Dr. Aram Oganesian: Science, Mentorship and Life | Walk and Talk with Tatevik Margaryan

In this Walk and Talk episode on OncoDaily, Dr. Aram Oganesian, VP of Clinical Pharmacology at Taiho Oncology, joins host Tatevik Margaryan to explore his inspiring journey from Yerevan to the U.S. Dr. Oganesian reflects on his career in toxicology, pivotal life choices, and the lasting impact of mentorship. He shares cherished memories, including his daughter’s birth and a nostalgic look back at childhood happiness.

Aram Oganesian, PhD, DABT, is Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology at Taiho Oncology, Inc., and also serves as Vice President and Executive Director of Clinical Pharmacology and Non-Clinical Development at Astex Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was Section Head and Principal Research Scientist III at Pfizer. His expertise includes clinical pharmacology, drug metabolism, toxicology, pharmacokinetics, PK/PD, and drug discovery and development.

Tatev Margaryan is the coordinator of the Blood Bank of Armenia at the Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center. She was a project manager and ‘walk and talk’ host in OncoDaily.

Tatev has completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the Yerevan State University and a master’s degree in global public health from the Queen Mary University of London. She has previously worked as a psycho-oncologist at the National Center of Oncology of Armenia. She has also completed a program in the Management of Depression Disorders from Harvard Medical School.

Tatev is also an active young leader representing Armenia in many international communities, such as the Young European Ambassadors and the Global Shapers.

Tatev Margaryan: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Walk and Talk on OncoDaily. My name is Tatev Margaryan. I’m your host for today, as always.
And our guest for today is Dr. Aram Oganesian. Dr. Oganesian, can you please introduce yourself?

Aram Oganesian: Yes, my name is Aram Oganesan. I’m a vice president of clinical pharmacology at the Taiho Oncology in the US. I’ve been working in pharmacology for the last 14 years, and I’m a toxicologist by background.
And I worked in supporting non-clinical drug development at WIAT before I joined Taiho 14 years ago.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you so much for the introduction. Dr. Oganesan, we will be taking a little stroll, and I will be asking you a couple of some personal and interesting questions. So if you don’t mind, should we get started?

Aram Oganesian: Absolutely.

Tatev Margaryan: Perfect. So the first question for today is, if you were to star in a movie or be a character in a book, what would you be? What would your role be?
Would you be a protagonist or a villain? Would you be a side character? What would you choose?

Aram Oganesian: It’s an interesting question. First, thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate this.
That’s an interesting one, I have to say. I probably haven’t seen a movie yet that exactly would match what I want. But one of my favorite movies, Contact, based on Carl Sagan’s novel by the same name title.

The protagonist there is a young astronomer played by Jodie Foster. I think Ellie Arroway was her name. What I liked, how she was at peace working alone.

She believed in what she was doing, but a lot of people didn’t. And eventually she was proven right. So then the movie is quite interesting.
I will not go into too much detail, but later parts in the movie, how our dreams are reflected in our desires and she ended up achieving what she wanted, even though everything was against her initially. So I empathize with her character a lot. And I think she also played a fantastic role.

Tatev Margaryan: I think I need to watch that movie.

It sounds very interesting.

Aram Oganesian: You should watch it too then, if you haven’t.

Tatev Margaryan: Thank you for the answer. And the next question is, can you share a story of a choice that you have made that’s changed your life?

Aram Oganesian: Yeah, several big decisions along the way. The first one, when I grew up here in Yerevan, I wanted to be a biologist. So I went to Moscow University to study there.

For graduate school, I sent my applications to universities in the US. It’s not only my choice, but the choice of the professor who decided to take a chance on me, based just on one very short phone call. He didn’t know anything about me, but he took a risk and it’s been up for me ever since.

So Dr. David E. Williams is the coolest guy in the world, as far as I’m concerned. A fantastic personality.
I thank him for giving me the opportunity. As I said, everything has been very positive ever since.

Tatev Margaryan: It’s really beautiful when people don’t forget the mentor.

Aram Oganesian: Yeah, absolutely.

Tatev Margaryan: Following their lead.

Aram Oganesian: It’s a very big help along the way at some point in life. People take a risk on you and you need to pay back with whatever you can.

Tatev Margaryan: Nicely put. Very nicely put. Okay.
Do you have any memory to your mind that always brings a smile to your face?

Aram Oganesian: Memory that brings a smile to my face? Probably the birth of my daughter. That was a very stressful experience.
I was there all along the way and that’s when everything changes right in front of you. When it was all done, it was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. Definitely, every time I remember, it brings a smile to my face.

