Isaiah Cedillo

Director, Manufacturing/Operations

I started as a summer intern in the Process Organic Chemistry department. The following summer, I switched gears and was hired as a summer intern in the Manufacturing department. Then, immediately following my master’s degree in chemical engineering, Ionis hired me as a full-time employee in Manufacturing.

Most of my adult life and all of my professional life I have been manufacturing oligonucleotides. I still get excited to see the chromatogram or mass spectrum from one my experiments even after all this time.

1. What motivates the work you do at Ionis?
   Science. Solving problems and learning new things is a privilege that not every job affords. I’m glad I get to do something that, more often than not, is interesting to me.
2. How would you describe the Ionis company culture?
   Interrogative. Ideas are challenged to produce the best data and most thorough understanding of a
   subject.
3. How have you grown in your professional development at Ionis?
   While I have certainly grown in my understanding of oligonucleotides, I think the more important and significant professional development has come as a leader. I have had some excellent examples at Ionis of how to lead effectively and compassionately.
4. What is your favorite thing about your day-to-day at Ionis?
   The people I work with make the day-to-day enjoyable. While the work itself is motivating, the people are what make the mundane bits of my job enjoyable.
5. Favorite Ionis moment or career highlight?
   The approval and success of Spinraza. People in the pharmaceutical world can work a lifetime without ever being part of a drug that is approved, let alone clinically and commercially successful. I helped make the first batch of Spinraza with my own two (gloved) hands.