Full-Time
Associate Director
Strategic Sourcing, Power Plant
Posted on 11/5/2025
University of Massachusetts Medical School
5,001-10,000 employees
Public academic health center educating, researching.
No salary listed
Worcester, MA, USA
In Person
 Operations & Logistics (1) |
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- Requires a bachelor’s degree discipline with a minimum 5 years of relevant experience or equivalent, including management experience.
- PeopleSoft experience preferred.
- Experience in working with inventory management systems, inventory and manufacturing experience required.
- Prior experience of working successfully in a supervisory/management role required. Demonstrated success in managing staff performance.
- Excellent critical thinking, time management and organizational skills. Demonstrated ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and consistently meet deadlines.
- Possesses strong attention to detail, ability to maintain accurate records and excellent proofreading skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to communicate effectively with others internally (up, down, and laterally) and externally to the organization.
- Requires ability to work flexible and, at times, extended hours to meet the business needs.
- Partners with vendors and suppliers to provide existing & planned purchase commitments that support the operations of the Power Plant to maintain operating budget compliance.
- Supports the drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and managing agreements with suppliers. Including master service agreements, statements of work, amendments, and the review, preparation, & analysis of requests for proposals (RFPs).
- Manages a portfolio of supplier agreements, while maintaining supplier relations and adhering to UPST policies and guidelines; including negotiating price discounts on proposed volume and monitoring supplier performance to ensure products are of appropriate quality and delivered in timely manner.
- Leads the activities related to supplier contracts & procurement, while supporting finance in inventory control & management efforts.
- Responsible for the Power Plant inventory month end related close process and related activities.
- Identifies and evaluates fundamental areas for improvement to support efforts of streamlining operations and improving reporting to senior leadership. Directs development and implementation of appropriate value-added new systems and policies.
- Develops and maintains strategic relationships within UMass Chan Medical School to maximize system efficiencies.
- Maintains effective communication and relationships internally and externally on behalf of UMass Chan Medical School.
- Maintains up to date knowledge of industry trends and best practices.
- Provides technical guidance to department personnel.
- Performs additional job-related duties as required.
UMass Chan Medical School operates as a public academic health sciences center that trains healthcare professionals, conducts biomedical research, and provides consulting services to government and nonprofit agencies. Through its MassBiologics division, it functions as the only nonprofit, FDA-licensed manufacturer in the U.S. to develop and produce vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. This integration of a graduate school with a large-scale manufacturing facility allows the institution to move medical discoveries directly from the lab to public production. The organization's goal is to advance medicine and improve community health by combining education, clinical trials, and specialized care management.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$182.6M
Headquarters
Worcester, Massachusetts
Founded
1962
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Diversified pipeline: melanoma tRNA research, Down syndrome studies, ALS funding strengthen portfolio.
- First-gen pathway program with Framingham State expands market access and workforce diversity.
- $350M campus completion and $35M DiMare donation enable infrastructure for research scaling.
What critics are saying
- Federal NIH funding collapse eliminates $94M anticipated grants; hiring freeze ongoing.
- Leadership transition during severe financial stress increases execution risk through 2027.
- Commercialization delays: TNX-4800 and gene therapy trials pushed to H1-H2 2027.
What makes University of Massachusetts Medical School unique
- New chancellor McManus leads digital medicine and AI healthcare innovation with $140M NIH funding.
- Phase I Lyme disease monoclonal antibody shows four-month protection; Phase 2 launching 2027.
- Automated gene therapy manufacturing alliance targets affordable sickle cell disease treatment by 2027.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Company News
UMass Chan ranks 1st in Massachusetts for primary care education. By Tom Marino | April 7, 2026 Last Updated: April 7, 2026 WORCESTER - UMass Chan Medical School ranked first in Massachusetts for primary care education and second for research, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2026 Best Grad School Rankings. UMass Chan ranked ahead of the medical schools at Tufts, Boston University, and Harvard for primary care education and behind only Tufts for research. U.S. News ranked both UMass Chan and Tufts as tier two schools for both primary care education and research nationwide. Only 16 schools received tier one designation in both the primary care education and research categories. The Umass Chan Doctor of Nursing Practice program ranked 29th among 154 programs, while its PhD program ranked 55th among 159 doctoral programs in the biological sciences. This year, 61 students, or 35 percent of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine's graduating class, matched into residencies in primary care and related specialties. Those specialties include internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. Graduates of the class of 2026 are the first class to complete all four years of the school's Vista curriculum, which UMass Chan introduced in 2022. The curriculum includes a health system science pillar, biomedical and clinical science pillars, and incorporates health equity, diversity and inclusion, population and community health, and patient and provider wellness into students' studies.
