Dr Heather McKinnon

Heather McKinnon is the Joint Head of Drug Discovery at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. The Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) is an integrated, industry-standard drug discovery group translating basic biology research from the Beatson Institute and other CRUK centres into medicines for the treatment of cancer. Heather has over 15 years experience working in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently at Organon/ Schering-Plough/MSD where she worked for 10 years leading Lead Optimisation projects across multiple sites in the USA, Singapore and The Netherlands. Prior to this, Heather worked at Pfizer Central Research before moving Cambridge in 1994 to do a Ph.D. on the role of HGF in vascular injury. Heather went on to join a start-up biotech company called Pharmagene, before moving up to Edinburgh in 2000. Prior to taking up her current post, Heather spent a few years managing the research portfolio of a cancer charity Myeloma UK, including development and management of a UK Clinical Trials Network. Heather joined the DDU at the Beatson Institute in 2014.