Who We Are

Irene Petre is the Managing Director and Lead Life Sciences Advisor at IGEA Healthcare Consulting, a pan-European consulting practice, primarily collaborating with organisations in the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and a few other European countries.

She has started her career as an Economic and Social Policy Researcher with the West Midlands Regional Observatory in Birmingham, UK and then as a Market Analyst with Datamonitor in London. From 2013 she specialises in Strategy and Management Consulting, having gained experience with EY (Ernst & Young) Advisory in London and from 2016 she has been dedicated solely to the Life Sciences industry, working with start-ups, multinationals, Academia and private equity investors in the sector in the UK, US, Asia and several European countries. More recently she has worked in-house with AstraZeneca in the UK in their Global Commercial Operations, managing a portfolio of international projects in digital and innovation, omnichannel strategy and delivery and commercial excellence and governance.

She has worked with R&D, Finance, Marketing, Commercial and Business Development & Licensing Heads in areas related to medical device distribution and strategic partnerships, pricing and reimbursement, drug pipeline assessment, project portfolio analysis, planning and management, strategic vendor and partner selection, commercial due diligence and deal strategy - mostly in Oncology, Immunology and Rare Diseases, Neuroscience and Healthcare services. She has

also collaborated with two large international groups in the Food sector in the Protein Research & Strategy and Healthy & Organic areas.

Irene has an MSc (with Merit) from the University of Birmingham in Earth and Environmental Sciences, a BSc (first-class honors) in Economics and Business and has recently completed an Executive Programme in Strategic Innovation from the University of Oxford & Said Business School in December 2024. She has a keen interest in ethics, governance and innovation in areas related to biodata, artificial intelligence, neuroscience and everything to do with human health and enjoys studying and speaking on these topics.

She is a member of the Royal Society of Medicine in London and of the British Neuroscience Association.