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W. Marc Bernsau
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Mover
Genstruct CSO de Graaf brings new direction to smaller biotech setting
By Jim Schakenbach, Special to Mass High Tech
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David de Graaf
Chief Scientific Officer, Genstruct Inc.
Education: BS, MBA, University of Utrecht; Ph.D, University of Illinois Chicago
Previous Employers: Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer, AstraZeneca
In the view of Genstruct Inc.’s new chief scientific officer, David de Graaf, “We are entering into the most interesting time for the pharmaceutical industry and biotech. We’re going from a research investment paradigm to a time of hunkering down and winnowing down research and development functions, so the question now is, ‘what models are going to survive?’”
De Graaf recently joined the Cambridge-based systems biology company as CSO from pharmaceutical giant Boehringer-Ingelheim, where he was vice president of biotherapeutics and integrative biology. According to de Graaf, his mandate at Genstruct is to “help set a new direction for Genstruct and, together with the rest of the management team, think through how we can get more value out of systems biology.”
De Graaf, who has experience building world-class research organizations for major pharmaceutical and biotech companies, is looking forward to the unique challenges and advantages of working for a smaller firm with just 30 employees. “I’m getting back about 40 percent of my time, which used to be spent doing administrative work. I find it really attractive to come back to a company that’s a little bit smaller, but more agile and heavier on science. I can take what I’ve learned at these bigger companies about the value and application of systems biology approaches and actualize that value at a place where we can do that quickly.”
De Graaf has already accomplished a lot to add value to systems biology, including helping to advance preventive toxicology — the ability to understand early in the drug discovery process what risks are associated with a particular compound, and then developing ways to integrate safety into a discovery organization.
In addition to bringing expertise and experience to Genstruct, de Graaf offers the unique perspective of a former Genstruct customer. “At a company like this, you need to be customer-focused and understand the needs of the customer very well, so that we can figure out exactly what we can do to help. This is an essential ability that I bring from the customer side.”
To help solve customer problems, de Graaf says he adopts a gentle but involved management style. “I like to set a vision and provide people with opportunities to help them work toward that vision,” said de Graaf. He likens it to painting a picture. “I like to leave a little ‘white space’ and let people fill that in.”
De Graaf, who has two young daughters and devotes his spare time to family activities, finds excitement and motivation in pushing the boundaries of science. “What drives me is the slightly crazy idea that we can change drug discovery and development and make it a far more efficient process than it is right now. That we can change drug development to make it not only faster, but more productive, with less attrition.”
De Graaf is excited about prospects for the pharmaceutical industry. “How are we going to make it better? How are we going to do things differently? I think I have an answer — I don’t know if it’s the right answer — but in the meantime I think we can have a lot of fun thinking through how we can get the best medicine quickly to the patients who need it.”
Jim Schakenbach is a freelance writer in Jefferson.
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