Optibrium strengthens global AI drug discovery software operations with three key appointments

Optibrium, a leading developer of software and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for drug discovery, today announced three key appointments: Michelle Harrison as Head of Strategic Marketing, Chris Khoury as Associate Director of Business Development, and Imran Ghauri as Business Development Manager.

The appointments bring extensive AI and life science expertise and will align global business development and marketing strategies to further develop and commercialise the Company’s computer-aided drug discovery technologies.

Driven by recent investment and continued commercial growth, Optibrium plans to double its headcount by the end of 2023, including recruitment for C-suite roles.

Michelle joins Optibrium as Head of Strategic Marketing with 8 years’ marketing experience, delivering high-impact strategy and effective marketing campaigns for scale-ups in the drug discovery and digital health space to successfully target global pharma, biotech, academic, and investor audiences.

Michelle was previously Senior Marketing Manager at Healx, where she gained significant expertise in the AI drug discovery space, as well as cultivating the messaging, brand and team.

Chris takes up the role of Associate Director of Business Development from KATAOKA-SS America, a laser technology manufacturer specialising in cell processing for areas such as regenerative medicine and drug discovery research, with his prior experience focused on the development of early-stage life science companies.

Chris established a strong scientific foundation as a research scientist in protein and analytical biochemistry at The Fountain Group, and in protocol development at PerkinElmer.

He holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from California State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Dalhousie University.

Imran assumes the role of Business Development Manager coming from Sensyne Health, where he supported the global sales of the company’s AI-enabled clinical platform providing life science and healthcare customers with real world data insights across multiple therapy areas.

Imran has over 30 years’ account management and business development experience with a track-record of success in customer acquisition and retention across a number of market sectors.

These include big pharma, biotech, NHS Primary and Secondary Care. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Swansea University.

More than 170 organisations worldwide, including five of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies, currently deploy Optibrium’s computational drug discovery technologies in their research programs.

Cerella, Optibrium's proven AI platform, empowers project teams with valuable insights from complex drug discovery data to maximise the success of preclinical discovery projects.

I’m a real proponent of harnessing the latest tech advancements to improve the drug discovery process. I look forward to working alongside the team at such an exciting stage in Optibrium’s growth to extend the reach and impact of their cutting-edge AI capabilities and – ultimately – help get effective treatments to people more quickly.

Michelle Harrison, Head of Strategic Marketing, Optibrium

As part of our continuing expansion and commercial success, we are delighted to welcome Michelle, Chris and Imran to the Optibrium team. Their impressive backgrounds in scientific marketing strategy and business development will power the next phase of our development and further strengthen the position of our market-leading in silico technologies and AI platforms.

Dr Matthew Segall, CEO, Optibrium

Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Optibrium also has offices in Boston and San Francisco, USA.