Associate Director, Pathology

Who we are:

Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet-founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies and model systems to increase our understanding of the biology that controls human aging. Calico will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives.

Position Description:

Calico is seeking a highly motivated and experienced pathologist to establish and lead a histopathology core within the in vivo sciences group. This position offers the exciting opportunity to establish a new initiative supporting Calico’s translational medicine effort with a focus on aging and age-related diseases. The successful candidate will have single point of contact responsibility for Calico’s research pathology, both in-house and external collaborations, and will be expected to oversee pre-clinical pathology studies as the programs advance into clinical drug development. The core is expected to provide both routine and cutting-edge histopathology services and expertise to Calico scientists – who engage in preclinical drug discovery and development activities typically involving animal species of relevance to human disease. The lead will be responsible for acquiring instrumentation and technical personnel to run the core facility. The Pathologist is expected to define our long-range strategy in support of our experimental medicine initiatives, develop innovative image analysis techniques (including machine learning), and automation to enable digital pathology. Calico provides a scientifically stimulating and collaborative working environment and promotes a culture of data-driven scientific investigation and publication. This position will report to the Head of In Vivo Sciences.

Position responsibilities:

• Directly interface with Calico scientific personnel who are engaged in discovery/development to advise them on appropriate histopathology endpoints and modalities that will best inform program decisions and directions, ideal site for specific studies (in-house v/s CROs) and data interpretation and auditing.

• Provide Calico scientists with informed recommendations on which CRO(s) would be most appropriate to conduct histopathology efforts not done in-house, and then serve as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for any such outside support.

• Organize the hiring and supervision of additional pathologists for the pathology core when the need arises.

• Provide Calico with expertise concerning human tissue procurement and banking including advise on commercial vendors, pharma and academic entities that are best suited to the specific needs of a given project.

• Advise on/developing protocols for/supervision of collection of tissues from clinical sites involved in clinical trials of Calico molecules to ensure legal and ethical compliance.

• Provide Calico with expertise concerning new technologies relevant to histopathology by staying current with these technologies and working to implement these in-house or via external entities as appropriate to Calico’s business needs.

Position requirements:

• D.V.M. and Ph.D , or the equivalent degree with at least 5 years of post-doctoral experience in a research environment in academia or the pharmaceutical industry. M.D would desirable, but not required.

•Previous experience with computational approaches to digital pathology is required.

• Board certification by the American Board of Pathology (for MDs) or by the American College of Veterinary Pathology (for DVMs) is highly desirable.

• Direct and significant experience in conducting histopathology analysis on rodent species, in contexts that are relevant to human disease. Experience conducting biomedical research and supporting scientists in a drug discovery/development environment as evidenced by publications, patents, IND filings etc.

• Strong interpersonal skills – excellent ability to communicate with a diverse range of “clients” (Calico Staff, CRO Staff and other collaborators).

• Successful experience managing 1 or more technical staff.

Calico requires all new hires to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the first date of employment.  As required by applicable law, Calico will consider requests for Reasonable Accommodations