Team

Orthox has assembled a team which combines deep orthopaedic sector experience with a passion to drive positive change in how patients are treated following cartilage injury and joint degeneration.

Leadership

Nick Skaer, PhD.

CEO and Research Director. Board Member
Nick Skaer has over 25 years’ experience in life science and materials research, and 14 years as a medtech CEO, raising over £23m. In 2009 he founded Orthox with Prof. Oliver Kessler, and holds overall responsibility for leading both the scientific and commercial programs at the Company. Nick has secured and led 14 major grant funded projects for Orthox totalling over £12m…
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Don Haut, PhD, MBA.

Chairman of the Board
Don is a seasoned, US based, medtech and biotech senior leadership executive who has led transactions worth over $8 Billion during his career. With experience in cartilage repair from his roles at Smith & Nephew, Histogenics, Arthrosurface and Xiros, Since joining as Chairman in 2022, Don has brought extensive commercial acumen to Orthox as well as technical, clinical and regulatory understanding of Orthox’s field of business…
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Prof Oliver Kessler, MD.

Medical Director. Board Member.
Oliver Kessler co-founded Orthox and is a practising knee surgeon with a strong track record of biomaterials research and a focus on cartilage repair systems and joint kinematics. He spent 6 years at the worlds largest Orthopaedics company, Stryker, as Director of Orthobiologics where he supervised major knee cartilage tissue engineering programs. Since then he has built a thriving sports medicine…
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Dr Rob Walker

Chief Scientific Officer
Robert Walker has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Sheffield and acquired small, high tech company experience as a scientist with Plasso Ltd developing biological coatings. He moved to Becton Dickinson when they acquired Plasso in 2008 where he acquired medical products experience in an ISO13485 and GMP manufacturing setting, working as part of a small team…
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Tracy Callaway

Office Manager
Tracy Callaway has worked with the FibroFix™ development programme for over 20 years first at Oxford Biomaterials and subsequently with Orthox, where she has been an integral team member since its foundation. She has managed roles in the laboratory, manufacturing, quality and administrative functions during this period and has acquired a deep familiarity with the FibroFix™…
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Board

James Mallinson, MBA

Non-Executive Director
James Mallinson has over 30 years’ experience in venture capital and held the role of Chairman of Orthox from 2014 to 2022. He has made investments in, and been closely involved with many technology companies including Oxford Immunotec, which raised $64m on the NASDAQ in 2013 and was acquired for $595m in 2021 and NaturalMotion, acquired for over $527m in 2014…
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Dr Allan Ritchie, MBA

Non-Executive Director
Allan Ritchie is the former Worldwide Vice President of R&D for DePuy, the Orthopaedic subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and was a member of the global Leadership Team responsible for managing a business worth ~$2Bn. In his 30 years with DePuy, he held several senior roles and ultimately was directly responsible for staff and budgets across their International R&D sites. He led the integration of the…
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Professor Fritz Vollrath

Non-Executive Director
Fritz Vollrath is Director of the Oxford Silk Group at the University of Oxford Department of Zoology where he has held a prestigious Advanced Grant of the European Research Council and has authored papers in leading international journals including numerous publications in Nature. He has previously held positions at the University of Freiburg in Germany, the Smithsonian Tropical Research…
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Our Investors

Clinical and R&D Partners

Nick Skaer, PhD.

CEO and Research Director. Board Member

Nick Skaer has over 25 years’ experience in life science and materials research, and 14 years as a medtech CEO, raising over £23m. In 2009 he founded Orthox with Prof. Oliver Kessler, and holds overall responsibility for leading both the scientific and commercial programs at the Company. Nick has secured and led 14 major grant funded projects for Orthox totalling over £12m. Under his guidance these awards from Innovate UK, Wellcome Trust, NIHR and the EU Horizon 2020 programme were used to seed Orthox’s development programmes before he led the £9.2m Series A investment to bring the resulting products through to clinical trials. Nick has authored 7 of Orthox’s 9 granted patent families and has published numerous peer reviewed academic papers and book chapters. Prior to founding Orthox, Nick was CSO, then CEO, of Oxford Biomaterials between 2004 and 2009 where he developed the FibroFix™ technology and implemented the medical device program. During this period he co-authored 5 patents, secured over £2 million in public grants and private investment and formed 3 spin out companies from Oxford Biomaterials to commercialise FibroFix™ technology. Between 1992 and 2003 he studied Molecular Biology at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Strasbourg, from which he obtained his undergraduate degrees and PhD.

Don Haut, PhD, MBA.

