PepGen is seeking a highly motivated individual to serve as its Senior Director, Patient Advocacy. The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing PepGen's advocacy program, developing strategy and executing key patient advocacy projects and activities. The Senior Director will lead the patient advocacy team to work with patient advocacy organizations, community members, and professional organizations to execute PepGen's advocacy objectives and demonstrate PepGen's commitment to the neuromuscular disorder community. The Senior Director will ensure clear communication of PepGen's technology, data and mission to the communities we serve and ensure PepGen learns about the community perspective, and incorporates best practices of patient focused drug development throughout our programs.
The ideal candidate serves as a trusted PepGen partner to the disease communities, while working collaboratively across the organization to ensure that the community perspective is understood by internal stakeholders and that patient advocacy objectives are met. The individual will work in a highly cross-functional and collaborative manner with key functions across the organization.
The Senior Director will report to the VP of Clinical Science.
Responsibilities:
Develop and lead advocacy strategy with input from cross-functional teams, resulting in a company-wide understanding of the communities that we serve and ensuring that all PepGen's programs are focused on the needs and preferences of those patient communities.
Maintain and grow relationships with the patient communities and patient advocacy groups in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 and future PepGen indications in tandem with corporate and program goals through attendance at conferences, meetings with advocacy groups, engagement with relevant working groups and outreach to individuals with the conditions we hope to treat,
Lead the advocacy team to:
Ensure all activities within PepGen include community input at appropriate stages in development
Be able to clearly communicate (orally, through written materials and through other media) PepGen's mission, data, technology, and clinical trials to a variety of audiences (including both expert and lay audiences)
Ability to share key messages with populations with different communication needs including children, neurodivergent populations and those with cognitive issues.
Develop a program of internal events to ensure that PepGen staff understand and interact with the communities that we serve.
Create new external and internal-facing publications and materials to support the advocacy strategy.
Engage with the advocacy and patient communities such that PepGen is a key partner in community-led initiatives and collaborative projects.
Mentor and develop other members of the advocacy team.
Represent PepGen in a trustworthy, accurate way in all interactions with community members
Develop and grow the advocacy team to support all planned activities.
Education / Experience:
Minimum BS/BA or Masters in related field such as Public Health, Genetics, Biology, or Chemistry, with 8-10 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry, non-profit advocacy group or equivalent.
Experience in rare disease advocacy and clinical development; neuromuscular disease and pediatric population experience preferred
Demonstrated understanding of scientific/mechanistic aspects of drug discovery, nonclinical and clinical research and development
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with keen attention to detail; be able to prepare materials and present company and program updates to both community members and expert audiences.
Genuine compassion for the disease communities that we work for and learn from.
Awareness of local and global compliance regulations regarding corporate and clinical trial updates with community members
Able to work independently with minimal oversight and direction, to anticipate needs from team members and cross functional departments, and to balance multiple and often diverse priorities to execute projects and deliverables
Ability to fluently speak and write in multiple languages, particularly French or Spanish a plus, but not required
Ability to travel up to 20% required
About PepGen
PepGen Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing the next-generation of oligonucleotide therapies with the goal of transforming the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurological diseases. PepGen's Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotide, or EDO, platform is founded on over a decade of research and development and leverages cell-penetrating peptides to improve the uptake and activity of conjugated oligonucleotide therapeutics. Using these EDO peptides, we are generating a pipeline of oligonucleotide therapeutic candidates that target the root cause of serious diseases. For more information, visit www.pepgen.com or follow PepGen on Twitter and LinkedIn.
EEO Statement
PepGen is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status.
Note: This is not a remote role. We like to work together and operate in a hybrid model in office Tues, Weds & Thurs each week.
Recruitment & Staffing Agencies
PepGen does not accept unsolicited agency resumes. Currently, we are working exclusively with The Bowdoin Group for all our recruiting needs. Thank you.