IAMI Drug Development Research Project Director @ University of Kansas Medical Center

Department:

SOM EVC Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation (IAMI)

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Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation

Position Title:

IAMI Drug Development Research Project Director

Job Family Group:

Professional Staff

Job Description Summary:

The Drug Development Research Project Director position is responsible for developing and implementing Drug Discovery and Early Drug Development project plans on individual projects as well as directing research programs. This position reports directly to the Director of the Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation (IAMI). This position will be located on both Lawrence and Kansas City Medical Center (KUMC) campuses.

Job Description:

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

This position will assemble Drug Discovery and Early Development project teams comprised of researchers from KU, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and collaborators outside the University of Kansas (other universities, contract drug development organizations) to implement project plans from target identification and validation through clinical proof of concept, maintaining a cohesive and highly effective project team during all phases of the drug project.
This position will serve as the primary point of contact for the team and will ensure that open lines of communication are established and maintained throughout the project lifecycle.
The Drug Development Research Project Director will play a leadership role in implementing the strategic plan for KU Drug Discovery integrating functions such as Medicinal Chemistry, Combinatorial Chemistry, High Throughput Screening, Imaging, the Product Development Core, and Animal Resources.
This position will work directly with the Technology Transfer offices on both Lawrence and Kansas City campuses, technology transfer offices at consortium partner institutions, and our private sector partner, BioNovus Innovations, LLC, in support of intellectual property and commercialization activities.
This position will work closely with KUMC School of Medicine, KU Cancer Center, and BioNovus finance associates to secure funding for projects as well as execute projects to meet budget forecasts.
In addition to managing medical innovation projects, this position will manage broad-reaching research programs. Examples may include providing project and portfolio management support for KU Cancer Center-supported shared resources (e.g., Lead Development and Optimization Shared Resource, Clinical Pharmacology Shared Resource), strategic planning initiatives, public-private partnerships, P01 and SPORE initiatives, as well as development of competencies and capabilities aimed at expanding research portfolios.

In addition to demonstrated expertise in Drug Discovery or Drug Development, this position must demonstrate project management competencies. These competencies are described as follows:

Understand project goals and manage project strategy to achieve those goals.
Lead the performance of the project tasks per the agreed upon scope of work.
Act as a focal point for all internal and external project communication.
Schedule, monitor and communicate the status of the project tasks to the project team.
Conduct project team meetings.
Generate and distribute concise meeting minutes, action items and status reports.
Prepare the overall project and communication plan with the assistance of the project team.
Monitor the compliance to the project plan and update the plan as needed.
Ensure the project team members are focused on a common set of objectives.
Ensure that the project objectives and deliverables have been met on time, The Drug Development Research Project Director will work with either the Drug Discovery, Delivery, and Experimental Therapeutic (D3ET) or Investigator Initiated Trials (IIT) steering committees to advance new cancer therapeutic strategies. Inspired by the KUCC strategic initiative D3ET and IIT steering committees are working to leverage unique regional scientific assets to build a nationally significant cancer research center that is a leading institution for transforming laboratory and bedside discoveries into new therapeutic approaches.

The Drug Development Research Project Director will have responsibilities for supporting KUCC shared resources. This position will work with the Cancer Center Lead Development and Optimization (LDOSR) and Clinical Pharmacology (CPSR) Shared Resource Directors and respective team members to organize, manage, and advance cancer researcher’s projects from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside.

For LDOSR, this includes coordination and integration of research activities conducted within the High Throughput Screening (HTS), Medicinal Chemistry (MDCM), and Biotechnology Innovation and Optimization Center (BIOC) cores. Resource activities that are coordinated and monitored for the team include: target selection, development and validation of HTS methods (cell or biochemical based), primary and secondary compound screening, hit compound selection/confirmation/ prioritization, structure-activity and structure-property optimization, lead optimization, hit-to-probe, probe-to-lead and lead-to-preclinical candidate progression synthesis chemistry, novel drug delivery, bioanalytical method development, and in vivo pharmacokinetics.
For the Clinical Pharmacology Shared Resource, coordination and integration of research activities conducted in support of early phase clinical trials utilizing resources within the Correlative Laboratory, Bioanalytical Chemistry, and Clinical Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics Cores.

The Drug Development Research Project Director will provide project and portfolio management support to strategic partnerships with industry, academia, government and disease philanthropy collaborators. Responsibilities will include development of methods and processes that enable, facilitate, and advance collaborative projects with external partners focused on therapeutic, diagnostic, and medical device technologies, coordination of internal and external research activities necessary to create and advance these technologies, as well as pursuit of philanthropic, government, and private sector funding for projects.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. It is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, duties, and assignments. Furthermore, job duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Qualifications

Education:

MSc degree in pharmacology, toxicology, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutics, analytical chemistry, or related field(s). Education may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

Work Experience:

15 years direct work experience in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically experience working in drug discovery or drug development environments.

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

MSc or PhD in pharmacology, toxicology, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmaceutics, analytical chemistry, or related field(s). Education may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

Certifications/Licenses:

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Work Experience:

Experience managing several projects at once
Proficiencies in MS Office suite products, project information archival and sharing platforms such as DropBox and/or Box, and project planning tools such as MS Project

Skills

Written and verbal communication skills.
Organization skills

Required Documents

Resume

Cover Letter

If selected as a final candidate for this position, you may be required to complete the Association of American of Universities Representations and Warranties document and sign a release of records that will allow the University of Kansas Medical Center to conduct a further background check with former employers. A copy of the Representations and Warranties document can be found here.

Comprehensive Benefits Package:

Coverage begins on day one for health, dental, and vision insurance and includes health expense accounts with generous employer contributions if the employee participates in a qualifying health plan. Employer-paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and various additional voluntary insurance plans are available. Paid time off, including vacation and sick, begins accruing upon hire, plus ten paid holidays. One paid discretionary day is available after six months of employment, and paid time off for bereavement, jury duty, military service, and parental leave is available after 12 months of employment. A retirement program with a generous employer contribution and additional voluntary retirement programs (457 or 403b) are available. https://www.kumc.edu/human-resources/benefits.html

Employee Type:

Regular

Time Type:

Full time

Rate Type:

Salary

Compensation Statement:

The pay range listed for this position is determined by our compensation program using market data and salary benchmarking. A combination of factors is considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, education, experience and training, qualifications relative to the requirements of the position, and funding. At the University of Kansas Medical Center, a reasonable estimate for the starting pay range will be the minimum to midpoint of the posted range, taking into account the combination of factors listed above.

Pay Range:

$111,000.00 - $183,000.00

Minimum

$111,000.00

Midpoint

$147,000.00

Maximum

$183,000.00