- Katherine Ward, former Chief Commercial Officer of digital health tech start-up Healthy.io and Nate Notwell, former Head of North America Consumer Experience at Kenvue, appointed to spur company creation
Oxford, UK: November 1, 2023: Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the independent investment company created to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, today announces the appointments of Katherine Ward and Nate Notwell as Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) focused on Health Tech.
OSE’s EIR programme brings seasoned entrepreneurs in-house to accelerate the company’s mission to uncover the most promising scientific and technological innovations and build them into world-leading businesses. To date, the programme has resulted in the creation of innovative Oxford spinouts including neurology care platform Neu Health, photonic chip company Salience Labs and neuromodulation company, Amber Therapeutics.
Heather Roxborough, Head of Health Tech said: “I am delighted to welcome Katherine and Nate to our team. Their decades of experience in healthcare, developing and commercialising innovative technologies across multiple markets, will greatly benefit OSE as we continue to drive the creation of compelling new Health Tech start-ups.”
Katherine Ward, Entrepreneur in Residence, Health Tech
Katherine has over 30 years’ experience in the healthcare sector with expertise in growth and business development, general management, strategy, and people management.
Most recently Katherine spent six years at Healthy.io, a health tech start up as Chief Commercial Officer. In her role, she built the team and secured a multi-million pound contract with the UK National Health Service (NHS) for home-based testing, which subsequently underpinned a successful Series C financing round.
Prior to this, Katherine served as Chief Growth Officer at Optum International, a division of UnitedHealth, and held other senior executive roles within its global business. Katherine additionally worked at the NHS for 15 years in a number of senior roles.
Nate Notwell, Entrepreneur in Residence, Health Tech
Nate joins OSE from Kenvue (formerly Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health), where he spent close to 20 years working in various commercial leadership roles, most recently leading digital capability acceleration for the North American business.
Previously, he led global marketing and innovation teams for multiple categories across J&J’s $6 billion Global OTC (over the counter) business.
OSE’s Health Tech team looks to invest in the most disruptive ideas in healthcare from digital health through to medical devices, diagnostics and life science tools with the goal of building businesses that not only transform patients’ lives but have the potential to revolutionise entire healthcare systems. This year alone, OSE has completed six investments in companies at Pre-Seed stage through to Series B, including Caristo, Navenio and Ground Truth Labs.
ENDS
About Oxford Science Enterprises
Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) is an independent, billion-pound investment company, created in 2015 to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, the world’s #1 research university.
This partnership enables OSE to work with the brightest academic minds tackling the world’s toughest challenges and guarantees unrivalled access to their scientific research. In collaboration with its global network of entrepreneurs and advisers, OSE goes well beyond funding to shape and nurture these complex ideas into successful businesses.
Actively focused on a core portfolio of around 40 companies spanning three high-growth, high-impact sectors - Life Sciences, Health Tech, and Deep Tech - the company adopts a flexible, long-term investment approach, recognising the path from ground-breaking research to global markets takes time and resilience.
To date, OSE has invested £0.6 billion in over 80 ambitious companies built on Oxford science. A key player in Oxford’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, OSE is highly motivated to foster an environment that catalyses pioneering research and steers it to commercial success.
Find out more: oxfordscienceenterprises.com | Twitter | LinkedIn
ENDS
Contacts:
Oxford Science Enterprises
Claire LaRocca – media@oxfordsciences.com
For media enquiries:
Mark Swallow, Sandi Greenwood, Frazer Hall – MEDiSTRAVA Consulting
oxfordsciences@medistrava.com
+44 (0)203 928 6900
