Erica Whittaker

Dr. Erica Whittaker is Vice President & Head of UCB Ventures, a €150 million strategic corporate venture fund which was set up to invest in innovative, longer term and higher risk therapeutic and digital health opportunities beyond UCB’s current focus areas. She is a Board Director for four of UCB Ventures’ portfolio companies. Erica began her career at UCB in 2010 as VP Strategy & Partnering, Research. In 2012, she became a member of an internal strategy team which shaped UCB’s Patient Value Strategy that is being implemented today. As Head of Market Access EMEA 2013-2017, Dr. Whittaker was instrumental in developing regional patient access and pricing strategies and working with affiliates to drive local execution. Prior to UCB, she spent 10 years as a top-ranked biotechnology equity analyst for Merrill Lynch in London (1999-2009). Dr. Whittaker attended Brown University (Rhode Island, USA) where she received BA degrees in Biology and in Comparative Literature. She travelled to the UK on a Marshall Scholarship and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh, and later an M.B.A. from Heriot-Watt University Business School in Edinburgh.