Karen Skinner

Head of Corporate and Portfolio Project Management, LifeArc

Dr Karen Skinner, Head of Corporate and Portfolio Project Management at LifeArc

KQ Labs Steering Board Member

Karen Skinner is the Head of Corporate and Portfolio Project Management at the independent life science medical research charity LifeArc. As a champion for human health, LifeArc partners with academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and charity organisations to move promising medical research forward into viable and accessible patient treatments. In this role, Karen is accountable for ensuring LifeArc strategy is translated into achievable operational plans supported by effective governance, processes and systems.

Karen has more than 25 years of experience in senior R&D roles within global drug/device development from early exploratory to launch in a variety of therapeutic areas. Prior to LifeArc, Karen spent 13 years at the high- growth biotech BTG, an international specialist healthcare company focused on Interventional Oncology. There she held numerous senior roles, including VP Immuno-Oncology, building their immunotherapy research program through external collaboration with pharma companies and leading research institutions, and VP Project Management, where she ensured effective project management strategy, resource, processes and systems applied across the company. Prior to BTG, Karen gained a grounding in drug discovery through 9 years at Merck Sharp & Dohme and has a DPhil in Pharmacology from Oxford University.