{"id":55120,"date":"2015-03-12T15:23:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T15:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=1e99c5073d65597a1a24e8adb7e5b5da"},"modified":"2015-03-12T15:23:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T15:23:49","slug":"news-story-innovate-uk-new-chief-executive-appointed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=55120","title":{"rendered":"News story: Innovate UK: new chief executive appointed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/department-for-business-innovation-skills\">Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)<\/a> has today announced the appointment of Ruth McKernan as Innovate UK\u2019s new chief executive.<\/p>\n<p>Dr McKernan has a long track record of innovation and achievement especially in the pharmaceutical industry. <\/p>\n<p>Welcoming the announcement Innovate UK\u2019s chairman Phil Smith said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c I\u2019m really excited to see Ruth taking up the post of CEO of Innovate UK.  Her commercial and research experience in a major innovation-based company are exactly what we need to lead our organisation in the coming years. <\/p>\n<p>\u201d As Innovate UK, we offer a wide range of effective programmes to help businesses to innovate, grow and deliver economic growth. I look forward to working with Ruth as Innovate UK moves to its next phase.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"track-record\">Track record<\/h2>\n<p>Ruth, who holds a BSc in Pharmacology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from Kings College, London, has had a distinguished career in the pharmaceutical industry. <\/p>\n<p>As a scientist, she is best known for her research on ligand-gated ion channels with over 120 publications and 15 patents to her name. She has headed research sites for <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.merck.com\/index.html\">Merck<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pfizer.co.uk\">Pfizer<\/a>, most recently creating two new research units in Cambridge: Pfizer Regenerative Medicine and Neusentis, which discovers and develops medicines for pain and sensory disorders. <\/p>\n<p>She served on the board of the Canadian Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Spinal Research, and was chair of the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbsrc.ac.uk\/home\/home.aspx\">Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council\u2019s<\/a> Industry panel. She now sits on the Science, Industry and Translation committee of the Royal Society, Cancer Research Technology\u2019s Board and is a Council Member for the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mrc.ac.uk\">Medical Research Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ruth has worked extensively with Innovate UK as interim co-chair of the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/ct.catapult.org.uk\">Cell Therapy Catapult<\/a>.  In 2013, she was awarded a CBE for services to business, innovation and skills.<\/p>\n<p>She commented: <\/p>\n<p>\u201d I am delighted to be appointed chief executive of Innovate UK. It is an honour to be able to build on the superb work of Iain Gray in leading this public body. <\/p>\n<p>\u201d The UK is world renowned for the quality of its research;  turning that knowledge into businesses, jobs and sustainable economic growth is an absolute necessity for the future. I look forward to doing all I can to ensure that we create and grow science and technology-based companies in the UK and encourage partnership right across the innovation ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Interim chief executive David Grant will remain in post until Ruth takes up her position on 1 May 2015.<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p>Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/vince-cable-appoints-new-innovate-uk-chief-executive\">BIS press release<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ruth McKernan has been appointed chief executive of Innovate UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}