Investing in the Fight Against Cancer: Impact Beyond Returns

In a world shaped by demographic ageing, rapid scientific progress, and rising healthcare needs, oncology stands out as one of the most impactful long-term investment themes. In this session, Linden Thomson will share her personal career journey as one of the early women in biotech investing, reflecting on leadership, diversity, and the challenges she faced in building a career in a competitive, male-dominated sector. She will also discuss how thematic investing in healthcare, particularly oncology, can generate sustainable financial returns while driving meaningful societal progress, illustrating how investment capital can accelerate medical advances that support early detection, enable personalised medicine, and improve patient outcomes.

Candriam further amplifies this impact by donating 10% of management fees from oncology investments to cancer foundations across the countries where investors are based, turning capital into tangible societal benefit.

Biography

Linden Thomson is a Portfolio Manager at Candriam, specialising in biotechnology and oncology. She began her career in the medical field, earning a BSc (Hons) in Medical Microbiology from the University of Edinburgh, before transitioning into asset management, where she became one of the few early movers in healthcare and biotechnology investing. Starting at Goldman Sachs in 2003, she built deep expertise in healthcare, later joining a biotech hedge fund at start-up stage, and then AXA Investment Managers, where she was Lead Manager of the Framlington Biotech fund, Head of the Healthcare Franchise, and member of the UK Executive Committee.

With over 20 years of experience bridging science and investment, Linden’s journey demonstrates how curiosity, perseverance, and cross-disciplinary skills opened unique opportunities to shape her career at the intersection of science, finance, and impact investing.