Phase I study for human monoclonal antibody for Lyme disease demonstrates safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics. By Jim Fessenden March 31, 2026 A Phase I clinical trial of a human monoclonal antibody discovered and developed at UMass Chan Medical School for the prevention of Lyme disease in the U.S. was well tolerated and showed lasting serum concentrations in participants, according to data presented by Mark Klempner, MD, at the World Vaccine Congress 2026 in Washington D.C. TNX-4800 (formerly known as mAb 2217LS), a long-lasting borreliacidal (or bactericidal) was licensed to Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., a commercial biotechnology company in Berkeley Heights, N.J. An adaptive Phase 2 field study is expected to begin in the first half of 2027, pending FDA clearance. "Our study demonstrated potentially protective blood levels of TNX-4800 at two days, with protective blood levels sustained for at least four months due to its extended half-life design," said Dr. Klempner, professor of medicine. "Additionally, with its differentiated mechanism of action, TNX-4800 has the potential to provide passive immunity by directly supplying neutralizing antibodies, bypassing the need for a vaccine to induce a patient's immune system to generate its own antibodies, which can be associated with other issues. We look forward to further clinical investigation of TNX-4800 as we strive to overcome this major public health challenge." Lyme disease, the most common tick-born illness in the Northern hemisphere, is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, there are more than 450,000 cases annually in the U.S. That number is expected to rise as global changes in climate are expanding habitat range for ticks and other disease vectors. Typical symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system. While most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics, the only way to prevent infection is to avoid tick bites by using insect repellent and removing ticks promptly. "TNX-4800 is expected to provide a preventative option to the 87 million people in the United States who are at high risk of contracting the disease because they live, work or vacation in a tick-endemic area," said Seth Lederman, MD, chief executive officer of Tonix Pharmaceuticals. "As a monoclonal antibody, we believe TNX-4800 offers significant advantages over vaccines in development. Lyme disease vaccines that elicit antibodies to OspA [a protein found on the outer membrane of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease] currently in development take more than six months to offer protection and require complex immunization schedules. A previously approved anti-OspA vaccine was withdrawn due to poor uptake, potentially relating to its complex immunization schedule," said Dr. Lederman. Lyme is not caused by the tick directly. It is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi present in the gut of infected ticks. When an infected tick bites someone and begins to feed on their blood, Lyme-causing bacteria can slowly travel from the tick's gut to its salivary glands and then transfer to the site of the bite. TNX-4800 blocks the maturation of Borrelia burgdorferi in the mid-gut of infected deer ticks. This inactivates the bacteria in the tick before it ever reaches the skin at the site of the tick bite. Intended to be administered in the early spring before ticks are at their most active, TNX-4800 is expected to provide almost-immediate protection from Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria-caused Lyme disease. A single injection is designed to maintain protective antibody serum concentration, with expected duration of protection approximately four months, providing pre-exposure protection against Lyme without relying on the recipient's immune system to generate antibodies. The primary objective of the Phase 1 study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a subcutaneous injection of TNX-4800 when administered to healthy male and female subjects 19 to 65 years old. The secondary objective was to evaluate pharmacokinetics when administered to healthy subjects. A total of 44 subjects were enrolled in the study, with 41 completing it. Results showed no significant clinical or laboratory safety signals with most adverse events mild or moderate. Pending FDA clearance, Tonix plans to initiate a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, adaptive Phase 2 trial in the first half of 2027.
