February 19, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Located in South San Francisco, California, MyoKardia, Inc. is focused on precision treatments and therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. Named as one of BioSpace’s Top 30 Life Science Startups to Watch in the U.S., MyoKardia ranked #2 on our list due to significant investor interest, a global collaborative agreement, and innovative approaches to the genetics of cardiac disease. The company’s approach is to study genetic cardiomyopathy with the goal of developing multiple programs in hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy (HCM and DCM), as well as other genetic cardiomyopathies.
MyoKardia recently announced a collaboration with Paris-based Sanofi to discover and develop targeted therapeutics for heritable cardiomyopathies. The company also launched the Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry (ShaRe), a multi-center, international repository of clinical data on individuals with genetic heart disease.
Ingrid Boyes, senior vice president of human resources for MyoKardia, took time to speak to BioSpace about what the company is looking for when hiring scientists and executives, offering advice to potential employees and what areas she expect the company will be hiring in the near-future.
BioSpace: What is your company looking for in hiring scientists and executives?
Boyes: MyoKardia is pioneering precision medicine for cardiovascular diseases. Our vision is to revolutionize the treatment of genetic heart disease with molecularly targeted therapies that will hopefully get us closer to cures. We aim to be the scientific leader in our field, establishing a world-class integrated discovery and development organization with a portfolio of targeted cardiovascular therapies in the clinic over the next few years.
We are looking for innovative team members who share our passion about science, and are excited about the opportunity to transform the lives of patients suffering from these devastating diseases. We recognize the value of being agile and are focused on hiring individuals, who in addition to being excellent scientists, clinicians and business people, have also demonstrated the ability to be truly innovative in their field. To achieve our vision, we’ll need to push boundaries and enable a new ecosystem for patient care. Having team members that are motivated by our patients, passionate about our science and able to improvise, adapt and overcome setbacks is critically important.
In our management and executive roles, we are looking for strong leaders who are strategic, great managers and decision-makers, and terrific mentors. We want leaders who will focus on setting direction for successful execution and who will foster and develop employees to their fullest potential.
BioSpace: What specific advice can you offer to those seeking employment at your company?
Boyes: This is an exciting time to join MyoKardia. Irrespective of the function or level we work in, we are building the foundation for our future success together.
My advice is to showcase and highlight your passion for our company’s vision, which is grounded in our science and in transforming the lives of patients. We want to hear about your unique contributions and the role you see yourself playing in helping us develop innovative therapies. Teamwork is very important to us and we want to hear about your experiences working in cross-functional teams and how you’ve helped drive success.
BioSpace: What do you see the areas of biggest need in the next 3-5 years?
Boyes: The patients we serve currently do not have many treatment options. At MyoKardia, our approach targets the underlying cause of these heart diseases and ultimately has the potential to get us closer to a cure. We are a small dynamic company that is growing rapidly, creating many new and exciting opportunities.
This year we will be looking for exceptional talent in the areas of drug discovery and biology research, regulatory, clinical development, project management and finance. In the future, we anticipate continuing to grow in research and development and, because our products have the potential for rapid regulatory approval pathways, we will soon be building strategic marketing and commercial expertise. This will create many opportunities for smart scientists and business people to learn, grow and contribute.
Check out the latest Career Insider eNewsletter - February 19, 2015.
Sign up for the free bi-weekly Career Insider eNewsletter.
