Louise Jopling, Chief Scientific Officer (Episode 72) | Louise is supporting bioscience businesses to make real-world impact
For this episode of the Research Adjacent podcast Sarah‘s guest is Louise Jopling. Louise is the Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer at the Babraham Research Campus and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Babraham Institute.
An innovation melting pot
In her main role Louise draws on 25 years of experience to create an environment at the Babraham Research Campus (a science park in Cambridge) where biosciences companies can thrive. Louise is also Entrepreneur in Residence at the academic Babraham Institute which is on the same site. Across these two roles she is supporting the entire research commercialisation cycle from ground-breaking research to established product.
With businesses of all sizes and academia working side-by-side, she describes the environment at Babraham Research Campus as a ‘melting pot’ where people working on the site can get everything from practical support to inter-personal inspiration.
“And we’ve got a central building where people from all across the campus come for their lunch, their coffees, their meetings. I call it the melting pot because that’s really where those serendipitous interactions could and should be happening.”
Embracing opportunities
After her initial plan to become a vet was thwarted Louise found a passion for immunology. Completing a PhD on chemokine receptors, she initially planned to follow a career in academic research. Life had other plans, and she ended up working in drug discovery, first for CellTech then Janssen. At Janssen she moved more into the business side of the industry working on product launches and medical liaison. And in recent years Louise has stepped into leadership roles, first at Health Innovation East and now Babraham.
“Now you can make your career sound as, oh, it was all planned out when I was 15 and this is the path I went on. We know that’s all going to be generally hogwash.”
Making a difference for real people
A major career highlight was launching the psoriasis drug Stelara while at Janssen – particularly as it brought her face to face with the real people who were benefiting from the treatment.
“The impact that you knew about or you could see for the patients, the quality of life and that permeating not just for that patient, but for their family members or their social lives. I still get goosebumps now just even talking to you about it.”
This commitment to making real-world impact is the driver behind everything Louise does – whether it is supporting company founders or working on equitable access to healthcare innovations.
Find out more
- Connect to Louise on LinkedIn
- Find out about the Babraham Research Campus and Babraham Institute
Theme music by Lemon Music Studios from Pixabay
