The Eternal Optimist – Andrew Plump

This episode is in partnership with MIT Sloan Healthcare and BioInnovations Conference, an event that brings the healthcare ecosystem together. We sat with Andy Plump, President of R&D and Board Member at Takeda, and discussed his personal story, his leadership beliefs, and the “Challenges in Scaling Biotech Innovation” the topic of his panel at the conference. Hear his thoughts on the current and next decades of innovation, "will it be the decades of Life Science or Computer Science?" Most importantly, Andy leaves us with a message of hope. Every dark period in history anchored on the triad of war, pandemic, and social injustice has ended with greatness through science... We are on the edge of this, again, now.

"This decade will be remembered for Life Science or Computer Science... The potential is limitless."

MEET OUR GUEST Andrew Plump President of Research & Development and Board Member at Takeda.

Dr. Andrew Plum is the President of Research & Development and a Board Member at Takeda. His career spans nearly 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.

Andy has been recognized for his contributions to the healthcare industry, education, and the arts. He serves on several non-profit boards including the Board of Trustees for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, the Biomedical Science Careers Program, and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the PhRMA Foundation.

Prior to Takeda, Andrew served as head of Research & Translational Medicine, deputy to the president of R&D at Sanofi, based in Paris, France. Prior to Sanofi, he served as worldwide cardiovascular research head at Merck.

Andy received his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), his Ph.D. in cardiovascular genetics, and his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in medical genetics at UCSF.