Professor Patrick Vallance, President, Pharmaceuticals R&D, GSK

Patrick was appointed President, Pharmaceuticals R&D, in January 2012. Prior to his appointment he was Senior Vice President, Medicines Discovery and Development. He is a member of the Corporate Executive Team. As president of R&D he is responsible for ensuring that GSK maintains a flow of potential new medicines through the R&D pipeline from early discovery through to approval.
Patrick joined the company in May 2006 as Head of Drug Discovery. He transformed GSK’s discovery engine to focus on therapy areas that are underpinned by the most promising and mature science, and set up small, empowered teams, called Discovery Performance Units, to drive success of potential new medicines in the pipeline. This new approach has led to a number of potential new medicines progressing into late-stage development.
Prior to joining GSK Patrick was a clinical academic and led the Division of Medicine at University College London.