Our organization is recruiting for a Director of Statistical Genetics to contribute to our organization’s human genetics effort. This Director will perform both a critical strategic role, as well as hands-on role, in overseeing the scientific direction of programs involving human genetics and genomics for target identification and validation.
This Boston-based position will report into the VP of Genetics and Pharmacogenomics. The qualified individual will be a recognized expert in field of statistical genetics, bioinformatics, or genetic epidemiology and have a strong understanding of functional interrogation of genetic findings, systems biology, and drug development. This individual will know how to integrate diverse types of genetic information and be able to articulate the strengths and limitations of each approach.
Qualifications
Education Minimum Requirement:
MD or PhD required
Required Experience and Skills:
Demonstrated experience with a minimum of 6 years of experience in human statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, or bioinformatics (peer reviewed publication, history of achievement, patents, etc.) with an appreciation of the role of human genetics for target identification and validation.
Demonstrated leadership skills. Proven ability to create and work within high performance teams and/or matrix organization, strong influencing skills.
Demonstrated ability to conduct research individually and collaboratively and prioritize work against departmental and company goals.
Excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to establish and maintain productive cross-site and high caliber external collaborations.
Proficiency to critically evaluate scientific and therapeutic proposals and adopt novel technologies to facilitate groundbreaking research.
Proven track record in change management including ability to eliminate obstacles/barriers in order to implement change.
Ability to create partnerships with key stakeholders.
Preferred Experience and Skills:
Specific responsibilities include:
Participating as part of 8-person leadership team (including VP) in developing, and driving, the strategy to identify and prioritize programs entering the early pipeline across all therapeutic areas.
Leading a team of ~6 individuals – including the hiring of new, outstanding scientists in statistical genetics, genetic epidemiology, and bioinformatics – responsible for applying these tools to target identification and validation rooted in human genetics.
Leverage existing and develop new external collaborations with academia and industry partners to leverage biobanks to exploit human genetics in order to discover new drug targets
Partnering with a dedicated team of geneticists and functional biologists to build biological packages in support of targets that emerge from human genetics.
Engaging with internal peers in diverse areas – informatics, pharmacology, chemistry, biologics, therapeutic area biology, experimental medicine – to identify opportunities for drug development based on human genetic discoveries.
Integrate diverse ‘omics / biological datasets with human genetic data to identify novel pathways for drug development across all therapeutic areas.
Collaborating across functional areas and in a matrixed environment to develop integrated research plans, optimize resource allocation, and maximize efficiencies to best execute on programs.
Participating in the Boston site leadership and coordination team including maintaining a high visibility on site and being regularly involved in site-wide management activities.
Working closely with genetic discovery, functional biology, and clinical teams to design genetic studies, including writing and defending project approval documents
Analyze and integrate large-scale genetic data sets, including next-generation sequencing (WGS, WES, RNA-Seq) and GWAS/RVAS data
Working with other data analysts and experimentalists to identify genes and variants associated with human phenotypes in families with rare Mendelian traits, as well as individuals from the general population, or distinct population cohorts;
Integrating genetic data with other ‘omics data sets to identify causal alleles, genes and pathways relevant to a wide-range of human diseases, particularly with respect to non-coding variants
Use of interrogation tools including Mendelian randomization and PheWAS to evaluate potential genetic targets for drug discovery
Written and verbal communication of study results to project team and the scientific community, including proposals for further experiments and publications in leading journals;
In collaboration with strategic operations, manage a portfolio of projects to review and prioritize new and on-going projects
Your role at Merck is integral to helping the world meet new breakthroughs that affect generations to come, and we’re counting on your skills and inventiveness to help make meaningful contributions to global medical advancement. At Merck, we’re inventing for life.
Now submit your application online and subscribe to email or follow us on twitter to get similar jobs in the future.
Posts
