Dr Melanie Lee

Dr Melanie Lee has 21 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry. After starting as a bench scientist in Glaxo and GlaxoWellcome, she progressed to Executive VP of Research and Development and a FTSE100 company plc board position in Celltech, and following acquisition with UCB, with responsibilities extending to 2500 people. Her extensive corporate experience included leadership of R&D divisions through six major mergers. Melanie left UCB at the end of August 2009 but remains involved in the company through her seat on the Scientific Advisory Board.

Prior to her roles in industry, Melanie spent nine years in academia as a PhD student and post-doctoral scientist with the UK's leading cancer charities, now merged to form Cancer Research UK. She was a key member of the team that supported Sir Paul Nurse's Nobel Prize winning research, and was cited in his Nobel Laureate speech. Melanie is now Deputy Chair and Trustee of Cancer Research UK and Chair of Cancer Research Technology.

A dedicated advocate of innovation and creativity, Melanie recently founded her own consultancy, Think10. This provides business strategy and scientific expertise to the life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, provides personal development and coaching to support creative, high performance teams, especially in times of major change, and facilitates connections within a diverse network of business leaders to support and drive transformation.

Melanie was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003, awarded an honorary doctorate at York University in 2004 and was awarded a CBE for services to medical science in 2008. She is a member of the York University Development Board.