Leadership Team

Stephen is a member of the Almac Group Executive Management and President and Managing Director of both Almac Discovery and Almac Sciences. He was instrumental in establishing Almac Discovery and has had overall responsibility for strategic, financial and operational leadership ever since.

In 2004, Stephen saw the opportunity to acquire Albachem for Almac Sciences Division which subsequently enabled key personnel to join Almac Discovery to strengthen our peptide and protein chemistry capabilities and support our first clinical candidate ALM201. Later, Stephen set up the unique relationship with the Cancer Centre for Research and Cellular Biology (CCRCB) at Queen’s University which seeks to consolidate Discovery’s oncology focus. Stephen has a Ph.D in synthetic chemistry.

After obtaining a First Class degree in Chemistry and Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Nottingham University, and completing postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Irvine, Tim joined Merck’s Neuroscience Research Centre where he was Director, Medicinal Chemistry Department. Whilst at Merck, Tim was part of the team which discovered the marketed Substance P antagonist Aprepitant (Emend). He was subsequently involved in the establishment of Almac Discovery, where he holds the position of Vice President, Drug Discovery.

Tim also holds a Chair position at the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he is the McClay Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. His research focuses on new therapeutic approaches to exploit apoptosis.

Having received a First Class degree in Chemistry from Durham University, Graham obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, working on engineered protein therapeutics for HIV, and continued these interdisciplinary studies as a postdoctoral researcher at the University’s Medical School.

He then spent several years at Rockefeller University New York, as a Burroughs Wellcome Research Fellow, developing novel protein engineering technologies to study oncogenic signalling pathways. Graham then returned to the UK and held senior positions at several biotech companies before joining Almac Discovery in 2013 to lead their protein therapeutics programmes. These drug discovery efforts focus on the development of next generation bispecific antibody drug conjugates.

Graham also holds an Honorary position at The Johnston Cancer Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.

Aaron joined Almac Discovery in 2016 from Mission Therapeutics and has responsibility for translational research activities. He has over 20 years’ experience in preclinical oncology including previous positions at leading biotech’s, a global pharma and two specialist oncology CROs. At KuDOS Pharmaceuticals (acquired by AstraZeneca), he led the translational biology and tumour pharmacology team for 5 novel DDR projects transitioning into clinical development, most notably making major contributions to the PARP inhibitor programme which led to olaparib (Lynparza®), now an approved, first-in-class, marketed treatment for BRCA-mutant cancers and the first proof-of-concept for synthetic lethality as a therapeutic approach.

Aaron carried out his post-doctoral research at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia and returned to the UK to lead the MEN2 cancer group at the University of Cambridge before transitioning into industry.

He holds a First-Class degree in Genetics and a Ph.D. in Cancer Genetics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Colin leads the Medicinal Chemistry, ADMET and CADD teams at Almac Discovery, bringing over two decades of industry experience across drug discovery and synthetic chemistry development. He and his teams have played a pivotal role in advancing Almac Discovery’s kinase, deubiquitylating enzyme (DUB) and induced proximity programmes.

Colin has also been instrumental in the establishment of the Future Medicines Institute (FMI) and the Northern Ireland Chemoproteomics Centre-of-Excellence.

He holds a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Queen’s University Belfast

Natalie joined Almac Discovery in 2008 and now leads the strategic development and scientific execution of the company’s biology portfolio. Together with her team, she has played a pivotal role in advancing multiple assets from target validation through to clinical translation.

Her scientific interests and expertise centre on the ubiquitin–proteasome system, spanning early stage discovery of DUB inhibitors, emerging induced‑proximity therapeutic modalities and advanced chemical biology platforms. Fostering strong collaborative networks with academic partners, Natalie has also been central to establishing the Future Medicines Institute (FMI) and the Northern Ireland Chemoproteomics Centre of Excellence.

She holds a Ph.D. in experimental cancer therapeutics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Mark joined Almac Discovery in 2015 to establish a bioinformatics capability within the company and has responsibility for developing the bioinformatics and data science functions.

Prior to joining Almac Discovery, Mark worked for AstraZeneca supporting pre-clinical drug discovery where he developed a research interest in computational approaches to detecting synthetic lethality. Mark previously worked at CRUK-Manchester where he developed microarray and next-generation sequencing tools. Mark has a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Hozefa has 20+ years’ experience in the life sciences industry across Europe, North America and APAC. Prior to joining Almac Discovery, Hozefa was Head of Business Development at Ubiquigent, where he led commercial strategy and execution, and at Cellesce Ltd, in Cardiff. Hozefa has also held scientific roles at both RxCelerate and Senexis in Cambridge. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry from UMIST, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester.