Abstract
In the constantly evolving field of toxicologic pathology, a pathologist’s career is often characterized by multiple career transitions. However, these transitions can be challenging and/or overwhelming and may require a shift in focus, strategic approach, and acquisition of new skills and expertise. In order to provide a forum to discuss challenges associated with career transitions and skill set/competencies required to navigate career changes effectively and successfully, the Career Development and Outreach Committee of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP) sponsored a career development workshop entitled “Transitions in a Pathologist’s Career” in conjunction with the STP 36th annual symposium. The presentations at this workshop provided perspectives of managers from pharmaceutical companies and Contract Research Organizations as well as consultants. This article is designed to provide brief summaries of their talks in this well-received career development workshop.
Toxicologic pathologists are uniquely trained to identify the effect of test articles (e.g., drugs, chemicals, and therapeutic devices) and assess their toxicologic significance in animal/research models (Haschek, Rouseaux, and Wallig 2013; van Tongeren et al. 2011). Toxicologic pathologists at all levels, stages, and ages can be found within industry including bio/pharmaceutical and chemical companies, Contract Research Organizations (CROs), government agencies, and academic sectors (Turner et al. 2015). This includes pathologists just entering the workforce, moving up the ladder, and those who have been working for 15 or more years in the discipline. There are multiple points in a pathologist’s career that require, even demand, changes in responsibilities, competencies, attitudes, and thinking, which may ultimately determine success. Accordingly, a toxicologic pathologist can serve as a manager or supervisor, a toxicologist or study director, a principal investigator, a full- or part-time consultant, or a regulatory reviewer in his or her career depending upon the opportunities available within or outside the organization. Career transitions, however, can be challenging and often difficult to manage. Whether transitioning to a management role, a full-time or part-time consultant role, or transitioning out of full-time employment, as a pathologist you’re likely to ask yourself a number of questions along the way including: Why would you want to do that? Isn’t that a little risky? Are you really qualified or have the required skill sets and competencies? Is the timing correct? And perhaps, the most important one—How do you get others onboard with your career transition?
The Career Development and Outreach Committee (CDOC) sponsored the Career Development Workshop entitled “Transitions in a Pathologist’s Career” as part of the activities at the 2017 Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP) annual symposium in Montreal, Canada. The workshop provided interactive sessions to discuss challenges associated with career transitions in the field of toxicologic pathology and skill set/competencies required to navigate career changes effectively and successfully and included perspectives of managers from pharmaceutical industry and CROs as well as self-employed consultants. Presenters discussing transitioning to management included Rick Adler, DVM, PhD, DACVP—senior director and head of pathology at GlaxoSmithKline—and Kevin McDorman, DVM, PhD, DACVP—executive director of Pathology Associates and Global Pathology at Charles River Laboratories. Presenters discussing transitioning to consulting included John Dillberger, DVM, PhD, DACVP—President at J. Dillberger, LLC—and Ricardo Ochoa, DVM, PhD, DACVP, FIATP—President at Pre-Clinical Safety, Inc. The article that follows provides brief summaries of talks by the aforementioned presenters in the 2017 STP CDOC workshop.
Management Transitions in Big Pharma—What’s in Your Toolbox?
Dr. Rick Adler (GlaxoSmithKline, Inc.) presented an overview on transitioning to management in large pharmaceutical companies. Managing others in “Big Pharma” represents an important career opportunity for veterinary pathologists in the industry, and this career direction should be considered a specialty in itself. The responsibility and privilege of supervising and supporting the career of others is very serious. Those pursuing this career direction should truly understand their personal motivation, commitment, and dedication to support others as well as their level of scientific and leadership experience and maturity suited to the role. Developing a “toolbox” over time will help with the many different supervisory and administrative challenges that arise.
It is very important to recognize that Big Pharma deserves this adjective, as these institutions are comprised of thousands of employees, and in some sense, any corporation of this magnitude can be considered a “giant human colony.” As such, various behaviors, stratifications, and hierarchies develop which are intrinsic more to human cultures than to the corporation or the business culture itself. Research and development (R&D) in Big Pharma is highly complex, and innovation is essential to discovering and developing new drugs to benefit patients. R&D is very much a “people business,” with deep and diverse talent that deserves management methods that ensure an innovation-nurturing environment. As a “people manager,” the supervisor of toxicologic pathologists is among hundreds performing similar role to support the best performance from specialty scientists. Pathologists are very critical contributors to this environment, supporting scientific decisions in many ways, and bring a wide array of talent and knowledge complementing the entire spectrum of R&D from beginning of discovery through postmarketing issues. A typical comprehensive background for pathologists that is beneficial in industry includes knowledge of molecular pathology, mechanisms of disease, systems biology, subcellular, organ level, whole organism and multispecies expertise, translational biology, toxicologic pathology, and both scientific and clinical orientation as deeply trained and highly specialized veterinarians.
“Change is the only constant” in Big Pharma, and R&D is under enormous pressures where productivity to yield new drugs is under intense scrutiny. These organizations are constantly transforming as a result, and paroxysmal reorganization is common. This pressure to change and adapt presents its own challenges to individual contributors and managers; some people are better than others handling this pressure, and some will need extra support.
As a manager and supervisor, knowing your own motivation for choosing this career direction is foundational. People become your main focus, and knowing what motivates you and the people you support is very important. Motivating factors include challenging work, recognition, a feeling of being included and “in the know,” a sense of job security, and compensation. Managers have some control or influence over many of these factors, and these are also recruiting and retention factors.
