Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is responsible for the company’s system of corporate governance and is ultimately accountable for the group’s activities, strategy, risk management and financial performance. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are responsible for the management of the business, assisted by the CYTE Leadership Team.
James To
Director
James To, ACA BSc(Eng) ACGI MIET, is Secretary to the Trustees of The Capricorn Foundation and The Ramsbury Manor Foundation and a consultant to the Thrombosis Research Institute having been its Institute Secretary for over 20 years. He returned to the board of Cyte in March 2025.
He completed an electrical engineering degree at Imperial College London, and went on to qualify as a chartered accountant. He was Group accountant and Corporate accountant for two major property companies for 20 years before joining the Thrombosis Research Institute as their Institute Secretary.
Dr Georg van Husen
Director
Dr Georg van Husen is a senior pharmaceutical executive and independent consultant with over 20 years of global leadership in cardiovascular drug development, commercial strategy, and business transformation. Trained as a physician at RWTH Aachen University, he began his career at McKinsey & Company before joining Boehringer Ingelheim, where he advanced to Corporate Senior Vice President for the CardioMetabolism therapeutic area, overseeing a portfolio generating more than €6 billion in annual sales.
At Boehringer Ingelheim, he led the global launch of Jardiance, the first diabetes treatment proven to reduce cardiovascular death, and successfully revitalised Pradaxa, restoring the brand to growth. His career spanned Europe, the United States, and Africa, including senior global strategy roles, a US marketing leadership position, and Managing Director responsibility for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa with full P&L accountability.
Since 2021, Dr van Husen has focused on cardiovascular innovation, partnering, and digital health. He is Co-Founder and CEO of tenacio, a digital health company developing clinical decision support solutions, and serves as a Non-Executive Board Member at Mogling Bio, Inc.
He brings deep therapeutic expertise, global leadership experience, and a strong perspective on digital health and real-world evidence to support CYTE’s mission.
Rt Hon Professor the Lord Kakkar KG KBE PC
Chairman
Lord Ajay Kakkar is President of the Thrombosis Research Institute and Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University College London. He is Chairman of King’s Health Partners, the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, the King’s Fund and UK Biobank.
He completed his medical degree at King’s College London and received his PhD from Imperial College London. He has been a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons since 1992.
His research interests include the prevention and treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolic disease and cancer-associated thrombosis. His work has made an important contribution to evaluating the potential role of antithrombotic therapy in the management of cancer patients, and he has been involved in the clinical development of direct oral anticoagulants.
Lord Kakkar was created a Life Peer in 2010 and sits on the cross benches of the House of Lords. He served as Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2016 to 2022. He is a Knight of the British Empire and a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. On St George’s Day 2024, he was appointed Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG).
Charlotte Shyllon
Chief Executive Officer
Charlotte Shyllon, FCIM, MCMI, DipPR (CAM), BSc (Hons), is the Chief Executive Officer of CYTE, devising its strategic direction as a member of the Board of Directors and with overall responsibility for driving and delivering the operational plan.
Ms Shyllon has worked with CYTE from its inception, leading the Communications and Events function and more recently spearheading its Business Development activities. She has also worked closely for many years with CYTE’s academic research partner, the Thrombosis Research Institute, leading communications activities for the GARFIELD-AF and -VTE registries, and other clinical studies.
Over her 30-year career, Ms Shyllon has held senior leadership positions in the corporate world and in charities. She was a Partner and Director at FleishmanHillard, a top 10 global PR consultancy, leading programmes for blue-chip pharmaceutical companies and the World Health Organization for eight years. Prior to that, she was Director of Communications and Marketing at a 12,000-member major community-based charitable trust for six years.
As well as a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, Ms Shyllon holds a certificate in Journalism Studies, a postgraduate diploma in Public Relations and a master’s degree level qualification in ‘Strategic Approaches to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Ms Shyllon has worked as a business consultant, advising firms on their communications, business development and DEI strategies. She is a published author of several anthologies and leads a charity that uses words to share stories and shape societies. She serves as a Trustee to two other charities and is a school Governor.
