FibroFind, a Newcastle-based preclinical Contract Research Organization (CRO), has appointed Lee Borthwick as Chief Executive Officer as the company enters a new phase of international growth and expansion.

The leadership transition sees Borthwick, a co-founder of the company and former Chief Scientific Officer, succeed fellow co-founder Jelena Mann, who will continue to support the business as a non-executive director, providing strategic scientific guidance and oversight.

The appointment comes amid a period of rapid growth for the company. Over the past year, FibroFind has more than doubled its workforce, expanding from 15 to 32 employees, including scientists, technical specialists and operational experts with deep expertise in chronic disease and human tissue research.

To support its next stage of development, the company has also strengthened its senior leadership team with three key appointments.

Mark Chadwick has joined as Chief Business Officer, bringing more than three decades of experience across biotechnology, CROs and platform technology businesses. He will lead the company’s commercial strategy and oversee partnerships with biopharmaceutical clients.

Joining alongside him is Laurence Provost as Chief Financial Officer. Provost brings extensive experience in private equity-backed and high-growth companies and will focus on strengthening FibroFind’s financial and operational infrastructure to support scaling efforts.

The company has also appointed Andy Black as Chair. With significant experience in the life sciences sector and a track record of scaling global service businesses through successful exits, Black will provide strategic direction and governance support as the company expands.

Commenting on his appointment, Borthwick said, “As a co-founder of FibroFind, from its origins as a university spin-out to its transition as a standalone entity, it has been quite the journey.”

He added, “My focus over the next 12 months will be to help scale the business and our operations to serve the needs of our growing client base and be recognized as the global benchmark for human-relevant evidence in discovery and preclinical decision-making.”