Virtual Career Apero

Roche Career Apero

Where Chemistry matters

What is the Virtual Roche Career Apero about?

The event gives chemistry students around Europe the opportunity to get exclusive insights into what an exciting career at Roche could look like.

You will meet in a virtual set-up, with around 20 different Roche chemists from different functions (inside and outside of a lab), career stages and locations. Here you will have the opportunity to network with Roche employees and get first hand insights into what it means “Doing now what patients need next!”.

In addition to networking, we will offer four times 20 minutes virtual lab tours.

Key facts:

Date: Thursday, November 26, 2020
Time: 3.00 pm – approx. 6.00 pm (CET)
Technology: Zoom and Hangout
Roche Delegation: Around 20 Roche Chemists and Recruiters
Available virtual seats: 200 virtual seats (first come, first served plus waiting list)

Timelines:

Registration closed.
You will receive a confirmation mail.
One day before the Virtual Career Apero you will receive a reminder via mail with the login information to the virtual rooms. During the morning of the event (26th of November 2020) you will receive additional links to the Zoom webcast and to all the hangout sessions where you can meet the Roche colleagues.
Be considerate! If you cannot attend, please send an email to swiss.early_in_career@roche.com. We can then give your virtual seat to a fellow student on the waiting list.

System requirements:

As we will be using Zoom for our webcast and google meet for networking, you will need the following:

a stable internet connection.
a web camera and a microphone to interact within the virtual rooms.

Please register closed!

Do you want to do something interesting that you enjoy? Are you looking to take the next step after leaving school, a chance to gain work experience during your studies, or would you like to go directly into an exciting job?

Find out

The Roche Internship in Medicinal Chemistry (RiCH) Programme invites chemistry students who are in their penultimate or last year of study to become an integral part of one of our Medicinal Chemistry laboratories in Basel, Switzerland for one year.

Roche Internship in Synthetic Molecules (RiSM) programme is designed to help natural/life science, IT/digital sciences and engineering students become an integral part of one of our Drug Delivery & Preformulation Sciences group in our Research and Early Development (pRED) organization or in our Synthetic Molecule Technical Development units in Basel, Switzerland.

Perle Nganga

Talent Acquisition Partner, R&D

Perle held a Masters degree in Chemistry and Drug Design from the University of Orleans and the University of Liverpool. After 11 years as a Scientific Associate in Medicinal Chemistry at Novartis she did her Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management. After her internship at Roche in the Student & Graduate Recruitment team, she started as a Talent Acquisition Associate, R&D and Commercial. Since more than two years, she is a Talent Acquisition Partner, R&D.

Availability: 4.30 pm - 6.00 pm (CET)

Hayley Binch, PhD

Head of Medicinal Chemistry

Hayley joined Roche in September 2016. She has over 20 years experience as a Medicinal Chemist, working in varied therapeutic areas. She is also passionate about leadership, diversity and inclusion and digitalisation.

Marie Smetankova

Intern, PD Regulatory Documentation

Marie received a Master's degree in Medicinal & Biological Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. She then began a traineeship in drug discovery chemistry at Actelion (later Idorsia) in Basel, where she eventually became a Scientific Associate. After 3 years in research she returned to university, this time for a Master's of Drug Sciences at Uni Basel. She joined Roche as an intern in PDRD in June 2020.

Dr. Jakob Striffler

Medical Science Manager

PhD/Postdoc, then moved right into Compliance and from there to the Medical department, where I currently work as Medical Science Manager at Roche Pharma Switzerland (RPS).

Availability: 4.00 - 5.00 pm (CET)

Tanja Schulz-Gasch, PhD

Senior Scientific Communications Director

Tanja has experienced our organization from different roles and perspectives, starting as a Roche PostDoc, contributing as a scientist, leading internal communications until today where she is driving content and scientific message development and materials for Personalised Healthcare as. Her recent position as Scientific Communications Director with PDMA (Medical Affairs) allows her to broaden her scope and network tremendously with steep learning curves in so many areas. Her time with Roche has been densely packed with new experiences and professional growth. Roche’s impact on patients, caregivers and society are at the heart of what she does and she firmly believes that her individual contribution to the transformation of healthcare matters.

