Job Title: Director, Cancer Genomics & Molecular Medicine

Location: Taipei, Taiwan - Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center (KFSYSCC)

About Us:

The Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center opened in 1990 as Taiwan’s first cancer-only hospital. It was built on philanthropy and on a conviction that was, at the time, unusual in Asian medicine: that outcomes, not margin, should govern every decision in cancer care. Thirty-five years later we remain a non-profit specialty hospital, independent of commercial pressure, consistently ranked first in Taiwan for patient-care satisfaction, with scientific work appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, and Lancet Oncology. The original conviction has not changed, and it still governs every decision we make.

KFSYSCC is consistently ranked first in Taiwan for patient-care satisfaction (most recently in the 2024 National Taiwan University patient experience study). Our five-year cancer survival rate exceeds the national average, and we are recognized internationally for our integrated, team-based model in oncology. Our scientists publish in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, Lancet Oncology, and other leading journals.

Our Department of Molecular Medicine already operates an accredited clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory running a validated Illumina NGS and TSO-500 workflow, digital PCR, qPCR, Affymetrix microarray, and Nanostring platforms. The department is staffed by a mix of PhD scientists (assay development, NGS analysis and interpretation, biostatistics), an MD pathologist responsible for clinical sign-out, and master’s-level technologists supporting NGS, PCR, digital PCR, and related workflows. It is supported by an institutional biobank of more than 30,000 tumor specimens across 13 organ groups together with 3,900+ matched normal tissues. That biobank, combined with direct access to an actively treated patient population, is our single strongest research differentiator.

Position Summary:

KFSYSCC is recruiting a physician-scientist Director of Molecular Medicine to lead and grow an established, accredited 10-person department that sits at the center of our precision-oncology strategy. Reporting directly to the President, the Director will hold a seat on the senior leadership team and set the scientific, clinical, and operational direction of the department for the next decade.

This is explicitly a dual leadership role. The Director is expected to (a) maintain a research program that makes serious use of our tumor bank and patient access, and (b) lead the Molecular Medicine Department’s clinical diagnostic services, including staffing continuity, regulatory and accreditation readiness, and the ongoing decisions about which tests to build in-house versus outsource. Both halves of the role are equally weighted in expectation.

Core Responsibilities:

• Strategic and Scientific Leadership

  • Author and execute a five-year scientific and operational roadmap for Molecular Medicine at KFSYSCC, aligned with the Center’s mission and the evolving landscape of precision oncology.

  • Sit on the senior leadership team as the institutional voice on molecular medicine, engaging with government agencies, academic partners, industry, and philanthropic supporters.

  • Chair or co-chair the institutional Molecular Tumor Board and contribute to enterprise-level decisions on technology investment, biobanking, and data governance.

• Precision Oncology, NGS, and Tumor Profiling

  • Own the clinical tumor-profiling program, including solid-tumor NGS (TSO-500 and successors) and guideline-driven pharmacogenomic testing.

  • Drive the build-versus-outsource decision for each new assay, taking into account volume, regulatory pathway, reimbursement, and clinical urgency. Low-volume tests will continue to be sent out where that is the right answer.

  • Lead validation, TFDA and TAF accreditation, and cost-recovery workflows for new tests so that clinically valuable assays move into routine use on an appropriate timeline.

  • Adapt and expand molecular subtyping workflows, including the transition of historically fresh-frozen protocols to FFPE-compatible approaches where needed.

  • Partner with medical, surgical, and radiation oncology to operationalize genomically-guided treatment selection across tumor streams, including breast, lung, colorectal, NPC, and hematologic malignancies.

• Liquid Biopsy, MRD, and Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers

  • Build out liquid biopsy (ctDNA) and minimal residual disease (MRD) programs in priority disease groups, initially focused on treatment monitoring and early-recurrence detection.

  • Extend the department’s “informed” liquid biopsy approach: sequence tumor tissue first, then target patient-specific variants by digital PCR, backed by a growing shelf of high-frequency mutations derived from our own cohorts.

  • Evaluate, validate, and deploy emerging assays in line with TFDA, TAF, and international (CAP/CLIA-equivalent) standards, and with the realities of NHI reimbursement in Taiwan.

• Clinical Trials and Industry Partnerships

  • Serve as the institutional scientific lead for biomarker-driven and companion-diagnostic clinical trials, and as principal negotiator for the molecular components of pharma, diagnostics, and biotech collaborations.

  • Position KFSYSCC as a preferred Asia site for precision-oncology trials through fast, high-quality molecular characterization and high-integrity biospecimen handling.

• Biobank, Bioinformatics, and Computational Pathology

  • Provide scientific governance of the KFSYSCC biobank (30,000+ tumor specimens), including consent frameworks, annotation quality, sample release policies, and alignment with international standards.

  • Build or recruit a bioinformatics capability sufficient to support clinical reporting pipelines, research data integration, and multi-omic analyses.

  • Partner with pathology to pilot AI and machine-learning-enabled computational pathology workflows and to integrate digital pathology outputs with molecular data.

