In this interview, we speak with Melanie Leveridge, Vice President of Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca and Chair of the Board for ELRIG UK, to discuss her extensive career in the pharmaceutical industry, her role in fostering scientific innovation, and her vision for ELRIG's future. My name is Melanie Leveridge, and I'm the chair of the board of ELRIG UK. In my day job, I'm Vice President of Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca based in Cambridge.
I've worked in the pharmaceutical industry for around 20 years, leading teams in early discovery, supporting assay development, screening and compound profiling, mechanistic biology, and sample management. I've been involved with ELRIG for as long as I can remember, first as a speaker at events or session chair, then on various committees and as a board member since 2017, and most recently, chair of the board since 2020. It's very much a two-way street.
The work I do in my day job obviously informs us of the scientific topics that we want to showcase at ELRIG. We need to make sure that the science and technology that we showcase are really relevant to scientists in drug discovery. The work with ELRIG really helps to build networks, which helps with the day job and helps me understand what kind of latest science is out there that I can then bring back to the day job as well.
ELRIG also helps to foster partnerships between industry and academia, as well as with our technology and reagents suppliers, all of which help to advance our scienc.
