Prof Arkenau is currently serving as Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Drug Development at Ellipses Pharma and is a highly-respected Consultant Medical Oncologist, practising at several HCA locations alongside his honorary appointment at University College London. Prior to joining industry, Prof Arkenau was Executive Medical Director of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute where he led the development of multiple new cancer drugs ranging from small molecules to complex immunotherapies. As a skilled physician, he has a deep knowledge in early oncology drug development and a wide range of experience in many different tumour types. Prof Arkenau has been involved in more than 300 oncology clinical trials and contributed to multiple successful regulatory approvals of novel cancer drugs ranging from small molecules to immunotherapies.

He was awarded his medical degree from Hanover Medical School in Germany in 2000. After this, he completed specialist training in oncology across several centres of excellence including the Royal Marsden Hospital/ICR. He was given a Fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians and is highly regarded for his research contributions in the field of Gastrointestinal Cancers, Drug Development and Immunotherapy.

He has published countless peer-reviewed articles and book chapters over the course of his career, and regularly presents at international conferences such as ASCO, ESMO and AACR.