UMass Chan Medical School, Caring Cross and Trenchant BioSystems form collaborative research and development alliance to treat sickle cell disease (SCD) patients with gene-edited HSCs utilizing new cell processing technologies. March 30, 2026 Alliance focused on providing affordable, autologous cell and gene therapies (CGT) manufactured at Place-of-Care Worcester, MA, Gaithersburg, MD, San Diego, CA - The Department of Genetic & Cellular Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School, the academic department focused on advancing gene and cell therapies to treat rare inherited diseases, Caring Cross, which focuses on equal access to advanced medicines for all patients in need, and Trenchant BioSystems, the CGT manufacturing platform developer for gene-modified cells, today announce a collaborative research alliance for the development and manufacture of an accessible and commercially viable hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) manufacturing platform for diseases like SCD. The alliance combines Trenchant BioSystems' disruptive technology for automating patient-specific CGT processes, UMass Chan's expertise on blood stem cell processes and Caring Cross's expertise in increasing patient access. The collaboration will develop a gene-modified stem cell manufacturing process with Trenchant BioSystems' AutoCell automated CGT manufacturing platform that is designed to be scalable and operate at place-of-care in an ISO class 7 environment, to increase efficiencies and decrease costs. A key reason Trenchant BioSystems' automated CGT manufacturing platform was selected is its use of a microbubble separation approach as an alternative to immunomagnetic bead-based separation for stem cell gene therapies. In addition, AutoCell has a small footprint and therefore significantly fewer facility requirements, important factors for lowering the cost of these therapies. In the first phase of the collaboration, UMass Chan researchers will work with Trenchant BioSystems to start evaluating blood products to separate stem cells and build the automated gene transfer genetic engineering platform with lentiviral vectors from Caring Cross. In the next post-validation phase, Caring Cross will evaluate the system and process for simplicity and cost before offering it as a potential alternative to its collaborators worldwide. UMass Chan and Caring Cross will conduct IND-enabling preclinical studies to launch a Phase I/II clinical trial of autologous gene-modified HSCs for patients with SCD or beta-thalassemia. The alliance currently plans to hold an INTERACT meeting with the US FDA in Q1 2027 and launch the clinical trial at the start of the second half of 2027. Jennifer E. Adair, PhD, Vice Chair and Professor of Genetic & Cellular Medicine and Director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center at UMass Chan Medical School, said, "Disruptive technologies such as the AutoCell platform that empower us to tap into the immense unexplored runway between current state of the art ex vivo and in vivo blood cell gene therapies stand to significantly expand and improve access to these transformative medicines." "Caring Cross is dedicated to ensuring the global affordability of advanced therapies, and a key driver for this is the adoption of cell processing platforms that effectively lower barriers to patient care," said Dr. Boro Dropulic, Executive Director of Caring Cross. "The Trenchant AutoCell platform has the potential to lower cost, increase scalability, and expand the accessibility of place-of-care manufacturing." "Current cell and gene therapy manufacturing practices are too time consuming and costly to actually deliver CGT therapies to large-scale patient populations. Trenchant BioSystems has now released internal and independent data that confirms that its AutoCell platform is integral to the solution to these challenges," said Jon Ellis, CEO, Trenchant BioSystems. "This alliance will allow Trenchant to contribute to the first autologous CGT clinical treatment of SCD patients that is simple, fast, automated, and affordable, thus scalable globally." About UMass Chan Medical School UMass Chan Medical School, one of five campuses of the University of Massachusetts system, comprises the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, ForHealth Consulting at UMass Chan Medical School, MassBiologics, and a thriving Nobel-Prize-winning biomedical research enterprise. UMass Chan is advancing together to improve the health and wellness of its diverse communities throughout Massachusetts and across the world by leading and innovating in education, research, health care delivery and public service. It is ranked among the best medical schools in the nation for primary care education and biomedical research by U.S. News & World Report. Learn more at www.umassmed.edu. About Caring Cross Caring Cross is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the development of and ensuring global access to advanced therapies. To achieve its mission, Caring Cross develops technologies and therapeutic candidates that improve the accessibility and affordability of advanced medicines like CAR-T therapy and stem cell gene therapy. Lentiviral vectors used to manufacture Caring Cross advanced therapy medicinal products are manufactured by Vector BioMed, a for-profit contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in rapid manufacturing solutions to provide the industry with affordable, high-quality GMP lentiviral vectors. For more information on Caring Cross, visit https://caringcross.org. About Trenchant BioSystems Trenchant BioSystems is a disruptive technology firm reimagining cell and gene therapy manufacturing to be scalable, efficient, rapid and affordable through the development of truly automated, end to end manufacturing platforms. Trenchant has developed technology that will reduce the production times for CAR-Ts to 2.5 days. Its manufacturing platform will also reduce CAR-T manufacturing cost significantly. Trenchant was launched in 2022, and is based in San Diego, CA, US. It was founded by chairman and CTO Philip Coelho, CEO Jon Ellis, and Bill Busa, PhD. To discover more about Trenchant, visit https://www.trenchantbio.com.
