New Head of Research (Chief Scientific Officer) at OncoArendi
OncoArendi has recently hired dr. Rafał Kamiński for the position of Chief Scientific Officer. He has acquired broad international experience in discovery and development of innovative small molecule drugs and management of scientific teams from previous work for global pharmaceutical companies. Immediately prior to accepting the CSO position at OncoArendi Therapeutics, dr. Kamiński worked for the Roche Group (Basel, Switzerland).
Dr Kamiński will start his full-time engagement at OncoArendi in January 2020. However, in the meantime he is already becoming familiar with the scope and nuances of research programs and the long-term development strategy of OncoArendi through various interactions with the Company’s leadership team. Dr Kamiński will be responsible for continuing the current portfolio of research programs in the company and will be involved in the R&D process from target discovery and validation through identification of drug candidates and their early clinical development. He will also have a significant impact on the professional development of the OncoArendi R&D staff and supervision of progress in new drug discovery programs.
– We are very enthusiastic about Rafał’s decision to join our management team. He brings broad experience from world leading pharmaceutical companies (Roche, UCB Pharma). Filling a CSO position at OncoArendi is a result of the Company’s long-term development strategy of continued growth – says Marcin Szumowski, President and CEO of OncoArendi – We also plan to engage Rafał in Business Development activities and we expect that after the first few months of adjusting to his transition to Poland and getting more familiar with OncoArendi’s people and programs, he will join the company’s Management Board upon the Supervisory Board approval.
The Chief Scientific Officer position is one of the key leadership roles in a biotech company – on the one hand, it requires deep scientific knowledge, understanding the process of discovering and developing new drugs as well as strategic thinking, and on the other hand, a successful CSO needs very good communication and interpersonal skills.
– Rafał seems to have all these essential skills and can make a big contribution to the further development of OncoArendi’s research strategy and programs. We are happy and proud that Rafał chose to continue his professional career in a leading Polish biotechnology company. Together we will strive to achieve the ambitious goal of OncoArendi – to bring the first Polish innovative drug to patients worldwide. Rafał shares this passion with OncoArendi leadership and this is the main reason why we are keen to start working together – adds Marcin Szumowski.
Dr Rafał Kamiński has broad international experience in discovery and development of innovative small molecule drugs. After obtaining a medical degree (MD) and PhD in pharmacology at the Medical University of Lublin (Poland), he completed his post-doctoral training in the Netherlands (Radboud University) and USA (National Institutes of Health, NIH), as well as obtained a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine (ULB, Belgium). He joined the pharmaceutical industry more than 12 years ago and since then worked for UCB Pharma (Belgium) and Roche (Switzerland). In both companies he has led small and large R&D teams, primarily within the neuroscience therapeutic area, where he was responsible for strategy, portfolio of preclinical projects and selection of clinical candidates. Two of his projects successfully completed Phase I/II studies and one drug candidate (padsevonil) is currently in Phase III clinical development. He participated in scientific evaluation of potential licensing opportunities in several due diligence processes. He also has experience in coordination and oversight of drug discovery projects performed in collaboration with external partners (other biotech companies as well as CROs). He was a member of scientific advisory boards and expert committees (FP7 UE; Wellcome Trust). Dr Kamiński authored more than 80 scientific papers (including several in Nature group journals) and his publications were cited more than 2500 times (Google Scholar, h-index 32). He is also an inventor or co-inventor in 6 biotechnology patent applications.