Tatev Margaryan: How old is she now?

Aram Oganesian: She’s 30.

Tatev Margaryan: Does she know that this is your favorite memory that brings a smile to you?

Aram Oganesian: I hope she does. If not, she will watch it.

Tatev Margaryan: Hopefully, after this, she will know that.

Aram Oganesian: Absolutely.

Tatev Margaryan: What’s something that you have always wanted to achieve in life?

Aram Oganesian: Well, generally, independence, which can come in different forms. Independence to be able to spend enough time on things that interest me. You can imagine what would enable you to do those things.

I have many books I would like to read. I don’t have the time for them. I’m going to be independent one day that I can just wake up, have a cup of coffee, and do whatever I want to do.
One of those is to go through the long list of books I want to read.

Tatev Margaryan: That’s a nice interpretation of independence because generally, we think of what you just described as freedom, not independence. That’s a nice point of view. I think I’ll have to join you on this wish.

Aram Oganesian: We can have a book club.

Tatev Margaryan: Yes, absolutely. I think we can arrange that. The next question is, do you have a secret talent?

Aram Oganesian: Secret talent? I don’t know about talent. I don’t think my abilities are secret.
Whatever I’m interested in, I do have a secret project, but it’s a secret for a reason. If it works, it will be all over the news.

Tatev Margaryan: What about a hobby?

Aram Oganesian: Yeah, that’s a hobby. My hobbies are not secret. I like football, soccer in American parlors.
I have played, I have refereed, I have coached. That is something also when I’m independent, I would like to continue getting busy with. Maybe coach some underappreciated team, coaching something.
I hope I have found the code to cracking the secret in football is mostly with psychology. I think I understand the player’s psychology enough to try to bring that to the coaching side. It will be different than what most people imagine.

It takes a lot of patience, personal work with every player. That’s one of my hobbies I like to take advantage of later when I’m independent.

Tatev Margaryan: Just stay tuned to watch the matches of Dr. Oganesian’s team.

Aram Oganesian: It could be just the children’s team. It doesn’t matter.

Tatev Margaryan: A team is a team, isn’t it? Okay, good to know. I think we have already covered this question, but it is, what’s the happiest you have been in your life?
You have stated that your favorite memory is of your daughter’s birth.

Aram Oganesian: The happiest, I think, to be blissfully happy, you have to be ignorant of a lot of things. The happiest, probably when I was a child, I remember in the summer all the kids were playing together while the parents were all working. All the parents working, kids playing on the streets and waiting for the parents in the evening to come home.

I grew up during the different regime here. It was the Soviet Union. As a child, we had everything to be happy about.
I just wish all children today would have that kind of carefree existence as I enjoyed when I was growing up. I guess I would say I was happy back then, for sure.

Tatev Margaryan: That was a bit nostalgic. Yes.

Aram Oganesian: Happiness always involves some nostalgia.

Tatev Margaryan: Yes, of course. It’s a bittersweet feeling, isn’t it?

Aram Oganesian: Exactly.

Tatev Margaryan: I think the last question for today is, can you describe an adventure you hope to go to someday?

Aram Oganesian: Adventure. I like road trips, driving through nature, landscapes. Since I live on the West Coast, one day when I am independent, I like to drive.
There is a road you can take all the way from North Alaska to Argentina. Many stops along the way, of course.

Tatev Margaryan: Well, that’s the fun in road trips.

Aram Oganesian: No timetable. Yes, exactly. Just take your time and enjoy the scenery.
I like driving through the desert in the Western States, in the US. Gives you a lot of opportunity for meditation and thinking things over, re-evaluating things. Just a beautiful road trip with landscapes all around.

Tatev Margaryan: Do you have it scheduled or maybe someday?

Aram Oganesian: Well, we’re waiting for the independence.

Tatev Margaryan: Okay, all depends on independence.

Aram Oganesian: Remember, I said no timetable, so I don’t have to rush anywhere. It’s not going to be a vacation. It’s going to be just, let’s take the road all the way to Argentina from Alaska.
And if it takes three months, four months, that’s fine. So be it.

Tatev Margaryan: Oh, this sounds so much fun. I wish I could do that. I really hope that you will be able to do that sooner rather than later.

So hopefully it will all come true and not just a road trip, but a lot of other things you’ve mentioned today. But it was it for today, everyone. Let’s thank Dr. Oganesian for being our guest for today. And stay tuned to find out more about more interesting people in the future on Walk and Talk.