Meet the team

We are a world-class team with experience across diagnostic, medical technology, therapeutic, and technology sectors.

Leadership team
Marcel Gehrung PhD - Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Marcel Gehrung PhD

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
Neha Goel - Chief Operating Officer

Neha Goel

Chief Operating Officer
Robin Barclay - Chief Business Officer

Robin Barclay

Chief Business Officer
Chris Humberston - VP of Finance

Chris Humberston

VP of Finance
Neil Ryan - VP Laboratory Services

Neil Ryan

VP Laboratory Services
Mark Horsburgh PhD - VP Software Engineering

Mark Horsburgh PhD

VP Software Engineering
Stephanie Juniat - Director of Commercial & Access Strategy

Stephanie Juniat

Director of Commercial & Access Strategy
Basirat Afinowi - Head of Projects

Basirat Afinowi

Head of Projects
Rich Arnatt - Head of Product

Rich Arnatt

Head of Product
Sarah Killcoyne PhD - Head of Research & Development

Sarah Killcoyne PhD

Head of Research & Development
Charlene Tang - Head of Growth

Charlene Tang

Head of Growth
Jack Wilson - Head of People

Jack Wilson

Head of People
Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE - Co-founder & Clinical Advisor

Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE

Co-founder & Clinical Advisor
Dr Maria O'Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath - Co-founder & Lead Pathologist

Dr Maria O'Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath

Co-founder & Lead Pathologist
Will West - Chairman

Will West

Chairman
Anthony Aiudi - Investor Director

Anthony Aiudi

Investor Director
Martin Frost CBE - Non-Executive Director

Martin Frost CBE

Non-Executive Director
Tim Rea - Investor Director

Tim Rea

Investor Director
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Marcel Gehrung PhD - Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Marcel Gehrung PhD

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Marcel holds a PhD in Machine Learning in Healthcare from the University of Cambridge. Marcel was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, won the Alexander Fleming Prize from the Gates Foundation for his contribution to global public health and the Prix Galien Award for the best medical technology with Cyted’s core product, a novel test for the early detection of cancer in the oesophagus.

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Neha Goel - Chief Operating Officer

Neha Goel

Chief Operating Officer

Neha leads operational and laboratory services, and quality and regulatory functions at Cyted building infrastructure and processes that enable growth and improve efficiency.

Neha has 15 years of experience in innovative healthcare. She brings an in depth understanding of product development, manufacturing, scale up, clinical evaluations, implementation and roll out from various posts at Diagnostics for the Real World and the University of Cambridge.

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Robin Barclay - Chief Business Officer

Robin Barclay

Chief Business Officer

Robin leads our day-to-day operations encompassing Commercial, Product, Technology, Finance, People & Partnership management.

Robin has a 20+ year career in Commercial and Delivery roles in Health Technology & Health IT domains including Oncology Decision Support, Primary Care, Radiology, Cardiology and Intensive Care. He has experience in both corporate and start up environments.

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Chris Humberston - VP of Finance

Chris Humberston

VP of Finance

Chris is responsible for the day-to-day finances at Cyted, implementing a strong financial control and reporting framework across the business. He collaborates with key internal and external stakeholders to drive Cyted’s commercial and financial strategy.

Chris has worked in finance for nearly a decade, developing a strong skill set within an M&A and audit practice environment. He is an ACA chartered accountant who has significant experience in financial planning and decision-making to help deliver business strategy.

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Neil Ryan - VP Laboratory Services

Neil Ryan

VP Laboratory Services

Neil leads laboratory operations and outputs. Neil is helping Cyted deliver on our strategic goals by ensuring processes are designed to scale effectively whilst retaining diagnostic quality and integrity.

Neil has over 20 years experience working within cellular and molecular pathology across sectors. He has performed senior leadership and Board level roles, most recently within private healthcare diagnostics businesses. Alongside his role at Cyted, Neil also operates as Non-Exec Director for UKNEQAS CPT.

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Mark Horsburgh PhD - VP Software Engineering

Mark Horsburgh PhD

VP Software Engineering

Mark leads the software engineering team at Cyted. He is responsible for the development of our operational software, integration points with customers, and the machine learning platform.

Mark has over 20 years of experience in building software products and software engineering teams in both startup and large multinational corporations.

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Stephanie Juniat - Director of Commercial & Access Strategy

Stephanie Juniat

Director of Commercial & Access Strategy

Stephanie leads Cyted’s business development activities relating to the commercial launch and growth of Cyted's innovative diagnostic test into new markets and new indications. She is experienced in the commercialisation of life science products in international markets, having worked on medical devices, therapeutics, diagnostics and AI covering US, Canada, Europe, Africa, SE Asia, South America and Australia. Past experiences include Pfizer, the Wellcome Trust, and Huron Consulting Group.

