Marie-Claire is a Principal on the Pfizer Ventures Team and an Executive Director in Emerging Science & Innovation at Pfizer Inc. In her current role she is responsible for investing in early-stage biotech companies and supporting them in advancing emerging science to deliver new medicines to patients.
Marie-Claire grew up in various locations in the UK following her father’s military postings. She moved to Perton in 1976 and subsequently to Codsall, attending St Christopher’s Primary School. Her mother was teacher, headmistress and member of the board of directors at St Dominic’s school in Brewood and her father was stationed at RAF Cosford.
Marie-Claire obtained a BPharmHons degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Physiology & Pharmacology from the University of Nottingham. She moved to the USA to conduct postdoctoral work at Yale University in the department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and the department of Molecular Psychiatry.
Marie-Claire then joined Pfizer Inc. where she has worked for 25 years, holding various leadership positions supporting small molecule lead discovery. As part of her former responsibilities, Marie-Claire founded and led the Primary Pharmacology Group for 13 years during which time they were responsible for the identification of nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid), abrocitinib (Cibinqo), danuglipron, ervogastat, clesacostat, ritlecitinib and additional small molecule therapeutics that are currently in the clinic. She was recognized as a PhRMA ‘We Work For Health’ Champion in 2018 and was a 2019 finalist for the CT Women of Innovation Award. She is a member of The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Chair of the Board of Directors for United Way of Southeastern Connecticut, on the Board of Trustees for Lawrence and Memorial Hospital and on the Board of Directors for the Thames River Innovation Place. She currently lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters.