Fractional Program Management Professional for Drug Development

Michael Cieslewicz, PhD

With 25+ years across academia, biotech, and pharma, I bring a rare combination of deep basic science and senior drug development leadership — and the ability to get up to speed quickly across therapeutic areas and modalities.

I specialize in leading programs from early-stage discovery through clinical development and registration. My approach is grounded in scientific rigor: I engage at the biology level, not just the project plan, which means I can anticipate problems, ask the right questions, and drive programs forward with confidence.

Through AbCie Consulting, I work with biotech and pharma companies that need senior program leadership — fractional or full-time — across all stages of drug development. Previously, as VP of Program Management and Development Operations at Vigeo Therapeutics, I led the company's lead oncology asset from preclinical through IND and into clinical development, overseeing regulatory strategy, manufacturing, and a Phase 1/2 program that achieved complete responses in glioblastoma patients.

I started my career as an NIH-funded Principal Investigator at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital, where my research focused on bacterial pathogenesis and vaccine development — the foundation that shapes how I think about drug development today.