industrial careers expo dr heather bryson 10 october 2012 university of sheffield

Industrial Careers Expo

Dr Heather Bryson

10 October 2012

University of Sheffield

Project Leader, Director

• Key Deliverables

- Lead R&D projects from Lead Optimisation Investment Decision to End of Phase 2 Development• Responsible for project strategy, TPP and delivery• Ensuring alignment with the project strategy to the disease area strategy• Interfacing and positioning of project within the broader business context• Pro-active in cross project and disease area learnings• Ensure appropriate resourcing of international project teams

- Seek and apply best practices in processes, data analysis, and decision-making in the project team

- Ensure that assets of the project are developed, managed and protected- Ensure that the project team is appropriately resourced; ensure resources from

functions are managed effectively in the project team- Ensure that there are robust processes, plans and data to enable Governance

Bodies to make investment decisions and prioritise projects across the portfolio - Accountable for the delivery of project according to quality, time, budgets and

resources

New Opportunities iMED, AstraZeneca

2 H Bryson | 12 Oct 2012


• Culture- Create a vibrant, entrepreneurial and externally facing team focused on the

delivery of successful PoCs that supports courageous leadership, innovation and collaboration, such that the Project team is open to challenge, new ideas, innovative ways of working, and where continuous learning and improvements are driven

- Collaboration to embed best practice • Talent Management & Development

- Provide feedback and coaching to deployed reports and mentor key talent in the organization

• Contributions:

- Support development of a winning disease area strategy, driving portfolio value- Share responsibility for iMed DA strategy, and the delivery of successful

POP/POC, demonstrating therapeutic relevance, with high probability of successful market access and delivery of valuable new medicines

New Opportunities iMED, AstraZeneca



A Day in the Life.....



• Finalization of slides for presentation to leadership team (Project A)• Agree strategy and items for endorsement

• Review of development strategy with Project Team (Project B)• Recommendation to progress lead CD vs. back-up

- Meet with clinical team (Project C) for ongoing study recruitment update- Cross iMED meeting - repositioning assets & DA strategy

• Parallel development strategy; target indications & benefit:risk assessment

- Review and discussion of external opportunity• Development of business case – TPP and financials

- 1:1 Project Team interactions• Project updates; issues to be addressed

- External KOL discussion (Project D)• Scientific rationale and potential clinical development plan

- Inevitable late call from US colleagues….change in strategy/additional development options for consideration (Project A)• Re-visit leadership team presentation…..

A Day in the Life.....



• Education • Advanced degree in life sciences, MD and/or PhD or equivalent • Experience• 5-10 years of work experience in discovery or development settings• Experience of working with projects in discovery and development setting• Experience of decision making and leadership in a

cross-disciplinary/functional, cross-cultural environment • Experience in either science, clinical or drug development • Awareness of scientific as well as commercial/payer, regulatory and broader

strategic aspects • Practical experience in working on teams in the discovery and development

settings• Strong project management expertise• Proven leadership skills in managing projects

Minimum Requirements – Education and Experience



• Passion for Customers- Manage multiple customer needs- Apply long-term customer insight

• Think Strategically- Develop appropriate plans

• Act Decisively

- Create clarity for others to make decisions and demonstrate courage to support decisions

• Drive Performance

- Anticipate and remove obstacles for others- Generate step change in performance of team

• Work Collaboratively

- Create shared purpose across boundaries- Address blockers to effective collaboration

• Develop People and Organisation

- Build organisational capability

Skills and Capabilities


Ph.D. Research

• Strategic thinking- Plans to address a scientific question- PhD research proposal

• Spoken and Written Communication- Scientific presentations and publications

• Decision Making

• Time management and prioritisation

• Global network- Collaborations/interactions

• Review and interpretation of scientific literature

• Analytical skills

• Requirement for innovation due to limited funds available

• Review of options (pros and cons/ answering key questions)

Skills & Capabilities


Pharmaceutical Career vs. Academic Research

• Potential to develop broader expertise- Application of knowledge and skills to broader areas

• Unmet medical need & interesting science vs. real; world hurdles- Appreciation of regulatory, pricing and reimbursement environments driving

business decisions

• Limited chance of seeing development through to market

• Changes in DA strategy with impact on projects/targets- Managing upwards/securing resource/changing the paradigm

• Limited funding – pharmaceutical and academic

• Broader network of expertise

• Increased scope for change to career path

Pros and Cons


Career Path & Career Progression• Wide range of career paths/options available- Bench scientist vs office environment

• “Virtual” working model….

- Clinical Operations- CRA- Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Metabolism & PharmacoKinetics- Project Management- Project Leadership- Bioanalytics- Regulatory- Commercial- Sales and Marketing- Payer Evidence- Safety Assessment- Pharmacovigilance- Translational Science- PHC

…..to name a few


SB/GSK – Clinical Development Director (10 yrs)Eisai – Clinical Development Director (1 yr)AstraZeneca – Director, Project Leader (3 yrs)


Confidentiality Notice This file is private and may contain confidential and proprietary information. If you have received this file in error, please notify us and remove it from your system and note that you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of the contents of this file is not permitted and may be unlawful. AstraZeneca PLC, 2 Kingdom Street, London, W2 6BD, UK, T: +44(0)20 7604 8000, F: +44 (0)20 7604 8151, www.astrazeneca.com

industrial careers expo dr heather bryson 10 october 2012 university of sheffield

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