Jonathan K

Biography

Dr Jonathan Knowles has a career spanning over 40 years in the biotech industry. Dr Knowles held a number of research and teaching positions in the early part of his career before founding the molecular biology group within the Biotechnical Laboratory, Helsinki in 1980. Dr Jonathan Knowles is currently the Chairman of Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ) and Immunocore Ltd and serves on the boards of a number of biotech companies in Europe and the USA. He is a trustee of CRUK and Chairman of the Genomics England Access committee. Jonathan Knowles is a visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, a Research Director at FIMM University of Helsinki (20010-2014 FiDiPro Distinguished Professor), and Professor Emeritus at EPFL, Lausanne. He is a member of EMBO and a member of the Board of A*Star in Singapore. Dr Knowles was appointed as the President of Global Research at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd and subsequently the President of Group Research. He was a member of the Genentech Board for 12 years and a member of the Chugai Board for seven years. He was also the Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee of Genentech. Under his leadership, the company developed and implemented a strategy of highly effective therapies based on personalised healthcare. Dr Knowles retired from his position at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd at the end of 2009. Prior to joining Roche, Dr Knowles was the Head of the Glaxo Institute for Molecular Biology in Geneva and subsequently the Research Director for Glaxo Wellcome Europe. Dr Knowles was, for 5 years, the Chairman of the Hever Group and the Chairman of the Research Directors’ Group of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations) and was the first Chairman of the Board of the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a unique public-private partnership between 28 pharmaceutical companies and the European Commission with the participation of over 200 academic institutions in Europe with a budget of more than 5 billion euros over ten years. Dr Knowles obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of East Anglia, Norwich and subsequently received a PhD in Mitochondrial Genetics from the University of Edinburgh. Dr Knowles was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company in September 2015.

Research Interest

Pharmaceutical Sciences