Career Talks 2026

The Real Deal about Consulting

Gerrit Altmeppen is a Senior Analyst at McKinsey & Company with over 3.5 years of experience in the Healthcare practice. His career reflects a transition from academia to industry: he completed his PhD in Molecular Biology in 2022 in Melina Schuh’s lab, where he researched phase-separated RNA structures in mammalian oocytes. Building on the skills he acquired during his scientific career, he moved into consulting and is now based in Düsseldorf.
He advises healthcare and pharma clients across Europe, with a focus on German-speaking markets. His work centers on data-driven benchmarking of healthcare payors and claims cost management, while also supporting pharma, MedTech, and specialized providers such as diagnostic laboratory chains. He further works with private equity clients on pet care and veterinary topics, combining his professional expertise with personal interests.
 

Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Markus Strasser earned his PhD in Molecular Biology (Dr. rer. nat.) through the International Master/PhD program at Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Society. He also completed degrees and certificates in chemistry, biochemistry, and biotech venture management, culminating in a broad foundation in life sciences and leadership.
Markus has built a career in the pharmaceutical industry with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in Switzerland. He has led medical affairs and strategic operations, contributed to the launches of oncology and immuno-oncology products, and driven brand development and cross-functional collaboration across markets. In January 2026, he assumed the role of Country Lead Rare Tumors in Switzerland, overseeing rare-tumor strategy and execution for Merck. He combines scientific rigor with commercial acumen to advance patient outcomes and organizational growth.
 

Sarah Blackford is a qualified academic careers adviser (MA, Warwick University), MBTI practitioner and an honorary teaching fellow (Lancaster University). A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Sarah specialises in providing career development support to PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and has been delivering career workshops and one-to-one coaching for over 20 years in research institutions, universities, EU consortia and doctoral training programmes. 
Sarah’s career workshops are well-renowned for being both informative and enjoyable, with plenty of opportunity for discussion as well as individual reflection. Broadly based on her book, ‘Career planning for research bioscientists’, much of her advice and resources are also published on her blog, www.biosciencecareers.org. As a registered practitioner with the Career Development Institute and active member of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), Sarah adheres to a recognised ethical code of practice. 
 

From chemistry and cell biology under the sunny skies of California to guts and integrity in Scotland

Prof. Inke Näthke is Professor Emeritus at the University of Dundee.  She was awarded her PhD from the University of California, San Francisco and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and Harvard University Medical Schools before establishing her independent research lab in the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology, in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.  She led a research team investigating the biochemistry, cell and tissue biology of the Adenomatous Polyposis Coli protein.  Mutations in the APC gene are extremely common, early changes in colorectal cancers.  She was Associate Dean for Professional Culture for 10 years and interim Dean during the COVID19 period.   In the former role, she was the research integrity lead for the School and later also for the entire University.  She co-founded the Scottish Research Integrity Network and is a Trustee of the UK Research Integrity Office (https://ukrio.org/). 
 

Dr. Adrian Schomburg is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Eisbach Bio GmbH, a biotechnology company focused on developing innovative therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. With more than 15 years of experience in drug discovery, translational research, and biotechnology leadership, he has successfully guided programs from target identification through clinical development.
Before founding Eisbach Bio, Dr. Schomburg was founder and CEO of Octamer GmbH, an epigenetics company acquired by VolitionRx Limited, and previously held leadership positions at Proteros Biostructures. His work has centered on novel therapeutic concepts, epigenetics, and oncology drug discovery.
Dr. Schomburg earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and later completed an Executive MBA at the Technical University of Munich. 
 

The hidden side of precision medicine: an IVD industry perspective

As a Companion Diagnostics (CDx) Project Coordinator at GenDx, an in vitro diagnostics (IVD) company in the Netherlands, Valentina Manzini contributes to the development of diagnostic solutions that enable precision medicine. CDx are tools essential to identify biomarkers that predict a patient's response to targeted therapies, helping ensure the right patients receive the right treatment at the right time. She works at the interphase across Regulatory and Clinical Affairs, R&D, Marketing, and Sales to support the timely development of high-quality diagnostic devices. Originally from Italy, Valentina completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Sussex (UK) before earning a PhD at Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (UMG) as part of the IMPRS Molecular Biology program. As her transition from academia to the diagnostics industry is relatively recent (2023), she will share her career journey, provide an insider's perspective on the IVD industry, and offer practical advice for students interested to start a career in the medical device industry.

Biochemistry to Bureaucracy: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Spreadsheet

From ribosomes to regulations, Carlos Eduardo Lima da Cunha has turned a passion for biochemistry into a career at the intersection of science and policy. After earning his PhD in Germany and conducting postdoctoral research at Stanford, he swapped lab coats for policy briefs, working in the European Commission to shape research funding and innovation strategies. A scientist-turned-policymaker, Cadu thrives on solving complex problems—whether decoding protein folding or navigating EU research frameworks.