Robert Plenge

Senior Vice President & Head, Immunology, Cardiovascular and Fibrosis Thematic Research Center; Head, Translational Medicine
Bristol Myers Squibb

Robert Plenge is senior vice president and head of the Immunology, Cardiovascular and Fibrosis Thematic Research Center at Bristol Myers Squibb. He leads a team responsible for the strategic vision, implementation and partnerships for novel therapies in immunological, cardiovascular and fibrotic diseases. Robert’s team works collaboratively with other parts of the organization, including translational medicine, clinical pharmacology, informatics, non-clinical development, chemistry, and biotherapeutics, to prioritize and progress key programs through clinical proof-of-concept. Robert serves as head of the translational medicine organization, leading world-class research spanning translational sciences, precision medicine, translational development disease teams and integrated scientific operations. Robert joined Bristol Myers Squibb as part of the acquisition of Celgene in November 2019. At Celgene, Robert was vice president in Research & Early Development, responsible for the immunology and inflammation portfolio. Robert graduated from University of California, San Diego with a BS. He earned his MD and PhD from Case Western Reserve, studying the genetic control of X chromosome inactivation. He trained in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco and rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He served as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Broad Institute of the MIT and Harvard. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and an associate member of the Broad Institute, while practicing clinical rheumatology and running a research laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He transitioned into industry in 2013, joining Merck Research Labs to build out its human genetics and genomics capabilities as vice president, Research & Early Development.