The biotech company Camilla Simpson leads, Zehna Therapeutics, is at the early stages of research into the links between the microbiome and heart and kidney disease. She says, “When the clinic was researching cardiovascular disease, they found that a microbial metabolite was present in many cases of these diseases. As such, we are now targeting the pathway that produces the metabolite so we can shut it down and therefore potentially prevent the progression of cardiovascular diseases and chronic kidney disease.”

Coming from a medical family, Camilla has striven to make people’s lives better through furthering medical research. She graduated with a Master’s in Analytical Chemistry in 1994, having already completed two undergraduate degrees in science and chemistry. Her Birkbeck studies gave her the confidence she needed in public speaking to really create a platform for women in science, technology and mathematics.

Now living in the United States, Camilla advises or sits on the board of multiple biomedical research companies.