Dr Annalisa Jenkins
Director
Annalisa Jenkins, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P. serves as a member of the Perspectum Ltd. board of directors. Dr Jenkins also serves as Chairman of the court of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr Jenkins previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of PlaqueTec Ltd. and was previously the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. Dr Jenkins previously served as Executive Vice President, Head of Global Research and Development for Merck Serono Pharmaceuticals. Previously, she served as Merck Serono’s Executive Vice President, Global Development and Medical, and was a member of Merck Serono’s Executive Committee. Prior to that, Dr Jenkins pursued a 15-year career at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where she was a Senior Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs.
Dr Jenkins is currently a committee member of the science board to the FDA, the Court of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is a non-executive director of Genomics England and AgeX Therapeutics, INC. Dr Jenkins serves on the board of directors of Affimed N.V., AVROBIO, Inc., Compass Pathways plc, Oncimmune.
Dr Jenkins received an M.B.B.S. in medicine from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital at the University of London and subsequently trained in cardiovascular medicine in the UK National Health Service. Earlier in her career, Dr Jenkins served as a medical officer in the British Royal Navy. Dr Jenkins is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London.
Scientific Advisory Board
Our Scientific Advisory Board is an independent advisory panel of world-renowned academics and thought leaders with expertise clinical research. They to advise CYTE on the company’s long-term scientific strategy, and share knowledge and insights on scientific topics of mutual interest.
Rt Hon Professor the Lord Kakkar KG KBE PC
Chairman
Lord Ajay Kakkar is President of the Thrombosis Research Institute and Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University College London. He is Chairman of King’s Health Partners, the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research, the King’s Fund and UK Biobank.
He completed his medical degree at King’s College London and received his PhD from Imperial College London. He has been a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons since 1992.
His research interests include the prevention and treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolic disease and cancer-associated thrombosis. His work has made an important contribution to evaluating the potential role of antithrombotic therapy in the management of cancer patients, and he has been involved in the clinical development of direct oral anticoagulants.
Lord Kakkar was created a Life Peer in 2010 and sits on the cross benches of the House of Lords. He served as Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2016 to 2022. He is a Knight of the British Empire and a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. On St George’s Day 2024, he was appointed Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG).
Charlotte Shyllon
Chief Executive Officer
Charlotte Shyllon, FCIM, MCMI, DipPR (CAM), BSc (Hons), is the Chief Executive Officer of CYTE, devising its strategic direction as a member of the Board of Directors and with overall responsibility for driving and delivering the operational plan.
Ms Shyllon has worked with CYTE from its inception, leading the Communications and Events function and more recently spearheading its Business Development activities. She has also worked closely for many years with CYTE’s academic research partner, the Thrombosis Research Institute, leading communications activities for the GARFIELD-AF and -VTE registries, and other clinical studies.
Over her 30-year career, Ms Shyllon has held senior leadership positions in the corporate world and in charities. She was a Partner and Director at FleishmanHillard, a top 10 global PR consultancy, leading programmes for blue-chip pharmaceutical companies and the World Health Organization for eight years. Prior to that, she was Director of Communications and Marketing at a 12,000-member major community-based charitable trust for six years.
As well as a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, Ms Shyllon holds a certificate in Journalism Studies, a postgraduate diploma in Public Relations and a master’s degree level qualification in ‘Strategic Approaches to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Ms Shyllon has worked as a business consultant, advising firms on their communications, business development and DEI strategies. She is a published author of several anthologies and leads a charity that uses words to share stories and shape societies. She serves as a Trustee to two other charities and is a school Governor.
Professor Ajay Shah
Professor Shah is the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Professor of Cardiology; James Black Professor of Medicine; Director of the King’s BHF Centre of Research Excellence; and Hon. Consultant Cardiologist at King’s College Hospital. He is currently the Interim Executive Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine.
He trained in medicine and cardiology at the University of Wales, undertook doctoral research training in Wales and Belgium, and was a postdoctoral scientist at the National Institutes of Health in the USA in the early 1990s. Prior to his appointment to the Chair of Cardiology at KCL in 1998, he was a Medical Research Council Senior Clinical Fellow in Cardiff.
