Jean Tom is the Executive Director of Development Engineering, Chemistry Process Development at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), where she has been leading a group of chemical engineers focused on development of chemical processes to synthesize small-molecule drug candidates for new therapeutics since joining BMS in 2006. Prior to joining BMS, Jean spent 19 years at Merck Research Laboratories. She is a strong advocate for increasing the role and impact of chemical engineering in the pharmaceutical industry and bringing new approaches to accelerate the generation of process knowledge needed at the different stages of development.
She received B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT. After several years in industry, Jean returned to academia and received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University. Jean is active in the AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) as a Fellow and recipient of the AIChE Industrial Leadership Award (2018), and in the NAE (National Academy of Engineering) to which she was elected to in 2019. She contributes to the chemical engineering community through her service as an ABET program evaluator, external advisory committee member for several departments, AICHE committees, and through STEM outreach programs. She is particularly proud of a program to bring undergraduate women students to BMS to learn about the role of chemical engineers in the pharmaceutical industry: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00335
Jean is retiring from Bristol Myers Squibb at the end of 2023 and will join the faculty at the University of Virginia as the Brenton Halsey Distinguished Visiting Professor of Chemical Engineering in January 2024, where she will teach a course on Business and Technical Leadership in Engineering to senior and graduate engineering students. She is looking forward to helping shape the next generation of engineers.