The Perfect Fit: Combining the Power of Pathology and Industry Experience
Koo recently landed his dream job in March 2015 at CardioVax, a California-based company that’s developing a vaccine to treat or prevent atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. “I have an extensive background in experimental cardiovascular pathology, and they also needed someone with industry experience to help them bring their drugs to the market—it’s a perfect fit,” said Koo. “I’m lucky because I’ll be working on something that is really dear to my heart.”
In 1986, Koo joined the Department of Pathology, later to become LMP. “I first became interested in pathology when I attended Dr. Emmanuel Farber’s undergraduate courses—his lectures were really motivating and stimulating. I was also interested in studying cardiovascular pathology because it was, and still is, the number one killer in Western countries.”
Koo earned his PhD with Professor Avrum Gotlieb in cardiovascular pathology and atherosclerosis, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
When he began his career in the pharmaceutical industry, he combined his expertise in pathology with toxicology.
“Quite often toxicology of a drug is reflected in tissue pathology. When a drug becomes toxic to tissues, you look under the microscope to study the pathology and then you correlate it to a cause,” he said. “Every drug company needs to know the toxicity profile of their drugs because they must report that information to regulatory agencies.”
Before his current position at CardioVax, Koo was the Director of Preclinical Development for the pharmaceutical and medical device company Hospira Inc. in Illinois. In that position, he designed studies to show the efficacy and safety of drugs in animal models, later submitting them for approval to the US Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada and other global regulatory agencies.
Among other roles, his focus was on developing generic drugs, cheaper alternatives to proprietary ones. “At Hospira, my team and I brought fifteen generic drugs onto the market,” said Koo.” It was really rewarding because we were helping patients by developing drugs that were just as effective and a lot cheaper than the innovator products.”
Asked for advice for students, Koo said, “It’s important to focus on what you’re doing for your thesis but to also try to learn about different topics and techniques. The more you know the better chance you’ll have at getting a job. My experience is proof that your graduate experience at U of T makes you competitive on the international stage, and if you work hard, you can find success in any career.”
