COMPANY

About us

Our mission is to save lives through early disease detection using our non-endoscopic diagnostic technology.

Error, please try again after some time.
the company
Cyted is a gastrointestinal health company that has created a non-endoscopic diagnostic platform to detect disease early and save lives. Our technologies are transforming access to digestive health for everyone, everywhere.
Cyted’s technology brings earlier and faster diagnoses to more people, helping to detect and monitor those with cancer and inflammatory diseases before it is too late.
Cyted CEO in front of Cyted sign, holding a capsule
A person in a white coat and black gloves is holding a small jar of black.

Milestones & Triumphs

— Navigating Our Timeline

Jan 2020
Seed investment raised
August 2020
Launch of first diagnostic clinics in the NHS
April 2021
Cyted CEO named among Forbes 30under30
October 2021
Staff team grows to 50+ employees
May 2022
Cyted awarded Best Medical Technology in Prix Galien Awards
August 2022
10,000 commercial capsule sponge tests performed
June 2023
Launch of EndoSign® and the Heartburn Health Check
January 2024
Start of BEST4 screening trial in UK
February 2024
510(k) FDA clearance for EndoSign® technology in the US received

Milestones & Triumphs

— Navigating Our Timeline

Jan 2020
Seed investment raised
August 2020
Launch of first diagnostic clinics in the NHS
April 2021
Cyted CEO named among Forbes 30under30
October 2021
Staff team grows to 50+ employees
May 2022
Cyted awarded Best Medical Technology in Prix Galien Awards
August 2022
10,000 commercial capsule sponge tests performed
June 2023
Launch of EndoSign® and the Heartburn Health Check
January 2024
Start of BEST4 screening trial in UK
February 2024
510(k) FDA clearance for EndoSign® technology in the US received

Meet the team

We are a world-class team with experience across diagnostic, medical technology, therapeutic, and technology sectors.
Board of directors
Will West
Investor Director
Anthony Aiudi
Investor Director
Martin Frost CBE
Non-Executive Director
Tim Rea
Investor Director
Gail Marcus
Chair
Marcel Gehrung PhD
Co-founder & CEO
Leadership team
View Profile
Marcel Gehrung PhD
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer
View Profile
Betsy Hanna
President & US General Manager
View Profile
Richard Hardwick
Medical Director
View Profile
Neha Goel
Chief Operating Officer
View Profile
David Spackman
UK General Manager
View Profile
Chris Humberston
VP of Finance
View Profile
Neil Ryan
VP Laboratory Services
View Profile
Mark Horsburgh PhD
VP Software Engineering
View Profile
Stephanie Juniat
Director of Commercial & Access Strategy
View Profile
Sarah Killcoyne PhD
Director of Research & Development
View Profile
Basirat Afinowi
Head of Projects
View Profile
Rich Arnatt
Head of Product
View Profile
Charlene Tang
Head of Growth
View Profile
Jack Wilson
Head of People
View Profile
Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE
Co-founder & Clinical Advisor
View Profile
Dr Maria O’Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath
Co-founder & Lead Pathologist
Richard Hardwick
Medical Director

Richard established the Cambridge Oesophago-Gastric Centre in 2001 and was involved in the early development of the capsule sponge. He initiated the UK National oesophago-gastic Audit and is Past-President of the Association of Upper GI Surgeons GBI. As a Surgeon and Endoscopist he brings his clinical experience to Cyted Health to ensure robust governance, patient focus, interaction with KOLs and strategic vision.

Betsy Hanna
President & US General Manager

Betsy is a global biotech executive with a track record building market value in diagnostics and medical device businesses.  Her experience includes commercial and general management leadership roles with both Fortune 100 companies and start-ups.  Over the past 10 years she has advanced innovations in genomic diagnostics through product development, clinical studies, FDA milestones, public/private reimbursement, and market launches.

Marcel Gehrung PhD
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Marcel holds a PhD in Machine Learning in Healthcare from the University of Cambridge. Marcel was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, won the Alexander Fleming Prize from the Gates Foundation for his contribution to global public health and the Prix Galien Award for the best medical technology with Cyted’s core product, a novel test for the early detection of cancer in the oesophagus.


Neha Goel
Chief Operating Officer

Neha leads operational and laboratory services, and quality and regulatory functions at Cyted building infrastructure and processes that enable growth and improve efficiency.

Neha has 15 years of experience in innovative healthcare. She brings an in depth understanding of product development, manufacturing, scale up, clinical evaluations, implementation and roll out from various posts at Diagnostics for the Real World and the University of Cambridge.


David Spackman
UK General Manager

David leads our commercial activities in the UK and is responsible for the market adoption of Cyted Health's products and services across the NHS and private healthcare markets.

David has over 20 years experience in developing and delivering innovative market access and commercial strategy in medical devices, genomics and diagnostics in the UK. With a background in large and smaller healthcare businesses, as well as a successful consulting career, David has a wealth of experience in commercialising healthcare products in both the public NHS and private healthcare markets.

