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Vice President, Rare Neuroscience & Discovery Biology

Employer
Pfizer
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Jun 21, 2021

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Discipline
Life Sciences, Biology, Neuroscience
Position Type
Full Time
Job Type
President/CEO/Director/VP
Organization Type
All Industry, Pharma
Pfizer's Rare Disease Research Unit (RDRU) is focused on delivering therapies that fundamentally transform what it means to live with a rare disease. The Vice President (VP) of Rare Neuroscience and Discovery Biology will report to the RDRU Chief Scientific Officer. She/he will lead and manage a group of ~30 scientists to identify and develop transformational therapies for rare diseases with high unmet need. As a senior scientific leader, and member of the RDRU Leadership Team (RDRU-LT), the VP of Rare Neuroscience & Discovery Biology will serve to drive innovation and scientific excellence and make meaningful contributions to the ideation and progression of the RDRU R&D pipeline. He/she will work to ensure that the RDRU's portfolio is robust, and sustainable and leverages breaking scientific innovations that can address global health demands related to rare neurological and neuromuscular diseases as well as areas of future interest. The VP will leverage their significant expertise as well as internal and external partners to develop therapeutic solutions from discovery to early clinical development. Demonstrated expertise in multiple therapeutic modalities as drug candidates, translational research in rare diseases and delivery of clinical candidates for development is desirable.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Scientific Portfolio :
  • As a member of the RDRU-LT, set priorities that are aligned with the strategic direction of the Rare Disease Category's Leadership to grow the rare disease portfolio at Pfizer.
  • Lead and manage a group of ~30 scientists responsible for conceiving and developing new therapeutic concepts, using an armament of modalities, and translational research to advance the concepts toward clinical testing.
  • Partner closely with members of the RDRU to identify, implement and leverage expertise to progress new projects.
  • Collaborate with various Pfizer partner line in integrated drug discovery and development, especially Medicinal Design, Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism, Drug Safety, Regulatory, Clinical Research and Early Clinical Development to develop therapeutic strategies and generate translational pre-clinical packages for clinical candidates.
  • Ensure that the scientific strategy for each drug discovery project is rigorous, aligned with RDRU and Pfizer corporate goals and is effectively executed to meet demanding timelines.
  • Influence the global external environment through thought leadership, external visibility (speaking engagements, scientific meetings) and active engagement with key opinion leaders.
  • Build upon Pfizer's leadership in rare diseases through publication of peer-reviewed research articles, patent filings and speaking engagements at national and international conferences.
  • Develop a collaborative and productive environment between Pfizer's RDRU with external business partners and the academic biomedical research community.
  • Management :
  • Ensure all activities executed comply with legal and regulatory requirements and with Pfizer corporate policies.
  • Ensure projects are adequately resourced and prioritized to deliver on objectives.
  • Build an "intelligence" capability and external network of biomedical research collaborations and advisors to identify potential opportunities.
  • Eliminate barriers and silos that inhibit collaboration across departments and partner line functions.
  • Foster a culture of open collaboration, communication and transparency.
  • Work closely with your team, and across the RDRU, to mentor and develop our scientists to be leaders in their disciplines.
  • Communication :
  • Effectively communicate and articulate the RDRU's vision and strategy to stakeholders; regularly report on portfolio progress.
  • Inspire, model and reinforce colleague expectations of urgently creating value at an appropriate return on investment. Apply innovative, rigorous science to discovering new medicines, of individual & collective accountability for value creation, and of continuously improving organizational effectiveness.
  • Serve as a role model to Pfizer colleagues by maintaining the highest standards of scientific rigor and ethical principles. Nurture a culture that promotes challenging and respectful interactions among Pfizer colleagues and their external consultants and collaborators.
  • Create an organization of colleagues within the RDRU that have the quality of scientific leadership and external recognition to generate competitive advantage in attracting the best talent and collaborators.
  • Engender a high level of engagement across both direct and indirect lines.
  • Attract and grow highly effective scientists and drug discoverers. Nurture a culture that translates breaking biological science into new medicines that are differentiated from the competition.
  • Effectively, rigorously and accurately review and develop talent. Proactively address development needs and make difficult decisions when appropriate.


QUALIFICATIONS

Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.

Training & Education Required :
  • M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D.
  • Deep working knowledge of the biology of rare neurological and neuromuscular diseases and drug development
  • Experienced leadership and management skills


Prior Experience Preferred :
  • 15+ years of experience in translational or clinical research
  • Demonstrated breadth of expertise and innovative record of research in a relevant therapeutic area; recognized leadership in the scientific and/or clinical community.
  • Established record of delivering quality drug candidates
  • Has a national and international scientific reputation
  • Demonstrated track record of high impact publications
  • Record of team leadership including change management experience
  • Entrepreneurial mindset


Technical Competencies :
  • Scientific leader in a relevant field as demonstrated by external recognition and reputation (e.g. publications, editorial appointments and podium presentations at top level scientific meetings)
  • A compelling and inspiring leadership style with a sharp scientific mind, who combines broad knowledge and understanding of biological systems. A world-class leader in his/her field of biomedical research.
  • Decision making and problem-solving profile that enables marrying emerging science with unmet medical need to identify potential breakthrough medicines. Uses experience to build a sustainable pipeline of internal and external drug candidates. Adept at distinguishing the relevance of information inputs to decision making process.
  • Combines knowledge from multiple sources to generate novel and high impact ideas. Drives conversations to root cause/question, asks insightful and probing questions and gets to the next steps effectively.
  • Strategically and rigorously assess projects considering the overall pipeline strategy, RDRU/corporate goals and quickly and decisively advances or terminates projects.
  • Disaggregates complex problems to facilitate problem solving.
  • Business "mindset". An individual that teases out and understands risks inherent in drug discovery and makes decisions appropriate to opportunity and investment required.
  • Thinks creatively, connecting seemingly unrelated data, information, perspectives etc, at people, scientific and business levels to develop program strategy.


ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
  • Influence the global external environment through thought leadership, external visibility and active engagement with key opinion leaders.
  • Build upon Pfizer's leadership in rare diseases through publication of peer-reviewed research articles, patent filings and speaking engagements at national and international conferences.
  • Foster a collaborative and productive environment between Pfizer RDRU and academic biomedical researchers.
  • Develop relationships with partner lines (BMD, PharmSci, others) to leverage resources to advance pipeline


NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS

Some business travel required.

OTHER JOB DETAILS:
  • Eligible for Relocation Package
  • Eligible for Employee Referral Bonus


Sunshine Act

Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider's name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.

EEO & Employment Eligibility

Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer.

Research and Development

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