The Purse Podcast

Julia Angeles joined Baillie Gifford in 2008 and is the Portfolio Manager of the Health Innovation Strategy. 

Prior to Baillie Gifford, Julia worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co advising firms in Denmark, Russia and Hungary. Since joining Baillie Gifford Julia has worked on a number of regional and global investment strategies. Julia has a passion for the transformation taking place in healthcare, and it was this passion which led to the establishment of the strategy. 

She believes that over the next 10 years healthcare systems around the world will experience a monumental change and we will witness a move away from reactive medicine to a world where prevention and cure will become an integral part of healthcare driven by technology. 

Julia is also a member of the International Growth portfolio construction group.

Julia obtained a BSc, MSc and PhD in Economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark and speaks fluent Russian and Danish.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• How do you define biotech and healthcare?
• How are we on the cusp of a revolution in healthcare?
• Moderna Inc: investing in the biotech firm which developed the first COVID-19 vaccine.
• How do you think about the companies you invest in and what is the key criteria you use?
• Why do you identify disruptive businesses in the healthcare sector and why is this important?
• Being part of an all-female team, how might your approach in how you invest differ (to say an all-male team of fund managers in the same industry)?
• As more women lead investment funds and drive investing decisions at the institutional level, how do you think this will shape the market on a global scale?
• 'The nature of asymmetry is such that investment returns are driven by a few big winners...The main constraint to us appreciating that potential is our imagination': can you elaborate what you mean by that?
• What would you advise women who want to become investors?