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Basirat Afinowi - Head of Projects

Basirat Afinowi

Head of Projects

Basirat leads the Project Management function at Cyted, entrusted with overseeing and orchestrating the successful execution of strategic initiatives.

Basirat has over a decade's proven track record in project management across diverse sectors including the public sector, higher education, and not-for-profit organisations. With a passion for driving impactful change and achieving organisational excellence, she has dedicated her career to delivering successful projects that address complex challenges.

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Rich Arnatt - Head of Product

Rich Arnatt

Head of Product

Rich leads the Product function at Cyted, encompassing product management, research and design. Responsible for Cyted’s product roadmap and ensuring that cross-functional teams are aligned towards our strategic goals.

Rich is an experienced technology and innovation professional with a background in industrial analytics. Prior to joining Cyted, he held a number of Product, Engineering and Innovation roles delivering complex, global solutions across multiple markets and domains.

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Sarah Killcoyne PhD - Head of Research & Development

Sarah Killcoyne PhD

Head of Research & Development

Sarah leads the Research and Development work at Cyted across molecular characterization, statistical modeling, and image-based machine learning to build new tests for early cancer detection.

Sarah has more than 15 years experience in cancer research and genomics analysis across biotech and academic institutions in both the USA and U.K. Her focus since 2016 has been on the early detection of cancer using molecular risk analysis and deep learning methods and applying these methods to the detection of esophageal cancer. Her work in this area has been published in Nature Medicine, The British Journal of Cancer, and Lancet Oncology.

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Charlene Tang - Head of Growth

Charlene Tang

Head of Growth

Charlene leads business development and commercial strategy at Cyted focused on the UK. As a Fellow at the NHS Innovation Accelerator, Charlene focuses on building partnerships with NHS organisations and other healthcare providers towards national adoption and customer success.

Over the past 2 years, Charlene has developed proposals and built teams to win and deliver ~£4m in grant funding towards the real-world implementation of the capsule sponge test in primary care and community based clinics, driving adoption and care transformation.

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Jack Wilson - Head of People

Jack Wilson

Head of People

Jack leads the People team enabling the business to scale and grow, defining the people programme and strategic workforce plan whilst ensuring this aligns closely with business strategy.

Jack is a delivery driven People Operations Manager with broad experience across VC & PE backed businesses. Jack is strategic and innovative, translating business strategy into People and Operational initiatives that enable businesses to scale and grow.

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Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE - Co-founder & Clinical Advisor

Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE

Co-founder & Clinical Advisor

Director of the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge and a Clinician Scientist leading her own research in understanding and detecting cancers of the oesophagus and stomach at an earlier stage. Rebecca and her team developed the Cytosponge-TFF3 test from concept through to clinical trial and implementation. She is a Trustee for Heartburn Cancer UK, a Charity supporting awareness and education into cancer of the oesophagus and its precursor Barrett’s oesophagus.

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Dr Maria O'Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath - Co-founder & Lead Pathologist

Dr Maria O'Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath

Co-founder & Lead Pathologist

Consultant Histopathologist at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Trust (CUH) where she is the lead for diagnostic cytology and upper gastrointestinal cancer pathology services. Dr O'Donovan is a co-director of East of England Pathology courses. Her primary research interest is in cancer of the esophagus and. stomach. She received the Royal College of Pathologists Achievement award 2021 for innovation in pathology practice.

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Will West - Chairman

Will West

Chairman

Biotechnology Chief Executive, Director and Chair, with experience spanning basic research through to late-stage clinical trials.

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Anthony Aiudi - Investor Director

Anthony Aiudi

Investor Director

Investment professional at Morningside, providing operational and managerial oversight and expertise to early-stage biotechnology companies.

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Martin Frost CBE - Non-Executive Director

Martin Frost CBE

Non-Executive Director

Commercially-driven leader and advisor of purpose-driven global technology businesses, having worked across Medtech, Technology and FinTech sectors.

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Tim Rea - Investor Director

Tim Rea

Investor Director

Investor at BGF, with a focus on tech-oriented propositions. Tim holds multiple board positions and has a wealth of experience in venture capital and start-up ecosystems.

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In partnership with
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NHS Innovation Accelerator
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Bill Melinda Gates Foundation

Find out how we are
leading a revolution in diagnostics

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