Advisory Board
Working with Marigold Innovation does not only give access to a skilled and dedicated team of experts but also to our highly experienced and knowledgable Advisory Board.
Meet our advisors, Sven, Peter, Kirsten, Claus & John:
Sven Frøkjær
Professor at University of Copenhagen
Sven has a wealth of experience both from industry and academia. He is currently Professor and Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. Before joining the university, Sven Frøkjær spent nearly 20 years at Novo Nordisk A/S involved in research on drug delivery systems and various aspects of peptide and protein formulation.
Sven Frøkjær has been member of several boards and committees including The Danish Pharmacopeia Commission and the Drug Registration Committee under the Danish Health and Medicines Authority. He serves as member of editorial boards on several pharmaceutical journals. He has also served as member at the Danish Medical Research Council and on the ERC Life Sciences panel. Presently, he is vice-chair on the Lundbeck Foundation’s Talent program.
Professor Sven Frøkjær received his MSc (Pharm.) in 1970 and his PhD in physical chemistry in 1973 from the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Sven Frøkjær is the co-founder of two biotech companies, Lica Pharmaceuticals A/S and LiPlasome Pharma A/S.
Peter Olesen
Professor, PhD. - Founder & President, ActiFoods ApS.
Peter is an experienced R&D Executive having held positions as VP of R&D in Danisco, Sandoz Seeds and Copenhagen Pectin/Hercules. From 2000-08 Peter was EVP of R&I at Christian Hansen before he founded ActiFoods ApS offering consultancy, knowledge sharing and communication in the food and health interface.
Peter holds a PhD in plant cell biology 1978 (University of Copenhagen, DK) and postdoc positions at University of Copenhagen and Risoe National Laboratory (DK), 1978-83. Peter furthermore has three appointments as affiliated professor at University of Copenhagen (1986, 1993, 2008) and a part-time full professorship from 2009-10.From 2004-06 Peter held the position as Chairman of the Food & Health program under Danish Council for Strategic Research (DCSR) and later as the Chairman of the Board DCSR 2008-16. Peter were additionally in the Governing Board of European Institute of innovation and Technology (EIT) from 2012-14 and the Executive Chairman of EIT Governing Board from 2014-18.
Kirsten Aarup Drejer
Co-founder of Symphogen and Board Member
Kirsten holds a PhD in pharmacology and brings an extensive background, knowledge and network from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. She is the Co-founder and CEO of Symphogen for more than 16 years between 2000 and 2016 followed by two years as board member. Dr. Drejer holds more than 30 years of international experience from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Before co-founding Symphogen in 2000, Kirsten Drejer held several scientific and managerial positions at Novo Nordisk A/S. Additionally, Kirsten is a Board member of a number of companies: Antag (Chairman), Bioneer (Chairman), Resother Pharma (Chairman), Alligator Biosciences (Board member), Bioporto, Lyhne & Co and Zealand Pharma (Vice-Chariman). Kirsten furthermore has a proven track record in successful entrepreneurship, impactful leadership skills, excellent corporate communication abilities as well as experience within R&D leadership and drug development of biologics - all important elements of building a successful business in the life-science industry.
Claus Bøttcher Jørgensen
Associate professor, University of Copenhagen
Claus has a true passion for entrepreneurship and has spend a big part of his career fostering the innovative spirit and skillsets in academic settings. During the last ten years Claus has had a strong focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and outreach in life science education and he has developed expertise both at practical and strategic levels. Claus Bøttcher Jørgensen holds a PhD in molecular genetics. Claus has supervised more than 40 BSc, MSc- and PhD-students both internally and in collaboration with external partners. Claus has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers within molecular genetics, he holds patents in EU, US and Australia. He teaches genetics, genomics, biotechnology and intellectual property rights. Claus has been involved in course development in relation to various degree programs and during his career he has worked with strategic educational leadership and implementation of new teaching forms, adjustment of courses in the entire curriculum, accreditation, and educational collaboration with external partners.
John Nielsen
Professor, University of Copenhagen
Professor John Nielsen has extensive Academic background as well as entrepreneurial experience. John holds an MSc and PhD from University of Copenhagen, was assistant professor at the same department. Later, he was associate professor at the Department of Chemistry at DTU until he moved to his current position in 2002 as full professor in Medicinal Chemistry at UCPH. John’s main research interests are design, synthesis or isolation of bioactive compounds to answer important questions in drug discovery, medicine and biology. The list of publication includes more than 120 papers and 19 patents or patent applications. John is additionally the co-founder of three pharma/biotech companies including AUDA Pharmaceuticals which was acquired my Phytera Inc, QSI Pharma and Nuevolution. He has served on a number of boards and committees including the NT6 Expert Panel of the Swedish Research Council, the Organic Section of the Danish Chemical Society and has been Section Head of Bioorganic Chemistry. In 2002, John received the prestigious “Torkil Holms Forskningspris” and furthermore, since 2015, Director of Studies for Medicinal Chemistry at University of Copenhagen.
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