IAMI Drug Development Research Project Director

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 coordinatio