Narcisa

Clinical Development Manager - Neisseria

I only joined GSK Bio four months ago, and I can safely say that things move pretty fast around here. These have definitely been the most exciting four months of my life.

I think what drew me to GSK Bio in the first place was its reputation in the vaccine arena. In particular, I was impressed by the opportunities it could offer through its close working relationships with groups like the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to implement vaccination campaigns, thus saving million of human lives every year. The work we're doing in the developing world in the prevention of diseases is clearly a big draw for people who go into medicine to help save lives. Moreover, I believe we are the only pharmaceutical company who has in clinical development vaccines for the WHO's priority diseases, namely HIV, Malaria and TB.

Before joining the company, I'd spent five years doing research in a university environment. So nothing could really prepare me for the change of pace or level of investment I found at GSK Bio. Having said that, my passion for continuous learning and development is something that I know will be nurtured here. I'm happy to say that I'm learning and discovering new things every day. It's hard to get bored in an environment like this.

When people ask me about a typical day, it's not easy to answer because there's really no such thing. In general terms though, a Clinical Development Manager (CDM) leads the Clinical Project Team (within the clinical department) and is a member of the Project Team (across departments) related to a vaccine development. That means the CDM is responsible for managing phase I-IV clinical studies from the planning stage to preparation of the clinical study report, and follow-up of the file until the vaccine is on the market.