Dr. Gaia Scalabrino
Non Academic Executive Director, Pharmacy

I was raised in a multi-cultural environment, living in Italy and Kenya, embracing diversity and curiosity. Today in Ireland, I am passionate of transforming new ideas into commercial opportunities and accelerating the growth of Centre/SME with the aim to benefit human health. As a life science professional with extensive experience, following a Ph.D. in Natural Product Chemistry, I have been responsible for supporting young enterprises through multi-disciplinary and integrated processes. I specialised in leading research centre and start-ups from inception; in particular working as Executive Director of the NatPro Centre and Vice President of Operations and Quality at Trino Therapeutics Ltd. Further, I advised SMEs based in EU and US, supporting their business growth and drug development programmes, while working as Operations and Pharmaceutical Consultant at HiTech Health Ltd. I held several strategic and operations roles in industry, with cross-functional expertise. I liaised with stakeholders at all levels, fundraised to advance company sustainability and proudly built close-knit multi-disciplinary teams. Further, I have designed quality management systems and liaised with regulatory agencies. As a product development expert, I have championed drug development programs with track-records in areas of research and innovation, CMC, non-clinical toxicology and early clinical development, as well as quality and regulations. Currently, together with Academic Directors, I am leading NatPro, the Trinity Centre for Natural Products Research, working as Non-Academic Executive Director. NatPro enables research and sustainable development of Natural Products at the intersection of disciplines with applications to life science. In particular, in the areas of pharmaceuticals, functional food and cosmetics. Particular focus: integrated business strategies and operations | product RD&I | programme and people management | start-ups | entrepreneurship | pharmaceuticals | functional food | medicine and food regulatory affairs | natural products | small molecules | peptides | orphan drugs. More information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaiascalabrino/