over 20 years’ experience in oncology drug discovery and development. She brings deep scientific and translational expertise, as well as experience of collaboration and outreach across academia, CROs and pharma.
• Dr Nicola Wallis was formerly Head of Biology and Senior Vice President at Astex Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, UK) and is now an independent drug discovery consultant. She brings over 25 years’ experience in pharma and biotech and knowledge of progressing projects from target identification to clinic.

Clare Hall is delighted to host this exceptional set of leaders as its first cohort of Industry and Enterprise Fellows, and the College looks forward to seeing the scheme thrive and grow in the future.