His main research interests are in the pathophysiology of heart failure. His group has undertaken seminal studies on how the hearts adapts to disease stresses, discovering enzymes called NADPH oxidases that have a protective role in the heart and working on nitric oxide which is a chemical signal in the body. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has led a team focusing on working out how a patient’s ethnic background affects their risk of severe disease and death. He has published approximately 400 peer-reviewed papers and has an H index of 105.
Professor Shah is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, the International Society for Heart Research, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. He is Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology (Heart & Circulation), Consulting Editor for Cardiovascular Research, and on the Editorial Boards of Circulation and the European Heart Journal.
Professor A John Camm
Professor Camm graduated from Guy’s Hospital, London, and pursued a career in Cardiology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. In 1986 he moved to the British Heart Foundation Chair of Clinical Cardiology at St. George’s University of London.
Professor Camm was Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and the Division of Cardiological Sciences at St. George’s until 2009. He is Past-Chairman of the Department of Medicine at St. George’s University of London. Professor Camm’s research interests include clinical electrocardiology, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, cardiac arrhythmias, implantable devices for rhythm control, risk stratification for sudden death in patients with ischemic heart disease, anticoagulation for thromboembolic protection in patients with atrial fibrillation, and ventricular arrhythmia in patients with cardiomyopathy and channelopathy, adverse cardiovascular events in new and old drugs, and anticoagulation.
He is past-chairman of the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Cardiac Arrhythmias (now European Heart Rhythm Association), Past President of the British Pacing & Electrophysiology Group (now British Heart Rhythm Society), and a past council member of the Royal College of Physicians. He is a former Trustee of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (now Heart Rhythm society), a former Chairman of the Joint Cardiology Committee (Royal College of Physicians), and he is a Past President of the British Cardiac Society (now British Cardiovascular Society) and the European Heart Rhythm Society. He was Convenor of Medicine, University of London, and a Trustee of the American College of Cardiology. He is now a trustee of the Arrhythmia Alliance and the Drug Safety Research Unit.
Professor Camm is currently emeritus Professor of Clinical Cardiology at St. George’s University of London. He is also a Trustee of the Drug Safety Research Unit, the International Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology (now World Society of Arrhythmias) and the Atrial Fibrillation Association. He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Heart Journal – Case Reports and Clinical Cardiology, Editor of the European Society of Cardiology Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine and ESC CardioMed, and President of the Arrhythmia Alliance. Professor Camm was awarded the Gold Medal of the European Society of Cardiology and the Mackenzie Medal by the British Cardiovascular Society.
Professor Keith A A Fox
Professor Fox is Professor of Cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, UK and British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology (Emeritus). He has previously held the positions of Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA and Senior Lecturer in Cardiology and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at the University of Wales. He has served as Head of the Division of Medical and Radiological Sciences of the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Fox’s major research interests are in the mechanisms and manifestations of acute coronary arterial disease and thrombosis, and his work extends from underlying biological mechanisms to in vivo studies and clinical trials. He has served as Principal Investigator for competitively funded trials in coronary artery disease and thrombosis and as Chair of Co-Chair of trials and registries (these include the BHF RITA-3 Trial, ROCKET Co-Chair, COMPASS Co-Chair, PIONEER, GRACE, XATOA).
Professor Fox was a founding fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). He was previously President of the British Cardiovascular Society and previously Chair of the Scientific Programme of the European Society of Cardiology.
Professor Fox is the recipient of various awards, including those associated with keynote lectures at major congresses, and the Silver and Gold Medals of the European Society of Cardiology for his contributions to cardiology. He has been honoured by the American College of Cardiology as one of four “Legends in Cardiology” in 2015 and also by the European Society of Cardiology in 2015.
Winner (with colleagues) of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Science and Medicine 2016. He is the author of more than 710 scientific papers (Google Scholar [Feb 2020] H index 145, ctations up to 2019: n= 108,129). Thompson Reuters listed him as one of the top 1% of scientists as ‘the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’.