Jackie Hunter

Education Jackie Hunter was educated at Selwyn School, Matson, Gloucestershire and at the King's School, Gloucester. She achieved a BSc in Physiology and Psychology at Bedford College, University of London in 1977 and whilst there represented the college on the TV programme University Challenge in 1976. She was awarded her PhD for work carried out at London Zoo entitled 'Olfaction, aggression and sexual behaviour of owl monkeys (genus Aotus) and obtaining funding from government and other bodies. In 2010, she left GSK to establish OI Pharma Partners. which was established as a consultancy for the promotion of open innovation in the life sciences, working with governments, academic organisations and companies to formulate open innovation strategies and best practice.

In 2013, Hunter was appointed CEO of the BBSRC. She has also been a non-executive director of Proximagen group plc and Chiltern International Group (2016–present). She was a member of the governing councils of Royal Holloway and Bedford College, University of London and of Hertfordshire University. In 2016 she left the BBSRC and joined Stratified Medical which became BenevolentAI, establishing the drug discovery arm of the organisation. She retired from BenevolentAI in 2020 but remains as a board director. In 2019 she was appointed chair of the trustees of the Sainsbury Laboratories at Norwich. In 2020 she was also appointed as chair of the board of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and chair of the board of Brainomix, an AI enabled imaging company.

Awards

2010 – Women of Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) awards in the category SET Discovery, Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2010 – CBE in Queen's Birthday Honours list for Services to the Pharmaceutical Industry 2012 – Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society (BPS) 2014 – Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) 2014 – Named as one of 50 Movers and Shakers in Bio-Business 2014 2015 – Fellow of Zoological Society of London 2015 – British Pharmacological Society Astra Zeneca prize for Women in Pharmacology 2016 – Honorary DSc (Brunel University) 2016 – Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology 2017 – Honorary DSc University of East Anglia 2017 – Named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 20 Women Globally Advancing AI research 2017 – Honorary Fellowship by British Pharmacological Society 2020 – Honorary DSc University of Sheffield 2020 – Honorary DSc Royal Holloway and Bedford College