Nxera Team

Our management team, board and scientific advisory board have vast experience in the global pharma industry and provide a wealth of expertise.

Executive Officers

Board of Directors

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr Shinichi Tamura

Shinichi founded Sosei in June 1990 as a technology transfer company, having built up a wealth of experience during his years in the industry. He worked in various positions in Planning and Development at Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd and was later appointed Representative Director (CEO) of Genentech Limited (Genentech Inc.'s Japan subsidiary). Shinichi has advised various companies including Genentech, GenPharm, Geron, IDEC, Pharmacyclics and Vernalis. He had been the CEO for 25 years before stepping down and became the Executive Chairman in June 2016. He held the role of CEO again from January 2019 until March 2022, as he sought to realize the Company’s vision to be a leading Japan-based biopharmaceutical champion delivering innovative medicines for patients worldwide.

Mr. Shinichi Tamura

Chris cargill

Chris was appointed as Representative Executive Officer, President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2022.
He joined Nxera Pharma in September 2017 as Head of Investor Relations and Communications and was appointed as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer in November 2018. Prior to this, he gained over a decade’s worth of experience in the global financial services sector and brings an extensive range of healthcare knowledge, financial acumen and market perspective from his previous advisory roles. Chris began his career in the Corporate Finance division of KPMG before spending over eight years in Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan, primarily focused on the UK healthcare sector. Chris received a Bachelor of Business (Banking &amp; Finance) and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University in Australia.

Mr. Chris Cargill

Hironoshin Nomura

Hironoshin was appointed as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer in March 2022.　
He joined Nxera Pharma in 2020 as Senior Vice President, IR &amp; Corporate Strategy from Mizuho Securities in Tokyo, Japan, at which he spent over five years and was one of the most experienced and respected research analysts in Japan with a focus on the Japanese biotechnology sector. Previously, Hironoshin spent over five years as a healthcare consultant at the Mitsubishi Research Institute. He received a Master’s degree in Pharmacy from Tohoku University in Japan.

Mr. Hironoshin Nomura

Toshi Maeda Headshot

Toshihiro Maeda joins from Bristol Myers Squibb (“BMS”), where he led a Business Unit and was instrumental in the post-merger integration of Celgene’s businesses and commercial strategies for the combined group in Japan. He brings with him a breadth of global management and commercialization experience and a strong background rooted in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to BMS, he worked at Merck &amp; Co in both Japan and the US where he held senior partnering and commercialization roles in its oncology and diabetes business units. He also worked at McKinsey and Company in Japan and the UK where he gained global business experience in healthcare industry. Mr. Maeda holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in the US.
Toshihiro was appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Nxera Pharma in December 2023.

Mr. Toshi Maeda

Kieran Johnson

Kieran joined Nxera Pharma in September 2017 as Senior Vice President, Group Financial Controller following over 13 years spent in senior financial management, corporate development and compliance roles at GSK in the UK. Before that, he set up a financial consultancy practice following 10 years at KPMG, from which he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Mr. Kieran Johnson

Matt Barnes

Matt joined Nxera Pharma in August 2016 as Head of Molecular Pharmacology and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery and Head of R&amp;D Portfolio Management in January 2022. Matt has over 20 years’ experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and previously held positions of increasing seniority at Takeda in Cambridge, UK and at Celltech Ltd (now UCB). He has a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology from Newcastle University in the UK.
Matt was appointed as President of Nxera Pharma UK in March 2022.

Dr. Matt Barnes

Candelle Chong

Candelle joined Nxera Pharma in April 2018 as Vice President Corporate Strategy and was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff in March 2023. Candelle has also held interim positions as Head of Human Resources and Head of Site Operations and has managed group strategic projects, corporate finance transactions, internal and external communications and investor relations. 
Prior to joining Nxera Pharma, Candelle spent over five years in healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan in Sydney, Australia and in London, UK. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Ms. Candelle Chong

Kazuhiko Yoshizumi

Kazuhiko joined Nxera Pharma in March 2015 following nearly 40 years at NEC Fielding Co., Ltd., at which he rose to the position of Associate Senior Vice President and General Manager. During his time at NEC, Kazuhiko gained significant experience in corporate legal departments in the field of corporate transactions, including M&amp;A, equity and debt offerings and private placements, corporate restructuring, and compliance with the listing regulations of the stock exchanges in Japan and other countries, secretariat of the Boards of Directors, corporate governance and risk management.