UMass Chan receives $800K for ALS research. March 12, 2026 As universities throughout the nation struggle to access federal funding, UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the school's ALS research. The Angel Fund for ALS Research, based in Wakefield, awarded UMass Chan $800,000 to fund the research of Dr. Robert Brown, the university's chair in neuroscience, and Daryl Bosco, chair of research for the department of neurology, according to a Thursday press release. Both professors lead their own labs at UMass Chan focused on research of neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases, particularly ALS. Brown's lab researches gene defects that help explain the development of neuromuscular diseases, while Bosco's lab studies the pathogenic mechanisms associated with neurodegenerative diseases, according to the university's website. Brown, who identified the first gene linked to hereditary ALS, credits The Angel Fund for helping to advance the university's ALS research program. Since its establishment in 1997, the fund has awarded more than $10 million to the Worcester school. "This has made a decisive difference in the breadth of our program, which almost exclusively focus on investigations related to therapy development. Some of our most innovative programs have been possible because of the generosity of The Angel Fund," Brown said in the release. The Angel Fund's sole mission is to fund ALS research and clinical trials at UMass Chan, with the ultimate goal of eradicating the disease. In fiscal year 2024, the nonprofit generated $895,977 in revenue and held $3.17 million in assets, according to nonprofit financial tracker Candid. UMass Chan's most recent funding comes after the university received a $35-million donation for its research of neurodegenerative and genetic diseases, particularly ALS, from the Florida-based Paul J. DiMare Foundation in February 2025. The gift marked the third-largest donation in the history of the entire UMass system, prompting UMass Chan to rename its 350,000-square-foot research building the Paul J. DiMare Center. With 1,359 full-time students enrolled in fall 2024, UMass Chan is the 11th-largest higher education institution in Central Massachusetts, according to data provided to WBJ's Research Department. In June, the university's Chancellor Dr. Michael Collins announced he would retire from the role at the end of the 2026 academic year. Collins is the school's longest-serving chancellor, having assumed the role in an interim capacity in 2007 and being appointed to the permanent role in 2008. Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries. - Digital Partners -
FSU partners with UMass on new pathway to Medical School for first-gen and low-income students. Program offers qualifying Framingham State students provisional acceptance to UMass Chan Medical School. FRAMINGHAM, MA - Framingham State University (FSU) has announced a new partnership with UMass Chan Medical School that creates a pathway to medical school for qualified FSU students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those who will be the first in their families to earn a 4-year college degree. Through the partnership, eligible students may apply to the Baccalaureate MD Pathway Program, which can provide provisional acceptance to UMass Chan Medical School for students who successfully complete all program requirements. "This partnership reflects Framingham State University's longstanding commitment to expanding access to opportunity and ensuring that talented students - regardless of background - can pursue careers that have a profound impact on their communities," says Framingham State President Nancy Niemi. "By working with UMass Chan Medical School, we are helping to remove barriers to medical education while preparing a compassionate, highly skilled workforce that better represents the many diversities in our community." Students apply during their sophomore year to become Medical Scholars, the first phase of the program. Each cohort, which will include approximately 15 - 25 students from FSU and other partner colleges, provides participants with year-long individualized pre-medical advising, two summer enrichment experiences, and access to MCAT preparation resources. Medical Scholars will also engage in a wide range of academic and clinical immersion experiences designed to provide early exposure to the medical profession. These opportunities include book clubs, interactions with physicians and medical students, and clinical observations at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Together, these experiences help students better understand the academic rigor, professional expectations, and lived experience of medical training and practice. "The BaccMD Program offers our students the mentorship, academic preparation, and clinical exposure they need to succeed at the highest levels," says Dr. Lauren Nolfo-Clements, Framingham State's Dean of the College of STEM. "This pathway recognizes that potential is everywhere, even when opportunity is not, and it builds a supportive bridge from Framingham State to medical school for students who are ready to serve and lead in healthcare." Students who successfully complete the BaccMD Program can receive provisional acceptance to the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, removing significant barriers to medical school access and helping diversify the future healthcare workforce. Approximately 50 percent of Framingham State University's undergraduate students are first-generation college students, underscoring the impact and importance of pathway programs that expand access to high-demand, high-impact careers such as medicine. Pre-Health Advisor Dr. Shelli Waetzig, Chair of the Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Food Science Department, and Dr. Aline Davis, Biology Department, helped establish the new partnership and are in the process of recruiting the first cohort of students. Learn more. Contact Dr. Aline Davis or Dr. Shelli Waetzig if you are interested in learning more.