28 July 2026
An entrepreneur whose career in biotechnology spans four decades has received an honorary degree from the University of Reading.
Fiona Marston, Chair and CEO of biotech company ErebaGen, received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science in a ceremony on Monday 27 July.
Marston began her career at Celltech, one of the first UK biotech companies, working in laboratory-based research before moving into international business development for Celltech and Cancer Research UK. After completing an MBA, she moved into early stage investment for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit and J&J Development Corporation, before going on to co-found and lead Metris Therapeutics, Novarticulate b.v. and Novacta Biosystems as CEO.
Between 2018 and 2020, Marston returned to academia as Director of the Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research for the University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She also worked as investment adviser to the fund UKI2S from 2017 to 2023, and as a Non-Executive Director for Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool from 2019 to 2024.
The Royal Society awarded Marston two Entrepreneur in Residence grants, supporting commercial translation at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine from 2021 to 2022 and at the University of Reading from 2023 to 2026, where she continues to work.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Marston used her expertise in the translational space between academia, industry, clinicians, regulators and commercial partners to help ideas become usable solutions at speed. In 2021, she was awarded an OBE for services connected to biotechnology and innovation, particularly her contribution to the pandemic response.
Marston has also mentored women researchers and entrepreneurs through the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence programme and the YES entrepreneurship scheme, and has supported a Ukrainian family displaced by war in her local community.
She lives in Reading with her husband Richard, and credits his support and that of their daughters Alex and Laura as pivotal to her career.
Professor Parveen Yaqoob, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: "Fiona Marston is one of those rare people who change lives, not only through what they achieve themselves, but through the encouragement, confidence and opportunity they give to others.
"Throughout her career she has continually reinvented herself while helping others do the same. She has helped people recognise possibilities in themselves they had not yet seen, demonstrating what’s possible when scientific excellence is combined with creativity, collaboration and humanity. She is thoroughly deserving of this honorary degree.”
Image: L to R - Professor Robert Van de Noort, Fiona Marston, Professor Parveen Yaqoob
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