Oxford Science Enterprises makes new appointments

By Nicky Godding

1 April 2022

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Oxford Science Enterprises, the Science Business Builder and investment partner of the University of Oxford, has appointed Heather Roxborough PhD as Partner, Health Tech and Wallace Wallace MPhil as Associate, Life Sciences.

As Partner, Heather will lead the Health Tech investment team to identify cutting-edge science and technology from the University’s world leading academics, drive investments into new spinouts and support the scale up of existing enterprises. Wallace joins the growing Life Sciences team to support the creation of new businesses and ongoing work across the current portfolio.

Alexis Dormandy, CEO Oxford Science Enterprises, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Heather and Wallace. Heather brings over 15 years of investment and leadership experience, with a strong track record of deal-making and company building to lead the Health Tech team. While Wallace’s experience in scientific due diligence and early-stage investing strengthens the Life Sciences team. These appointments continue to demonstrate our commitment and enhanced ability to identify, support and commercialise the University of Oxford’s cutting-edge science in order to build world-leading businesses.”

Heather Roxborough is a highly experienced venture capitalist, with over 15 years of investment and company building experience from across a range of sectors, including health tech, consumer healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and food technology.

Heather joins Oxford Science Enterprises from Optum Ventures where she was a Partner, responsible for establishing and leading the global health tech investment fund on behalf of Optum, a leading technology-enabled US health services business, part of UnitedHealth Group.

Heather has also held investment roles at J&J Innovations as Senior Director and Tate and Lyle Ventures as Principal. She holds a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from Queen’s University of Belfast.

Wallace Wallace joins Oxford Science Enterprises from M-Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, where she supported the life sciences investment team across scientific due diligence and portfolio management.

Prior to this, Wallace worked at Accenture as a consultant, assisting the Business Strategy and Operation Strategy units, advising financial services clients.

She holds a BSc in Genetics from the University of York and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.