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VP Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics, Bristol Myers Squibb

Bello has more than 25 years’ experience in preclinical and clinical drug development supporting oncology, hematology, cell therapy, immunology, and neuroscience. He also has a BSc in Medical Laboratory Sciences (Biomedical Sciences) from Portsmouth University, an MSc in Instrumentation and Analytical Sciences from the University Of Manchester Institute Of Science and Technology, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from King’s College, University of London. Joining BMS in 1998, he spent five years working on the development of anti-infective and oncology therapeutics before 11 years as Pfizer’s clinical pharmacology group leader. Returning to BMS in 2015, he now has key responsibility for the development, approval and life cycle management of eight marketed drugs in the oncology, pain management, inflammation, and infectious disease therapeutic areas. Bello has authored and co-authored more than 70 peer reviewed abstracts and journal manuscripts, and is a member of the ASCPT, the AAPS, and the ASCO.

We asked…

What has been the biggest breakthrough in biopharma in recent years?

Our growing ability to treat the underlying causes of many diseases through precision medicine approaches that leverage new technologies, such as CRISPR. Also, our ability to look at two ends of the spectrum, gene editing and protein degradation, have yielded novel discoveries. 

If you weren’t in the pharma industry, what would you be doing?
Definitely something in another area of applied science, most likely in the biological area and/or using technology. My initial degree was in the biomedical sciences, a course that was focused on developing hospital laboratory scientists that ran diagnostic tests. I did not know that my entire career trajectory would change thanks to a job posting I saw in New Scientist. That post led to my first job in the pharmaceutical industry and has expanded my horizons in the drug development space.