Many researchers spend their entire careers dedicated to attaining expertise in one specialty. But for some researchers, like Ron Mazumder*, inspiration comes from the interface between disciplines.
“Being at the interface is a theme that started in my college years and continued all the way through my career, whether it’s pharma and diagnostics, research and clinical development or technology development and implementation,” Ron explains.
A fascination with the convergence of science and technology has made Ron a leader in Genentech’s efforts to create medicines tailored to the genetics of an individual person — or of their cancer. The novel biomarkers and diagnostic tools he and his team develop are essential ingredients in the evolution of personalized medicine; they ensure that patients in need get the medicines that will help them most.
Lab Wonders
Ron’s interest in science started in childhood. He grew up on the East Coast, listening to dinner table conversation between his professor Dad and his physician-scientist brother, who is 13 years Ron’s senior. Hearing their perspectives and learning how they thought about research problems sparked his interest.
A visit to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) cemented Ron’s determination to be a scientist. His brother was a fellow in the lab of famed cancer researcher and surgeon Steve Rosenberg. Ron, having just graduated from high school, spent the day mesmerized by the tools his brother used to study cancer immunology.
His interest piqued, Ron focused his education on science — but never on a single field. At Johns Hopkins University, he majored in Natural Sciences, an amalgam of biology, chemistry and physics. Then he pursued a PhD in bioorganic chemistry at the University of Maryland. Along the way Ron toyed with the idea of medical school, and was even accepted to a program at Boston University, but realized that he liked science too much to change course.
Following graduate school, Ron did two postdocs that straddled the borderline between basic science and drug discovery. As the second wound up, he found himself at a career crossroads, trying to choose between academics and the private sector.
Joining Genentech
Ron chose industry. With excitement ramping up around the Human Genome Project, he signed on with a pharmaceutical company to work on the genomics side. Soon his boss left and Ron inherited a team of a dozen scientists responsible for applying genomics technologies to drug development.
“This was one of those early moments where I developed and grew as a leader. I needed to take a broader view of things and be accountable for a large group of people. It was a challenge, but also a good opportunity.”
Ron went on to build a 25-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, working on companion diagnostics, predictive biomarkers and drug development. He was happy with his work, but wondered what the next phase would be. A call from a former colleague, Garret Hampton, who worked at Genentech at the time, offered an answer.
“He just called me out of the blue and said, ‘I’m looking for someone to lead our companion diagnostics group at Genentech. We have a great portfolio and great people that you need to meet.’ So I did, and one thing led to another, and I wound up where I am today.”
Working at Genentech allows Ron to focus not only on the interface between biomarkers and novel technologies, but also on the interactions among groups of experts involved in developing new medicines.
“You can talk to people from all sectors, from basic research to early- or late-stage clinical development, even from marketing and regulatory. You can really learn a lot by talking to different people. And the people here are highly educated, very passionate, genuine and also very nice. It makes coming to work really fun and worthwhile when you enjoy the people you’re working with.”
Keeping Pace
Since coming to Genentech in 2016, Ron has assumed leadership of the oncology biomarker development (OBD) group, in addition to his original role overseeing the creation of companion diagnostics. One of Ron’s main jobs with OBD is to identify new pharmacodynamic biomarkers that can determine whether a drug is actually hitting its target, working closely with Stuart Lutzker’s group in oncology exploratory clinical development.
Ron is combining his scientific knowledge of biomarkers with advanced testing technologies to support the development of new medicines that target the genetic aberrations that drive cancer regardless of where the cancer originates. Looking to the future, Ron envisions a comprehensive cancer genomic profiling panel that could serve as a companion diagnostic for multiple medicines. His vision is now becoming a reality through strategic collaborations with partners like Foundation Medicine and Flatiron Health.
“We realized that to provide personalized healthcare, we needed to comprehensively profile the patients in our cancer trials and be able to access the information in a database that we could continue to build upon. By working with Foundation Medicine and Flatiron, which are also part of the Roche group, this strategy will yield more insights about the prevalence of novel biomarkers and drug resistance mechanisms, and will allow us to develop multiple diagnostic platforms that will help with drug development decisions.”
As science’s frontiers have expanded from mining the Human Genome Project for insights into the roots of disease to analyzing thousands of individual sequences to create personalized medicines, Ron has kept pace. And as Genentech continues to create innovative treatments that target cancer and other diseases ever more precisely, his strategy of working the boundaries between disciplines will keep evolving.
*While Ron was an employee at the time this article was published, he has since left Genentech.