Associate Director, Global Pathology – Oncology Therapy Area
: Job Details :

Associate Director, Global Pathology – Oncology Therapy Area

Are you a passionate Veterinary Anatomic Pathologist interested in driving innovation in drug discovery to bring safe and effective therapies to patients? This is an exciting opportunity to join a global group of highly skilled pathologists that work closely with dedicated safety teams to push the boundaries of science.

AstraZeneca is looking for a dynamic and experienced Veterinary Anatomic Pathologist to support our work in the Oncology disease area at our Gaithersburg, MD or Waltham, MA sites. The role is broad in scope and offers significant potential for scientific collaboration and professional development.

Global Pathology works closely with Oncology disease area scientists and the Safety Sciences organization, providing integrated support for safety and efficacy pathology to drive the design, selection and successful development of novel treatments for cancer patients. The Global Pathology department works across Sweden, UK and US covering all aspects of pathology for AstraZeneca disease areas. Pathology sits within Clinical Pharmacology and Safety Sciences (CPSS), which contains all non-clinical safety functions supporting the entire AstraZeneca portfolio.

What you'll do

As a Pathologist in our global CPSS team, you'll collaborate with discovery safety specialists, toxicologists and disease area scientists, providing expert anatomic pathology support to drug projects across all development stages. You'll contribute to the design and assessment of investigative safety and efficacy studies, ensuring timely delivery of impactful, decision-making pathology data. In addition, you'll provide pivotal pathology support and develop expertise in cutting edge novel treatment modalities, including T cell therapies, immune cell engagers, antibody drug conjugates and PROTACs. While most of your work will be in the Oncology space supporting Cell Therapy projects, you'll also have the opportunity to support our global portfolio in the Respiratory & Immunology, Vaccines & Immune Therapies and Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism therapy areas.

CPSS is changing the way pathology and imaging technologies are combined to offer unprecedented insight and impact. Our pathologists are empowered by access to AI digital pathology, multiplex assays, advanced molecular imaging techniques and a full suite of in vivo imaging technologies. This position offers the opportunity for a pathologist to explore new ways of supporting how we investigate both the safety and efficacy of drugs within our projects. The role will work within a dynamic scientific team with opportunity to deliver scientific strategies that change our view of disease. This is an exciting opportunity for a dedicated pathologist to shine.

Essential Requirements

• Degree in Veterinary Medicine
• Postgraduate pathology qualification (DACVP, DECVP, FRCPath, DJSTP or equivalent)
• A minimum of 3-5 years of either toxicologic pathology or cross-species research - previous experience with cellular therapies would be an advantage
• Ability to integrate pathology findings with a range of additional endpoints (e.g., clinical pathology, IHC/ISH, MSI, omics data) and provide contextualized interpretation for project teams, governance interactions and regulatory submissions
• Genuine interest in providing broad disease area, discovery and toxicologic pathology support and acting as a pathology representative on multiple drug development projects
• Highly effective written and oral communication skills with the ability to clearly convey complex pathology data to a wide range of stakeholders

Desirable Requirements

• PhD in pathology or a related discipline
• Relevant pharmaceutical experience of providing discovery and toxicologic pathology support and acting as a pathology representative on multiple drug development projects
• Broad cross-species toxicologic pathology expertise with experience of histopathological evaluation and peer review of short- and long-term toxicology studies
• Track record of scientific delivery demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications in high impact/high-quality journals
• Ability to provide a holistic view of translational safety and pathophysiology from animal to patient

If you are a veterinary anatomic pathologist seeking a new challenge, please get in touch with Kim Maratea (...@astrazeneca.com) for an informal discussion about this exciting opportunity.