Director, Scientific Affairs

Brief Overview:

Cures Within Reach (CWR)’s Director, Scientific Affairs supports the organization’s goal of using approved therapies to find treatments for patients with unsolved diseases. The Director, Scientific Affairs is an important member of CWR’s small, productive and passionate team, helping the organization to find, select and manage its portfolio of funded clinical trials through its patient-focused approach.

About Cures Within Reach:

CWR leverages the speed, safety and cost-effectiveness of repurposing, testing already approved therapies for new diseases: driving more treatments to more patients more quickly.

CWR is a US-based philanthropic medical research nonprofit focused on catalyzing research to facilitate and validate already approved therapies for new indications to create fast-track clinical impact. CWR provides grants to clinicians and researchers for pivotal, pilot, Phase I/II clinical studies that, when successful, de-risk follow-on trials and allow a catalytic effect of follow-on funding for trials that build clinical evidence for regulatory approval or for off-label use.

CWR’s 2024 and 2025 major initiatives focus on impacting Health Equity; Veterans; and Pediatrics – its 3 population-based communities. Other CWR Communities include disease-area (rare diseases, neurology and oncology) and geography (Chicago, Mid-Atlantic and LMICs). CWR currently has a portfolio of 50 funded trials at 38 institutions in 35 diseases in 12 countries. To date, CWR has provided over $10 million in grants to nearly 150 repurposing research projects that helped to leverage over $100 million in additional funding - $10 in new clinical trial funding for each $1 that CWR awarded. Read more about our impact here.

Position Description:

The CWR Director, Scientific Affairs supports CWR’s scientific initiatives, working with the Vice President, Scientific Affairs. This position may also support other organizational programs, event and initiatives, working with the President & CEO. The Director, Scientific Affairs, working both internally and with the organization’s external stakeholders, allows the organization to work seamlessly. This position is full-time, although CWR may consider 24 to 32 hours each week, and is hybrid: mostly virtual with 1 or 2 days each week at CWR’s downtown Chicago office. All full-time employees are eligible for medical and other benefits, including retirement.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Director, Scientific Affairs will support and work under direction of CWR leadership in key areas:

• Supporting CWR’s funding opportunity Requests for Proposals (RFPs), including RFP outreach and marketing, letter of intent (LOI) and proposal submission management, Grant Review Committee recruitment and engagement, internal scientific review of submissions, selection of clinical trials for funding, etc.
• Assisting CWR leadership to manage CWR funded clinical trials, including finalizing agreements for approved projects, managing and reviewing post-award reports for ongoing projects, conducting follow-on research to track completed projects, etc.
• Researching to support potential areas for new RFPs, CWR Community development, marketing / outreach and building the funding partner pipeline
• Supporting CWR’s various events management needs (virtual, in-person or hybrid), including registration support, marketing/outreach, sponsorship and donation coordination, day-of requirements, and post-event follow up as needed
• Working with CWR leadership as needed on organizational administration and other projects supporting CWR as needed

Ideal Candidate Qualifications:

• BA/BS degree or higher in the biomedical sciences and/or 2 to 4 years relevant work experience in clinical research; MS or higher preferred
• Ability to translate scientific concepts, data, etc. into language easily understood by any audience
• Experience with IRB, FDA, etc. clinical trial submissions preferred
• Excellent written communication and presentation skills, with a strong attention to detail
• Ability to work on multiple projects at once with varying timelines and deadlines; project management experience
• Experience at or in partnership with a not-for-profit preferred
• Self-starter with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team in a small organization, and can be both adaptable and flexible
• Some background in online systems experience, including ProposalCentral, website analytics, website user interface, online content/community management and social media strategies preferred
• Experience using a CRM system (such as Salesforce) and email marketing systems preferred
• Some experience with AI, machine learning or similar in biomedical sciences preferred
• Ability to work remotely as appropriate with little supervision, while still meeting goals and deadlines
• Ability to work in a timely and professional fashion, while in a fast-moving, dynamic, entrepreneurial environment

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should email a resume and thoughtful cover letter: staff@cureswithinreach.org.