Nicole Onetto

Dr. Nicole Onetto was appointed Deputy Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research on November 2, 2009. As Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Onetto works with OICR’s program and platform leaders to determine strategic directions and priorities of the Institute’s research programs. She is providing direct oversight of the OICR operations support teams.

Dr. Onetto is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with cancer research stakeholders including partner organizations, collaborative clinical trials groups, Cancer Care Ontario, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and academic institutions.

Previously, Dr. Onetto was the Senior Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer of ZymoGenetics, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in protein therapeutics.

From 2002 to 2005 Dr. Onetto was the Executive Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., where she led the clinical development which led to the approval of Tarceva® for non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Prior to this Dr. Onetto served approximately three years with Gilead Sciences, Inc. as Senior Vice-President, Medical Affairs and as Vice-President, Medical Affairs. Prior to the merger of Gilead and NeXstar, Dr. Onetto was Vice-President, Medical Affairs for NeXstar Pharmaceuticals. There she was responsible for the strategy/implementation and coordination of all clinical trials worldwide bringing many potential products into development.

From January 1995 to May 1997, Dr. Onetto served as Senior Director Medical Affairs for the European oncology division of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). During this assignment with BMS, she was responsible for the coordination of all European oncology clinical trials from phase I to phase IV for all oncology BMS products. From July 1991 to January 1995, Dr. Onetto was Director, Clinical Cancer Research for BMS. While at BMS she was the International Project Leader for Taxol® and was responsible for the filing of the initial NDA for Taxol® and several supplemental NDAs. During her tenure at BMS she worked very closely with the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.

Before this appointment, she held positions at Immunex Research and Development Corp. and Hoechst Canada, Inc.