Health Hub to Reassess Impact of Covid-19

European health cluster Medicen Paris Region has appointed Jessica Leygues as CEO, with responsibilities for reassessing and implementing crisis exit strategies for cluster members and the health sector.

“We are proud to welcome Jessica to Medicen. Her expertise and character match the challenges that lie before us,” said Christian Lajoux, President of Medicen Paris Region. “The transition management team has been in place for several weeks and has dealt with the damage caused by the pandemic with great professionalism. In the context of other healthcare clusters, we have immediately responded to the demands for cooperation from the Ile-de-France region, the Directorate General for Enterprise (DGE), government agencies and healthcare facilities.”

“I am delighted to join Medicen at a key point in time, when the cluster’s priorities need to be reassessed as required after the COVID-19 pandemic. Close dialogue must be encouraged with teams, governance and all stakeholders within the Ile-de-France region,” said Leygues. “We will need to initiate concrete re-industrialisation of projects to aid growth and rebuild national sovereignity for the healthcare industry. In particular, we will support micro businesses and SMEs through a groundbreaking, innovative dynamic for healthcare priorities and as part of an open approach to European ecosystems.”

Leygues, a graduate in engineering from the Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences (AgroParisTech), she spent eight years at the Alcimed consulting firm developing new healthcare markets (biotech/medtech) for entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and large corporations as well as for the public and semi-public innovation sector. She then joined the pharmaceutical company Celgene, where she set up and launched the Celgene ‘Innovation Lab’ to stimulate creativity, serendipity and collaborative work.