Oncology Careers Driven By Collaboration, Action & Impact

For Justine Larson, who leads the Medical Excellence and Scientific Training team in Global Medical Affairs for Oncology at Takeda, that's has only become clearer over time. “Patients truly are at the center of our decision making" and having a common language and understanding through which we approach our work makes it easier to navigate challenges. 

This shared focus helps teams cut through complexity and align quickly. While work may begin in one function, the greatest impact comes from working together for patients. 

When teams see an opportunity to work differently and come together to act on it, bold ideas can become meaningful change. 

Justine shared how Medical Affairs and R&D recognized the potential of inviting Medical Science Liaisons (MSL's) to play a more active role in advancing clinical studies. The proposal received strong organizational support and a training program was developed to prepare MSLs to support clinical study recruitment and help keep development timelines on track. 

The closer collaboration created value in both directions: MSLs gained a deeper understanding of clinical research and the opportunity to strengthen scientific relationships with healthcare professionals, while R&D teams gained valuable insights into patient needs, treatment realities, and research priorities. 

In R&D, momentum often depends on how quickly teams can identify barriers and bring the right people together to solve them. 

Maggie Baker, a Global Program Manager describes her role as bringing together “all of those sub teams, all of those dynamics, and ensuring that the totality of the development program is moving quickly.” 

When one early development program faced potential delays, teams across the organization came together to bring additional expertise, remove obstacles, and accelerate progress. The result,

"We were able to achieve a milestone in half the time that Takeda typically benchmarks to.

For Brendan Turner, Global Program Lead, partnering across functions is essential to moving programs forward. He stays close to his colleagues in Clinical Development, Manufacturing, Medical Affairs, and Patient Access to keep teams aligned ensure we are able to get our medicines to the right patients because they can't wait. 

That unified focus can continue long after launch. In one case, that collaboration continued for years after launch. Teams worked together with physicians in-country to help expand access to a disease indication that had previously faced resistance, ultimately bringing the treatment to more people you needed them.