Nolan Polson on Leading Through Juno, Celgene, BMS and Beyond

In today’s episode I was joined by Nolan Polson, Vice President of Quality Assurance and Product Quality at Iovance Biotherapeutics.I really wanted to speak to Nolan because he’s one of the few leaders who’s built quality teams at every stage – from biologics at Amgen to radiopharma at Janssen, to launching two first-in-class cell therapies at Juno/Celgene/BMS.Nolan’s career path is a great example of what it looks like to carry foundational quality principles into fast-paced, high-growth settings. He talks about his early scientific passion, how he transitioned from R&D to Quality Ops, and the leadership mindset required to scale from clinical to commercial.We talk about the following:How Nolan's scientific roots in chemistry shaped his quality mindsetTransitioning from R&D into Quality Ops and building speed with structureWhat Big Pharma taught him about good science, mature systems, and agency collaborationScaling product quality teams from 2 to 45 during two cell therapy launchesBuilding empowered leadership teams and the traits he looks for when hiringHow AI can help quality teams move toward review-by-exception and proactive oversightThe difference between biologics and cell therapy mindsets in a commercial settingCreating a culture of continuous learning and succession planningLessons from moving across Amgen, J&J, GSK, BMS, and IovanceWhy autologous cell therapy still holds massive curative potentialNolan is a thoughtful, experienced quality leader who blends deep scientific expertise with a calm, strategic leadership approach.Thank you Nolan for sharing your incredible journey.Hope everyone enjoys the show!