Helen Haggerty in February 2020 became Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety (PSTS), Vice President and Global Head, Nonclinical Safety Portfolio Scientific Leadership reporting to Cynthia Afshari and located at our Spring House, PA campus.
Helen is responsible for the strategic development of the team that determines and drives nonclinical safety strategies and assessments across the Janssen portfolio – covering internal and externally partnered pipeline projects that cross all therapeutic areas, all modalities, and all portfolio stages. This team is comprised of nonclinical safety therapeutic area leads (NCS TALS), nonclinical safety project team reps (NCSLs), their people leaders, specialty contractors, and numerous additional matrixed team representatives. In addition, Helen will be responsible for ensuring the team’s talent pipeline and drug development experience is strong and its science and regulatory influence continues to be industry leading.
Helen has extensive drug development knowledge and experience bridging from discovery to development within immunology/ immuno-oncology, stemming from a 25 plus year career at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and most recently at Janssen. Upon joining Janssen in 2020, Helen served as development Therapeutic Area Lead (dTAL), focused on the Immunology portfolio where she provided strong strategic portfolio plans and rapid and smooth transition to clinical proof of concept and beyond. In this role, Helen coaches nonclinical safety leads on integrating their plans to support the final registration path to ensure scientific and regulatory questions are proactively addressed.
Helen is recognized across the industry for leadership in the immunotoxicology and biologics areas. She has published extensively and is a highly sought speaker for international symposia and forums. She has held numerous industry leadership roles, including as a PhRMA ICH S6 Deputy topic leader and a member of the executive committee for BioSafe. From the Society of Toxicology she received in 2018 the Career Achievement in Biotechnology Award and in 2021 Mentoring Award for her leadership and service for mentee career development opportunities and influence on the growth of scientists entering the field of toxicology. Helen earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Richmond and a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia.