Our team is dedicated to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, with prior professional experience from pharma, biotech, medical devices, CROs, scientific institutions, and consulting.

John Rountree

Founder & Partner

John has over 25 years of experience in management consulting and creating value with all sizes of pharmaceutical and biotech firms worldwide. He founded NovaSecta in 2003 and has built the company with a focus on mid-sized pharmaceutical and biotech companies, working across R&D, corporate/business development and marketing & sales disciplines. John has directed many strategic and management initiatives, achieving amongst others, optimised asset portfolios, corporate evolution into a specialty pharmaceutical company, major licensing deals, improvement of R&D strategic outsourcing, and organisational change.

Prior to founding NovaSecta, John held senior positions in three global consulting firms. He was Head of European Operations at Integral Inc. (now Analysis Group), Director at Strategic Decisions Group (SDG) and Principal at Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now IBM/PWC). John has also raised funds for and developed start-up companies commercially, and has been an executive board member of an intracellular drug delivery spin-out from University of Cambridge and a novel CNS screening technology start-up company.

John holds an MBA from London Business School, and an MA in Engineering, Economics and Management from Brasenose College, Oxford University.

Chris Roe

Associate Partner

Chris has over 23 years of management consulting experience. He joined NovaSecta as an Associate Partner having previously held a senior management team position in IMS Consulting Group. During his time at IMS, Chris led the Product and Portfolio Strategy Practice in EMEA and led an internal change programme to restructure the organisation of IMS’s global consulting business.

Chris also co-founded and was COO of a consulting firm that focused on the strategic use of sponsorship for clients spanning multiple market sectors including FMCG, telecoms, technology, financial services and consumer electronics. Earlier in his career, Chris was a Senior Associate at Strategic Decisions Group (SDG) where, in addition to his time at IMS Consulting Group, much of his client experience focused on the Pharma and Life Sciences sector. Chris has led strategic projects in Life Cycle Management, R&D, devices and market entry across multiple developed and emerging international markets.

Chris has a BSc in Management Science at what is now part of the Manchester Business School and has been tutored in Executive Leadership at IMD in Lausanne.

Grace Ong

Engagement Manager

Grace has over 10 years of experience in the life sciences industry. At NovaSecta, she has led diverse strategy and management projects across the pharmaceutical value chain and drug development process including portfolio management, corporate and business unit strategy, product development, R&D organisation restructuring and outsourcing management.

Previously, Grace was a consultant in the life sciences team at L.E.K. Consulting, supporting various due diligence and mergers and acquisitions activities for private equity, venture capital and life sciences companies before joining Dialog Devices Ltd (UK) as Corporate Development Manager. Grace spent her early career in the brand management team at Novartis UK and as a project manager at West Pharmaceutical Services (US). She began her career as a research associate in foetal bone development at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Grace holds an MBA from London Business School, and a BSc in Biochemistry from Bucknell University in the US.

John Strafford

Engagement Manager

John is an experienced life sciences consultant, having conducted projects for a variety of pharmaceutical and medical device companies covering portfolio and product evaluation, financial and market analysis, and commercial strategy. At NovaSecta John has been involved in corporate strategy, market assessment and competitor analyses.

Before joining NovaSecta, John was a Managing Consultant in the life sciences team of Navigant Consulting (formerly Easton Associates), where he managed multiple client engagements for a variety of pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Prior to consulting, John was a Business Development Manager at Antisoma (UK), an oncology focused biopharmaceutical company. He began his career as a Research Assistant at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology in Edinburgh.

John holds a PhD in Biochemical Engineering from University College London, an MRes in Bioinformatics from the University of York, and a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh.

Giorgia Vicentini

Senior Associate

Giorgia is experienced in pharmaceutical R&D, covering both scientific and business areas. At NovaSecta, she has designed project strategies and developed organisational processes such as project generation / ideation and management that capitalise on internal capabilities. She has also been involved in planning corporate expansions and formulating strategic intents at both corporate and franchise levels.

Prior to joining NovaSecta, Giorgia was Senior Manager of Business Development at a fully-integrated drug discovery service provider, identifying and evaluating new businesses and collaborative opportunities in Europe. She has also worked as a Senior Analyst for a life science competitive strategy consultancy. In her early career, she was a structural biologist at Cancer Research Technology and GlaxoSmithKline.

Giorgia holds a PhD in Structural Biology from The Institute of Cancer Research London, and an MSc in Physics from University of Trento, Italy.

Euvian Tan

Senior Associate

Euvian is experienced in product planning and integrative processes for drug discovery and development. At NovaSecta, she has conducted market assessment and competitive analyses, prepared product positionings and business cases, and evaluated in-licensing opportunities. She is also involved in developing new corporate strategies and organisational structures.

Euvian previously worked in research at GlaxoSmithKline UK, focusing on developing novel microfluidic bioassay technology to enhance the drug discovery process. For her postgraduate research, she explored the utilisation of novel holographic biosensors for label-free screening in drug discovery, also at GlaxoSmithKline.

Euvian holds a PhD in Biotechnology from University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Biochemistry from Imperial College in London.

Hasini Wijesuriya

Senior Associate

Hasini is experienced in operational management models of European MidPharmas. At NovaSecta, she has been involved in a range of management projects including resource planning for whole R&D organisations, strategic outsourcing for both drug discovery and clinical conduct, portfolio planning, mapping of competitive landscapes and cost-effective analyses of operational models.

Hasini previously worked at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre in New Zealand investigating structure-activity relationships of investigational anti-tumour prodrugs. For her postgraduate research she studied Alzheimer’s disease, examining the effects of disease progression on the blood-brain barrier.

Hasini holds a PhD in Pharmacology from University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Mark Barber

Associate

Mark has experience in R&D and business models. At NovaSecta, he has conducted asset and pipeline reviews and valuations, company target screenings and in/out-licensing assessments. He is also involved in analyses of various disease areas and sub-sectors, as well as M&A activity in the MidPharma space.

Mark conducted his postgraduate research at the Babraham Institute (Cambridge), studying regulation of cells’ internal signalling. He also worked in multiple editor roles for overseas academic researchers in publications for scientific journals.

Mark holds a PhD in Cellular Signalling from University of Cambridge, and an MSc and BSc in Biochemistry from University of Waikato, New Zealand.

Dilraj Judge

Associate

Dilraj has experience in business development and financial analysis. At NovaSecta, she has been involved in product assessments and company screenings for targeted in-licensing as well as the analysis of deals executed by MidPharmas.

Prior to joining NovaSecta, Dilraj conducted postgraduate research in the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London, investigating the synthetic studies and applications of helicenes. Prior to that she worked with senior managers in multinational institutions as a Tax Advisor for Ernst & Young LLP.

Dilraj is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has recently submitted her thesis towards obtaining a PhD in Chemistry from Imperial College London. She also holds an MSci in Chemistry from Imperial College London.