Dr Deborah A. O’Neil OBE FRSE
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NovaBiotics

Deborah is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen-based NovaBiotics, a multi-award-winning biotechnology business with a portfolio of first-in-class solutions for unmet health and personal care needs.

Deborah chairs the boards of Opportunity North East (ONE) Life Science and BioAberdeen Ltd, supporting life science sector growth across the North East, with a focus on the commercialisation of bioscience innovation and delivery of the iconic £40 m BioHub facility. Deborah is a member of the Scottish Life Sciences Industry Leadership Group, chairs the UK’s Cystic Fibrosis AMR Syndicate steering group and sits on a number of scientific advisory boards, supporting LifeArc, the Medicine’s Discovery Catapult and Innovate UK on funding initiatives for drug discovery and development in infection, antimicrobial resistance and chronic respiratory disease. Deborah recently joined the Board of Trustees of CLAN (Cancer North East Networks), was previously a board member of the BIA and one of the founding directors of the BEAM Alliance.

Deborah obtained her PhD in immunology from UCL and then worked in postdoctoral positions in internationally acclaimed laboratories in San Diego, Ghent and Aberdeen. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In 2020, Deborah was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to biotechnology, industry and charity. In 2022 she received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Robert Gordon University for services to science and business and in 2023 was made Honorary Professor of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Business.