Richard Barker (businessman)
Richard William Barker is a British life sciences and healthcare leader, board member, advisor, speaker and author. He is known as the Founder of New Medicine Partners and Founding Director of the University of Oxford — University College of London Centre for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation (CASMI). Early life. Barker was born in South London. He attended Alleyn's School in Dulwich, London, until the age of 18. Family relatives include Joan Barker, Arthur Barker, Clifford Barker, Kia Barker. Higher education. Barker was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he received a bachelor's degree in  chemistry. Following completion of his degree, he researched biological applications of magnetic resonance techniques in pursuit of an Oxford DPhil degree, followed by post-doctoral studies in Munich, Germany and Leeds, England. Career. Barker's business career has included work in both Europe and the US. He worked for McKinsey between 1980 and 1993, where he headed the European Healthcare practice and advised UK, Swiss and US pharmaceutical companies. He also helped establish 'London First', a public/private initiative that aims to enhance London's status as a global city. As General Manager of IBM's healthcare business, between 1993  and 1996 he launched Healthvillage, one of the earliest Internet healthcare applications. At Chiron, a multinational biotechnology firm that was acquired by Novartis in 1996, he headed the diagnostics business, which brought the latest immunodiagnostics to market. He subsequently served as chairman and chief executive of Molecular Staging, whose genome amplification technology enables gene sequencing on rare DNA samples. On returning to the UK, he headed the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for six years between 2004 and 2011 and initiated policy programmes in stratified medicine, while also launching frameworks for translational partnerships between academia and industry. He  also formed and chaired Stem Cells for Safer Medicines, a public/private partnership formed to develop new approaches to testing potential new medicines for toxicity. In 2012 with his colleagues at Oxford and UCL he founded CASMI to develop, test and promote new models of medical innovation, including adaptive licensing, cell therapy regulation and a combination of therapeutic and diagnostic products to focus treatments on the patients most likely to benefit. As Founding Director of CASMI he held an associate professorship in Oxford University's Medical Division from 2012 to 2017. He chairs the South London Academic Health Science Network , which aims to improve the quality and consistency of care in that part of the National Health Service (NHS), and to facilitate innovations emerging from academic and industrial research into NHS application. Effective as of December 18, 2020, he resigned from the Board of Directors of 180 Life Sciences Corp, because of other commitments that would not allow him to spend sufficient time on Company matters. He chairs the charity International Health Partners that brings donated medicines to developing countries, crisis situations and refugee camps. He has also founded and directs New Medicine Partners, an advisory company that creates strategy  for precision medicine and precision health to advance healthy lifespan. He is also Founding Director of Metadvice, a global healthcare company developing an AI-driven platform for clinical decision making. Awards. In 2011 Professor Richard Barker was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services to the pharmaceutical industry by the Queen Elizabeth II. In 2021 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.