Tom D. Heightman

Tom Heightman studied Chemistry at Oxford, and gained his PhD at the ETH in Zurich. In 1998, he joined GlaxoSmithKline in Harlow, UK, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, becoming head of lead discovery for GSK’s Neurology CEDD 2006-2008. During this time he made significant scientific and leadership contributions to the discovery of over a dozen preclinical candidates across multiple therapeutic areas, of which 4 so far have reached phase II proof of concept studies. In 2008, he joined the SGC at Oxford University, as a co-founding PI and project manager for the SGC’s Epigenetics Chemical Probes Consortium, overseeing the creation of platforms for bromodomain and demethylase inhibitor discovery. Since January 2011, Tom has worked at Astex in Cambridge, UK, as senior director of medicinal chemistry, where he is engaged in all aspects of drug discovery. Tom is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, having served on the Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector committee and the Chemistry-Biology Interface Division Council, and has authored more than 80 publications and patents.