Karla Sanchez

Dr Karla Sanchez is Head of CNS Technology at Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP), bringing over 20 years of experience in biomedical engineering, medical device development and translational research, with a specialist focus on brain research and CNS drug delivery since 2009.

Karla leads CDP’s CNS technology development, working at the intersection of science, engineering and clinical application to address complex drug delivery challenges. Collaborating with pharmaceutical and academic partners, she focuses on translating scientific innovation into practical, evidence-led solutions, spanning conventional delivery approaches and emerging routes that bypass the blood-brain barrier.

Karla holds a PhD from Imperial College London, where her research into cerebral circulation and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) distribution was nominated for a Best Thesis Award. Her expertise in brain physiology, computational modelling and medical device engineering underpins her systems-level approach to CNS drug delivery.

She has a growing interest in the potential of artificial intelligence to transform CNS drug discovery and development, particularly in predicting drug delivery and distribution within the brain.

Alongside her role at CDP, Karla holds an honorary position at Imperial College London, where she continues her brain research and delivers an annual lecture on medical devices.