Aisling Maria Burnand (born 22 December 1964; died 19 September 2022) was a British

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

and consultant. In 2009, she joined

Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

as Executive Director of Policy & Public Affairs. In 2014, she became

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Association of Medical Research Charities.

Career

Burnand worked as head of international

media relations Media relations involves working with media for the purpose of informing the public of an organization's mission, policies and practices in a positive, consistent and credible manner. It can also entail developing symbiotic relationships with medi ...

for

Rhône-Poulenc Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999, it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions ...

in Paris, then as a director at the Rowland Company, a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based public affairs consultancy. She joined th
UK BioIndustry Association (BIA)
UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) as its first director of Public Affairs in 1998, when the UK

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

industry was in its infancy.Testing times for biotech champion
interview in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'', 11 February 2007. The association now represents more than three hundred UK biotech companies. In 2001, Burnand became Deputy Chief Executive, and from 2003 until December 2009, she was Chief Executive. She was succeeded by Nigel Gaymond.BIA Annual Review 2009
/ref> At the BIA, Burnand lobbied on behalf of

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

research, and supported the passage of the

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (c. 15) (often abbreviated to SOCPA or SOCAP) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also significan ...

, which gives greater protection for

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

ers from

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

extremists and other threats.BioIndustry Association executive awarded MBE
MedNous.com, 18 June 2007 She also had to reassure the public about medicines based on

monoclonal antibodies A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a Lineage (evolution), cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Mon ...

when six volunteers suffered severe adverse reactions during a

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

Northwick Park Hospital Northwick Park Hospital (NWPH) is a major National Health Service hospital situated in the town of Harrow, North West London, managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. It is located off Watford Road in the London Borough ...

in 2006. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in 2007 for services to science. She joined

in 2009. As Executive Director of Policy & Public Affairs, she has responsibility for the charity's policies on cancer, science and charity issues, seeking along with others to influence politicians and civil servants on issues of importance to cancer patients.Profile
Cancer Research UK; retrieved 23 December 2010. In 2020, Burnand warned during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

that medical research could suffer for years due to the drop in revenue from donations and fund-raising. Burnand was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to the charitable sector.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnand, Aisling 1964 births British businesspeople British people of Irish descent Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing (living people)