LifeArc Ventures - a unique heritage

Clare Terlouw is Head of LifeArc Ventures and a member of the LifeArc Leadership Team. She is responsible for LifeArc’s portfolio of venture and LP investments across the life sciences sector. The venture fund focuses on early-stage life sciences companies at seed to Series A, with significant follow-on investment reserved for successful portfolio companies.

Clare has a successful track record in working with innovative life sciences companies in the private and public markets. She was previously Head of Corporate Development at Syncona Investment Management Ltd, a FTSE250 healthcare investment trust, and has more than 15 years of biotech and healthcare financing experience as a UK investment banker at Nomura, Numis Securities and Peel Hunt. Clare was a physiotherapist in Canada prior to moving into finance.

Clare is a board member of the UK Biotechnology Industry Association and director of a number of venture-backed companies.

Sohaib Mir joined LifeArc as Senior Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures in 2021. He is responsible for leading new investments and managing existing portfolio companies.

Sohaib brings more than 10 years of experience across investment banking and venture capital following a career in medicine. He was an Investment Director with ALSA Ventures, focused on therapeutics investing, a Principal at Cambridge Innovation Capital and worked in healthcare M&A with Perella Weinberg Partners.

Sohaib qualified in Medicine at the University of Birmingham where he also completed a PhD in CNS regeneration. He practised medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and gained an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.

Olivia Cavlan MD joined LifeArc Ventures in 2025. Olivia was previously Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer at the UK biotechnology company Alchemab Therapeutics,
which she co-founded, with responsibility for global business development, partnerships, and corporate strategy.

Before Alchemab, Olivia was an Investment Principal at SV Health Investors and a Partner at McKinsey & Company, where she was part of the leadership team in the Healthcare Private Equity and Pharmaceutical practices. At McKinsey, she co-led the global Real World Evidence practice and QuantumBlack’s biopharmaceutical offering, focusing on target discovery and clinical development. She has led global biopharma R&D transformation initiatives and developed clinical and commercial strategies for preclinical and clinical assets.

Olivia is a Non-Executive Director of the UK BioIndustry Association and a member of the Investment Committee for Cancer Research UK’s (CRUK) Seed fund. She co-founded and sits on the Board of Sevenless Therapeutics, a company specialising in small molecule pain treatments. She holds an MBChB in Medicine and a BSc in Pharmacology from Bristol University.

Chris joined LifeArc as Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures in 2021. He is responsible for new investments and managing existing portfolio companies.

Chris has held key business development roles in the investment and charity research industries, sourcing, assessing and converting life science opportunities. Previously, he was an Associate at the trans-Atlantic venture investor Advent Life Sciences, leading the diligence on a range of therapeutic and medical device opportunities, and supporting the growth of several portfolio companies. Chris worked for ten years in the University technology transfer sector with UCL Business and Cancer Research Technology. He successfully supported and commercialised a number of oncology and gene and cell therapy opportunities, and in addition, he was involved in executing a number of strategic initiatives such as the CRUK Stratified Medicine Programme and Grand Challenge awards.

Chris received his M.Biochem from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Genetics from the University of Cambridge in the lab of Prof. Fiona Watt.

Diana joined LifeArc as Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures in 2025. She is responsible for new investments and managing existing portfolio companies.

Diana is an experienced Health and Bio venture capitalist, with 8 years of operational experience in a medical software scale-up. She was a Principal at Apex Ventures focused on early-stage investments through their medical fund, specialising in opportunities at the intersection of technology, biology, and healthcare. She held six portfolio board positions providing supervision, guidance and support. Prior to this, Diana was Chief Scientific Alliance Officer for IAG (Image Analysis Group), a software scale-up specialising in AI imaging technology for biopharma.

Diana was a Research Observer at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, MA focused on software for medical diagnosis and surgical planning. She has a Ph.D in software for neuroimaging and a MSc. in medical computer science from the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany.

Jonathan joined LifeArc as an Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures in 2024. He is responsible for new investments and managing existing portfolio companies.

Prior to joining LifeArc, Jon was an Associate with the Biotechnology team at M Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA, where he was responsible for new investments and existing portfolio companies with a focus on therapeutics and life sciences. Prior to this, he was an Associate at UBS in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group in London, as well as a Life Science Specialist at L.E.K. Consulting.

