Since 2019, Francesca has been the Director of London Advanced Therapies, which grew to UK Advanced Therapies in 2021. Francesca is the Director of Skills & Training in the King’s/UCL Gene Therapies Hub and holds the position of Chief of Staff (Health &Life Sciences), at King’s College London.
Previously she was Director of Grants at Barts Charity and Head of Strategic Development at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. Francesca also has commercial experience having worked for companies both in the UK and overseas. Her academic background includes a MRes degree in Industrial Chemistry, a PhD in Structural Biology, in addition to being an awardee of EMBO and EU Marie Curie research fellowships. Outside academia, Francesca is the Chair of Trustees of the British Fencing Charity.
London Advanced Therapies (LAT) brings together the London scientific community working in the field of cell and gene-based therapies. Funded by Research England, and led by King’s College London, Imperial College London and University College London, LAT aims to catalyse London’s capabilities and outputs in the area of Advanced Therapies, through fostering collaborative work, facilitating commercial partnerships and creating a microclimate for innovation. We aim at positioning London, and the UK, as a global leader in Advanced Therapies commercialisation, with sustainability embedded through the breadth of commercial partnerships.