Ms Broughton, a former investment director at Mercia Asset Management, is the managing partner and co-founder of Oskare Capital, and is an experienced life sciences investor, executive and non-executive director with strong expertise in identifying and supporting university spin-outs.

Clare Wareing, CEO and co-founder of Cumulus, said: “While Nicola has been on our advisory board since last June, we wanted to get her more involved with the business and we couldn’t be happier to expand this in a more formal role.

“Her know-how and experience of the sector is second-to-none, and she brings a multi-faceted perspective having both helped to lead and invest in UK life sciences and biotech.”

Ms Broughton added: “Cumulus is one of the most exciting companies on the UK life sciences scene. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Clare and the team for several months now and the time seemed right to step into the NXD position as the company moves into its next phase of growth.”

Edinburgh-headquartered Cumulus was founded in 2017 to create spin-out companies around novel anti-cancer therapies that are fast-tracked through development and target cancers that don’t respond well to existing treatments.

Cumulus secured a £1.7 million investment round led by Eos Advisory last July and in September founded its first spin-out, Modulus Oncology, alongside the University of Sheffield.