Dr. John Stageman Appointed Chair of the Board for MRC Technology

MRC Technology (MRCT) has announced the appointment of Dr. John Stageman as Chair of its Board of Directors, and who takes over from John Jeans, the charity’s Chair for the last six years.

He has held a number of international R&D senior management roles at AstraZeneca, from drug discovery through to global clinical development.

Latterly he led the team responsible for developing AstraZeneca’s competitive biopharmaceutical strategy, resulting in the acquisition of Cambridge Antibody Technology and of MedImmune.

After a period as General Manager of MedImmune Cambridge, Dr Stageman returned to AstraZeneca as Vice President of UK Science Affairs before retiring in 2011.

Dr. Stageman was formerly Chair of the HealthTech and Medicines Knowledge Transfer Network for the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and a Council member of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). He is Chair of the Major Awards Committee of the Biomedical Catalyst on behalf of the MRC and TSB, and is currently a lay Governor of the University of Manchester where he is also an Honorary Professor of Life Sciences. John was awarded the OBE for his services to the UK Biotechnology Industry in the 2011 New Year’s Honours list.

Dave Tapolczay, MRC Technology’s CEO, commented: “Our previous chair John Jeans has made an invaluable contribution to MRCT’s growth and success over his six year term. We thank him for his dedication and service, and wish him well in his role as the government’s life science advisor. We now welcome John Stageman and I would like to extend our thanks to him for taking up this post with MRCT. We look forward to working with him during this next stage of development of the organization.”

John Stageman added: “I am delighted to be joining MRCT at this exciting time, as we realize our objective of progressing scientific discoveries into therapeutic treatments. Our next phase will be delivered from a new location, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, a move that represents a key stage in MRCT’s development and further strengthens the already thriving collaboration between academia and industry. It is a privilege to be taking the helm from John Jeans and I wish him well in his future endeavours.”