Meet our experienced executive leadership team

Cathal is 56 years-old, and is an entrepreneur, starting work at 16 years due to his father’s untimely illness he went on to complete his education at night classes and got an MBA from the University of Ulster in 1990. He spent the following five years lecturing part time in International Marketing and Business Planning at the University of Ulster, while running his own new technology services business. In 2001 he was part of the team who successfully established Merrion Stockbrokers in Dublin and in 2007 he founded Raglan Capital. Cathal is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Open Orphan plc which IPO’d on the London and Dublin stock exchanges in June 2019. In 2021, Open Orphan completed a spin-out of one of its non-core assets to form Poolbeg Pharma plc, an infectious disease company with a capital light model, where Cathal is Chairman. He also co-founded Amryt Pharma plc in 2015 along with Joe Wiley, which is listed on the London stock exchange since 2016 and which listed on Nasdaq in July 2020. Prior to Amryt, Cathal founded Fastnet Oil & Gas plc in 2011 which he IPO’d on the London stock exchange. Cathal was a finalist in the International category as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020.

Mo is CEO of Open Orphan with over 25 years of experience in clinical research and the CRO industry. Mo has worked as a consultant assisting CROs to develop growth strategies and helping prepare companies for future expansion, both organic and through M&A activity. In addition, Mo worked with Private Equity firms providing insight in identifying potential targets and conducting due diligence in preparation for M&A activity. Prior to this Mo had a variety of senior roles at Pharm-Olam where he played a pivotal role in growing a small niche clinical monitoring business to a global full-service CRO with offices across all continents. In his time at Pharm-Olam Mo had leading roles in Clinical Operations, Project Management, Business Development and Executive Management functions. As a key member of the Executive Team Mo participated in the successful sale of the company in 2017, delivering substantial returns to its shareholders. Prior to this he worked at Innovex and Quintiles (IQVIA).

Leo brings over 20 years’ experience in senior finance roles in Pharmaceuticals, Medical Technology and FMCG sectors. He has held senior finance positions at Procter and Gamble, ResMed and Sublimity Therapeutics. Through positions in multinational companies across Europe and in the venture capital space in the UK and Ireland, he has extensive experience in building finance teams, corporate development, equity and debt financing, public markets, and mergers and acquisitions. Leo is a Business graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and HEC Liège, Belgium. He also holds an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD in France and Singapore.

Andrew first studied as a virologist at the University of Warwick before then furthering his education with postgraduate studies in influenza replication at Oxford University. Since then he has applied his scientific knowledge in a commercial setting. After working as part of a multidisciplinary R&D team developing nuclear medicine research tools at GE Healthcare, he then returned to the field of virology to work for hVIVO and Open Orphan, an industry-leading service provider of human viral challenge studies (controlled human infection studies). Andrew is now considered an expert in human viral challenge studies having played key roles in the development of influenza, RSV and HRV models at hVIVO. He has overseen the design and conduct of numerous antiviral and vaccine product efficacy studies and now works as Chief Scientific Officer, leading scientific strategy for the company as well as providing consultancy both internally and externally to hVIVO’s clients and collaborators on challenge study design and data interpretation. In addition, he was PI on a recent successfully completed DARPA-sponsored research project to utilise the challenge model to identity human biomarkers and algorithms prognostic of influenza contagiousness.

Adam brings over 18 years’ experience working in a number of roles in the Pharmaceutical and CRO industry, including project management and laboratory leadership. His love for biological sciences started from a young age and was cemented after graduating from Anglia Ruskin University in Biomedical Sciences whilst working in the labs at Huntingdon Life Sciences. There his skills for operational leadership were honed whilst working on global business change and strategy projects, before he moved on to more senior roles elsewhere. Adam joined hVIVO in 2014, where he has implemented a number of productivity and growth improvements, with a focus on operational delivery, business growth and personnel development.

Mariya has worked for hVIVO since 2014 in various roles including Viral Challenge Physician, Senior Physician/ Principal Investigator, Associate Medical Director and has been appointed in March 2021 as Medical Director. Since qualification in 1996 at the Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria Mariya specialized in General (Internal) Medicine. Mariya have wide experience in oncology, hematology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, endocrinology and Chronic & Preventative Care; both in Bulgaria and the UK. She is on the GMC Specialist Register for General (Internal) Medicine, and has a current ALS certificate. Mariya is an experienced pharmaceutical physician; this expertise extends to RSV challenges, Influenza, HRV and SARS-CoV-2. As PI, Mariya has been responsible for many clinical trials including RSV, SARS-CoV-2 characterisation and vaccine trials. She has developed and overseen clinical development for clients including safety and medical monitoring. She also regularly trains, supervises and supports staff and investigators.

Bruno brings a wealth of drug development and regulatory strategy experience to Open Orphan. He has an extensive expertise in supporting global drug development programs and guiding biotech / pharma companies in their interactions with global regulators, including EMA & FDA. He is currently advising a broad range of organisations (non-profits, biotechs, large pharma) on the regulatory aspects of their drug/vaccine development, from early development to commercialisation stage. Before joining Open Orphan, Bruno had a variety of roles at SGS Life Sciences, where in his last position he managed the global regulatory consultancy and modelling & simulation teams. Bruno is a bio-engineer in cel- & genetechnology from the University of Ghent in Belgium, and holds a postgraduate degree in Health Economics (EHSAL Management School, Belgium).

Teja brings 12 years’ experience of working in a number of QA GCP roles in the Clinical research & CRO industry. She has extensive experience in conducting GCP & GCLP audits, supplier audits and hosting external inspections. She has led multiple projects involving improvement of existing processes and systems, implementation of GCP compliant standards within business and regulatory gap analysis. She has worked at hVIVO since 2016 and was appointed as Head of QA in 2021. Previously she worked as a GCP Compliance manager at Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Hospital. Teja is a pharmacist and holds M. Tech degree in Bioprocess Technology and Doctorate degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Mumbai, India.