Dr Karen Skinner is LifeArc’s Chief Operating Officer accountable for translating strategic goals into actionable plans, leading cross-functional teams, and driving operational excellence to maximise impact. She is passionate about biomedical science and technology, and applying that knowledge to create innovative products that make a real difference for patients. She believes that collaboration is the key to accelerate the progress of scientific discoveries to create medical breakthroughs that transform the lives of those living with disease.
Karen has more than 30 years’ experience within life sciences, from early exploratory to launch in a variety of therapeutic areas, having held numerous global leadership roles in big pharma, biotech and not-for-profit organisations, building expertise in pre-clinical and clinical development, R&D operations, portfolio management, product development and alliance management.
Prior to LifeArc, Karen held the role of VP Immuno-Oncology at the high-growth biotech BTG, where she was accountable for building their immunotherapy research portfolio through in-house research and collaborative partnerships. She began her R&D career within the pharmaceutical industry at Merck where she gained a strong grounding in drug discovery and has a DPhil in Pharmacology from the University of Oxford.