Chris Humberston
VP of Finance

Chris is responsible for the day-to-day finances at Cyted, implementing a strong financial control and reporting framework across the business. He collaborates with key internal and external stakeholders to drive Cyted’s commercial and financial strategy.

Chris has worked in finance for nearly a decade, developing a strong skill set within an M&A and audit practice environment. He is an ACA chartered accountant who has significant experience in financial planning and decision-making to help deliver business strategy.


Neil Ryan
VP Laboratory Services

Neil leads laboratory operations and outputs. Neil is helping Cyted deliver on our strategic goals by ensuring processes are designed to scale effectively whilst retaining diagnostic quality and integrity.

Neil has over 20 years experience working within cellular and molecular pathology across sectors. He has performed senior leadership and Board level roles, most recently within private healthcare diagnostics businesses. Alongside his role at Cyted, Neil also operates as Non-Exec Director for UKNEQAS CPT.


Mark Horsburgh PhD
VP Software Engineering

Mark leads the software engineering team at Cyted. He is responsible for the development of our operational software, integration points with customers, and the machine learning platform.

Mark has over 20 years of experience in building software products and software engineering teams in both startup and large multinational corporations.

Stephanie Juniat
Director of Commercial & Access Strategy

Stephanie leads Cyted’s business development activities relating to the commercial launch and growth of Cyted's innovative diagnostic test into new markets and new indications. She is experienced in the commercialisation of life science products in international markets, having worked on medical devices, therapeutics, diagnostics and AI covering US, Canada, Europe, Africa, SE Asia, South America and Australia. Past experiences include Pfizer, the Wellcome Trust, and Huron Consulting Group.


Basirat Afinowi
Head of Projects

Basirat leads the Project Management function at Cyted, entrusted with overseeing and orchestrating the successful execution of strategic initiatives.

Basirat has over a decade's proven track record in project management across diverse sectors including the public sector, higher education, and not-for-profit organisations. With a passion for driving impactful change and achieving organisational excellence, she has dedicated her career to delivering successful projects that address complex challenges.


Rich Arnatt
Head of Product

Rich leads the Product function at Cyted, encompassing product management, research and design. Responsible for Cyted’s product roadmap and ensuring that cross-functional teams are aligned towards our strategic goals.

Rich is an experienced technology and innovation professional with a background in industrial analytics. Prior to joining Cyted, he held a number of Product, Engineering and Innovation roles delivering complex, global solutions across multiple markets and domains.

Sarah Killcoyne PhD
Director of Research & Development

Sarah leads the Research and Development work at Cyted across molecular characterization, statistical modeling, and image-based machine learning to build new tests for early cancer detection.

Sarah has more than 15 years experience in cancer research and genomics analysis across biotech and academic institutions in both the USA and U.K. Her focus since 2016 has been on the early detection of cancer using molecular risk analysis and deep learning methods and applying these methods to the detection of esophageal cancer. Her work in this area has been published in Nature Medicine, The British Journal of Cancer, and Lancet Oncology.

Charlene Tang
Head of Growth

Charlene leads business development and commercial strategy at Cyted focused on the UK. As a Fellow at the NHS Innovation Accelerator, Charlene focuses on building partnerships with NHS organisations and other healthcare providers towards national adoption and customer success.

Over the past 2 years, Charlene has developed proposals and built teams to win and deliver ~£4m in grant funding towards the real-world implementation of the capsule sponge test in primary care and community based clinics, driving adoption and care transformation.


Jack Wilson
Head of People

Jack leads the People team enabling the business to scale and grow, defining the people programme and strategic workforce plan whilst ensuring this aligns closely with business strategy.

Jack is a delivery driven People Operations Manager with broad experience across VC & PE backed businesses. Jack is strategic and innovative, translating business strategy into People and Operational initiatives that enable businesses to scale and grow.

Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald FMedSci OBE
Co-founder & Clinical Advisor

Director of the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge and a Clinician Scientist leading her own research in understanding and detecting cancers of the oesophagus and stomach at an earlier stage. Rebecca and her team developed the Cytosponge-TFF3 test from concept through to clinical trial and implementation. She is a Trustee for Heartburn Cancer UK, a Charity supporting awareness and education into cancer of the oesophagus and its precursor Barrett’s oesophagus.


Dr Maria O’Donovan MB BCH, MD, FRCPath
Co-founder & Lead Pathologist

Consultant Histopathologist at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Trust (CUH) where she is the lead for diagnostic cytology and upper gastrointestinal cancer pathology services. Dr O'Donovan is a co-director of East of England Pathology courses. Her primary research interest is in cancer of the esophagus and. stomach. She received the Royal College of Pathologists Achievement award 2021 for innovation in pathology practice.

In partnership with

Cyted is proud to collaborate with a network of esteemed partners and investors who share our vision for innovative healthcare solutions.
A couple in their 60's hugging at home
Get in touch for more information about our early cancer test and data-driven diagnostics.
Get in touch