Global Medical Affairs, Respiratory Specialty

•Accountable for developing and executing biomarker strategies for early and late-stage oncology programs to inform target engagement, pharmacodynamics, mechanism of action and patient selection; and providing critical inputs to commercial and medical affairs strategy• Lead for close-to-launch asset; responsible for its translational strategy and lifecycle management planning •Led a matrix team to ensure successful integration of Sierra Oncology into GSK; including decisions pertaining to people, assets and bugets• Led the clinical biomarker strategy for assets of cancer epigenetics, synthetic lethality (Zejula), antibody-drug conjugate (Blenrep), and Immuno-oncology (Jemperli)• As a single point of contact for clinical studies, represented biomarker strategy at medicine development, study, and governance meetings• Line leader who effectively manages internal GSK teams and external partners, to deliver the biomarker strategy and generate impactful and innovative data to drive clinical program decision making and identify patient segmentation strategies• Authored biomarker sections of the clinical protocol, study procedural manuals, consent forms, investigational brochure, clinical study report

Led identification, sourcing, outreach and assessment of innovative business and partnering opportunities for experimental and precision medicine in support of the GSK pipelineDeveloped strategic plans to support the building of business cases for external Precision Medicine BD opportunities.Enabled and maintained GSK precision medicine partnerships with diagnostic and technology platform developers to support Oncology to advance research, clinical and/or commercial programs.

● Support the biomarker strategy within early and late stage clinical development programs to generate data that informs on target engagement, pharmacodynamics, mechanism of action and patient selection● Responsible for aspects of biomarker development from conception to execution to deliver the biomarker strategy and generate impactful and innovative data to drive clinical programs to be successful● Oversee all technical aspects of biomarker assay development and implementation● Contribute to the writing and editing of the biomarker sections of the clinical protocol, study procedural manuals and consent forms● Collaborate with clinical operations and sample management to ensure biomarker testing and data generation is compliant with all regulatory requirements● SOP development, appropriate language for protocol and consent forms, data standards, assessment of biomarker research proposals● Serve as a point of contact for external vendors and collaborators in support of data generation● Contribute to group's awareness of the emerging key scientific and technical innovations to help drive continuous improvement

• Supported the neuroscience team in the design and execution of scientific studies for the delivery of new medicines to treat neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease• Employed neurological models and genetic and chemical tools to identify new drug targets and to drive a drug discovery programs• Conducted cell and molecular biology experiments to progress drug discovery projects by establishing functional assays using in vitro iPSC models (neurons, astrocytes, microglia) and rodent primary cells, either in isolation or as cocultures to support target validation and lead optimization• Contributed to the establishment and characterization of relevant ex vivo pharmacology and translational medicine and biomarker assays• Conducted pharmacological studies characterizing effects with an array of in vitro techniques that may include immunoassays, high-content cell imaging, Seahorse, mass spectrometry, confocal microscopy, and RNAseq, among others• Independently executed experiments, and deliver results in a timely manner to enable informed decision making

• Experience in novel target and biomarker identification with keen ability to develop new hypotheses coupled with strong analytical skills, learning agility, excellent communication skills, and strong ability to multi-task in a team setting• Enthusiastic scientist with expertise in the evaluation of therapeutic concepts in pre-clinical murine models and human primary cells to support drug development in Heart Failure • Successfully planned and implemented assay development, validation and interpretation of results from transcriptomics, proteomics, miRomics, qRT-PCR, histological studies to investigate the timeline of myocardial injury and healing• Performed studies to understand the mechanism of action of candidate drug molecules for the treatment of heart failure • Effective at managing large amounts of qualitative and quantitative data and presenting it to diverse audience• Contributed to pre-clinical team meetings, received insight into drug discovery and clinical translation• Initiated and managed collaborations within GSK as well as external academic and partner organizations• Organized the first international symposium for postdoctoral/clinical fellows that would serve as a platform to exchange ideas and share research for the early talent at GSK. Received GSK’s Global Employee Recognition Silver Award• Member of the content development team for GSK’s Women’s Leadership Initiative • Actively involved in Delaware Valley Science-in-Schools community, a non-profit GSK body that provides opportunities to share science in local communities and inspire future generations of scientists

My research project involves identifying mechanisms required for the assembly of protein complexes crucial to the function of motile cilia on cells lining the respiratory system. The loss of motile cilia function causes the human condition Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a disorder of motile cilia characterized by Situs Inversus, the defective left-right symmetry axis determination; chronic respiratory infections and infertility. I identified that transgenic mouse lacking the Dyx1c1 gene causes PCD-like phenotypes of Situs Inversus and hydrocephalus. I have performed experiments that lead to the discovery that the protein encoded by Dyx1c1 is critical to the assembly of the cellular motors responsible for cilia motility (Tarkar et al, 2013, Nature Genetics). My research has also identified multiple proteins that interact with DYX1C1, and identified the domains of DYX1C1 necessary for those interactions.

My project involved developing conditional shots hairpin RNAs to knockdown the expression of candidate dyslexia susceptibility gens. I led the laboratory component of an undergraduate introductory biology course for biology majors (42 students/semester) focused on the fundamental concepts in biology with emphasis on the standard biochemical techniques.

The project involved extensive usage of concepts of Linux and Perl. I identified and developed programs required for designing models using the concepts such as Metropolis-Hastings Algorithm and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. The availability of large amounts of genetic data from the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of species and the study of corresponding DNA mutations created an unprecedented opportunity for the study of evolutionary processes.