Project Director - Drug Development

1w1 week ago

University of Kansas Medical Center

US · Full-time · $122,121 – $195,394

About this role

The Drug Development Project Director position is responsible for developing and implementing Drug Discovery and Early Drug Development project plans. This position reports directly to the Director, Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation (IAMI). The role integrates multiple scientific functions to advance projects from target identification through clinical proof of concept.

Day-to-day work centers on assembling project teams from KU, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Stowers Institute, and external collaborators. The director maintains open communication, schedules tasks, and distributes meeting minutes and status reports while monitoring compliance with the project plan.

The position works with D3ET and IIT steering committees to advance cancer therapeutic strategies. It coordinates with the Lead Development and Optimization shared resource to manage high throughput screening, medicinal chemistry, and biotechnology optimization services for early-stage cancer research projects.

This leadership role supports intellectual property and commercialization activities through direct collaboration with Technology Transfer offices. The director ensures project objectives and deliverables are met on time while keeping teams focused on shared goals across all phases of drug development.

Requirements

Experience leading cross-functional drug discovery and early development project teams across academic and contract research organizations.
Demonstrated ability to manage projects from target identification and validation through clinical proof of concept.
Knowledge of medicinal chemistry, high throughput screening, and lead optimization processes.
Experience coordinating with technology transfer offices on intellectual property and commercialization.
Strong project planning and status reporting skills for multi-institutional research initiatives.

Responsibilities

Assemble Drug Discovery and Early Development project teams from KU, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Stowers Institute, and external collaborators to implement plans from target identification through clinical proof of concept.
Serve as the primary point of contact and maintain open lines of communication throughout the project lifecycle.
Lead implementation of the strategic plan for KU Drug Discovery by integrating Medicinal Chemistry, High Throughput Screening, Imaging, Product Development Core, and Animal Resources.
Work directly with Technology Transfer offices on intellectual property and commercialization activities.
Schedule, monitor, and communicate project task status while generating concise meeting minutes, action items, and status reports.
Prepare the overall project and communication plan and monitor compliance, updating the plan as needed.
Work with D3ET and IIT steering committees to advance new cancer therapeutic strategies using regional scientific assets.
Coordinate with the Lead Development and Optimization shared resource to manage target selection, HTS method development, compound screening, and lead optimization.