Chairman of the Board

Don is a seasoned, US based, medtech and biotech senior leadership executive who has led transactions worth over $8 Billion during his career. With experience in cartilage repair from his roles at Smith & Nephew, Histogenics, Arthrosurface and Xiros, Since joining as Chairman in 2022, Don has brought extensive commercial acumen to Orthox as well as technical, clinical and regulatory understanding of Orthox’s field of business. He has executed multiple successful deals including, as Chief Business Officer of AskBio where he led the firm’s business development activities, spearheading AskBio’s $4 Billion acquisition by Bayer AG. In a career spanning academic science, consulting, sales management, and business development, he has an unparalleled network of expertise to draw on to guide implementation of Orthox’s commercial strategy in the US and around the globe. Don has also served on the boards of several healthcare companies and is currently Chief Executive of Boston start up, Carmine Therapeutics. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology from the Medical School at the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business.

Prof Oliver Kessler, MD.

Medical Director. Board Member

Oliver Kessler co-founded Orthox and is a practising knee surgeon with a strong track record of biomaterials research and a focus on cartilage repair systems and joint kinematics. He spent 6 years at the worlds largest Orthopaedics company, Stryker, as Director of Orthobiologics where he supervised major knee cartilage tissue engineering programs. Since then he has built a thriving sports medicine clinical practice in Zurich, Switzerland, been made full professor at Magdeburg University, Germany and is team physician for Swiss first division football team Schaffhausen FC. He has extensive contacts within the orthopaedic industry, the surgical community and the field of clinical cartilage research. Oliver acts as a consultant to Orthox, supervising clinical development of the product pipeline and, as Medical Director, advising the Board on clinical matters.

Dr Rob Walker

Chief Scientific Officer

Robert Walker has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Sheffield and acquired small, high tech company experience as a scientist with Plasso Ltd developing biological coatings. He moved to Becton Dickinson when they acquired Plasso in 2008 where he acquired medical products experience in an ISO13485 and GMP manufacturing setting, working as part of a small team developing new products for BD’s medical cell culture range, taking them from concept through production feasibility to manufacturing scale up. Rob joined Orthox in 2013 and was promoted to CSO in 2015. He holds overall responsibility for delivering the R&D and manufacturing functions at Orthox.

Tracy Callaway

Office Manager

Tracy Callaway has worked with the FibroFix™ development programme for over 20 years first at Oxford Biomaterials and subsequently with Orthox, where she has been an integral team member since its foundation. She has managed roles in the laboratory, manufacturing, quality and administrative functions during this period and has acquired a deep familiarity with the FibroFix™ technology, manufacture and production as well as a thorough understanding of book-keeping and administrating consortia based grants.

James Mallinson, MBA

Non-Executive Director

James Mallinson has over 30 years’ experience in venture capital and held the role of Chairman of Orthox from 2014 to 2022. He has made investments in, and been closely involved with many technology companies including Oxford Immunotec, which raised $64m on the NASDAQ in 2013 and was acquired for $595m in 2021 and NaturalMotion, acquired for over $527m in 2014. In 2018 he joined Oxford Investment Consultants (OIC) as an Investment Partner. OIC manage the Oxford Technology Innovation Fund, Orthox’s largest Investor, and James became their representative on the Orthox Board at this point. Prior to his role with OIC, James was an Investment Portfolio Director of Oxford Spin-out Equity Management which managed the University’s portfolio of shareholdings in its spin-out companies. He previously held positions at Isis Innovation and in the private equity group at Abbey National Treasury Services where he managed technology venture investments as a member of a team of 11 responsible for commitments of £1.9bn, and has also been a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of funds managed by Advent Venture Partners and Avlar BioVentures. He is an Engineering Science graduate from the University of Oxford and gained his MBA from Cranfield University in 1990.

Dr Allan Ritchie, MBA

Non-Executive Director

Allan Ritchie is the former Worldwide Vice President of R&D for DePuy, the Orthopaedic subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and was a member of the global Leadership Team responsible for managing a business worth ~$2Bn. In his 30 years with DePuy, he held several senior roles and ultimately was directly responsible for staff and budgets across their International R&D sites. He led the integration of the R&D groups following the acquisition of Synthes by J&J and is also an expert in China and Asia having set up DePuy’s R&D Innovation Centre in Suzhou, China, where he lived between 2009 and 2013. Since leaving DePuy, Allan has advised numerous Company’s on Orthopaedic and Medical Device Commercialisation through Directorships, mentoring and consultancy.

Professor Fritz Vollrath

Non-Executive Director

Fritz Vollrath is Director of the Oxford Silk Group at the University of Oxford Department of Zoology where he has held a prestigious Advanced Grant of the European Research Council and has authored papers in leading international journals including numerous publications in Nature. He has previously held positions at the University of Freiburg in Germany, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution in Panama and the Zoology Departments at the Universities of Oxford UK, Basel CH and Aarhus DK. His research focuses on spiders’ web engineering and structure-function relationships in a wide range of silks and natural silk composites.