Stefan Hildbrand, PhD

Head of Process Chemistry & Catalysis

Since 2016 Stefan is the Head of Process Chemistry & Catalysis in Synthetic Molecules Technical Development. Prior to this role, Stefan was Head of a Chemical Process Development section. From 2005 to 2012 he was a lab Head and a chemical project leader in the process development unit. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a Plant Chemist in the Clinical Supply Center. Before joining Roche in 2001, Stefan worked three years as a Process R&D scientist and Project Leader in the New Business Development Department of Lonza in Visp, Switzerland. Stefan holds a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Bern and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California.

Dr. Matthias Nettekoven

Head Apprenticeship training Roche Basel / Kaiseraugst

Matthias joined the Medicinal Chemistry department in 1997 as laboratory chemist after having completed Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Bonn and spending 2 year at the University of Cambridge, UK as Postdoctoral fellow. During his 20 years in research he worked on a multitude of projects aimed at the discovery of new molecular entities to become a medicine for the treatment of patients, critically ill. He held various positions and functions within discovery before he joined in 2019 the HR department as Head of apprenticeship training Roche Basel / Kaiseraugst. In this role he oversees the education of around 300 apprentices in 15 professions and directs this organisation towards innovative, business related and future oriented development of young professionals.

Prashant Prashant, PhD

Postdoctoral Scientist

Prashant joined Roche in July 2020 as a postdoctoral scientist. As an engineer by education, Prashant applied his technical skills to solve challenging biological questions during his PhD in Ireland. At Roche, he is working towards developing diagnostic solutions for the early detection of cancer. As an alumnus of pan-European Marie-Curie program, Prashant is well versed in different routes to a PhD. If you are scientifically curious and want to explore the options to upskill your research potential or to pursue a career in science, please strike a conversation with him.

Christian Lerner, PhD

Principle Scientist, Group Lead Medicinal Chemistry

Christian is a medicinal chemist, after obtaining a PhD in organic chemistry at ETH Zurich and working 2 years as a postdoc at Harvard university, he joined Roche in 2005. He worked on a variety of projects in different disease areas and led big international project teams in the area of infectious diseases. Beginning of this year he became a group lead in Medicinal chemistry.

Daniel Bucheli

SUT Implementation Lead and User Team Lead, Basel Biotech

Daniel joined Roche in January 2006 as Manager Downstream Processing. He worked for 5 years in DSP department in different roles. After successful certification as lean six sigma green belt he joined operational excellence department to develop and introduce a project portfolio management process for Basel Biotech Site. In parallel a new project was kicked-off ""Construction of an ADC manufacturing facility"". He was User Team Lead for this Project and responsible for manufacturing of the first ADC (Antibody Drug Conjugate) in this facility. Directly afterwards he had the same role for the construction of a ""Single Use manufacturing facility for Antibodies"". In his actual role he is responsible for all single use material implementations at Basel Biotech Site.

Dorothea Wiebecke

Intern, Drug Substance Manufacturing Science and Technology

Dorothea is an intern at the Roche Drug Substance Biologics Manufacturing Science and Technology (MSAT) division since September. She is studying for a BSc. in Chemical Engineering at ETH Zurich.

Dr. Jean-Yves Wach

Group Leader, Medicinal Chemistry

Jean-Yves joined Roche in 2015 as a Senior Scientist. He is now a Group Leader working in Medicinal Chemistry. He studied chemistry in France, did his PhD in Lausanne and a postdoc in Boston. His first job was at BASF in Germany.

Nina-Louisa Efrém

Intern, Solid Launch Site

Nina has recently graduated from a M.Sc. program in Medicinal Chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. During a gap year, she joined Roche for successive internships in the GMP & Production Services group within the Solids Launch Site Basel and in a Medicinal Chemistry department, allowing her to gain work experience and explore different fields in the pharmaceutical industry prior to starting a PhD.

