Dr Luisa Freitas Dos Santos CBE FREng 

Dr Luisa Freitas Dos Santos currently serves as SVP, Global Head of Clinical Manufacturing and Supply Chain at GSK and gained wide recognition for maintaining and scaling clinical supply during the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Originally from Porto, Portugal, Luisa began her academic career in bioprocess engineering. Her engineering degree included a placement at Unilever in the Netherlands which marked her first introduction to industrial R&D applications at scale.   

Luisa moved to Imperial College London, where she completed a PhD and post-doctoral research programme in chemical engineering;  her research focused on novel bioreactor design for complex environmental applications. That work led her to co‑found a spin‑out company, giving her substantial experience in technology development and transfer. 

Luisa began her pharmaceutical industry career when she joined GSK in 1997 as Process Engineering Manager, Chemical Development. She quickly rose through GSK’s R&D organisation eventually taking the lead across all clinical manufacturing and supply chain activities. Over her tenure she has driven the integration of bio- and chemical engineering, pharmaceutical and digital technologies, delivering substantial improvements in clinical manufacturing and trial execution, and contributing to the development and approval of numerous medicines and vaccines now impacting millions of patients globally. Today, Luisa manages millions of pounds in R&D activity and oversees a global team of over 800 multidisciplinary experts responsible for clinical manufacturing and supply across GSK’s medicines and vaccines portfolio. 

An outspoken advocate for innovation and entrepreneurship, Luisa is passionate about strengthening the connection between engineering and the life sciences, improving diversity and inclusion, and inspiring the next generation of engineers through outreach. She is a chartered engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2019 and was honoured with a CBE in the 2026 New Year honours list for service to pharmaceutical engineering.