Associate Principal Scientist Clinical Pharmacogenetics Job

Associate Principal Scientist Clinical Pharmacogenetics-INF004670

Description

Merck & Co., Inc. Kenilworth, N.J., U.S.A. known as Merck in the United States and Canada, is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. Today, we are building a new kind of healthcare company – one that is ready to help create a healthier future for all of us.

Our ability to excel depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of an individual like you. To this end, we strive to create an environment of mutual respect, encouragement and teamwork. As part of our global team, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues while developing and expanding your career.


We currently have an opening for a scientist with expertise in genetics, pharmacogenetics and/or informatics. The successful candidate will serve as a primary scientific point of contact with clinical drug development teams in the Clinical Pharmacogenomics group, as part of the Genetics and Pharmacogenomics (GpGx) department at Merck & Co. The primary responsibilities are:

- Leading strategic pharmacogenetic approaches to enable drug development decision making
- Analysis and interpretation of pharmacogenetic data
- Emphasis on interpretation of results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data as it pertains to clinical development strategy and causal human biology
- Informatic analysis of data sets to inform further experimental design

The role sits at the critical interface between statistical analysis, pre-clinical and clinical drug development. The successful candidate will be expected to work with biologists, geneticists, clinicians and statisticians to develop strategies, perform data analysis and interpretation in the context of drug development programs. Given the multi-disciplinary nature of the position, very strong collaboration and communication skills are required. A deep understanding of genetics, pharmacogenetics and informatic processing of genetic data is required.

Additional responsibilities of the candidate will include but are not limited to:

- Working closely with clinical drug development teams, biologists, and statisticians to design genetic studies, including writing and defending project approval documents
- Analyzing and interpreting large-scale pharmacogenetic data sets, including next-generation sequencing and GWAS data
- Identify variants associated with human phenotypes and interrogate human causal biology. Follow up and interpretation of published data relevant to clinical programs that influence pharmacogenetic approaches and strategies
- Written and verbal communication of study results to project teams, including proposals for further experiments to validate key findings and completing regulatory reports
- Collaboration with other geneticists for target identification projects, using clinical data and biological validation of GWAS results
- Manage a portfolio of projects to review and prioritize new and on-going projects

Qualifications

Education:

- Pharm D or PhD degree, with experience in genetics or pharmacogenetics, preferably with strong informatics skills or a related field.

Required:

- Deep understanding of human genetics is required, including experience understanding the role of pharmacogenetic variation to clinical phenotypes of medical relevance
- Extensive experience in the design and bioinformatics analysis of large-scale human genetic datasets, array based and next-generation sequencing data.
- Experience in interpreting GWAS data, including concepts related to population genetics (e.g., linkage disequilibrium, genetic architecture of human disease) and functional annotation of human genetic variation (e.g. coding and non-coding variants)
- Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, including an ability to communicate complex data analysis results in a clear, concise manner to biologists, clinicians, and senior management.

Preferred:

- Post-doctoral research experience (minimum 2 years) in a leading academic lab or industry
- Solid genetic and informatic training, including experience with genetic analysis platforms.
- Biological pathway and network analysis skills, including experience with pathway analysis tools would be an advantage
- Experience with software/databases like Omicsoft ClinVar, and or ClinGen preferred

Our employees are the key to our company’s success. We demonstrate our commitment to our employees by offering a competitive and valuable rewards program. Our Company’s benefits are designed to support the wide range of goals, needs and lifestyles of our employees, and many of the people that matter the most in their lives. If you need an accommodation for the application process please email us at staffingaadar@merck.com.

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Merck is an equal opportunity employer, Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran – proudly embracing diversity in all of its manifestations.


Job: Informatics & Analytics

Job Title:Assoc Prin. Scientist, Inform& Analytics

Primary Location: NA-US-PA-West Point

Other Locations: NA-US-NJ-Rahway

Employee Status: Regular

Travel: Yes, 10 % of the Time

Number of Openings: 1

Company Trade Name:Merck