Founding Institutions
 
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Western Australia 
www.ichr.uwa.edu
 
Fox Chase Cancer Centre in Philadelphia
www.fccc.edu
 
Founding Directors
 
Paul Watt

Dr Watt is the CEO and VP of Corporate Development for Phylogica. He is key inventor of Phylogica’s drug discovery technologies, has published more than 40 papers, and has filed more than 15 patent applications. Specialising in drug discovery biotechnology and experimental genetics,, he has attracted over $5 million in research funding from Australia and the United States for the technology underpinning Phylogica.

As a top graduate from the University of Western Australia, Dr Watt won a Commonwealth Overseas Scholarship and completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford. After Post Doctoral appointments at Oxford and Harvard Universities, he returned to Western Australia in 1996 to work at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Dr Watt now holds an appointment at the Institute as Honorary Research Fellow and adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia. He is also a non-executive director of a another publicly listed biotechnology company.

 
Bruce McHarrie

Mr Bruce McHarrie has been in the biotechnology industry for over 15 years. Currently he is the Director of Finance and Business Development at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Western Australia. He is responsible for the executive management of the Institute with a particular focus on commercialisation activities.

Mr McHarrie joined the Institute in 1999 after returning to Western Australia from the UK, where he was Assistant Director in the Bioscience Unit at Rothschild Asset Management. The Bioscience Unit focused on investing in biotechnology and healthcare companies from the early start-up stage through to the publicly listed stage. In this capacity Mr McHarrie was invited to join the Board of a number of United Kingdom based biotechnology companies.

Prior to joining Rothschild Asset Management Mr McHarrie was with Coopers and Lybrand in London, servicing a client base primarily in the financial services industry. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Western Australia and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloittes.