Vijay Chiruvolu is Vice President at Kite Pharma, a Gilead Sciences company, and leads the Process Development organization. The Process Development group at Kite is responsible for process design of autologous, allogeneic, neoantigen and vector products, analytical development, tech transfer, validation, comparability, technology development, and Manufacturing Science & Technology (MSAT functions.
Vijay joined Kite in Sept 2014, and since that time he has built a strong team dedicated to process and product understanding, clinical and commercial manufacturing support and led the way to YESCARTA process development, validation and ultimately BLA and MAA filings.
Prior joining Kite, Vijay worked for 22 years in key leadership roles with increasing responsibilities in Quality, Risk Management, Process Development and Manufacturing at Scios, Avigen, Hoffmann-La Roche, Johnson & Johnson and Amgen. Vijay earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Engineering, before receiving his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska, and an MBA in Finance from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. In addition, he is a certified black belt in six sigma and holds a professional certificate in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford University.