James Mcilroy MBChB

Dr James McIlroy is a practicing NHS doctor and the Founder of EnteroBiotix. He started EnteroBiotix as a 21-year-old medical student in his Mum and Dad’s garden shed. After forming the Company, he built EnteroBiotix alongside his studies: raising over £2.5m in seed funding, hosting a visit from the First Minister/Chief Medical Officer of Scotland and establishing several NHS and EU hospital partnerships. He led the Company to become the first in the world to secure a license from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in order to manufacture microbial products derived from faecal donations. Following this success, EnteroBiotix began distributing its first medicinal products internationally and the Company is now expanding internationally, with offices opening in Boston and Paris in 2019. James holds an Honours degree in Physiology from the University of Edinburgh and a degree in Medicine (MBChB) from the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a distinction and the Elective Prize in Child Health. After graduating, he was appointed as Honorary Lecturer in Healthcare Innovation to The School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition. His main research interest is the role and influence of gut bacteria in the pathogenesis and management of intestinal and extra-intestinal disease. He has presented work at over ten national/international conferences and has published several first author peer reviewed articles and book chapters in journals such as Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

He is a Founding Member of the next-generation advisory committee at Opportunity North East, a privately held regional development agency founded by Sir Ian Wood that is focussed on stimulating economic renaissance in the North East of Scotland. He is also Orator at Robert Gordon’s College and Co-Founder of EthosBio CIC, an organisation established to embed socially impactful entrepreneurship within the life-sciences sector. James has won a number of awards for his entrepreneurial endeavours. He was named ‘Young Innovator of the Year’ by Herald Scotland and ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Business Quarter Magazine. In 2016, he was awarded an Enterprise Fellowship by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2017, he was awarded a Visiting Research Fellowship by United European Gastroenterology.