Location: Emeryville, CA

The Global Health Disease Area in Biomedical Research, Novartis, seeks to discover transformative new medicines to address diseases that predominantly impact populations living in lower income parts of the world.

We are seeking a global/public/population health professional to join our Global Health unit based in the San Francisco Bay Area (Emeryville). This team member will be responsible for managing projects that bridge drug discovery science with needs and opportunities in low-income countries. The activities support research-based contributions to an integrated discovery, development, and drug access strategy for medicines that address unmet needs in traditionally underserved populations globally.

The Manager/Senior Manager will play a key role in developing strategies and managing programs that aim to enable access to gene therapy for sickle cell disease in global settings. It is estimated that more than 300,000 babies are born annually with this chronic and complex disease, and millions of people are currently affected. The greatest disease burden is in sub-Saharan Africa and, through a collaborative effort with external partners, Novartis is discovering in vivo gene therapy-based medicines for sickle cell disease while planning for access-to-medicines from the start.

The role will be embedded within the strategy and partnering team of Novartis Global Health research and will work closely with collaborators that live and work in global settings. This person will also work closely with the science teams and program leadership, and will interface with stakeholders in operational, finance, and legal functions internally and at partnering institutions.

Your Key responsibilities:
• Support the development of early planning for access strategies to facilitate access to novel gene therapy for sickle cell disease
• Coordinate the efforts/collaborations between internal scientific teams and partner institutions globally (e.g., Africa, US)
• Conduct landscape analyses including enablers, barriers, and trends that potentially influence adoption for sickle cell disease gene therapy, with a particular emphasis on communities in Africa
• Work strategically with collaborating researchers and other stakeholders at community, national, and international levels to plan ahead for access to novel sickle cell disease gene therapy with an ultimate aspiration for widespread adoption
• Manage and track progress of existing collaborations, and help to establish new collaborations, and ensure both internal and external partners are informed of progress and requirements
• Support the preparation of publications, white papers and communications that engage communities of stakeholders outside of Novartis and give visibility to progress with early planning for access to novel sickle cell disease therapies
• Work closely with the GH Alliance Management & Partnering team to support a diverse portfolio of international alliances and partnerships
• Support and lead through the drafting and execution of agreements working closely with internal stakeholders (e.g., science, operations, finance, compliance functions, legal, IP) and liaisons at the partnering institutions
• Support financial planning activities
• Coordinate efforts relating to contractual obligations with external partners, provide updates, keep teams on task regarding deliverables and deadlines