Geo Adam, PhD

Global Head of pRED Facilities and Infrastructure Projects

Chemist ETHZ; post doc US; 5 Years BASF; 25 Years Roche. Many years „at the bench“, Drug Discovery, 10 Years R&eTD Managemment. 6 Years Site Development (Site Master Plan, Mobility Concept, ....). Today the pRED responsible person for the new building projects.

Marc Eichenberger, MSc

Apprenticeship Trainer and Vocational School Teacher

Teacher Marc graduated in 2017 from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. He is a highly motivated apprenticeship trainer with a broad knowledge in chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sciences and specialized knowledge in organic chemistry. Working with young talents motivates him daily and makes him want to bring out their full potential.

Nathalie Minderjahn

R&D Controller (Center of R&D Financial Excellence)

Nathalie joined Roche in October 2013 in the local Finance team of a swiss sales affiliate in Rotkreuz. She joined Roche after finishing her Bachelor in Applied Chemistry and Master degree in Business Chemistry. After one year she changed to Basel and held two positions within Finance to maintain and implement harmonized Finance processes globally. In March 2020, she joined CoRE (Center of R&D Financial excellence) to be part of the global R&D controlling team.

Antonio Ricci

Group Leader, Senior Scientist, Medicinal Chemistry

Antonio Ricci is a senior scientist and group leader in the Medicinal Chemistry department of Small Molecule Research. He started his career at Roche in 1999 as an apprentice. After completion of his apprenticeship in 2002 he was awarded with a six months internship program at Roche Palo Alto (CA). Back in Basel he joined the Medicinal Chemistry department as research assistant and moved through different ranks up to the position of a research scientist. Antonio is a passionate drug hunter with major contributions to late stage projects, e.g. the discovery of Basimglurant, a promising novel medicine for psychiatric diseases. His laboratory is currently focused on the discovery of small molecules for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Roman Misteli

Intern, Roche Internship Programme in Medicinal Chemistry (RiCH)

Roman joined Roche in September 2020 as an Intern in Medicinal Chemistry. He did his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry at the University of Basel. He then moved to ETH Zürich for his Master's degree in Chemistry which he is currently completing.

Miquel López Tena, MSc

Intern, Roche Internship Programme in Medicinal Chemistry

Miquel joined Roche in September 2020 in his current role. He is working in the Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development (pRED) department at Roche in Basel/Kaiseraugst. He held a MSc in Organic Chemistry.

Dr. Julie Charpentier

Scientist

Julie joined Roche in 2020 as Scientist in Medicinal Chemistry. In her current role she optimizes and synthesizes lead structures for pharmaceutical applications. Julie holds a PhD in Chemistry from the ETH Zürich and has studied at EPF Lausanne and Stanford University. She joined Roche after 4 years as Research Scientist in the fragrance industry.

Caroline Kuhn

Regulatory Leader for Established Products

Caroline joined Roche in 1990 as Lab assistant. She has started in the pre-clinical research group. In 2007, she moved to regulatory affairs as technical regulatory manager. In 2012, she has joined the policy group, then did a lateral move as EU affiliates liaison manager, before taking a position as EU regulatory partner in June 2019. Since February 2020, Caroline was appointed as Regulatory Leader. Caroline held a Master of Science in Analytical Chemistry and Biology (Université de F- Strasbourg) and is currently finalizing a Doctorat in Business and Administration ( Swiss Management University - CH-Zug).

Available: 4.00 – 6.00 pm (CET)

Dr. Volker Herdtweck

Campus Marketing/University Relations

Volker joined Roche in September 2014 in his current role. He is responsible for Campus Marketing and University Relations at Roche Headquarters in Basel/Kaiseraugst, Roche Innovation Center Zurich and Roche Pharma Schweiz (RPS). He holds a Phd in Management Accounting and IT.

Stefanie Schedlbauer

Chemical Engineer

After completing her master's degree in chemistry at LMU Munich, Stefanie joined Roche in April 2017. In her current role as Chemical Engineer, she is working in the Department of Instrumental Analytics R&D, which is part of Early Development & Reagent Design. Stefanie works on the development of new HPLC methods and the subsequent validations. She also deals with method optimization and troubleshooting. Since 2019 she has also been involved in the introduction of a new software release of a chromatography data system, which she will supervise as system manager.

