Principal Scientist (Director)- Outcomes Research, Oncology Asset Full-time

Job Title

This position resides within our company's Value and Implementation (V&I), Outcomes Research organization, which is responsible for real-world evidence generation and outcomes research studies to enable sustained patient access to our company's innovations and improve patient health outcomes. Under the guidance of a senior leader, this individual will support the V&I, Outcomes Research teams supporting Oncology Asset(s).

Types of studies executed include prospective and retrospective observational studies to characterize disease burden and epidemiology, treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization and costs, physician and patient satisfaction surveys, clinical and patient reported outcomes assessments, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and economic modelling. The incumbent is expected to contribute to product development and marketing strategies throughout the lifecycle to ensure that product value is defined and developed to achieve optimal market/patient access and reimbursement. The incumbent is expected to work cross-functionally with clinical development, medical affairs, biostatistics, market access, commercial and country affiliates and may have direct interactions with health technology assessment (HTA) agencies, reimbursement decision makers and national immunization technical advisory groups.

Responsibilities and Primary Activities

• Depending on role, leads or participates in value evidence teams and develop or contribute to value evidence strategies for in-line and pipeline products. Obtains senior management approval of evidence generation plans. Provides outcomes research leadership on cross-functional regional and global teams.
• Critically assesses drivers and barriers to reimbursement and market access, and provides input into clinical, regulatory, payer/access, marketing and evidence generation strategies and programs
• In collaboration with internal teams and external partners, designs studies, authors study protocols, develops measurement questionnaires, case report forms, data analysis plans, final study reports, scientific presentations, and publications
• Responsible for study-related contracting, budgets, and vendor/partner management and to ensure study conduct is aligned with company Policies and SOPs and world-wide regulations and standards, including Good Pharmacoepidemiology Practice (GPP) for applicable work.
• Supports country affiliates to understand local evidence generation needs, customizes outcomes research documents, such as protocols and reimbursement dossiers, according to local requirements
• Works closely with cross-functional teams to effectively communicate outcomes research and health economic modelling data internally and to external stakeholders
• Maintains awareness of new scientific and methodological developments within therapeutic area
• Builds relationships with scientific experts worldwide
• Presents outcomes research data at national and international congresses and publishes articles in scientific journals

The following skills and knowledge are needed to be successful in this role:

• Decision making: Identifying and understanding problems and opportunities by gathering, analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information; choosing the best course of action by establishing clear decision criteria, generating and evaluating alternatives, and making timely decisions; taking action that is consistent with available facts and constraints and optimizes probable consequences.
• Emotional intelligence: Meeting the personal needs of individuals to build trust, encourage two-way communication and strengthen relationships. Ability to work with difficult stakeholders while achieving business results.
• Networking and partnerships: Building partnerships; developing and leveraging relationships within and across work groups to achieve results.
• Innovation: Creating novel solutions with measurable value for existing and potential customers (internal or external); experimenting with new ways to solve work problems and seize opportunities that result in unique and differentiated solutions.
• Knowledge of evolving payer and reimbursement environment: Educate the asset teams on impact of US Value Assessment and other key market HTA requirements on the asset and possible mitigation strategies

Required Qualifications, Skills, & Experience

Minimum

• Doctoral degree (PhD, MD, DrPH, ScD, PharmD) in relevant discipline (health services research, outcomes research, epidemiology, public health, health economics, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacy administration)
• 4-6 years post degree
• Oncology experience

Required Skills:

Biopharmaceutics, Biostatistics, Clinical Development, Communication, Computer Science, Data Management, Health Economics, Health Technology Assessment (HTA), Machine Learning (ML), Marketing Strategies, Medical Economics, Neuroanatomy, Outcomes Research, Pathophysiology, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacology, Researching, Stakeholder Relationship Management, Strategic Planning

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

You can apply for this role through https://jobs.merck.com/us/en (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.