Carter Jaynes, one of our RLT production managers, recently made a move across the country: He brought his expertise from Indianapolis, IN to Carlsbad, CA — and our new RLT manufacturing facility — to help expand and improve our ability to deliver our medicines to patients across the western US, Alaska and Hawaii.
In his role, each day starts with a promise to patients waiting for their dose: It will be administered on time. And for him, this work is deeply personal.
Carter’s role sits at the intersection of people, process and precision — overseeing the rhythm of production. This means ensuring the right materials are ready, equipment is running smoothly, and every detail aligns before a batch of medicine is made. Each batch must be exact, meaning every decision Carter and his team make matters. Nothing is left to chance.
For Carter and his team, it’s not just manufacturing, it’s a responsibility. Because somewhere, a patient is waiting, trusting that everything was done right.
You work in a very precise manufacturing role at Novartis, tell us what that’s like.
It lets me live out my passions, stay curious, and contribute to something that directly helps people. Combining cutting-edge science with a clear purpose of treating cancer and making a difference in patients’ lives is what makes the work worth it.
My mother had cancer. Her experience is what led me to study nuclear engineering and radiation safety, ultimately leading me to Novartis.
Carter Jaynes, RLT Production Manager, Novartis
For me, it’s also personal. My mother had cancer. Her experience is what led me to study nuclear engineering and radiation safety, ultimately leading me to Novartis. I started at our Indianapolis RLT manufacturing facility and now have the privilege to be a leader at the new facility in Carlsbad.
How do you see the work you’re doing contributing?
When I moved from the Indianapolis site to Carlsbad, I brought more than a change of location and a new role—I was able to bring valuable knowledge that helped shape a new facility from the ground up. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
In Indianapolis, one of my most meaningful contributions was improving our calibration and maintenance approach for dose calibrators, the instruments we rely on to measure dose strength. Bringing that knowledge to Carlsbad was critical, because it supports one of the most important moments in manufacturing: knowing exactly what goes into each vial, for each patient.
We often say that having new sites for RLT manufacturing feels like ‘magic’ for patients. The magic is that our medicines are custom-made and extremely time sensitive, and a broader manufacturing footprint helps us make the medicine closer to them.
For me, this is how I contribute to redefining our role in healthcare — by taking what I’ve learned, increasing our manufacturing production value, and helping build systems patients can trust—dose by dose.
Tell us what this means for patients and the community.
Adding more RLT sites is not just growth for growth’s sake, it’s how we meet growing demand for these cutting-edge cancer treatments. Carlsbad was designed to increase US supply and help serve patients particularly in the western US, Alaska and Hawaii.
We often say that having new sites for RLT manufacturing feels like “magic” for patients. The “magic” is that our medicines are custom-made and extremely time sensitive, and a broader manufacturing footprint helps us make the medicine closer to them. Especially as we see the demand for these medicines rise.
We’re not making a product to sit on a shelf. Our teams here are making doses that must arrive on schedule, in the right window, for the patient’s planned injection time. And, we have a steady rate of >99% of doses being administered to patients on the planned day. My team and I take great pride in making that happen, and we get to do so at a new, state-of-the-art facility to deliver to patients across the West Coast and nearby.
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I’m also excited to see the other new RLT manufacturing sites open in the US – expanding our reach and what’s possible. I feel fortunate that I’ve gotten the chance to not just grow professionally by bringing my experience to Carlsbad, but also to contribute to our expanding RLT footprint. Our Novartis RLT sites are a tight network of colleagues – we share, learn and win together for patients.
Finish this sentence: “The future I’m helping build here is…”
It feels like a major wave of groundbreaking science, and that we are just at the start of our RLT innovation journey. We’re seeing the world catch on to this new era in radiation therapy, and I’m excited to see where this field will lead to 10 to 20 years from now. It gives me a lot of pride to know that I’m helping build the manufacturing backbone that can support it. I now get to contribute by taking what I've learned, increasing our manufacturing production value, and helping build systems that patients can trust – dose by dose.
Being at the forefront of what’s next in this field and to be able to help other families have more time together is what makes our work meaningful.
Thank you, Carter, for supporting patients across the US.
Learn more about the vital RLT innovation happening in Carlsbad.
