Shinji Okitsu Global Head of Exploratory Immunology at EMD Serono, Inc. Burlington, Massachusetts
EMD Serono, Inc. Total Duration7 yrs 4 mos TitleDirector Full-time Dates EmployedJul 2020 – Present Employment Duration2 mos TitleAssociate Director Dates EmployedJan 2019 – Jul 2020 Employment Duration1 yr 7 mos LocationBillerica, Massachusetts - Manage a global team of scientists to propose and validate new targets for drug development. - Change management for strategic repositioning of therapeutic area. - Manage drug development programs and teams to advance through milestone progressions. - Manage global academic collaborations (USA, China, Europe) - Support BD activities with scientific expertise. - Concept generation and IND preparation for COVID-19 drug repositioning - Collaborate with Clinical Development team to educate clinical trial physicians and sites about candidate drug profile and biology - Successful launch of an internal online information and collaboration hub for R&D scientists Target identification and validation of new therapies in autoimmune disease using genomic and proteomic screening tools. - Led a drug development project and team through milestone progressions. - Development of a new biologics platform for identification and isolation of human monoclonal antibodies. - Founder of VigiLNt, a cross-functional innovation project leveraging expertise in biopharma and life science divisions. - Manage global academic collaborations. - Led development of a company-wide online research collaboration hub. - Member of a small team that set up a site-wide cytometry and imaging core lab including hiring of staff. UC San Diego Total Duration1 yr 2 mos TitleAssistant Project Scientist Dates EmployedMar 2013 – Apr 2013 Employment Duration2 mos LocationLa Jolla, CA - Managed a team to develop screening systems for the identification of malaria transmission blocking drugs. TitlePostdoctoral Researcher Dates EmployedMar 2012 – Feb 2013 Employment Duration1 yr LocationLa Jolla, CA - Developed screening systems to identify compounds that block transmission of P. falciparum sexual stage parasites - Set up a pipeline for the discovery of new targets for malaria vaccine development using monoclonal antibody technologies Graduate Student Company NameSwiss Tropical Institute Dates Employed2002 – 2006 Employment Duration4 yrs LocationBasel Area, Switzerland - Cloned, expressed and characterized hypothetical malaria protein vaccine candidates - Collaborated with multiple laboratories in academia and industry to develop a malaria vaccine through structure-based lead optimization - Organized and conducted immunogenicity assays of a phase I and II clinical trial with an experimental malaria vaccine Universität Basel Degree NameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)Field Of StudyMicrobiology Dates attended or expected graduation2002 – 2006
Activities and Societies: Research committee of the Swiss Tropical Insitute Title: Development of a synthetic malaria vaccine. Department of Molecular Immunology Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gerd Pluschke
Universität Bern Degree NameMaster of Science (MSc)Field Of StudyMedical Microbiology Dates attended or expected graduation2000 – 2001
Title: Escherichia coli heat labile toxin: Structure and mucosal adjuvanticity. R&D Immunology, Berna Biotech Ltd., Bern Switzerland Supervisor: PD Dr. Alois Lang
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
