Executive Director, Multiple Myeloma Disease Head Translational Medicine

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: Executive Director, Multiple Myeloma Disease Head Translational Medicine

Hiring Manager: VP, Hematology Translational Medicine

Location: Summit West, New Jersey or Cambridge MA

Prerequisites: PhD or MD and 12-15 years or more pharmaceutical industry experience or relevant academia experience

Context:

Bristol Myers Squibb is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. BMS R&D is at a critical and exciting phase of development. As it expands and integrates its portfolio, there is an opportunity for a dynamic and resourceful individual to lead our efforts in Translational Medicine at our site in Summit, New Jersey or Cambridge, MA.

Translational Medicine at BMS

Translational Medicine is part of the Global Research and Early Development organization in BMS and leads early stage clinical, pharmacological and translational research and development activities for the pipeline and supports late-stage portfolio for regulatory, translational development and life cycle management. The Heme Translational Medicine Disease Team (TMDT) is a late translational group that supports multiple disease areas of interest including Myeloma, Myeloid, Lymphoma, Erythroid disorders, and other hematological malignancies. This group integrates scientific and business insights of multiple functions and leads the development of translational strategies at the franchise level and implements them in project teams to maximize the potential of BMS drugs.

Summary:

Reporting to the VP, Hematology Translational Medicine, the incumbent will be part of the translational group based in either Cambridge, MA or Summit, NJ and will help develop translational disease and asset strategies in Multiple Myeloma disease areas for assigned programs for approval or life-cycle management of the BMS pipeline. Key responsibility of this role is to lead the Myeloma disease team consisting of a cross functional team of asset and disease scientists with deep disease, drug development and business knowledge for overall translational strategy working closely with discovery and early development teams, late clinical development as well as with a hematology laboratory group.

Technical Skills:

• In-depth understanding of Oncology or Hematological cancers, especially Multiple Myeloma, clinical landscape, evolving therapy, competitive landscape

• Strong understanding of clinical, translational and mechanistic data with therapeutics development

• Strong background in genetics, cancer biology and/or immunology

• Strong background in strategy development preferably in hematology

• Understanding of late-stage drug and translational development process

• Proven track record of drug submissions, approvals, regulatory interactions and label negotiations

• Proven ability to work with global disease teams to develop strategies to support life cycle management efforts tailored to regional markets (i.e., US, EU, CAN)

• Strong verbal and written communication skills with experience in developing written documents such as primary manuscripts/publications/reviews, disease strategies, mechanism slides, regulatory submissions, strategic communications, literature/market/pt segment analyses

• Proven scientific/project leadership expertise (working in teams, managing people/projects)

• Ability to synthesize complex scientific and business problems into strategy and tactics

• Basic understanding of IP, contracting terms and provisions

Responsibilities:

• In coordination with the Head and director of strategy and execution, builds disease area specific long term translational strategy and implementation across portfolio

• Leads the development of disease, portfolio, or asset specific translational annual goals and objectives for the Heme TMDT (for internal /external, translational collaboration, compound specific plans etc), open research questions, and is accountable for their progress monitoring in association with Heme TMDT asset and disease scientists

• Assists in developing and maintaining group budget and workforce plan

• Represents Translational Medicine (TM) in cross-functional Strategy and Global Project Teams

• Interfaces with commercial including early commercialization group and Medical Affairs to provide scientific support for cross-functional TM goals

• Assists in managing key strategic and/or collaborative projects along with TM scientists

• Supports regulatory submissions, regulatory interactions, writes translational sections for regulatory response and answers to regulatory queries for the TM group

• Communicates regularly and prepares and makes presentations within the department and externally as required

• Participates in translational research with the Heme TMDT Lab

• Oversees genomic analyses from human clinical samples, cell screens (ie, for resistance mechanisms, PD, biomarkers) and clinical trial support (defined clinical experiments from the development teams). This includes development of high dimensional bioinformatics in collaboration with the Informatics and Predictive Sciences group

• Responsible for delivery of Clinical PD or Biomarker assays, translated from discovery (if applicable or appropriate) or developed specifically for early clinical use, assessing feasibility and applicability for companion diagnostics

• Application of model systems (in collaboration with the disease biology and in vivo pharmacology groups) beyond those routinely employed by discovery teams that aid in patient stratification/response and compound use, either in-house or as a collaboration

• Participates in formulating disease area strategy for target selection and validation

• Evaluating, in conjunction with BD and established teams, the potential for in-licensing opportunities that may include potential therapeutics, emerging technologies, processes or capabilities that will enhance our Drug Discovery and Early Development efforts

• Be part of the team responsible for establishing key alliances with academic centers, co-operative groups and government agencies for cost effective implementation of BMS early and late development strategy

• May perform advisory and mentoring role for junior scientists

• Supports MRD efforts across Multiple Myeloma

• Liaises with key BMS Research and Early Development thematic centers of excellence to help formulate and execute on new hypotheses driving new clinical biomarker assays for unmet need segments, disease strategy for new targets and development candidates and ensure seamless transition of patient selection strategies beyond Phase 1

• Serves as translational representative on BMS cross functional Disease Strategy Team and interfaces with commercial, clinical, Project leadership and regulatory teams to define patient segments of unmet need based on rapidly evolving clinical programs and commercial landscape

• Leads small and large collaborations with academia and industry partners to identify biobanks, clinical trials and existing databases to collate multi-parameter genomic and clinical datasets to mine for novel biomarkers of unmet need patients in conjunction with computational biologists, data scientists and statisticians

Qualifications:

• MD/PhD in Hematology/Oncology or related field with minimum 12-15 years in industry or industry plus academic setting or relevant academia experience

• Track record in large and small companies, leading innovative efforts to deploy technologies and assays for enhanced translational capabilities

• Excellent communication, managerial and scientific qualities are expected

• Ability to interact effectively across boundaries using influencing and relationship building skills.

• Competence in analysis and solving of problems, and the ability to prioritize and make tradeoffs to achieve goals.

Other Attributes:

• A problem solver who creatively and knowledgably transcends departmental function to act as a resource to entire research effort and senior managers in development.

• Identifies issues early and proposes innovative solutions.

• Communicates within the larger organization and external community.

• Provides expert guidance to multi-disciplinary teams and senior management.

• A leader whose scope of influence stretches across BMS.

• A leader who influences external scientific community.

• Expertise in the integration of preclinical research and clinical drug development

• Ability to lead basic research programs as well as development and execution of clinical correlative science strategies

• Management experience with the ability to set priorities, direct projects and implement complex strategies and work on cross-functional teams

• Highly effective teamwork and interpersonal skills and the ability to work across numerous scientific disciplines

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.

Physical presence at the BMS worksite or physical presence in the field is an essential job function of this role which the Company deems critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, employee well-being and engagement, and enhances the Company culture.

To protect the safety of our workforce, customers, patients and communities, the policy of the Company requires all employees and workers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have received an exception based on an approved request for a medical or religious reasonable accommodation. Therefore, all BMS applicants seeking a role located in the U.S. and Puerto Rico must confirm that they have already received or are willing to receive the full COVID-19 vaccination by their start date as a qualification of the role and condition of employment. This requirement is subject to state and local law restrictions and may not be applicable to employees working in certain jurisdictions such as Montana. This requirement is also subject to discussions with collective bargaining representatives in the U.S.

Our company is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request an approval of accommodation prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application or if you are applying to a role based in the U.S. or Puerto Rico and you believe that you are unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief, during or any part of the recruitment process, please direct your inquiries to adastaffingsupport@bms.com. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

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