ProAxsis is pleased to confirm that Professor Stephen Smith has become the Chairman of the company’s Board of Directors with immediate effect.

Stephen has held senior leadership roles in the NHS and academia, including with the University of Cambridge, Imperial College, London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

He was responsible for the largest merger in the NHS, the creation of the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre in 2007. The merger brought together four London based NHS Trusts and ultimately led to the creation of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where Stephen served for four years as the first CEO. He also retained his position as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College, London and was responsible for facilitating the commercialisation of life sciences and healthcare.

During his career, Stephen has spun two companies out of Cambridge – Metris Therapeutics Ltd and GNI Group Ltd. GNI was established as a start up in Japan in 2001 and successfully achieved an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange six years later.

Stephen has extensive leadership experience, having served on the Boards of the National Healthcare Group in Singapore, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, a $1billion project to create a fully integrated cancer care facility that brings together an integrated research, service and education offering to four million patients in Victoria.

Commenting on the news, Dr David Ribeiro, CEO of ProAxsis, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Professor Smith as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors, and believe that his vast experience in both healthcare and business will be a major asset to ProAxsis at this critical time for the company, as we seek to maximise the commercialisation of our product portfolio following the recent publication of new data for our neutrophil elastase point-of-care test.”