Lady Mireille Gillings, PhD: A pioneer in identifying and developing novel opportunities from China to benefit patients around the world
Lady Mireille Gillings, PhD, founded HUYABIO more than 20 years ago, recognising early the potential of China’s emerging biopharmaceutical sector as a source of innovative new medicines. Speaking the shared language of science, and driven by a desire to bring new treatment options to patients around the world, she built trusted relationships with researchers and innovators across China.
These relationships helped HUYABIO establish an extensive network and portfolio of drug candidates, including first-look access to promising opportunities. Under Lady Mireille Gillings, PhD’s leadership, HUYABIO has become a leader in accelerating the global development of novel biopharmaceutical products originating in China, giving the company an established position as the global pharmaceutical industry increasingly looks to China for innovative assets. Importantly, HUYABIO has demonstrated its ability to take promising discoveries through development to commercialisation. A key example is HIYASTA, a treatment for lymphoma that was successfully developed and commercialised in Japan in less than six years, demonstrating the strength of HUYABIO’s model in bringing China-originated therapies to international markets.
Lady Mireille Gillings has a PhD in neurobiology. She was the first female board member of Quintiles post privatization, before it merged with IMS and became IQVIA. Among the many honors she has received, the French Government awarded Lady Mireille the Knight of the Legion of Honor in recognition of her contributions to neuroscience and entrepreneurship. Educated in Canada, the Netherlands, France, and the USA, she has a PhD from Radboud University, Nijmegen and post-doctoral fellowships at Bordeaux University and Scripps Institute, she has also received honorary degrees from the University of Exeter and Concordia University.
Lady Mireille Gillings, PhD, combines her passion for science and future medicines with philanthropy. She believes that future leaders must possess business and financial acumen alongside clinical expertise and provides this through the 3Ms, Money, Management, and Medicine. She supports global fellowships that unite the Institut Pasteur, the University of Cambridge, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Concordia University. At the University of Exeter, she established the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre (MGNC) which serves as a state-of-the-art hub for pioneering research into Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and overall brain health.