Director, Respiratory Discovery Disease Team; DDT) Lead, Immunology Discovery Research

Company Description

About Abb Vie

Abb Vie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology and neuroscience - and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about Abb Vie, please visit us at  Follow @abbvie on Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, X and You Tube.

As the scientific thought leader for Abb Vie's Respiratory Discovery Research team, the Director, Respiratory Discovery Disease Team (DDT) Lead is tasked with building a vision and team to develop translational immunology insights to drive an exemplary pipeline for the Respiratory disease area. The Director is responsible for defining and implementing a cross‑functional strategy aimed at breaking efficacy ceilings for Asthma and COPD.

This work involves close collaboration with functions such as Business Development, Precision Medicine, Clinical Development, and Commercial. Under the Director’s scientific vision and leadership, the Respiratory Discovery team is expected to generate compelling, data‑driven rationales, including developing disease‑relevant human complex in vitro models, that support the central role of target pathways. The team aims to build data packages that support the portfolio advancement of innovative molecules into First‑In‑Human (FIH) studies in respiratory diseases.

Beyond leading the Respiratory Discovery team and driving the development of a Respiratory pipeline and strategy, the Director II is broadly responsible for Immunology Discovery Research. The Respiratory Discovery team is responsible for delivering key data to projects across all phases of drug discovery and utilizing different modalities, such as small molecules, biologic molecules, peptides, and genetic medicine therapies.

This leadership position requires a deep understanding of immunology, with a focus on lung biology, in vivo and complex in vitro model systems, and pharmacology.

• In this role, the Director acts as both a program and people leader, focusing on supporting key portfolio program milestones, driving the identification of novel targets through partnerships with multiple functional teams and external collaborators, promoting technical excellence in Respiratory Discovery Research, and contributing to the strategic direction of the Respiratory DDT.
• The role involves leading and implementing drug discovery pipeline programs and evaluating and integrating external programs and academic collaborations into the pipeline, aligning with strategic core respiratory disease areas, with a potential extension into IPF.
• The individual will attract and lead a multidisciplinary team of approximately 15+ world‑class scientists based at the Cambridge, MA research site.
• Additionally, they will leverage a global network within the research community to establish and direct multiple research collaborations with leading academic and biotech laboratories.
• This individual will join the Immunology DDT Leadership Team, sharing accountability for the success of the Immunology Pipeline at Abb Vie.
• They will also provide scientific insights that advance compelling opportunities through the pipeline, including accessing appropriate cellular and animal models, selecting optimal translational strategies, and introducing new technologies.
• The individual will advise on and share accountability for transitions across major drug discovery and development milestones, evaluate the scientific merits of potential biotechnology alliances, extract value from Abb Vie's participation in public‑private consortia, consider and evaluate both internal pipeline and external licensing opportunities, and guide Abb Vie's research alliances and collaboration efforts across defined areas of diseases.

• MD/PhD, PhD or MS in related field
• ~12+ years of experience in Immunology Drug Discovery with specific research interests focused on chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in the…