VP Global Patient Safety & Global Safety Therapeutic Area Head - Oncology

At Gilead, we’re creating a healthier world for all people. For more than 35 years, we’ve tackled diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19 and cancer – working relentlessly to develop therapies that help improve lives and to ensure access to these therapies across the globe. We continue to fight against the world’s biggest health challenges, and our mission requires collaboration, determination and a relentless drive to make a difference.  

Every member of Gilead’s team plays a critical role in the discovery and development of life-changing scientific innovations. Our employees are our greatest asset as we work to achieve our bold ambitions, and we’re looking for the next wave of passionate and ambitious people ready to make a direct impact.  

We believe every employee deserves a great leader. People Leaders are the cornerstone to the employee experience at Gilead and Kite. As a people leader now or in the future, you are the key driver in evolving our culture and creating an environment where every employee feels included, developed and empowered to fulfil their aspirations. Join Gilead and help create possible, together.  

Position Overview:  

The VP Global Patient Safety & Global Safety Therapeutic Area Head - Oncology will be responsible and accountable for the definition and execution of the worldwide pharmacovigilance strategy for all investigational and marketed products in their Gilead Therapeutic Area. The VP will lead broadly in a cross-functional and multi-cultural environment and leverage extensive scientific and pharmacovigilance experience to represent Global Patient Safety in discussions with senior leadership, Executive Management and regulatory authorities and lead benefit/risk efforts for the specific therapeutic area across the company. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Strategic Thinking: Set the overall safety strategy for a specific therapeutic area within Global Patient Safety with input from Research, Clinical Research, Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, Legal and Commercial functions. Understands the competitive landscape within the therapeutic area, including having a perspective on how clinical practice and patient needs are evolving as well as therapeutic area trends and their relevance to the Gilead portfolio; Provides pharmacovigilance oversight, strategic and technical guidance in discussions with teams in support of due diligences for potential in-licensing activities, external collaborations and acquisitions. Offers scientific oversight in assessment of benefit/risk profile of all Gilead products within a therapeutic area. 

• Influence and Partnership: Establish and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with Research, Development, Business Development, and Commercial stakeholders; Establish and maintain an external network including relationships with the innovation community, medical and scientific organizations, governmental bodies and patient organizations; Leads benefit/risk discussions and decision making for the specific therapeutic area in a collaborative and cross-functional manner involving Clinical, Commercial, and other functions within Gilead. Identifies opportunities and sources of innovation within pharmacovigilance; Sets the expectation for and models a collaborative and enterprise mindset. 

• Delivery Excellence: Strives for continuous education and awareness of the organization on any relevant benefit/risk developments for the specific therapeutic area; Ensures that pharmacovigilance actions are aligned with disease area strategies and appropriate activities are prioritized; Facilitates efforts across Development and is accountable for the technical execution of pharmacovigilance projects and deliverables within the safety therapeutic area.; Owns the operational direction for the specific safety therapeutic area within the Development organization, which includes responsibility for medical safety aspects of clinical studies such as protocol design, benefit/risk assessment, signal detection and management and  medical monitoring of post-authorization studies.  Champions initiatives that contribute to global process improvements. Develops teams and provides mentorship to enable project teams to embrace pharmacovigilance initiatives and strategic remits. 

• Innovation: Thinks creatively and brings innovative solutions to the therapeutic area; Identifies and leverages advances in pharmacovigilance where appropriate, such as use of real-world data, analytics, and innovative trial designs to support signal detection and management 

• People Development: Develops others by identifying and mentoring high performers and building a culture of inclusion and collaboration throughout the organization; Delegates responsibility and empowers others 

• Decision-making: Maintains a culture of rigorous data-driven decision making that rewards truth-seeking behavior; Encourages employees to exercise good judgement and embrace decision making; Empowers capable individuals to be accountable decision-makers; Closely partners with other senior leaders to develop strategies in close alignment with business objectives across the therapeutic area 

• Communication: Advocates on behalf of Gilead and effectively communicates complex medical/clinical concepts in written and oral communication to internal and external stakeholders 

Qualifications: 

• MD or equivalent medical degree 

• Board certification preferred or equivalent years of pharmacovigilance experience in Oncology therapeutic area 

• 15+ years of global biopharmaceutical drug development and pharmacovigilance experience over the entire product lifecycle 

• Extensive pharmacovigilance experience in a global environment 

• Prior leadership experience in a safety therapeutic area and broad R&D global functional experience and understanding 

• Credibility and reputation to attract and retain top talent with a history of creating teams that can thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed environment 

• Ability to create and fulfill a vision in a matrix environment and work collaboratively with internal stakeholders across different functions 

• Strong medical safety science skills 

• Strong interpersonal skills that facilitate collaboration across functions to reach consensus on safety topics 

People Leader Accountabilities: 

• Create Inclusion - knowing the business value of diverse teams, modeling inclusion, and embedding the value of diversity in the way they manage their teams. 

• Develop Talent - understand the skills, experience, aspirations and potential of their employees and coach them on current performance and future potential. They ensure employees are receiving the feedback and insight needed to grow, develop and realize their purpose. 

• Empower Teams - connect the team to the organization by aligning goals, purpose, and organizational objectives, and holding them to account. They provide the support needed to remove barriers and connect their team to the broader ecosystem.