Mr Kevin Beaumont
Scientific officer

Kevin Beaumont has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 37 years. Throughout that time he has worked extensively in the drug metabolism field, especially as it relates to drug discovery support. His major area of expertise is in the modulation of physicochemistry to affect drug disposition and in prediction of human pharmacokinetics from preclinical information. He is author on over 50 peer reviewed publications. {br}Kevin joined the Department of Drug Metabolism at Pfizer Sandwich UK on 1st September 1983, directly from his BSC in Biochemistry at the University of London. His early career involved developing a fundamental understanding of the basics of DMPK support to discovery and development projects, under the mentorship of Dr Dennis Smith. This included developing expertise in small molecule bioanalysis, completion of radiolabelled ADME studies and direct DMPK support to discovery and development projects. Throughout this period, Kevin was active in the DMDG, for several years running the Basic Training Course at the University of Surrey.{br}In September 2011, Kevin transferred to Pfizer Inc in Boston Mass, where he was responsible for DMPK/ADME support to the Cardiovascular, Inflammation and Immunology and Rare Disease Therapeutic Areas. {br}After 9 years in the US, Kevin returned to the UK and is currently with Astrazeneca supporting Oncology R&D with DMPK expertise.

Mr Lee Crossman
Communications / One-day meetings

Lee has enjoyed a rewarding and diverse career in in vivo drug metabolism spanning over 30 years. Having worked for GSK in the UK and Schering-Plough in the US as an in-vivo Subject Matter Expert, specialising in tissue distribution and human dosimetry he moved to Covance (now Labcorp) in 2009 taking up a position as an in vivo SME - designing and running pre-clinical pharmacokinetic and ADME studies, as well as human AME studies. During this time he has been involved in a number of refinements to techniques and contributed to a number of journal articles and webinars. The CRO environment offers a breadth of different molecules in a wide array of therapeutic areas and encompasses in vivo studies from discovery screening, through regulatory pre- clinical species to GCP phase 1 studies. He is a strong advocate for animal welfare (3Rs) and sits on the Labcorp AWERB committee and been an advocate in more welfare friendly DMPK study designs across multiple species. Previously he fulfilled the role of Secretary for the European Society for Autoradiography and was involved in arranging and running conferences and training courses for over 20 years. Latterly, he has also been instrumental in the organisation and running of the bi-annual DMDG tissue distribution course. As a long-time supporter of the DMDG, he has presented both oral and poster presentations at Open/One day meetings and thinks it’s important that the DMDG gives a voice to new scientists as well as the opportunity to meet up with old colleagues.

Dr Alexander James
Secretary

I am a professional with over twelve years of experience in the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) field. I am an expert in the design and execution of studies to investigate the in vitro and in vivo metabolism of drugs, both with and without radiolabel. In addition, I have experience with the following:{br}- Leadership of a team of three scientists investigating the metabolism of drugs in development.{br}- Acting as a representative for DMPK on global project teams.{br}- The planning (project management) and conduct of pre-clinical (in vitro and in vivo) and clinical (human ADME) studies.{br}- Specialist expertise in early clinical metabolite profiling studies without radiolabel, utilizing technologies such as high resolution mass spectrometry and NMR.{br}- The investigation and application of new technologies to enable drug metabolism studies.{br}

Miss Claire Purdy
Apprentice Committee Member

I am the DMDG Apprentice Committee Member for 2022-2024. My role is to act as Early Careers champion and advocate for Early Careers Scientists and Students in ADME/DMPK and related disciplines within the DMDG. I studied at Anglia Ruskin University where I achieved my BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical Science degree. Currently, I am a DMPK/ADME senior scientist at Charles River Laboratories located near Cambridge. Alongside this I am also undertaking a Level 7 Apprenticeship (MSc Drug Discovery and Development) at the University of Kent. I am an active person, who loves running and walking. I like to spend time with friends, and I am also an avid baker.

Dr Rachel Rose
Training Officer

Rachel Rose is a Principal Scientist at Certara UK Simcyp Division, where she leads and contributes to projects developing PBPK/PD and QSP models for a broad range of applications relevant to small molecules, therapeutic proteins and antibody-drug conjugates. She has regularly tutored the Simcyp Model-Informed Drug Development, Biologics and Parameter Estimation & Pharmacodynamics workshops. Prior to joining Simcyp in 2010 she worked as an in vitro pharmacologist assessing the activity of fluorescent ligands at CellAura Technologies and in pharmaceutical development at AstraZeneca. She has a PhD in quantitative pharmacology from the University of Nottingham and a Master of Pharmacy from the University of Nottingham. She is author or co-author of 10 peer reviewed scientific publications and was elected to the DMDG committee in 2020.

Dr Caroline Rynn
New Collaboration / Outreach officer

Caroline Rynn is a Senior Principal Scientist at Roche in Basel and a seasoned preclinical DMPK-PD matrix project leader, with in depth ADME knowledge and capabilities and 25 years' experience gained in the pharma industry. Caroline holds an M.Sc in Neuropharmacology from Bristol University and a Ph.D in Pharmacy from Manchester University. She's a curious scientist, inspired to drive small molecule oncology discovery and development projects to deliver, influencing project strategy and translating PK-PD-disease insights to understand therapeutic benefit.
Caroline also joined the DMDG management committee in 2022 and is looking forward to facilitating DMDG business and scientific discussion and learning in DMPK-PD science.

Mr Simon Taylor
Chair

Simon Taylor is Vice President, DMPK, Drug Discovery Services Europe. He joined Pharmaron in June 2018 and has responsibility for DMPK strategy and delivery for client projects and developing wider integrated DMPK strategies within Pharmaron. Previously Simon had a 21 year career at GSK as a DMPK scientist and leader across discovery, preclinical and early clinical development leading or contributing to numerous drug discovery projects across Respiratory, Inflammation, Oncology and Cardiovascular therapy areas with drugs of varying routes of administration. Simon has broad experience across DMPK & ADME optimisation, PKPD, translation science, human PK and dose prediction applied to projects in phases of Hit Identification through to Phase II. Prior to joining Pharmaron Simon was Director and Head, Quantitative Pharmacology at GSK having overall responsibility for DMPK optimisation, in vivo pharmacology and human prediction strategy in support of the preclinical immuno-inflammation portfolio. Simon has been associated with the DMDG for many years and in addition to the committee responsibilities has tutored on the 'PK in discovery' course since 2010. Simon has a BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Leeds and has recently completed an MSc in Model Based Drug Development at the University of Manchester.

Mr Hugh Walton
Treasurer

Hugh completed his Undergraduate and Masters Degrees at the University of Aberdeen. After joining the DMPK and Preclinical Development dept at Astex Pharmaceuticals in 2014, Hugh has focussed his interests on PK/PD modelling and translational research. As DMPK lead scientist, Hugh has contributed to multiple projects from early hits to leads, through lead optimisation and beyond into early clinical development in oncology and central nervous system (CNS) disease indications. In this role, he has developed an interest in the brain delivery of drugs and building PK/PD models linking brain biomarker responses with systemic drug concentrations and circulating biomarkers.{br}{br}Hugh is a keen supporter of the DMDG, previously attending training courses / open meetings, serving as apprentice committee member (2017-2019) chairing a session and presenting at the joint open meeting (2023)