Iain Chessell, PhD
Dr. Iain Chessell is the Head of the Neuroscience therapy area at AstraZeneca, based in Cambridge UK, leading a cross-functional team dedicated to discovery and clinical development of the neuroscience portfolio.
Dr. Chessell joined the AstraZeneca (AZ) subsidiary, MedImmune, in November 2008 as vice president, Research, with the intent of initiating neuroscience R&D at MedImmune. After building a portfolio in analgesia and neurodegeneration, in 2010 he was promoted to vice president and head of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence (CoE) and subsequently head of the AstraZeneca neuroscience innovative medicines unit. Dr Chessell also serves on the AstraZeneca IMED leadership team which has responsibility for running the AZ’s discovery and early development organisation
Prior to joining AZ, Dr. Chessell was chief executive officer at NeuroDiscovery where he completed a number of Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical programs for analgesia. Previously, he was global head of pain R&D for GlaxoSmithKline, where he delivered a portfolio of clinical candidates, and was involved in 19 clinical development projects from Phase 1 to Phase 3. He was also responsible for review of potential in-license opportunities, and was chair of the core disease teams for pain and neurodegeneration, as well as serving as chair of the Neurology management team. Dr. Chessell also manages several high profile academic and industrial collaborations, and is author of more than 90 peer reviewed publications.
Dr. Chessell received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from University College London, and received his doctoral degree from the Department of Neurochemistry at the Institute of Neurology, London.