Leadership in the Life Sciences: A conversation with Dr Marcus Schindler

Join us for discussion with Dr Marcus Schindler (EVP of Research & Early Development and Chief Scientific Officer of Novo Nordisk) as he talks about his journey from academia through to increasingly senior roles in the biopharma space. He will discuss what leadership means to him, how his style has evolved over time and give a perspective on the future of healthcare. The purpose of the talk is to inspire and equip researchers within the University to reflect on what leadership means in both academia and in healthcare more widely.

The discussion will be moderated by Professor Cecilia Lindgren (Director, Big Data Institute), before opening up to questions from members of the audience.

The event will be followed by refreshments in the atrium.
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Speaker bio – Marcus Schindler, PhD, Prof., is the Executive Vice President of Research & Early Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Novo Nordisk A/S. Marcus received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge. He has (co-) authored 50+ peer-reviewed research papers and is an inventor of 25 international patent applications.

He is Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and has close to 25 years of experience in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry, working both in international large pharma and biotechnology companies including AstraZeneca (Sweden), Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany) and (OSI) Prosidion (UK and US).

He joined Novo Nordisk in 2018 as SVP for External Innovation & Strategy before he was appointed lead of Global Drug Discovery. Since March 2021, he leads the newly created EVP area Research and Early Development (R&ED) with accountability for driving scientific innovation, from idea generation to human proof-of-concept.

In his current role, he has led the transformation of Novo Nordisk’s drug discovery towards a “human centric” approach in all therapy areas and the expansion of the portfolio, with an increased focus on new modes of action and novel treatment modalities, including Cell Therapy and RNAi, and a strong emphasis on external innovation through collaborations and licensing deals.

Marcus has also led the establishment of novel organisational set-ups that enable innovation, such as Transformational Research Units (TRUs), including the Cell Therapy R&D and the BioInnovation Hub in Boston, and a set of initiatives to enable Diversity & Inclusion as an essential part of early research.