PeopleAlan Palmer is the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of MS Therapeutics, a company developing pioneering therapies for diagnosis, treatment and management of multiple sclerosis and closely related disorders. He obtained his first degree in Biochemistry from the University of Warwick, with PhD and MSc degrees from the University of London. He has 25 years of drug discovery experience with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders, starting as a Principal Investigator at the Alzheimer’s disease Research Centre and Head Injury Research Centre at the University of Pittsburgh, worked for Wyeth Research in the US and UK, and then was a co-founder of Pharmidex Pharmaceutical Services Ltd and Cerebrus Ltd (which later became Vernalis). In 2005 the London Biotechnology Network voted him ‘entrepreneur of the year’. He is a visiting Professor at the School of Pharmacy in London, a Fellow of the Institute of Biology, former Chairman of the Society for Medicines Research and a member of the Government’s Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Sector Advisory Group.