Mr. Kazuhiko Yoshizumi

Mr Tomohiro Tohyama

Tomohiro is a partner at TMI Associates, which he co-founded in October 1990. Having entered the Legal Training and Research Institute, Supreme Court of Japan in April 1978 and registered with Daiichi Tokyo Bar Association in April 1980, he joined Nishimura and Sanada Law Office in April 1980, becoming a partner in August 1985.
Tomohiro has also held positions at law firms Mason &amp; Sloane, LLP, Pollock, Bloom &amp; Dekom and Pryor, Cashman, Sherman &amp; Flynn in the U.S. He has been external corporate auditor of Nippon Shikizai, Inc. since November 1999 and external director and Audit and Supervising Committee Member since May 2016, Outside Statutory Auditor of WOWOW INC. since June 2016, and external director of Trust Capital Co., Ltd. since May 2016.
Tomohiro joined the Board of Directors of Nxera Pharma in June 2011.

Mr. Tomohiro Tohyama

Mr Kuniaki Kaga

Kuniaki has over 40 years’ experience gained at leading chemical and pharmaceutical companies in Japan. From 1975 to 2009, he was at Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation, where he held several leadership roles including Executive Officer and Head of Healthcare Strategy Office, and Head of Healthcare Planning. He is currently an Adviser to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.
From 2009, Kuniaki was at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma in Board and senior executive roles, including Representative Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of Research Division and International Business Department. In 2014 he was appointed President and Representative Director of The KAITEKI Institute, Inc. He is also an External Director of SUSMED, Inc.
Kuniaki joined the Board of Directors of Nxera Pharma in June 2018.

Mr. Kuniaki Kaga

Dr David Roblin

David is an experienced scientist and physician, with a distinguished career in the pharmaceutical industry, most notably as Senior Vice President and Head of R&amp;D for Pfizer in Europe along with several senior positions at Summit Therapeutics plc, the Francis Crick Institute and Bayer AG.
David is currently CEO of Relation Therapeutics Ltd and Chairman of Centauri Therapeutics Ltd, both UK-based biotechnology companies.
David has a degree in biochemistry from University of London and qualified in Medicine from St George’s Hospital, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is an honorary Professor of Medicine at Swansea University and Professor of Translational Medicine at St George’s. He also sits on a variety of committees at Wellcome, on the UK Biomedical Catalyst Fund and the LEO Foundation prize committee.
David was elected to the Nxera Pharma Board of Directors in June 2018.

Dr. David Roblin

Eiko Tomita

Eiko formerly served (until her retirement in March 2023) as Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb where she oversaw regulatory affairs in over 40 countries. Prior to joining Bristol Myers Squibb in 2007, Eiko held roles at Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Monsanto and Eisai. 
Eiko is a qualified pharmacist and holds an MBA from the University of Wales, Cardiff. 
Eiko joined the Board of Directors of Nxera Pharma in April 2023.

Mrs. Eiko Tomita

Rolf Soderstrom

Rolf is currently Chief Financial Officer of Syncona Investment Management Ltd., a publicly traded life sciences investment firm, listed in the UK. He brings over 30 years’ experience in finance and a track record of accelerating the profitable growth of companies and delivering shareholder returns. He has extensive strategic, operational and international experience including M&amp;A, fundraisings and disposals.
Most notably, Rolf was CFO of BTG plc from 2008 to 2018 where he helped drive the successful transformation of the company into a fully integrated global manufacturing and sales organisation focused on specialist healthcare. Before joining BTG, Rolf was Divisional Finance Director at Cobham Plc and Director of Corporate Finance at Cable &amp; Wireless Plc. He qualified as a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he worked initially in audit and then in the corporate finance function.
Rolf is currently a Non-executive Director of Ergomed plc and of BioPharma Credit plc.
He joined the Board of Directors of Nxera Pharma in March 2020.

Mr. Rolf Soderstrom

Noriaki Nagai

Noriaki has over 38 years’ corporate experience, having held several important senior positions at Nomura Holdings Co., Ltd. And Nomura Securities, Co., Ltd., most recently Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief Legal Officer and Senior Corporate Managing Director of both entities.
Noriaki has also served as a Non-executive Director for Japan Securities Depository Center, Inc., and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation and is currently a Professor of Law at Doshisha University. 
Noriaki was elected to the Nxera Pharma Board of Directors in March 2019.

Mr. Noriaki Nagai

Miwa Seki

Miwa is a General Partner and founder of MPower Partners Fund, an ESG-oriented investment fund. She is a former growth equity portfolio manager with the international investment management firm Clay Finlay and previously worked with Morgan Stanley. She is also an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Kyorin University 
Miwa earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, and degrees in Law and Literature from Keio University. She is currently on the Boards of World Co., Ltd and Daiwa House Industry Co. Ltd.
Miwa was elected to the Nxera Pharma Board of Directors in March 2022.

