Cancer Research Horizons appoints new board members to drive translational strategy

Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation arm of Cancer Research UK, has appointed Heather Preston, Richard Wooster and Hans Bishop as Non-Executive Directors to its Board.  

The board sets the organisation’s vision, monitors progress and approves major decisions to maximise impact.  

The new members bring extensive experience in biotechnology, healthcare and academic research, offering valuable insights to drive strategy and maximise benefits for patients.  

Heather Preston says: “I’m delighted to join the Board of Cancer Research Horizons at such an exciting time. I look forward to supporting the team in advancing innovative approaches that can deliver meaningful benefits for patients.”  

Richard Wooster says: “Having spent my career advancing discoveries from early research into the clinic, I’m looking forward to supporting Cancer Research Horizons work to build strategies that bridge academia and industry to bring breakthroughs to people affected by cancer sooner.”  

Hans Bishop says: “Joining the board is a real opportunity to harness the scientific depth of Cancer Research Horizons’ portfolio and translate it into a strong, impactful pipeline. I look forward to supporting these efforts to accelerate innovation in oncology.”  

Iain Foulkes, CEO of Cancer Research Horizons, says: “Heather, Richard and Hans each bring deep expertise, spanning research, healthcare and biotechnology. This knowledge from across the translational ecosystem will strengthen our strategic direction and decision-making as we work to get more promising research outputs developed and commercialised sooner.” 

Cancer Research Horizons’ strategy focuses on working directly with researchers to help them maximise the impact of their work, providing funding, expertise and advice to translate research out of the lab and into tools, tests and treatments that benefit people with cancer.    

ENDS 

Heather Preston was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in April 2026. Preston is also on the board of Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc and of Aligos Therapeutics, a Nasdaq listed company. In addition, she is a Senior Advisor to TPG Biotech and the Chair of the Board of Harness Therapeutics. She has over 35 years of experience in healthcare, as a scientist, physician and management consultant and she has been an investor in life sciences and biotechnology for more than 25 years.  

Over the course of her career, Heather has also served as a Director of more than 20 healthcare companies, both public and private. Dr. Preston holds a degree in Medicine from the University of Oxford and completed her research fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. 

Richard Wooster is an Executive Partner at Syncona Investment Management Ltd and a Director of Slingshot Therapeutics. Richard brings extensive experience of creating drug discovery strategies and leading discovery teams at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He most recently served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Translate Bio, which was acquired by Sanofi in September 2021. Richard joined Translate Bio from Tarveda Therapeutics where he was Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D. In addition to advancing multiple programs from early-stage discovery into the clinic, he helped the company raise multiple rounds of private funding to advance the business. Prior to Tarveda, he was Vice President and Discovery Performance Unit Head in Oncology at GlaxoSmithKline.  

Richard began his career in academia at the Institute of Cancer Research where he discovered the BRCA2 gene and as a founder of the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where mutations in BRAF were first discovered. He received his PhD from the University of Dundee and has co-authored over 100 publications, book chapters, and patents.  

Hans Bishop is a Biotech entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the industry whose ventures have driven transformative advancements in the field of cancer treatment.  

Hans is currently the President, Co-Founder, and Board Co-Chair of Altos Labs. Hans served previously as the CEO of GRAIL, which was acquired by Illumina. In 2013 he co-founded Juno Therapeutics, a company that was dedicated to treating various types of cancer. He served as President and CEO until 2018 when the company was acquired by Celgene.  

Hans also serves as the Chairman of Sana Biotechnology’s Board of Directors and held previous board roles at Agilent Technologies and Lyell Immunopharma.  

Cancer Research Horizons is the innovation engine of Cancer Research UK – the world's largest charitable funder of cancer research. It brings together world-leading minds, bold ideas and the right partners to bridge the gap between academic research and taking drugs to market. It focuses on the tougher, more profound ideas that can lead to true innovation, translating them into effective treatments and diagnostics for cancer patients.   

To date, it has played an instrumental role in forming over 90 start-ups. It has helped bring 14 cancer drugs to market, born out of Cancer Research UK's pioneering research. Through these drugs, it has enabled in excess of 6 million courses of treatment for cancer patients across the world. 

With access to Cancer Research UK's network of 4,000 exceptional researchers, and £400m of annual research spend, it is a powerful partner in the fight to conquer cancer. By uniting its commercial partnerships and therapeutic innovation capabilities, Cancer Research Horizons is uniquely placed to support translational funding, entrepreneurial development, data licensing and collaboration, spin-out creation, and offer a full spectrum of drug discovery and clinical capabilities.  

Every penny it makes goes back into funding the next bold steps, to help bring forward the day when all cancers are conquered.