Mene Pangalos facts for kids

Sir Menelaos (Mene) Nicolas Pangalos is a British neuroscientist. He is also of Greek descent. Sir Mene works at a big company called AstraZeneca. He is in charge of finding and making new medicines. These medicines help people with breathing problems, swelling, and other health issues.

Sir Mene has written over 150 scientific papers. He also helps lead important groups like the Francis Crick Institute. He is a member of the Royal Society, which is a very old and respected science group. In 2020, he was made a Knight for his great work in science in the UK.

Early Life and Learning

Mene Pangalos was born in Ealing, London. His family came from the island of Chios in Greece. He spent his summer holidays there as a child. He can speak Greek very well.

He studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Imperial College London. He earned a top degree there. Then, he got his Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from University College London. After that, he did more advanced training in New York.

Working in Medicine

Before joining AstraZeneca, Sir Mene worked at other big medicine companies. These included GlaxoSmithKline, SmithKline Beecham, Janssen Pharmaceutica, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Helping Brain Health at Wyeth

From 2003 to 2008, Sir Mene was a Vice President at Wyeth. This was an American medicine company. He helped guide more than 20 new medicines into testing. These medicines were for brain and mental health problems. This included diseases like Alzheimer's, stroke, and schizophrenia.

Short Time at Pfizer

In 2009, Sir Mene became the Chief Scientific Officer for Neuroscience at Pfizer. He was in charge of about 200 scientists. They worked on new brain medicines from the very start of research. He worked at Pfizer for a short time before moving to AstraZeneca in 2010.

Leading Research at AstraZeneca

Sir Mene became an Executive Vice President at AstraZeneca in 2019. He had been in a similar role there since 2010.

Since he started at AstraZeneca, the company has become much better at making new medicines. The chance of a new medicine making it from early tests to being available has gone up a lot. It went from 4% to over 19%. This is much higher than the average for medicine companies.

He helped create a medicine for lung cancer called osimertinib. This medicine was approved very quickly. It went from first human tests to being available in just over two and a half years. This medicine is now used in more than 75 countries.

Sir Mene is part of AstraZeneca's top leadership team. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he joined a special group. This group advised the UK government on vaccines.

Academic Work

In 2022, Sir Mene was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is also a Fellow of other important science groups. These include the Academy of Medical Sciences. He helps lead the Medical Research Council (MRC).

He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and King's College London. He also helps guide students who are studying for their PhDs at AstraZeneca.

Personal Life

Sir Mene Pangalos married Kelly Charles in 2003. She is also a neuroscientist.