Senior Vice President

Science and Technology – Tengion, Inc.

Dr. Bertram has served as senior scientific executive at Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, and Procter & Gamble Co; a faculty member at the University of Illinois; and a visiting scientist to the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Bertram has been a leadership-mentor to scientists in government, academics, and industry.  His experience includes world-wide leadership of multi-disciplinary scientific teams for the pharmaceutical industry, government, and private foundations focusing on resolution of challenges in pharmaceutical productivity and defining industrial applications of advanced molecular, cellular, and whole organism technologies for selecting optimal drug candidates and risk assessment.  Organizational leadership activities have included Pharmaceutical R&D sites in both the US and Europe with responsibility for developing and setting Discovery and Development strategies.

Most recently, Dr. Bertram was responsible for operational oversight of more than 425 people in disciplines of genomics, toxicology, comparative medicine, and business support groups to enable drug development and discovery through the application of molecular, analytical, cell biology, novel imaging, and investigative approaches.  His organizations have supported new medicine portfolios that included Gastrointestinal, CNS, Cancer, Respiratory, Infectious, Immunologic, Cardiovascular, and Metabolic diseases with the preparation of regulatory submissions for agencies in major markets around the world.

Dr. Bertram holds active academic appointments and advisory positions at leading national and European educational institutions, the most recent of which is a member appointment to the newly-formed Industrial Advisory Committee of UCLA’s Bioengineering Department.