Leiden, September 8, 2022 - MIMETAS, a global leader in organ-on-chip-based disease models for drug discovery and development, has appointed Dhaval Patel as Chair of its Board of Directors.
Dhaval Patel is Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at UCB, Belgium, clinical professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and former Head of Research for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Europe.
“Dhaval brings a unique combination of knowledge and experience to MIMETAS,” says Jos Joore, CEO of MIMETAS. “He is involved in discovery and development of drugs and is a renowned and respected scientist. On top of this, he is highly regarded as a strategic thinker. With these qualities, Dhaval will lead MIMETAS towards further growth in the drug discovery space and help shape our internal R&D pipeline further.”
Since 2021, MIMETAS has engaged in a partnership strategy, focusing on disease model development and compound screening based on its proprietary high-throughput organ-on-a-chip platform. “MIMETAS is one of those rare companies that will change how we develop medicines,” said Dhaval Patel. “Our unique human disease models will allow the discovery of novel targets and drugs for current and future unmet medical needs. I am excited to join this driven, highly talented team in moving this ambition forward.”
Dhaval succeeds Herbert Heyneker, who retires as chair after nine years of inspirational leadership. Herb was the first investor of the company and a driving force behind its drug discovery focus. He will stay active as a strategic advisor to MIMETAS.
About Dhaval Patel
Dhaval Patel is Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at UCB, Belgium, and is a member of UCB’s Executive Committee. Before UCB, he was responsible at Novartis for research teams in the areas of autoimmunity, transplantation, and inflammation and served as Head of Research for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Europe. Before joining industry, he was a renowned researcher at Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA), authoring over 100 thought-leading publications with more than 10,000 citations. Dhaval is a medical doctor and holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology.
