Associate Vice President, Patient Access

CIRM•South San Francisco, CA

4d•$253,980 - $366,276•Hybrid

About The Position

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is the state’s Stem Cell Agency. We were created by the voters of California with an initial investment of $3 billion when they approved Proposition 71 in 2004, and renewed when Proposition 14 was approved in 2020, providing an additional $5.5 billion to invest in stem cell research in California. CIRM’s mission, to accelerate world-class science to deliver transformative regenerative medicine treatments in an equitable manner to a diverse California and world, is what drives us to succeed every day. CIRM is the world’s largest institution dedicated to helping people by bringing the promise of regenerative medicine closer to reality. Our mission goes beyond research, we are building the infrastructure, partnerships, and policies that enable equitable access to the next generation of therapies. General Statement The Patient Access (PA) Team collaborates across CIRM’s core programs to foster innovative care delivery models and enhance the accessibility of regenerative medicine therapies. This team develops and manages clinical infrastructure programs such as the Alpha Clinics (AC) Network, Community Care Centers of Excellence (CCCE), and the Patient Support Program (PSP). Additionally, the group serves as a bridge to policymakers and payers collaborating with CIRM’s Accessibility and Affordability Working Group (AAWG) and Standards Working Group (SWG) as outlined in Proposition 14. Role Summary The Associate Vice President, Patient Access, provides strategic direction and operational leadership for the Patient Access Team and serves as the CIRM lead for CIRM’s Access & Affordability (A&A) Function. Reporting to the President/Chief Executive Officer (President), this role serves on the Executive Team and also works in close coordination with the AAWG and its Chair to operationalize strategic priorities, inform policy recommendations, and drive integration of infrastructure, payer engagement, and affordability planning. The Associate Vice President will lead implementation efforts that enable timely, equitable, and sustainable access to CIRM-funded therapies, coordinating across CIRM’s Clinical Development (CDEV), Preclinical Development (PDEV), Legal, and Communications teams.

Requirements

Advanced degree (ex., PharmD, MD, PhD) or a Master's degree (including MBA, MPH, etc.) may be considered in lieu of doctoral degree, provided the candidate has at least 2 additional years of relevant experience.
12+ years in a senior leadership role within healthcare access, clinical infrastructure leadership, patient access or market access, preferably within biotech, health systems or public sector programs.
Demonstrated ability to lead multi-site initiatives and manage cross-sector collaborations spanning healthcare providers, payers, and policymakers.
Proven leadership of high-performing, cross-functional teams.
Strong understanding of clinical trial infrastructure, site readiness, and patient navigation systems.
Expertise in reimbursement policy, affordability modeling, and payer engagement.
Skilled at integrating scientific, policy, and operational perspectives into actionable strategies.
Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with experience interacting with public payers (e.g., Medi-Cal), federal agencies (FDA, CMS), and advocacy groups.
Strategic thinker with the ability to translate complex policy and scientific concepts into practical, measurable implementation steps.
Commitment to CIRM’s mission of equitable, statewide access to regenerative medicine.

Nice To Haves

Experience in Cell and or Gene Therapy or other advanced therapy modalities strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide strong managerial leadership, direction, and accountability for the Patient Access Team, including program leads (Alpha Clinics, CCCEs, PSP), project managers, and consultants supporting policy, economic modeling, and payer engagement.
Build a high-performance, mission-driven team culture that emphasizes clarity of roles, proactive communication, and delivery of measurable outcomes to advance access and affordability of CIRM-funded therapies across California.
In collaboration with the President and AAWG, coordinate CIRM-wide implementation of the Access and Affordability strategy including defining priorities and deliverables, tracking outcomes and reporting to Executive Team and Board.
Oversee the integration and performance of CIRM’s clinical infrastructure programs (ACs, CCCEs, PSP, and Community-Based Organization (CBO) partnerships) and strategically ensure alignment and active mapping of the CIRM clinical development portfolio to this infrastructure.
Provide leadership on funding strategies, program development and implementation, program management and clinical infrastructure network management.
In coordination with the President and AAWG Chair, lead the development of structured payer and provider engagement frameworks and evidence-sharing forums that leverage CIRM’s clinical portfolio and infrastructure data to inform payer decision-making.
Facilitate dialogue and high-level collaboration with public and private payers to support the design of California-based reimbursement approaches, strengthening payer confidence and enabling sustainable coverage pathways for CIRM-supported therapies.
Collaborate with the President and external economic experts to support the development and evaluation of financial models (ex., outcome-based or risk-pooling approaches) that enhance affordability and promote equitable delivery of advanced therapies.
Coordinate with CDEV and PDEV programs to ensure that Patient Access Team supports Access & Affordability planning requirements and resource needs across preclinical and clinical development projects.
Partner with the CSO, CDEV team, and Legal to ensure that late-stage CIRM-funded clinical programs are successfully executing on access planning and infrastructure readiness by maintaining proactive interaction with late-stage programs, partnering on managing late-stage funding opportunities and partnering on review of access plans for approved CIRM-funded therapies.
Ensure that Clinical Infrastructure supports the clinical planning, trial execution and patient support needs of CIRM-funded projects.
Proactively identify cross-portfolio needs, access barriers, and implementation challenges to ensure these insights are incorporated into the Access & Affordability Function.
Facilitate coordinated solutions, align infrastructure and payer engagement strategies accordingly, and drive these efforts towards advancing the development and reimbursement preparedness of CIRM-funded projects as well as CIRM’s strategic goals.
Serve as CIRM liaison to the AAWG and support the AAWG chair in identifying working group priorities, supporting meeting coordination, policy analysis, and reporting to the Board.
Oversee collection and synthesis of data for annual Access & Affordability in collaboration with the Communications team.
Build partnerships with public and private payers, policymakers, providers and patient advocacy organizations to advance access, screening, and coverage initiatives aligned with Proposition 14 mandates and CIRM’s Strategic Allocation Framework (SAF).
Lead development of standardized performance metrics and dashboards across infrastructure programs to evaluate equity, patient engagement, and clinical trial reach.
Ensure transparency and accountability in CIRM’s access initiatives.