The Venari Podcast

Building CNS leadership teams with Dr Dean Carson | The Venari Podcast

Dr Dean Carson’s professional expertise in neuroscience spans preclinical research, clinical development, medical affairs, and business operations. A neuroscientist and psychopharmacologist by training, he earned his PhD at the University of Sydney and did postdoctoral work at Stanford before leaving academia for industry to work in small, early-stage biotechs. Dean has held multiple operational, clinical, and scientific leadership positions, resulting in successful exits, funding, and drug approvals.
He is currently at atai Life Sciences, where he heads two programmes developing innovative psychiatric therapeutics – and Paula Doust Alba, our CNS & Rare Disease Consultant, was delighted to hear his thoughts on building leadership teams in the CNS space in a recent episode of the Venari Podcast’s R&D Hiring series.
 
High risk, high reward
Dean has a broad background in areas like endocrinology, metabolism, rare disease, and neurology, all of which are lower risk than psychiatry. By his own admission, he avoided psychiatry in industry for a long time because of the numerous difficulties associated with the field. Developing drugs in this space is extremely complex and the failure rate is high. Raising money can be difficult, also, with ‘many large companies kind of deprioritising their development plans within the space.’
Things are different now, however. ‘As we progress as a society,’ Dean says, ‘we’re seeing more and more of an unmet need.’ Funding opportunities for research from both venture capital as well as at federal level – in addition to more resources from large pharma companies – mean that people like Dean, ‘who’ve had interest and a training background in that space’, can feel more comfortable entering the high-risk, high-reward sphere of psychiatry.
 
Changes in the hiring space
People are often drawn to this side of the industry ‘through their own personal experiences, or just their observations of living on this planet,’ Dean notes. ‘That certainly is a motivator for people to want to develop drugs’ that can alleviate mental health conditions. He doesn’t believe that there are soft skills which are specific to psychiatry, as opposed to other areas of drug development. Still, Dean does point out that the way the industry approaches hiring into CNS, neurology, and psychiatry has changed in the past few years now that there is much more investor interest. When it comes to the knowledge base expected of senior hires, ‘the bar is much higher’ than it was even ten years ago. There is far more information available about the brain now; increasingly, leaders in these spaces need to have experience not only of developing drugs, but also an understanding of ‘the complexities and the nuances of any area within neuroscience that’s going to support bringing drugs to market.’
Dean notes that several companies in the neuroscience space have developed their talent’s skillsets internally, as experts in their fields rub shoulders with newer candidates coming to industry from academia. A diverse range of experience and specialisations is important to avoid ‘seeing people stagnate and just going over the same approach to drug development for an area that has been unsuccessful for a long time’, he says.
 
Larger vs smaller organisations – what are the hiring implications?
Hiring practices, in larger and smaller organisations alike, will often largely depend on what candidates are looking for at given points in their careers. Dean cites the movement of people looking to escape the downturn in biotech for something more stable, while candidates from Big Pharma, by contrast, may want a fresh challenge. The two-way flow can help both sides – many small biotechs would benefit from more structured setups and experienced candidates who ‘have the longer view of things’, while Big Pharma firms look to drive innovation with help from more agile talent.
 
What is the most important quality for hiring into CNS – and what does the future hold?
Whether you’re an employee, employer, or investor in the CNS space, one word is key: resilience. For Dean, it’s the number one quality for anyone working in this field given the frequently challenging nature of the work. ‘This is an incredibly high failure rate portion of the industry. And it’s a high failure rate because it’s the single most complicated aspect of medicine,’ he notes – which in turn explains why it has the ‘highest unmet need’. As long as those in the field stay resilient, ‘there will be breakthroughs and it will become more stable.’ Nonetheless, Dean says that for now, CNS and psychiatric drug development remain uncertain – ‘and people have to have tolerance for that.’
Indeed, in such a rapidly changing area, what the future holds for hiring patterns remains to be seen. Dean notes that AI will likely reduce staffing needs in areas of the industry that are easier to automate, whereas strategy decisions will require focus on allowing trailblazers to forge new paths in areas ‘where there haven’t been a large number of approvals, or at least not with anything that’s super novel.’ Strategic-level guidance may be helpful, but it won’t change the fact that ‘drug development is inherently risky,’ as Dean puts it. ‘People need to have an appetite for that risk, and they’re rewarded by a potential financial return’ – not to mention ‘the fascinating things that we do in this space.’
 
Do you need help with your CNS talent solutions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.