Ms. Miwa Seki

Malcolm has extensive career experience and expertise in drug discovery and development. He was the Head of Biomolecular Structure and then the Molecular Sciences division of GlaxoWellcome with responsibility for 300 people engaged in target validation and lead discovery. During this time, he pioneered the application of structural biology and modelling to drug discovery, resulting in the advancement of clinical candidates to a wide range of diseases.
Malcolm joined the structural bioinformatics and drug discovery company Inpharmatica Ltd as CEO in 2000, growing it from the spin-out stage to a 100-person company which was sold to Galapagos NV in 2006. He then joined MRC Technology in 2006 to establish Heptares Therapeutics Ltd in July 2007, as Co-Founder and CEO.
Malcolm has been Visiting Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College, London since 1997 and advises on translational sciences and structural biology at the same university. He served on the Council of the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council from 2004 to 2011, and continues to advise the UK Government periodically on biotechnology issues. He received the Malcolm Campbell Memorial Prize 2015, awarded by the UK Royal Society of Chemistry’s Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector, in recognition of his contribution to GPCR drug discovery. In 2016, he received an honorary DSc from the University of Hertfordshire for services to research, and is a Trustee of the Biochemical Society. In 2019, he was named as a Honorary Member of The British Biophysical Society (BBS). He has published over 70 papers and patents.

Dr. Malcolm Weir

In 1979, after doctoral studies with Professor Gilbert Stork, Columbia University, and a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Barry Trost, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Peter joined the Medicinal Chemistry Department of ICI Pharmaceuticals in Wilmington, DE. He worked there 31 years, continuing through its spin-off as Zeneca Pharmaceuticals and its merger with Astra Pharmaceuticals to form AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Following his retirement in 2010 he established PhaRmaB LLC as a platform for providing consulting and mentoring in drug discovery and development.
Peter has worked at developing treatments to many different diseases, through multiple mechanisms of action, and has had more than 10 compounds advance into development. Peter is an author on greater than 200 scientific papers, presentations, and patents. He is active as a consultant, editor, and board member.

Dr. Peter Bernstein

Richard is a molecular biologist and biophysicist who is distinguished for his contributions to protein crystallography. Richard was the first to solve the structure of a protein found in the membrane of a cell.
Richard has worked at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge since 1973 and was its Director from 1996–2006. He was a founding scientist of Heptares Therapeutics Ltd, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Nxera Pharma. His awards include the 1999 Gregori Aminoff Prize, the 1993 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine and the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.

Dr. Richard Henderson

Paul is a medicinal chemistry consultant with &gt;35 years’ experience in major pharmaceutical companies: Smith Kline and French, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Wyeth (USA), AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline. Since 2014 he has advised pharmaceutical companies, start-ups, and academia. Paul’s drug discovery contributions have been in the cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation therapy areas. He has a special interest in compound quality and in 2014 he received the Nauta Award from the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry. Paul has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and holds an honorary professorship at the University of Nottingham.

Dr. Paul Leeson

John is an experienced scientist and leader with extensive pharmaceutical/biotechnology R&amp;D experience in small molecule- and biologics-based therapeutics for immunological and cardiovascular disorders. John has a strong track record of leading multi-disciplinary global research teams at Vertex, Janssen and Takeda, driving novel therapeutic entities into pre-clinical/clinical development via integrated translational research. 
John is currently an independent consultant in biotech and pharma. He co-founded Estrellita Pharmaceuticals LLC and is a member of the American Association of Immunologists. John holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol.

Dr. John Parkinson

Sheena Radford is the Astbury Professor of Biophysics at the University of Leeds and a Royal Society Research Professor. Following her position as a research fellow with the late Professor Sir Chris Dobson at the University of Oxford, she joined the academic staff of the University of Leeds in 1995. She was Deputy Director of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds in 2009 – 2011 and its Director in 2012 – 2021. She currently holds a Royal Society Research Professorship at the University of Leeds.
Her work focuses on the question of how proteins fold, and how and why proteins aggregate and form amyloid fibrils linked to human disease. Her group also studies how bacteria fold proteins into their outer membranes to build the cell wall. These research areas have implications for the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease and the development of antibiotics targeted against Gram-negative pathogens.
In 2020 Sheena was elected Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to molecular biology. Sheena graduated in Biochemistry at the University of Birmingham in the UK and completed her PhD with the late Professor Richard Perham in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Prof. Sheena Radford OBE

Duncan Richards is Climax Professor of Clinical Therapeutics, University of Oxford. He is Director of the Oxford Clinical Trial Research Unit , a UKCRC registered clinical trials unit with a broad portfolio across musculoskeletal sciences, oncology, surgical trials, and experimental medicine. Duncan also directs the NIHR Oxford Clinical Research Facility, a newly refurbished 13 bedded facility providing capability across the medical sciences division. 
His research interest is the demonstration of clinical proof of concept of novel therapeutics through the application of experimental medicine techniques, especially human challenge studies. 
Prior to taking up this role, Duncan spent nearly 20 years working in Pharmaceutical R&amp;D in a number of clinical development roles. Latterly Duncan was head of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Medicine for GSK Research and Director of GSK’s phase 1 and experimental medicine unit in Cambridge (CUC).

