How should we value a healthcare system that frustrates the very innovators trying to improve it?

In this episode of Oxford+, host Susannah de Jager speaks with Dr Ceri Morgan, a doctor turned healthcare investment banker turned patient, about her three careers and what they reveal about UK life sciences. Ceri explains why, for years, companies pitching an NHS-first strategy were handed close to a zero valuation, and why the UK's thin life sciences public market has pushed founders towards private capital and trade sales.

Her move to Dalloway Partners marks a third act focused on the non-scientific side of scaling: mentoring founders, opening up investor networks and building Oxford's ecosystem. The timing matters. After UK biotech raised just £1.8 billion in 2025, early 2026 figures show venture funding rebounding, with £516 million raised in the first quarter. From recycling capital and talent to being your own patient advocate, this is a candid conversation about fixing the structures around brilliant British science.

(00:00) - Welcome to Oxford+
(01:23) - A Doctor's Path into the City
(03:34) - Building a Life Sciences Banking Team
(06:31) - Twenty Years Advising Science Companies
(08:35) - A Third Career and a New Mission
(10:24) - Why the NHS Earns a Zero Valuation
(11:53) - The Shrinking Life Sciences Public Market
(14:50) - Inside Dalloway Partners
(16:48) - The Non-Scientific Side of Scaling
(21:53) - Treating Oxford as One Ecosystem
(25:54) - Female Health, Storytelling and Open Networks
(32:06) - Being Your Own Patient Advocate

Ceri Morgan: Dr Ceri Morgan is a Partner at Dalloway Partners, the advisory firm founded in 2025 by Vanessa Colomar and Helen James to help foundational science and first-time founders scale at speed. A medical doctor by training, she practised in cardiology and trauma medicine before moving into the City, where she spent more than two decades in healthcare and life sciences investment banking, building and leading top-ranked life science teams at firms including KBC Peel Hunt and Deutsche Bank and advising companies such as Oxford Nanopore and IP Group. Most recently she was Head of Late Stage Portfolio at Oxford Science Enterprises, and she is a Senior Advisor to LifeScience ORG. Based in Oxford, she also sits on a London hospital patient advisory group, drawing on her own experience as a cancer patient to push for stronger patient advocacy.

Connect with Ceri on LinkedIn

Susannah de Jager: Susannah is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in UK asset management. She has worked closely with industry experts, entrepreneurs, and government officials to shape the conversation around domestic scale-up capital.

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Oxford+ is hosted by Susannah de Jager and supported by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking, and James Cowper Kreston.

Produced and Edited by Story Ninety-Four in Oxford.