Building A High-Performing Team & Commercial Trends with Everett Crosland

In the next episode of the Chief Commercial Officer Series on the Venari Podcast, Joe Knight, who leads the Commercial function within the Life Sciences and Healthcare practice at Venari Partners, was joined by Everett Crosland, Chief Commercial Officer at Cognito Therapeutics. This isn't Everett's first CCO gig; he was previously CCO at AppliedVR and has a strong pricing and access background across both large and small organizations.
In this podcast episode, they talked about building high-performing commercial teams, becoming a CCO from an access perspective, and commercial trends in the coming years.

International Women in Engineering Day 2023, with Janice Li | The Venari Podcast

23 June is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), an occasion to highlight and celebrate the achievements of female engineers. To mark the occasion, as well as to discuss ways to increase diversity in engineering, our Senior Transport & Logistics Consultant, Gov Kandola, was thrilled to welcome Janice Li to the Venari Podcast.
As Arcadis’ Rail & Transit Market Sector Leader for North America, Janice has a direct vantage point from which to observe how her industry is changing to become more inclusive – while noting the progress that still needs to be made. Check out this episode for a fascinating interview in which Janice discusses her career, the steps Arcadis are taking to bridge the gender diversity gap in engineering, and more! 

Becoming A Chief Commercial Officer With Roivant’s CCO, Amy Mahery | Chief Commercial Officer Series | The Venari Podcast

‘Let's be transparent so that people can learn.'
 
Amy Mahery has over 20 years’ experience in multiple commercial roles in Big Pharma and biotech. Now, as CCO of Roivant Sciences, she’s responsible for the company’s commercial strategy as they build out their team and develop their leadership talent.
 
Joe Knight, our Life Sciences Commercial Consultant, was delighted to welcome Amy to the Venari Podcast for an episode of the Chief Commercial Officer series, where they discussed launch strategies, building commercial teams, advice for execs looking to become biotech CCOs, and more.

Building A Transport Eco-System With The Lens of The Users In Mind | Insights from Krishna Desai

📢 ‘There have been strides made – but not enough.’Historically, transport may not be the most diverse area of the labour market – though things are slowly beginning to change.Our Senior Transport & Logistics Consultant, Gov Kandola, was delighted to welcome Cubic Transportation Systems’s Senior Global Marketing Manager, Krishna Desai, to the Venari Podcast for an enlightening discussion on making transportation more accessible, how companies in this sector can attract diverse candidates, and more.

How To Build An Effective Team & Plan For Commercial Success | With CCO, Tiffany Ahlers | The Venari Podcast

What advice does Mycovia Pharmaceuticals CCO Tiffany Ahlers have for aspiring executives?
‘Take every experience given to you. A lot of times, I would take on additional responsibilities or roles [...] I got exposure to other areas of the business.’
Our Life Sciences consultant, Joe Knight, was delighted to welcome Tiffany to our Chief Commercial Officer series for the Venari Podcast recently. Check out the full episode now!

How To Scope A Consulting Or Interim Need | Insights from Dr. Robert Latusek | The Venari Podcast

"External consultants can be a great way of bridging the capability gap".
Independent consultant and McKinsey alumnus Dr. Robert L. recently sat down with Senior Consultant in our Interim practice, Mhairi Geraghty, to give his thoughts on how to scope a project or interim need. He shares what good (and bad) looks like, and what it takes to increase the chances of your project’s success.
 

The Ocean Freight Market: Current Outlook & future Expectations | Insights From Stephanie Loomis | The Venari Podcast

Identifying Top Talent & Running A Successful Launch | With CCO Lauren D’Angelo | The Venari Podcast

Having worked on 15 different launches in nine different therapeutic areas – and in varying leadership roles – Lauren D'Angelo, MBA has ample experience in the commercial side of life sciences. Now, as CCO of CNS (central nervous system) start-up Alpha Cognition, Inc., she focuses on developing corporate strategy – but what are the most important lessons she’s learned from building out commercial teams?Lauren spoke to Joe Knight, our Life Sciences & Healthcare Commercial Lead, as part of our Chief Commercial Officer series for the Venari Podcast. She gave insights from across her varied career, and offers her top three tips for biotech start-up success.

2023 Retail Trends & How To Keep Up With Change | With Heather Naylor | The Venari Podcast

‘What is the reason that a consumer shops with you? Focus on that, and then everything else is just noise.’Heather Naylor has enjoyed varied experience in the retail and consumer goods space, both in industry as well as in consultancy. Mark Collins, Head of our Retail & Consumer Goods practice, has known Heather for a long time – and he was glad to catch up and get her insights in this episode of the Venari Podcast.Just about every P&L line has gone up for retailers, but Heather has plenty advice on keeping up with innovation.