• Research, Grants, and Mentorship

  • Maintain a PI-level research program with peer-reviewed funding, making serious use of the KFSYSCC tumor bank and patient access. Research funding in Taiwan is limited locally, so a sustainable program typically combines competitive government grants (MOHW, NSTC, NHRI) with industry-sponsored work and philanthropic support.

  • Manage the administrative burden that comes with Taiwanese government grants (progress reporting, documentation) as part of the job, and protect the scientific staff’s time accordingly.

  • Actively pursue collaborations inside KFSYSCC and across Taiwan’s academic ecosystem (Academia Sinica, NTU, NYCU, NHRI), as well as internationally. Where patient-facing research requires pediatric, rare-disease, or population-level recruitment, partner with treating clinicians and relevant patient associations.

  • Act as senior mentor or co-PI for junior faculty and fellows, and create a transparent development track for physician-scientists inside the department.

  • Represent KFSYSCC in national and international scientific forums, study sections, and policy discussions.

• Operations, Quality, and Accreditation

  • Hold accountability for the performance of the accredited clinical molecular diagnostics laboratory: quality, turnaround, financial sustainability, and regulatory compliance.

  • Sponsor continued TAF and CAP-equivalent accreditation, proficiency testing, and SOP modernization.

  • Own the departmental P&L and workforce plan, and partner with HR on recruitment, retention, and development of technologists, scientists, and junior faculty.

Qualifications:

Required

• MD and PhD (both required). Subspecialty training in molecular pathology, medical or clinical genetics, hematology-oncology, or a related discipline.

• Board certification in molecular pathology, medical genetics, or equivalent, from Taiwan, the United States (e.g., ABP Molecular Genetic Pathology, ABMGG), the EU, Japan, or another recognized jurisdiction.

• Taiwan medical license held or clearly eligible to obtain within 12 months of start date. KFSYSCC will provide administrative support for licensure transfer.

• Professional-level Mandarin Chinese fluency sufficient to lead a Mandarin-speaking staff and technical team, and to interact with MOHW, NSTC/NHRI, and TFDA.

• Leadership track record with at least five years running a laboratory, division, or center, and a demonstrated ability to build, retain, and develop multidisciplinary teams.

• Independent research program evidenced by sustained peer-reviewed funding and a publication record commensurate with a tenured academic appointment.

• Industry or translational partnership experience with at least one substantive collaboration with pharma, diagnostics, or biotech structured and led end-to-end.

• Long-term commitment to Taiwan and to KFSYSCC. We are recruiting for a decade, not a rotation.

Preferred

• Experience leading a CAP/CLIA- or TAF-accredited clinical molecular laboratory.

• Deep subject-matter expertise in at least two of: cancer genomics and NGS, ctDNA/MRD, or computational pathology.

• Prior experience building a biobank or bioinformatics capability from baseline.

• Prior career ties to Taiwan or Asia, or a clearly articulated reason for wanting to relocate here. Understanding of the NHI reimbursement environment is an advantage but not a requirement; KFSYSCC will provide a locally embedded support team.
  

What We Offer:

• A mission, not a P&L. KFSYSCC is a non-profit cancer center. Decisions are made on patient outcomes and scientific merit, not on quarterly targets. It is a rare operating environment in modern oncology and, for the right person, the single most important reason to come.

• A working platform, not a turnaround. An accredited 10-person department with a mix of PhD scientists, an MD pathologist, and master’s-level technologists; a validated Illumina NGS / TSO-500 clinical pipeline; digital PCR, Affymetrix, and Nanostring capabilities; and a 30,000-specimen institutional biobank. You inherit a serious foundation and get to decide what comes next.

• Direct access to decision-makers. The role reports to the President and carries a seat on the senior leadership team. Capital requests, hiring decisions, and strategic pivots are decided in the room, not escalated through layers.

• Patients who deserve your best. Thousands of new oncology patients each year, including many with cancers that are comparatively underserved in Western research programs.

• A competitive, negotiable package. Base salary benchmarked to leading East Asian academic medical centers, plus a negotiable startup package that includes protected research time, laboratory startup funds, and relocation and family-transition support for candidates moving from abroad.

Apply Now

Submit the following three items to the KFSYSCC Search Committee (email to patrickng@kfsyscc.org).

• Curriculum vitae. Please make four things easy for the committee to find: (a) first-author, senior-author, and corresponding-author papers flagged within your publication list; (b) your role on each grant marked (sole PI, contact PI, multi-PI, co-I, site PI) with agency and approximate award size; (c) management scope for each leadership role, including number of direct reports and budget authority; and (d) a short PhD training note naming your thesis advisor and institution, years in the lab, thesis title, and two to three sentences on the lab’s research focus during your tenure.

• Letter of interest. Tell us, in your own voice, why this role and why KFSYSCC specifically. We are reading for fit with a non-profit, patient-outcome-driven institution and for evidence that you have thought seriously about what you would actually do with our tumor bank, patient access, and existing clinical pipeline. We are not looking for a strategic plan at this stage.

• Three references. Names, titles, institutions, and relationship to you. Contact information and permission to contact come later; references will not be contacted without your explicit permission.