A DECADE OF ARVINAS

“It’s just amazing,” says Xin Chen, Senior Director of Analytical R&D, as she reflects on her last decade working here at Arvinas. “I couldn’t imagine 10 years ago that we’d be where we are now.”

Xin joined Arvinas as employee number six, enthralled by the novel concept of using small molecules to drug the undruggable. Even though Arvinas was still in the early stages of drug development, she saw amazing potential in both the company and the technology—the potential to have a transformative impact on patient outcomes.

As one of the first employees at a young startup company, Xin embraced a versatile and nimble role, juggling multiple projects and areas while she headed the efforts for analytical, compound management and pre-formulation. She also managed the lab activities with a small team, tackling logistical challenges like sourcing cost-effective instruments to set up a lab in-house and finding appropriate contract resource organizations for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion in vitro studies and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic animal studies. Today, Xin has leveraged all her valuable experience to become the head of Analytical R&D in Technical Operations, responsible for all analytical activities in development projects.

Xin attributes her career progression to the unique professional development opportunities at Arvinas. “As long as you’re curious, you’re responsible, and you want to learn,” she says, “you will be able to step up and fully develop in your field–no matter what your age is or what your experience was before.”

While our company has grown considerably, Xin loves that the culture at Arvinas still feels vibrant, personal, and collaborative. “There’s a culture that builds bonds here,” she says. “In Technical Operations we are very close to each other and collaborate very well because everyone is clear about the goal, and everyone works toward that goal together.”

Thinking about the early days brings back many great memories for Xin, and she is especially proud of how far the team’s drug discoveries have come. “To see the clinical trial data and the incredible impact we can have on patients’ lives,” Xin says, “the whole thing is like a dream come true.”