Philip Ashton-Rickardt has spent his career asking difficult questions and looking for better answers. Growing up in the UK in a working-class family, he learned early that progress came through hard work, curiosity, and taking responsibility for his own future. Those lessons helped shape a career that has taken him from academic research to biotechnology leadership.
After earning his BSc. from King’s College London and a PhD in Molecular Immunology at the University of Edinburgh, Philip completed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went on to become a professor at the University of Chicago before later serving as Chair and Professor at Imperial College London.
Rather than staying in academia, Philip chose a different path. He returned to Boston in 2017 to found Smith Therapeutics, beginning a new chapter as a biotech entrepreneur. Since then, he has held senior leadership roles at AZTherapies, Sigilon Therapeutics, Flagship Pioneering, Halyard Therapeutics, and now BE Therapeutics, where he serves as Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer. Throughout that journey, his focus has remained the same: developing innovative cell therapies that could change the way neurological diseases are treated.
Away from the laboratory and boardroom, Philip enjoys reading, writing, running, and following Liverpool Football Club. He believes learning never stops, resilience is built through experience, and meaningful innovation comes from people willing to challenge accepted ideas while staying true to their own standards.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
No two days are the same, which is one of the things I enjoy most. Some mornings begin with meetings about scientific strategy, while others are spent reviewing data or talking with researchers. I try to protect time early in the day for thinking because that is often when my best ideas come. I also keep my schedule focused on the few decisions that really move a project forward rather than trying to do everything myself.
How do you bring ideas to life?
An idea only becomes valuable when people work together to test it. I usually start by asking questions instead of looking for immediate answers. From there, I like bringing together people with different backgrounds because they often see opportunities I would miss on my own. Science is rarely a straight line, so every experiment teaches you something, even when it doesn’t work.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I’m excited by the progress being made with engineered cell therapies for diseases of the brain and nervous system. For many years, these conditions had very limited treatment options. We’re now beginning to see technologies that could completely change that picture over the next decade.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I read every day. It doesn’t matter whether it’s scientific literature, history, or good nonfiction. Reading keeps me curious, and curiosity has probably been the most valuable skill throughout my career.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t worry so much about having the perfect plan. My career has taken turns I never expected, from academia to entrepreneurship and biotechnology leadership. Every change felt uncertain at the time, but each one opened new opportunities that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
I think we sometimes celebrate certainty too much. In science and business, people often feel pressure to sound confident all the time. I’ve found that admitting you don’t know something usually leads to better conversations and better decisions.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Always keep learning. The moment you think you’ve learned enough is usually the moment you stop growing. Every role I’ve had has required me to learn something completely new.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I remind myself that difficult periods don’t last forever. I’ve faced challenges throughout my career, and I’ve learned that the best approach is to take one step at a time instead of trying to solve everything at once. Going for a run or spending time with my family also helps put things back into perspective.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
I’ve never been afraid to leave my comfort zone. Moving from academia into biotechnology was a significant change, but I knew I wanted to build something that could directly help patients. Taking that risk opened doors that simply wouldn’t have existed if I had stayed where I was comfortable.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
There was a point in my academic career when I realised I needed a fresh start. It was a difficult period that forced me to think carefully about what I really wanted to accomplish. Instead of seeing it as the end of something, I used it as an opportunity to reinvent myself by starting a company. Looking back, that experience taught me resilience and reminded me that setbacks often create opportunities you couldn’t have planned.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I think there is room for companies that make it easier for researchers across universities and startups to share failed experiments in a structured way. We often learn just as much from what doesn’t work as we do from successful results, but that knowledge is rarely organised or shared efficiently.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Microsoft OneNote has been surprisingly useful throughout my career. I use it to organise ideas, meeting notes, research questions, and long-term projects. Having everything searchable in one place saves a great deal of time.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
One book I’ve returned to many times is The Double Helix by James Watson. Beyond the science, it’s a reminder that discovery is rarely neat or predictable. Progress usually comes from persistence, collaboration, and curiosity.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I recently enjoyed The Last of Us. Beyond being entertaining, it explores how people respond under pressure, adapt to uncertainty, and make difficult decisions. Those themes resonate because leadership often involves navigating uncertainty rather than having all the answers.
Key learnings
- Curiosity and continuous learning create opportunities throughout an entire career.
- Taking calculated risks can lead to a greater impact than staying in a comfortable role.
- Innovation begins by asking better questions rather than chasing quick answers.
- Resilience is built by moving through setbacks one step at a time.
- The strongest leaders remain open to learning from people with different perspectives.