Jack Walters

RiCH Intern

Jack joined Roche in September 2020 as an intern in Medicinal Chemistry. He is a student at the University of York, and is completing his Master's degree during his internship at Roche.

Corinna Bühne, PhD

Head Medical Affairs Excellence

After obtaining a PHD in chemistry and 10-year experience in clinical research, Corinna joined Roche Pharma AG in 2013. Within Roche Pharma AG she worked in different positions in Country Clinical Operations (CCO) like Country Study Manager and Therapeutic Area Lead. Since end of 2018 Corinna is leading the new department of Medical Affairs Excellence (MAE). Together with her team she is responsible for all Investigator Initiated Trials and all late phase activities in Germany.

Rainer E. Martin, PhD

Senior Principle Scientist, Group Leader in Medicinal Chemistry

Rainer received his PhD in organic chemistry from ETH Zurich in 1998 and spent two years as a postdoc at the University of Cambridge (UK), supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and a Junior Research Fellowship from Churchill College. He joined Roche in 2000, initially working in formulation research, before moving to Discovery Chemistry in 2002. Since then he has been working on various projects that covered a wide range of disease areas. He is currently head of the Chemistry Technology Group in medicinal chemistry with a focus on parallel, flow and electrochemistry.

Antonia Stepan, PhD

Section Head, Medicinal Chemistry

Antonia F. Stepan graduated from the ETH Zurich and received her Ph.D. with Professor Steven V. Ley. Following postdoctoral research with Professor K. C. Nicolaou, Antonia joined Pfizer in 2008. She served as a chemistry and research project leader on discovery programs and advanced drug candidates to clinical candidate nomination and beyond. In 2017, Antonia joined Boehringer Ingelheim as a project leader, and in 2018, Roche as a Section Head in Medicinal Chemistry. Antonia is passionate about discovering treatments for neurological disorders, as well as utilizing novel technologies (e.g., C−H functionalization reactions, sp3-rich fragments) in medicinal chemistry. She was recognized as an ACS “Young Investigator in Medicinal Chemistry” in 2015.

Nikoleta Laspia

Intern, Small Molecules Technical Development

Nikoleta is an intern at Roche, in Small Molecules Technical Development, working on Particle & Formulation Characterisation. She holds a BSc in Chemistry and had her first working experience in pharmaceuticals in 2017, as an intern at the headquarters of Novartis in Basel. Since then, she has completed three more exciting internships, in varied departments, within the pharmaceutical industry.

Availability: 4pm - 5pm (CET)

Juraj Sibik, PhD

Data Scientist

Juraj joined Roche in December 2015. He works in the Pharma Technology - Manufacturing and is responsible for adopting and advancing the data science within the organization. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering.

Gemma Pham, PhD

Management Start-Up Trainee

Gemma joined Roche in January 2019 with the Management Start-Up (MSU) Program. Through this program, she has been part of 5 different teams and locations in 2 years, gaining different perspectives of the business. She held a PhD in Health Sciences and Technology from ETH Zurich.

David Christen, Dipl.-Ing.

Head of Quality Systems and Validation

David joined Roche in February 2006. He had several roles in the Bio Drug Substance Production at Basel as lab manager, pilot plant manager and as Head of Quality Control. Since 2018 David is working in Kaiseraugst and responsible for Quality Systems and Validation. David holds a graduate engineer in chemistry and conducted his diploma thesis on analysis and purification of monoclonal antibodies.

Dr. Thomas Woltering

Section Head Medicinal Chemistry Basel

Thomas joined Roche as a Medicinal Chemist in Neuroscience in 1996, after a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Hannover and a postdoc at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla (USA). In 2004-05 he spent 6 months in Process Research at Roche Palo Alto (USA). Since 2014 he leads the outsourcing activities for Medicinal Chemistry Basel and joined the medicinal chemistry leadership team in 2016. He is passionate about synthetic organic chemistry and its application to numerous medicinal chemistry projects.

Kristina Peters, PhD