executive management committee

Dr Ash joined Medical Solutions in August 2005 and was appointed Managing Director in February 2007, having previously held the position of Chief Financial Officer. Since joining the Company, he has been instrumental in converting the Group’s financial reporting to IFRS, enhancing the internal control and reporting environment and played a key role in managing the disposal of the Group’s Dubai operations. Prior to joining the Company, Dr Ash was Chief Financial Officer of Eastern Airways and before that spent nine years with KPMG where he gained broad experience in public listings, placements, acquisitions and disposals. Dr Ash is a Chartered Accountant and holds a PhD in Mycology from Sheffield University.

Dr Weaver is the Commercial Director of the Company and was the Chief Executive of MRC geneservice (MRCg), the not-for-profit genomic biological resource centre and contract service provider which was part of the UK Medical Research Council. From 1998 he was Director of Technology Development for Incyte Genomics in Cambridge, UK, where his team developed high-throughput methods for mutation detection and genotyping in Mouse and Human. From 1996 he was Head of Biology at Hexagen Ltd, a functional genomics start up company from the University of Cambridge dept of Genetics. Prior to this he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge and MRC Lab of Molecular Biology. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in the United States in 1990. Dr Weaver is also on the scientific advisory boards of the Cambridge Genetic Knowledge Park, SmartBead Technology, and the UK BioIndustry Associations panel on Bioinformatics.

Dr Leaves is the Operations Director of the Company having held a similar position at Geneservice Ltd prior to their acquisition by Medical Solutions in July 2007. Before Geneservice, Nick worked for 4 years as DNA sequencing production manager on high-throughput projects for the Medical Research Council, and worked for 5 years on Asthma and Eczema gene hunting projects at Oxford University. Originally, Nick qualified as a microbiologist and worked in the NHS. It was here that he completed a PhD in 1995 on the molecular methods used to characterise meningitis outbreaks whilst also considering the impact of the HIB meningitis vaccine that has now been introduced UK-wide.

Ms Barrett joined the Company in 2001 as a cofounder of Pathlore Limited now Medical Solutions (Nottingham) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Source BioScience plc. Eileen graduated from Sheffield University with a BSc Hons in Genetics and spent a year as a trainee accountant before undertaking a PGCE and qualifying as a teacher. She taught Physics for 13 years eventually becoming acting Head of Physics at the German Swiss International School in Hong Kong. Whilst teaching, Eileen undertook a conversion to Law at Hong Kong University and returned to the UK in 1994 to complete the LPC at Nottingham Law School. Following law school Eileen worked for the Brussels based Federation of European Cancer Societies leading the construction of a pan European Medical Education Project, which won European Commission funding in 1999.

Mr Coombes joined Medical Solutions in November 2002 as Commercial Director and was appointed Director, Cytology in July 2004. With the acquisition of Geneservice in July 2007 he was appointed Head of Healthcare. Roger previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a number of companies including Pfizer, Rhone Poulenc and, for 25 years, the pharmaceutical Division of Boots where he held various senior UK marketing positions before being seconded to their M&A Group. He was for a time Managing Director of Boots GmbH based in Germany, Director of Business Development in Nottingham and finally Boots Export Director based in Nottingham. He joined BASF, when Boots Pharmaceuticals was sold to that company, and was appointed Director, International Pain Management Group. Roger has a BSc in Biochemistry (London) and a Diploma in Marketing.

Professor Ellis is Medical Director of Medical Solutions and was a cofounder of Pathlore Limited now Medical Solutions (Nottingham) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Source BioScience plc. He is an experienced diagnostic histopathologist with an international reputation in diagnosis and translational research in breast disease, particularly classification of breast cancer and evaluation of prognostic factors. He has authored over 300 scientific publications, chapters in medical textbooks and specialist textbooks in pathology and is an experienced lecturer. He is a Specialty Advisor of The Royal College of Pathologists, Chairman of the UK National Co-coordinating Committee for Breast Pathology, Steering Committee Member of The European Group for Breast Screening Pathology and President of the International Society of Breast Pathology. He has acted as an advisor to the Department of Health, International Union against Cancer, World Health Organisation and International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Dr Murray joined Medical Solutions in January 2005. Prior to that, he was Reader in Oncology at Nottingham University and Director of the CRUK Tumour Cytokine Biology Group since 1994. The interests of his group included tumour angiogenesis and novel mechanisms employed by tumours to evade the host immune response. Cliff has a BSc in Biochemistry from St. Andrews, and a PhD in Pathology and Biochemistry from Cambridge.

Mr Palmer joined Medical Solutions in October 2002 during which time he has undertaken the roles of Project Manager, Projects & Data Manager, Head of Operations and most recently Head of Client Relations and Contract Management. Prior to joining Medical Solutions, Simon worked for over 15 years within the health informatics field, principally within primary and secondary care, including 8 years as the Development Manager for a Nottingham-based software house developing integrated clinical information systems for women's and children's health. Simon has an MSc in Health Information Management from the University of Wales (Aberystwyth).

Mr Turner is a widely experienced, commercially orientated Finance professional. He was a founding director and shareholder of Geneservice where his role was Finance and Commercial Director. Roger previously developed the commercial infrastructure and systems at MRCgeneservice and built the commercial team. Prior to joining MRCgeneservice Roger was both a consultant and finance director primarily in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical sector. In particular he was Finance Director of MolecularNature Ltd (a BBSRC spin out) and founding FD of Oxford BioMedica (an Oxford University spin out) when it was floated on AIM. Earlier in his career he was Finance Director of Evans Medical (now Celltech Medeva) and a manager with KPMG in London.