Australia's Johnson & Johnson Research: Working within a Global Organisation
November 2007
Australia's Johnson & Johnson Research: Working within a Global Organisation
Interview with Dr Susan Pond
Australia's Johnson & Johnson Research: Working within a Global Organisation
In this exclusive interview, Fintan Walton talks to Dr Susan Pond, Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Research in Australia, about the company’s position in the J&J organisation, and how J&J is one of the few multinational companies that has a bona fide biotechnology discovery presence in Australia. She discusses how the company centres on RNA and DNA research, but also looks for Australian technology that could be of value to J&J globally. Dr Pond also describes the importance of the company’s interaction with local academic organisations, through both collaboration agreements and the joint supervision of PhD students.
About Dr Susan Pond
Dr Susan Pond has been Chairman & Managing Director of Johnson & Johnson Research (JJR) in Sydney, Australia, since 2003, having joined the company in 1997 as Director of Pharmaceutical Research. She has also been an elected Director of AusBiotech since 2004 and Chairman since October 2006.
Dr Pond completed her medical training in Sydney, and was awarded a Doctor of Medicine from the University of New South Wales. She spent 8 years at the University of California in San Francisco, performing research in pharmacology and therapeutics, before returning to Australia as Associate Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Queensland. She was later appointed to a Personal Chair Professor. Dr Pond was awarded the Wellcome Australia Medal in honour of her accomplishments as a research scientist, and an Order of Australia (AM) for services to the Australian community more broadly. She has served on numerous Australian Government committees and chaired the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (which approves pharmaceutical products for marketing in Australia).
Johnson & Johnson Research
Johnson & Johnson Research (JJR), located in the Australian Technology Park in Sydney, is part of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) family of companies. The decentralised structure of J&J means that the organisation is a family of 200 operating companies, with more than US$4.68 B invested in research and development. It is a R&D global partner of choice.
JJR provides important strategic and competitive advantages for J&J in the Asia Pacific and also more broadly internationally. The company has established a world leadership position in cell and gene therapy, which it underpins with its molecular diagnostic platforms and discovery research on RNA and DNA products. JJR’s additional research area - natural product chemistries - is providing novel structures with bioactivities in disease areas of significant interest.