Jon started his career as a doctor in London and holds Degrees in Medicine and Neuroscience from Imperial College London.

Matt joined LifeArc as an Investment Associate at LifeArc Ventures in 2023. He is responsible for new investment opportunities with a particular focus on therapeutics.

Matt has over 5 years of experience in the life sciences industry, having held roles in strategy consulting and at pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to joining LifeArc Ventures, Matt worked for L.E.K. Consulting, where he delivered corporate strategy and commercial due diligence engagements for biotech, pharma and life sciences investment firms. He also spent time working in Pfizer’s internal consulting organisation.

Matt received his MSci in Natural Sciences from the University of Bath.

Deborah Harland was appointed Chair of the Ventures Investment Committee at LifeArc in October 2022. She has an exceptional track record in the life sciences sector, including 20 years at venture capital firm SR One, where she has served as partner and venture partner and currently acts as an advisor.

Deborah is an independent investment committee member at British Patient Capital and a non-executive director at VHsquared. She has previously served on a number of boards as a non-executive director, including Cancer Research Horizons, Asceneuron, MISSION Therapeutics, MiroBio, f-star, Bicycle Therapeutics, Protaffin Biotechnologie, and Syntaxin.

Deborah held senior positions in scientific licensing, business development and medical affairs at GSK and SmithKline Beecham. She was a British Heart Foundation/Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Research fellow at University of Nottingham Medical School, has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a PhD in Pharmacology from University of London.

Etienne joined LifeArc Ventures as an Investment Associate in 2026. He is responsible for sourcing and assessing new investment opportunities.

Etienne has over 5 years of experience in the life sciences industry across strategy consulting and venture-backed startup operations. Prior to joining LifeArc Ventures, Etienne was Head of Strategy and Operations at PreComb Therapeutics, a Swiss functional precision oncology startup developing patient-derived 3D tumour models for oncology drug discovery and development.

Previously, Etienne worked as an independent life sciences consultant, supporting startup clients on commercial strategy and fundraising. He started his career at CB Partners and LEK Consulting, delivering strategy and commercial due diligence engagements for pharma, biotech and MedTech clients.

Etienne holds an MSc in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology from Imperial College London and a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford.

Ian Gilham is Chair of LifeArc Board of Trustees and Chair of the Nominations and Board Financial Approvals Committees. Ian is an experienced leader with an international track record in the research, development and commercialisation of diagnostic and pharmaceutical products. He has proven success as a leader in mergers and acquisitions and has strong fund manager, investor relations and advisor networks in the City of London and globally. Ian is currently non-executive chair of Genedrive plc, RevoNa Bio and Pelago BioScience. He previously held various global management roles at Celltech, Amersham International, Abbott Laboratories and GSK and was CEO of Axis-Shield plc, leading to its successful sale to Alere. Subsequently, he became Executive Chair at Horizon Discovery, leading the sale of the company to Perkin-Elmer.

Sam Barrell is the Chief Executive Officer at LifeArc.

Sam brings over 25 years of experience in the life science and healthcare sectors, and a wealth of knowledge of activities in commercial, digital and health tech spaces. She studied medicine, training as an anaesthetist and serving in General Practice for many years, and has held a number of senior leadership positions in the NHS, most recently as CEO of Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

Sam joined The Crick in 2017 as Chief Operating Officer before becoming Deputy CEO with responsibility for strategic management and operational leadership. She has served as a non-executive director of Assura plc and York Health Economics Consortium, and was a member of the advisory council of the King’s Fund. Sam received a CBE in 2014 for her services to healthcare.

Stéphane Maikovsky is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
at LifeArc.

Stéphane joined LifeArc as Chief Financial Officer and Trustee in June 2022, and was appointed as Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in October 2023 . He heads up the Finance, Investment, Early Ventures, Information Technology and Operational Effectiveness teams.

Stéphane was previously CFO at the Francis Crick Institute, where his responsibilities included financial strategy, financial planning and operations, strategic and commercial partnerships, sourcing, grants management, risk management and the oversight of facilities and infrastructure.

He has held a number of senior financial, commercial and strategic roles in global biotechnology and business. Stéphane is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA, CGMA), has an LLM in Medical Law and Ethics from the University of Edinburgh, and a BSc in Business Administration from Northeastern University.