Director, Translational Medicine - Oncology, San Francisco, California

At Bristol Myers Squibb, we are inspired by a single vision - transforming patients' lives through science.In oncology, hematology, immunology and cardiovascular disease - and one of the most diverse and promising pipelines in the industry - each of our passionate colleagues contribute to innovations that drive meaningful change. We bring a human touch to every treatment we pioneer. Join us and make a difference.

POSITION Director

SUPERVISOR Daniel Pierce, Executive Director, Translational Development

DEPARTMENT Oncogenesis Therapeutic Research Center

PREREQUISITES

Ph.D. in a relevant field (Biology, Computational Biology, Biochemistry) with at least 15 years of relevant work experience, required. Pharmaceutical industry experience with clinical-stage programs is strongly preferred.

Direct Reports Yes

Bristol Myers Squibb Research and Development

The Oncogenesis Thematic Research Center at BMSis one of the fundamental research and early development engines delivering oncology therapeutics to patients. The Oncogenesis TRC has a major focus of exploiting BMS' expertise in protein degradation to discover and develop therapies aimed at tumor intrinsic vulnerabilities and mechanisms of resistance to existing cancer therapeutics. This focus on protein degradation allows us to attack protein classes that were previously deemed undruggable. The group integrates discovery research through translational and early clinical development and exploits state-of-the-art in vitro, in vivo and ex-vivo models of cancer biology to identify and validate targets and partners closely with colleagues in Translational Development, Informatics and Predictive Sciences and Early Clinical Development to generate biomarker and patient enrichment hypotheses to enable efficient decision making in early clinical trials.

Summary/Scope

The Oncogenesis Therapeutic Research Center is seeking a senior translational leader with experience and a successful track record in defining and implementing preclinical and clinical translational research programs for novel agents entering clinical development, and executing these strategies in first-in-human and other early-stage clinical trials. Scientific depth and expertise in cancer biology and direct experience with clinical-stage correlative and translational support for novel agents are required. This individual will play a leadership role in program strategy supporting dose and schedule, indication selection, patient selection, combinations, and PD samples and endpoints to inform and enable development of novel agents. This is a management role with group leadership responsibility and potential for increasing organizational responsibility.

This role will focus on agents targeting protein stability and function. Significant experience evaluating and applying technologies in genome, transcriptome, and proteome characterization to clinical samples, and demonstrated success in deriving novel biological information and insight into clinical outcomes from the resulting data, is required.

The position will require an individual with established scientific leadership ability and excellent communication and collaboration skills, and the ability to influence both inside and outside of Bristol Myers Squibb. A component of the role is identifying and leading key academic collaborations and CRO-based research, and managing these efforts to deliver impactful data. As a leader of integrated discovery research and early development teams, this role will also involve collaboration with all essential functions (e.g. discovery biology and chemistry, toxicology, formulations, medical leads, computational biologists, and project management and leadership).

A keen interest in the emerging biology and therapeutic potential of regulated protein turnover and stability will be helpful. We are particularly interested to hear from individuals with deep knowledge and skills in genetic and protein interaction networks and pathway dependencies. In particular, a knowledge of protein homeostasis pathways relevant to oncology would be helpful.

This position will report to the overall translational leader of the Oncogenesis Therapeutic Center, and will be located in San Francisco, California.

Key Responsibilities

• Translational science leader and manager in the context of early-phase clinical trials
• Provide scientific leadership and management on cross-site and cross-functional teams
• Lead group of translational scientists whose activities span cell-based, in vivo, and clinical trial assays, samples, and data
• Manage (directly and via direct and indirect reports) the selection, validation, and deployment of novel clinical-stage assay methods and analysis of data to accelerate development and provide insight into disease biology and drug mechanisms
• Design and interpret experiments to define dose-schedules, patient selection markers and other biomarker readouts, combination strategies and pathways of drug resistance for oncology programs
• Design and oversee execution of experiments to test hypotheses from clinical observations in preclinical model systems
• Present key data at governance committees, internal forums, and external meetings
• Author and oversee writing of study reports, patents, and peer-reviewed publications. Presentation of methods, results and conclusions to publishable standards
• Lead the identification, planning and execution of collaborative projects with leading academic and commercial research groups worldwide.
• Management and hiring responsibility for translational scientists including direct and indirect reports up to the Sr. Principal Scientist/ Associate Director level.
• Translational consultant and expert resource for programs within and also outside the Protein Homeostasis portfolio
• Supervise contract research organizations to achieve high standards of productivity and quality.
• Manage projects to successful outcomes through scientific leadership, teamwork and influence, and direct reporting relationships
• Mentor research staff through instruction, coaching, and guidance
• Work across geographies and scientific domains

Skills/Knowledge Required :

• Recognized expert in clinical translational studies including sampling, analysis, and interpretation of multiple data types including NGS/ omic data
• Experienced translational leader able to define program priorities, resources, and strategies
• Experienced and successful manager able to build and motivate teams, define goals and objectives, provide guidance and mentorship, negotiate conflicts, and optimize deployment of team resources to achieve objectives
• Comprehensive knowledge of cancer biology and drug development
• Proven ability to derive novel insights from complex data
• Ability to interpret and summarize scientific data in an accurate, critical and concise manner
• Strong understanding, derived from direct participation, of the design and execution of clinical trials incorporating translational science and correlative endpoints
• Expertise in biomarker discovery and development, with advanced skills in assay design, development, validation, and troubleshooting
• Experienced in the integration of preclinical research through to clinical drug development
• Highly effective teamwork and interpersonal skills
• Exceptional written and verbal communications skills.
• Functional group advisor/go-to person.
• Able to assess risk & develop contingency plans.
• Serves as subject matter expert and functional group advisor on science, technology, methods, etc.
• Familiar with basic business principles and focus of corporation.

Around the world, we are passionate about making an impact on the lives of patients with serious diseases. Empowered to apply our individual talents and diverse perspectives in an inclusive culture, our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives.