Global Translational Medicine is conducting a global search for 5 senior level Therapeutic Area Head (TAH) leaders into the Biomarker Development (BMD) group. This is an exciting newly created leadership role and a key member of, and accountable to, one or more Disease Area Decision Boards (DADB) which drive the discovery and development of innovative new drug candidates through proof of clinical concept. This position leads efforts to identify, develop, and drive disease, mechanistic biology and precision medicine approaches for the disease area portfolio leveraging biomarker and technology strategies. The BMD TAH is accountable to the BMD line function leadership team for development and implementation of "fit for purpose" biomarker strategies and providing an effective interface for advancing projects through later stage Development. The BMD TAH leads, through matrix reporting, a dedicated BMD line function subject matter expert (SME) team and a group of TA Biomarker Experts (BME) to advance a broad portfolio of projects. Translational Medicine
Translational Medicine is a global team of physician-scientists and researchers specializing in integrating findings from early drug discovery projects with their own deep knowledge of disease pathways and unmet medical needs. They offer insights on where a novel therapy might have the highest impact on diseases and what research needs to be done prior to clinical testing.
The group has adopted an open and flexible approach to maximize impact on projects. Rather than committing a candidate to one disease area early on, they carry out studies in multiple small, focused patient populations. They then follow the science to identify patient groups who show the most promising therapeutic response. Often this leads to the exploration of rare diseases that are genetically well defined and have few effective treatment options.

"We're not wedded to, nor are we held down by, our disease focus areas, so we can really concentrate on capturing emerging science and driving it towards addressing unmet needs."
Evan Beckman, Global Head of Translational Medicine, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research

The Biomarker Development (BMD) group works in close partnership with Novartis and external translational biologists, physicians and project teams to develop precision medicines such that the right patients get the right dose of the right medicine at the right time. Through its world class people and high performing culture, BMD delivers fit for purpose integrated biomarker plans leveraging diverse expertise and knowledge in genetics, genomics, imaging, protein and cellular biology, digital devices, human tissue research, and state of the art data sciences. Our innovative spirit enables the development and application of cutting-edge technologies which address key clinical questions across many disease area strategies. Our high quality methods and data are critical in clinical development to define disease stage or progression, predict the safety or efficacy of medication, select a group of patients who would benefit most from a given therapy, and identify additional clinical indications suitable for a drug, across all indications outside of Oncology. BMD comprises a global group of ~110 associates in Basel Switzerland, Cambridge Massachusetts, East Hanover New Jersey and Shanghai, China.
Successful candidates will be hired in either the US (Cambridge) or Europe (Basel, Switzerland). 

Each selected BMD Head will be accountable for a specific Therapeutic Area based in the following locations:
Autoimmunity Transplantation and Immunology (ATI): Basel
Musculoskeletal/Neuroscience (MSD/NS): Basel or Cambridge
Cardiovascular Metabolism (CVM): Cambridge
Disease Area X/Infectious Diseases (DAx/ID): Cambridge
Ophthalmology/Respiratory (OPH/Resp): Cambridge: 

Learn more about each Disease Area: https://www.novartis.com/our-
science/research-disease-areas

Major Accountabilities:

Key member of one or more DADBs leading efforts to identify, develop, and drive disease, mechanistic biology, translational pharmacology and precision medicine approaches for the portfolio, leveraging biomarker and technology strategies.
Leads a matrixed TA BMD Line Function SME team to develop and oversee clinical project strategies, plans and timelines. Partners with BMD LT to proactively assign (including self) BMEs and align with BMD LF unit strategies and resources.
Provides thought leadership, partners with other BMD TAHs to identify synergies, leads TA initiatives (internal and external consortium) and drives innovation across biomarker/clinical study designs, endpoints, diagnostics and strategies.
Coaches, mentors and provides performance feedback for multiple BMD LF SMEs, BMEs and more junior BMD TAHs.