David leads OVID’s Public Affairs practice. David has spent over a decade in public affairs, advising a wide range of life science companies in the UK and globally. He has delivered strategic communications and public affairs campaigns for several leading pharmaceutical companies, including clients in the oncology space.​ He advised Novartis Oncology for two years, including on campaigns on ‘How to retain the Cancer Drugs Fund’ – a key revenue pipeline for their portfolio. He also worked with them to raise parliamentary awareness of neuroendocrine cancers. He helps clients navigate and shape an increasingly complex UK healthcare landscape.

Richard is responsible for ensuring the agency runs smoothly. Over the past five years Richard has created bespoke platforms for OVID which mean we have some of the best systems in the business including industry-leading IT and data security. As a degree-qualified professional engineer, Richard has a strong background in technology, finance and project management. Prior to OVID, Richard worked as Vice President of R&D at a global engineering firm, leading major infrastructure projects as well as roles in the manufacturing and transport sectors. He has a passion for STEM education and is experienced handling procurement with large and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies. ​

Joe is the founder of Deltapoll and is the architect of online political polling in the UK. He was previously Head of Political and Social Research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at YouGov, having begun as a research director at the very start of the company back in 2000. He has been an affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge, is a visiting professor at the University of Sheffield and a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.

Prof Salisbury was Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health until the end of 2013. He was responsible for the National Immunisation Programme and led the introduction of many new vaccines. He is the chair of the WHO Global Certification Commission for Polio Eradication and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House’s Global Health Programme. He previously chaired the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, the WHO committee that sets global immunization policy. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2001.

Zoë is a Social Anthropology graduate from the University of St Andrews. Whilst at University, she developed a keen interest in medical anthropology, which demonstrated to her the value of patient centricity and understanding wider social and cultural determinants of health in order to effectively tackle complex health problems and shape public health campaigns. Her dissertation focused on racial and ethnic inequalities within the field of women’s reproductive health, relating skewed discourse following the reversal of Roe v Wade in the United States to racial disparities in pregnancy and reproductive health-related complications. During her final year, Zoë worked as a research intern within the Department of Social Anthropology, where she helped to research the intersection between youth mental health and climate change. She was also an editor of the Department of Anthropology’s journal Ethnographic Encounters and President of the University’s UNICEF society. She joins OVID as a Junior Account Executive on their Graduate Scheme.  

Oliver is a Biotechnology and Enterprise graduate with experience in health policy, social media comms and public affairs. He joined OVID from Freuds where he supported COVID-19 vaccine awareness campaigns for the Cabinet Office (liaising with social media influencers and content influencers); as well as working for Public Health England on an obesity awareness programme. Oliver spent a year in Pfizer’s policy and public affairs team working across multiple therapy areas, including rare diseases. He also operated as an enterprise consultant to a MedTech start-up in Far-UVC products after graduation. 

Anna joined OVID from a global communications agency Clarity Global, where she worked in the Public Affairs Team, specialising in Health Technology. Working across global MedTech accounts and leading the Health Tech Alliance, she specialised in market access, policy advocacy and project management. During her time in agency, Anna managed parliamentary engagement and roundtables, project-style lobbying and market access campaigns, as well as NHSE and arms-length body relations. Before entering consultancy, Anna worked as a Communications Officer for a Member of Parliament

Sharon creates and implements strategies to help transform OVID. Her natural energy and enthusiasm drives her desire and joy in seeing others succeed. She is fluent in Japanese, with a working law degree and has worked as a Human Resources Director in several multimillion companies operating in the USA, Japan, Europe and the UK. In addition to her legal experience, she is also a qualified Project Manager, Accredited Mediator and Executive Coach and has experience in the Technology sector.

Rachael is our Deputy Head of Patient Partnerships and has over 10-years of policy and public affairs experience in the health and life sciences sectors. Prior to working in consultancy, Rachael held several in-house roles working with global pharmaceutical companies, biotech start-ups, medical research charities and academic organisations.    

Between 2016 and 2018, Rachael managed the Bioindustry Association’s public affairs activities during the fallout of the EU referendum and the development of the 2017 Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. She also led the organisation’s policy development on rare diseases, cell and gene therapies and genomics, including establishing the UK’s Rare Disease Industry Group – a coalition of pharmaceutical companies which continues to advocate for better access to orphan medicines.  

In 2019, Rachael moved to the Francis Crick Institute, a world-renowned biomedical research centre, to take on the role of strategic adviser to the Institute’s Director and Nobel Laureate, Sir Paul Nurse.  

Rachael joined consultancy in 2021 and she particularly enjoys working with clients to make complex scientific topics easy for policymakers and members of the public to understand.  

Jen is an International Relations graduate, and holds a Postgraduate degree in Security Studies where her dissertation  covered the use of Twitter and political campaigning by the Russian Federation in the Ukrainian War. Prior to this, she lived for several years in Spain where she worked as an English teacher. In her previous role she worked as an intern in an agency, working with clients from a variety of sectors, including health, housing and energy. 

Emma has over 9 years of experience in healthcare policy, advocacy and communications at a UK, Australian and global level. She has joined OVID from MHP Group where she led a series of award-winning oncology campaigns focusing on patient advocacy, value assessments, and lung cancer where she worked to establish partnerships with the World Economic Forum. Emma has considerable UK policy knowledge, working for the British Medical Association as a Senior Advisor focusing on social care policy and devolved nations spending. Before emigrating to the UK, she was a Special Advisor to an Australian Health Minister leading multiple campaigns and legislative changes in health and social welfare.

Sean has five years’ experience advising clients in the health sector, including medical societies, non-profit organisations and pharmaceutical companies. He previously advised at MHP, emotive and Spink agencies, where he led strategy development, campaign execution and client relationships at a UK, European and global level. His clients have included AstraZeneca, United European Gastroenterology, Bowel Research UK and BEAMA. He has extensive experience in media relations and has secured coverage in publications across the UK and Europe.

Will has worked in healthcare communications for nearly seven years, advising healthcare clients in oncology, diabetes, immunology, rare diseases and more.

While his area of expertise is communications and media relations, Will’s experience is diverse and spans media and digital campaigning, data communications, issues management, patient engagement, clinical trial recruitment, stakeholder management, medical education, gaming and market research.

Prior to OVID, Will advised healthcare clients at Aurora.

Will is currently Co-Lead of the Healthcare Communications Association (HCA) Future Leaders group where he is tapped into a number of ongoing industry communications initiatives and networks.

Will graduated from Newcastle University in 2017 and spent the Summer as a research assistant at the School of Politics, interviewing policy and public stakeholders and developing insights reports.

Carys joins OVID as a Junior Account executive after graduating from the University of Bristol, where she tailored her History degree to explore patient experiences of health and disease. Her dissertation explored the mobilisation of health politics through media, examining its importance in enabling the communication and contestation of women’s negative gynaecological experiences to bolster the Women’s Health Movement. In her final year, she was also employed as a research assistant by Bristol and Warwick universities to formulate strategies in increasing student engagement with the Department.​​