Inspirational leadership underpinned by decades of Drug Discovery and industry expertise
David Lawrence
Non-Executive ChairmanDavid joined C4XD in December 2024. He is currently a Non-Executive Director at EnteroBiotix, a UK private, clinical-stage microbiome company, and Glen Clova Scientific, a UK private biotech creating a new class of active biologics. He began his career at GSK and has held senior and executive roles at leading companies such as Chiron Vaccines which was acquired by Novartis and Acambis which was acquired by Sanofi and Valneva, where he led its US IPO. David also co-founded Synpromics, a synthetic biology company, where he recruited the senior management team and the Board; Synpromics was acquired by Ask Bio in 2019.
Emma Blaney
CEOEmma has been Interim CEO since January 2025 and leads the business with responsibility for defining and implementing strategy, ensuring its continued growth focused on the development of new and innovative immuno-inflammatory therapeutics. As a trained medicinal chemist, Emma joined C4XD in 2014 as a Senior Programme Manager and has gained more than 18 years’ experience working on Drug Discovery programmes within the Pharmaceutical sector. She brings extensive project management experience to the Executive Team with a particular focus on outsourcing management and collaborations. Previously she was a Section Head at Peakdale Molecular leading multiple projects for pharmaceuticals clients and a Medicinal Chemistry Team Leader at GSK within the Neurology and Gastrointestinal Department. Emma has a PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Leeds, and a first-class Chemistry and Pharmacology degree from the University of Liverpool.
Nick Ray
Chief Scientific OfficerNick oversees the C4XD Drug Discovery portfolio from target selection through to pre-clinical candidate generation and partnering alongside Dr. Clare Murray, SVP Drug Discovery. Nick also leads the medicinal chemistry, structural analysis and computational chemistry/cheminformatics teams and together, with our CTO Dr Charles Blundell, is leading the continued development of our conformational analysis technology, 4Sight.
Nick joined C4XD in 2016 and has more than 30 years’ experience leading key programmes at large multi-national companies including Rhône-Poulenc, Celltech and Argenta/Charles River, in the therapeutic areas of oncology, respiratory diseases, inflammation, CNS, pain and metabolic diseases. Eight of these programmes have progressed into the clinic to date. As head of the chemistry department at Charles River’s Harlow U.K. site, Nick was responsible for more than 70 chemists, fostering both the importance of strong medicinal and synthetic chemistry skills and championing professional development for his team, winning the Royal Society of Chemistry Retrosynthesis competition in 2015. He is a named inventor on over 75 patents and patent applications and has published 21 papers and presentation abstracts. Nick holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK.
James Ede-Golightly
Non-Executive DirectorJames Ede-Golightly joined the board in December 2025. Among other roles he is chair of Lio (www.liohealth.com), the leading digital monitoring platform for inpatient mental health and was non-executive director at Nasdaq-listed Silence Therapeutics Plc from 2019-2025. He co-founded Ora Capital Partners Plc in 2006 having previously worked at Commerzbank and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. In 2012 he was recognised by the Institute of Directors as Company Director of the Year
Harmesh Suniara
Non-Executive DirectorHarmesh has over 15 years’ experience of working in investment management, with a particular focus on UK small and mid-cap equities including the technology and life sciences sectors. He brings a wealth of expertise in active engagement with companies that Lombard Odier has invested in. He has worked as a Portfolio Manager at Lombard Odier 1798 Volantis since 2017, and prior to this he was an Investment Manager at Henderson Volantis Capital and Gartmore Investment Management. Harmesh graduated in Physics from the University of Cambridge. Lombard Odier 1798 Volantis is a major shareholder in C4X Discovery.
Shilina Roman
SVP Drug DiscoveryShilina Roman is SVP Drug Discovery and a member of the Executive Team. Shilina manages the biology team and oversees all aspects of drug discovery across the drug discovery portfolio. Prior to joining C4XD, Shilina was Senior Director, Head of Biology and Translational Medicine at Eliem Therapeutics, leading the biology and scientific strategy on project teams. Having started as a research scientist at GSK and Argenta Discovery, Shilina has significant experience in the drug discovery process from target identification through to phase 2 clinical trials, she held senior management roles at Charles River Laboratories and Eliem Therapeutics. Shilina has a B.Sc (Hons) in Biochemistry and Pharmacology from Kings College, London and a Diploma in Advanced Pharmacology from the British Pharmacological Society, with more than 15 published papers.
