Bruce Levine
The Power List 2020 – Advanced Medicine
Barbara and Edward Netter Professor in Cancer Gene Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania
As ISCT’s president elect, Levine has been vocal about the need to address the talent bottleneck in advanced medicine. “There is a critical shortage of talent at all levels, from technicians and development scientists, manufacturing and analytics staff, to clinical expertise in the management of cell and gene patients,” he says. “There is a huge need for more cell and gene specific education programs as scientific and clinical development has outpaced the training of new professionals to meet the demand.” Levine also asks how regulations and policies can be revised and adapted to allow the advancement of cells and engineered cells producing medicines. “For countries that have a limited regulatory framework in place for advanced therapies, what is the best model of flexibility that protects patients while allowing investigation and subsequent approvals based on the best scientific and clinical evidence to proceed?” he asks.