Prof. Duncan Richards

Angela Russell is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and holds a joint appointment between the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. She gained her MChem degree from the University of Oxford in 2000 and her DPhil in Organic Chemistry in 2004. 
Her research interests are centered around the discovery of new molecules and mechanisms to manipulate cell fate and to translate them into therapeutic agents, particularly for degenerative diseases. She has initiated a number of collaborative research programmes, including a medicinal chemistry approach to the modulation of gene expression to treat fatal rare genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
She co-founded the Oxford spin-out MuOx Ltd, (now part of Summit Therapeutics plc), and co-founded OxStem Ltd in 2016. In 2016, she was named as a ‘Rising Star’ in the BioBeat 50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness report. In October 2020 she was awarded a 2021 Harrington UK Rare Disease scholarship in recognition of, and in support of, her work on developing a therapy for DMD.

Prof. Angela Russell

Serena is the Head of Human Genomics and Translational Data at ELIXIR, in the European infrastructure for bioinformatics and life-science data, based in Hinxton, UK. Serena is a member of the ELIXIR leadership team. She develops and implements a programme to construct and operate a sustainable genomics data infrastructure (to facilitate discoverability, access and analysis of data) to support life science research and its translation to medicine. As part of this, she leads multiple large consortia across Europe (grants totalling &gt;50M Euros). 
Prior to joining ELIXIR, she was a Director within the Human Genetics and Computational Biomedicine group at Pfizer. In this role, she led and implemented a genetic and precision medicine strategy to support drug target selection and clinical programmes for the Pain and Sensory Disorders Research Unit. She was also a member of the ABPI Stratified Medicine Working Group. Earlier in her career, she worked within the Toxicogenomics group at GlaxoSmithKline. She gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, with a focus on the genetic susceptibility to disease.

Dr. Serena Scollen

Chris is a membrane protein biochemist working at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge who pioneered the use of conformational thermostabilisation for the structure determination of GPCRs. This technology was the foundation of Heptares Therapeutics and Chris was one of the co-founders of the company in 2007. More recently, his lab developed mini-G proteins that have led to structures of GPCRs in the active coupled state by X-ray crystallography and single-particle cryo-EM. Chris was awarded his PhD (1989) by the University of Bristol, after which he worked in the Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge, before moving to the LMB in 1992. In 2019, he was named as a Honorary Member of The British Biophysical Society (BBS).

Dr. Chris Tate

Makoto Sugita

After gaining experience as a general thoracic surgeon, Makoto joined AstraZeneca K.K. and began his career in the pharmaceutical industry. He then joined Johnson &amp; Johnson as the head of the Medical Affairs Division at Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K. After establishing the Medical Affairs organization, he contributed to the growth of Janssen's business in Japan by overseeing the R&amp;D, Medical Affairs, and Safety departments as the Japan Medical Organization Head. After moving to the medical device division within Johnson &amp; Johnson, he became responsible for medical affairs, clinical, and regulatory affairs in Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, and India, and contributed to the growth of the business in Asia. After that, he served as Representative Director of Parexel International Japan, and he joined Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K. as Head of Research and Development Japan where he contributed to the integration with Celgene in Japan and led the transformation of the organization of the R&amp;D headquarters. Makoto was appointed as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and President of Nxera Pharma Japan in October 2024.

Team

Our management team, board and scientific advisory board have vast experience in the global pharma industry and provide a wealth of expertise.

Mr. Chris Cargill

Mr. Hironoshin Nomura

Mr. Toshi Maeda

Mr. Kieran Johnson

Dr. Matt Barnes

Ms. Candelle Chong

Mr. Kazuhiko Yoshizumi

Dr. Makoto Sugita

Mr. Shinichi Tamura

Mr. Chris Cargill

Mr. Tomohiro Tohyama

Mr. Kuniaki Kaga

Dr. David Roblin

Mrs. Eiko Tomita

Mr. Rolf Soderstrom

Mr. Noriaki Nagai

Ms. Miwa Seki

Dr. Malcolm Weir

Dr. Peter Bernstein

Dr. Richard Henderson

Dr. Paul Leeson

Dr. John Parkinson

Prof. Sheena Radford OBE

Prof. Duncan Richards

Prof. Angela Russell

Dr. Serena Scollen

Dr. Chris Tate

Prof. Angela Russell