Grail: Harpal Kumar

Grail has appointed Harpal Kumar as president of Grail Europe, a new role within the company. Kumar joins Grail from Johnson & Johnson where he most recently served as senior vice president and head of innovation EMEA, overseeing a portfolio of regional co-investments and collaborations. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Kumar spent 15 years with Cancer Research UK, serving as the organization's CEO from April 2007 until June 2018. Prior to this, he was CRUK's COO and executive director of development, as well as chief executive of CRUK subsidiary Cancer Research Technology.

Before CRUK, he worked with McKinsey & Co, the Papworth Trust, and Nexan Group. He received a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Manchester, Newcastle, and Glasgow, and the Institute of Cancer Research, and he is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2016, he was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to cancer research.