Name |
Teresa Yang |
Job Title |
Associate Director—Clinical
Project Management |
Company |
Takeda Global Research and
Development |
City, State |
Lake Forest, IL |
|
1. Please briefly describe what you do. |
- I provide leadership and expertise in global clinical operational
strategy, directing project teams to support the clinical studies
within my assigned Therapeutic Area. I ensure all studies are executed
in accordance with Code of Federal Regulations, Good Clinical Practices,
ICH Guidelines, and all applicable local regulations.
- I am responsible for the development and management of
all operational timelines and budgets in excess of 100 million
dollars for my assigned therapeutic areas. I identify issues
that might impact the overall program plan (quality/timelines/cost)
and initiate contingency plans as appropriate.
- I am responsible for the direct management of senior manager
team members.
- I also take a lead role in the development of innovative processes
and technologies to advance operations and reduce overall operating
costs. I work in close collaboration with other Clinical
Operations Associate Directors to ensure consistent incorporation
of best practices across all therapeutic areas.
|
2. How many years have you been working in a science related field? |
Over 30 years
|
3. What degrees do you hold and from what Universities? |
BSN and MBA from Loyola University.
Chicago, Illinois
|
4. What subject in school was the most challenging for you? Why? |
The most challenging subjects were
physiology and anatomy. It was interesting to learn but hard to
memorize the names of bones, nerves and organs. How they connected
to each other and how they performed such intricate work that we
took for granted in our daily life, was challenging to understand.
However, once I saw these activities in real person, all my hard
work paid off.
|
5. What subject in school did you enjoy the most? Why? |
I enjoyed psychology and pharmacology.
In psychology, it was interesting to learn normal and abnormal
human behavior or train of thought. Every human act has its theory
behind it. It was the stepping stone for many other organizational
behavior theories. I loved to learn why people behaved the way
they do. These courses also provided me the knowledge on how to
enhance human performance by instilling or implementing new methods.
In pharmacology, I learned the basic theory of how drugs function
in the system and treat disease. This fundamental science has provided
an excellent background for my career in oncology nursing and eventually
in the pharmaceutical industry.
|
6. What/who inspired your interest in science? |
Science is constantly changing and
renewing at all times. It does not matter where you were born or
educated. It is one of the fields that people need creativity and
an enquiring mind. Scientific development moves on and can’t be
stopped by any human power. Scientists devote their life to pursue
and verify the true theory and to improve human life. This is why
I am interested in this field and know my efforts can make other
people’s life better.
|
7. What impact does your work have on society? Why is it important that other people learn about and consider your profession? |
My interest in drug development is
the hope that the compound I work on will help a lot of patients
to overcome their disease and improve their quality of life. Recently,
the drug development industry has received negative media coverage.
The general population believes that the pharmaceutical company’s
goal was solely to make a profit. I do not deny it; however, most
of the populations are not aware how many hours it takes from scientific
operational staff to move forward the process of drug development.
Many drugs do not make it to the market because the drug could
not deliver the treatment to the particular population. It takes
much scientific perseverance and operational planning in the drug
development process to bring a drug to market to meet the population
needs.
|
8. What do you like most about your job? |
In my job, besides using the knowledge
I learned in school about the science and management, it was thrill
to put all the theories into action and see the outcome of my work.
I help to review a protocol to ensure it makes sense to the Physician
who was carrying out the clinical study. By utilizing my
project management skills (budget projection, timeline management
and collect and review quality data and risk assessment), I help
my team members to carry out the study. The final outcome
was to see the drug get approval and be used by many affected people
to increase their quality of life.
|
9. What challenges have you faced in your career? |
I like to have more time to
carry out my personal goals that I want to achieve. Ensuring
the general public understand the intricacies and difficulties
of drug development.
|
10. What other thoughts/comments would you like to share with people considering a career in science? |
This career may not get the high financial
rewards like some other professions e.g., lawyer. However, individual’s
involved in this field will be exposed to the ever changing new
information in science. Each individual’s contribution may make
difference and affect many people’s well being for a long time.
I’d like to encourage the younger population to take on the high
calling of this commitment.
|
