Roche has named one of the world’s leading personalised cancer academics as global head of its translational research in oncology.
On May 1 William Pao, head of the haematology/oncology division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will make the move from academia to join what is the world’s leading pharma company when it comes to oncology sales.
Pau will be responsible for leading Roche’s discovery, translational medicine and early development of innovative oncology medicines and he will report to John Reed, head of Roche’s pharma research and early development group.
Commenting on Pao’s appointment, Reed said: “William is recognised as one of the world’s leading molecular oncologists, with world class expertise in targeted cancer therapeutics, translational medicine, molecular diagnostics, and personalised healthcare strategies using cancer genomics.”
Pao has been with Vanderbilt for several years serving across several departments, including cancer biology and pathology, microbiology and immunology.
Personalised cancer has been his forte, however, and he has served as director of personalised cancer medicine at Vanderbilt. He also founded the website MyCancerGenome.org – an online resource for physicians, patients, caregivers and researchers – which includes information on clinical trials involving genetic variations of cancers.
This experience will be particular valuable as Roche looks to strengthen its presence in the field.
“I was particularly attracted to Roche as one of the pioneers and front-runners in personalised medicine, as the world’s top oncology company and the world’s largest in vitro diagnostics company, with a deep commitment to companion diagnostics coupled with targeted therapeutics,” said Pao.