Our thinking Podcasts Private Conversations

Interview with Kate Bingham: VC mindset to fixing global problems

We interviewed Kate Bingham, former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, and Managing Partner of SV Health Investors. During the interview we discussed:

• Kate's role as Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and how she and her team initiated the program,

• The challenges they faced,

• How they delivered on vaccine procurement.

• How a VC mindset can help to fix global problems such as pandemics.

• SV's history and funds (including dementia and biotech).

• Impact funds – challenges and opportunities.

We are particularly grateful to Kate for joining this week's call and want to thank her for her contribution to saving millions of lives across the world.

Kate Bingham is the former Chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce. As Chair of the Vaccine Taskforce in 2020 she led a team of world-class experts from across industry, science, academia, funding, regulators, logistics and government with the shared purposed of finding and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine/s. The Vaccine Taskforce helped place the UK at the leading edge of the international effort to fight the pandemic through the development of clinically safe and effective vaccines.

Kate has worked in the biotech and life sciences sectors for 30 years and is Managing Partner at life sciences venture capital firm SV Health Investors and a board member of the Francis Crick Institute. Her investments have led to the launch of six drugs for the treatment of patients with inflammatory and autoimmune disease and cancer.

Kate is responsible for SV’s biotech investments and activities and serves or has served on the boards of companies in the UK, US, Ireland, Sweden and Germany. She played an active role in setting up the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) and supports the International Biotechnology Trust listed on the LSE.

She won the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the BioIndustry Association UK in January 2017 and has a first class degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).