New Chair Announced by ELRIG

Melanie Leveridge has been elected as Chair of the European Laboratory Research & Innovation Group (ELRIG), a not-for-profit organisation helping to drive collaboration and knowledge exchange between academic and biopharma industry thought-leaders, through scientific meetings and conferences. Melanie succeeds Steve Rees, who steps down after four years as ELRIG Chair.

An active member of ELRIG, she played a key role as Chair of the Science Strategy Workgroup and as a member of the Board of Directors with overall accountability for the scientific content of the organisation’s meetings. Melanie has over 15 years’ experience in drug discovery, laboratory automation, screening and sample management. She joined GlaxoSmithKline in 2005 and is currently Head of Screening, Profiling and Mechanistic Biology UK and Global Compound Management.

Melanie’s first role as Chair will be to host ELRIG Drug Discovery Digital, the organisation’s first fully virtual conference which includes a leading scientific programme of speakers, access to the latest technology breakthroughs, Early Career Professional development activities and the opportunity to connect and network with a diverse audience from across industry and academia.

“I am delighted and honoured to be taking up the position of ELRIG Chair. Now more than ever it is important that we keep connected as a scientific community, and ELRIG events provide the perfect mechanism for us to do that.

“I would like to thank Steve for his exceptional leadership of ELRIG over the past four years. Under his guidance the organisation has gone from strength to strength, including an impressive series of successful events, networking opportunities, Early Career Professional programme and a strategic partnership with the British Pharmacological Society. The UK leads in biomedical science and ELRIG can be proud of the work that we do to support and sustain this community of scientists.

“I am incredibly excited about ELRIG Drug Discovery Digital, which has everything you would expect from an ELRIG meeting with the added flexibility of tracks spread across eight days so you can choose the topics of most interest to you, without any conflicts.”

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