It is also important for a manager to be honest about himself or herself in this close working environment. Perception of who you are (by others) should help you gain an honest self-reflection, and having individuals you trust in the organization to confidentially provide real-time feedback (mirrors) will help you best understand how people relate or react to you and how you as a leader can continuously improve. There are also many different leadership styles: understanding your preferences, using these in balance, and understanding styles others have will help you work through challenging interactions. Leadership is also considered “situational,” meaning just right for the circumstances, or the individual, so managing becomes quite customized to each situation or person. Having “real conversations” (honest, open, and transparent discussions) in a trusting environment is also fundamental to lasting relationships that support best interactions. The workplace can be considered a “living laboratory” for a manager to continuously improve interactions with others.
All leaders should consider themselves as a “franchise,” meaning they should be effective, available, approachable, generous with mentorship, coaching and teaching, and devoted to helping others develop and build their careers. Being effective requires the manager to recognize their circle of control (the areas of direct control) and circle of influence (where your input is welcome, helpful, and valued) and the areas outside these circles, where your worry and concern are not welcome, helpful, valued, useful, or sought. Big Pharma has many layers, and personal effectiveness can be greatly increased by staying focused in the areas where you have span of control and influence. In other words, know and act where you make the most difference; becoming more effective will improve your own leadership franchise.
Treating everyone the way you wish to be treated has a corollary for people managers; “manage others the way you like to be managed.” Most pathologists and other well accomplished independent scientists do not want to be micromanaged. Hiring good people and letting them do their jobs is a fairly universal key to success in any business. It is also helpful to realize that people may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel. Merit of accomplishment is not the only measure; it is very important how you get things done. Practicing empathy toward others (walking in their shoes) creates bonds and trust, connects leaders to what people are actually thinking and feeling, and leads to much more informed decisions. Authenticity is also a very appealing trait in management, and leading with passion, heart, and showing vulnerability all help create connectivity on a “human” level. The contrary style is robotic, hierarchical, elitist, and autocratic, which is universally off-putting in any organization that depends on talented people and their enthusiasm and energy to innovate.
As a leader, you lead by example and are on stage but not as an “actor” but instead as an authentic approachable and reliable individual. How the boss behaves determines how others will behave. Your own energy, enthusiasm, and resilience are a model to others. Your positive energy begets energy in others, and your personal resilience (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual—being at peace with yourself) all matter in an environment under constant change and stress. Another excellent trait to develop involves being present for the people you support. Where many demands and impasses promote multitasking, this also dilutes your attention to people, particularly in 1:1 conversation. Active listening and follow-up to individuals or personnel issues also build engagement and credibility. Communication is critical, and good communication requires extra effort to provide a proper role model, ensure connectivity, and assure follow-up. Pushing “send” on an e-mail does not suffice; meetings and follow-up discussion and actions are required for results and impact.
Trust is fundamental and relationships matter. Alliances are better than networks. Trust promotes influence, healthy relationships promote happiness at work, and a trusting environment promotes more real-time feedback (for self and others), which helps individuals grow. Trust and inclusion promote group decisions, which are always more informed than isolated decisions.
As a manager, staying current in your science field is also important. Despite the many demands on the individual to develop management skills, being solid in science and understanding the work that others perform are key to supporting them in what they deliver. R&D is at the cutting edge of novel targets, novel findings, and novel modalities (chemical, biologic, cellular, and gene therapy classes of drugs), and science of human medical biology is constantly growing. Understanding drug development and the many kinds of decisions and range of science involved constitute some of the differentiating uniqueness in Pharma R&D compared to other institutions where veterinary pathologists and toxicologists might work. This unique environment requires the manager to have on the job training in drug development. At the same time, no manager can know everything, and relying on, and deferring to experts is essential to successfully delegating responsibility. Delegating requires allowing the other person to do it their way, so they grow and learn from the experience. If you want it done exactly your way, do it yourself.
There are many “time sinks” in Big Pharma which can drain a precious (and expensive) commodity. These include poorly run meetings, e-mails that do not offer clear expectation, ambiguity of decision makers, bureaucracy, and groups with their own political or nonaligned agendas. Be aware of these, try not to create these yourself and strengthen your patience and persistence to overcome these issues and obstacles. Your own personal time expressed as proper work–life balance is also important to your sustainability, resilience, and the positive example you provide. The “corporation” will take whatever extra time you give it, and there are always going to be more demands than time allows. Work–life balance is up to each individual to decide, but the leader’s example cannot be overrated. Take time for nonwork activities and encourage others to keep sight of the real world (family focus and patient focus) on the other side of the window.
Understand your team. Pathologists are self-directed, self-motivated, resourceful, and ambitious by the very nature of career choice. Pathologists can also be very independent and challenging, and harnessing the natural cohesion from pathology as a discipline is a fundamental team building element. Learning to lead from the front, from the side, and from the rear are all adaptations to the strengths and challenges of the team. There are also many different personality types and many tools to label and understand these types. Most important is realizing that all “types” are good, each contribute to diversity and strength in the team, and that personality typing should only be used to understand not to advance, favor, or promote one type over another.
The organization has a multidimensional shape that requires your attention and understanding as a manager. Geometric shape can be assessed by height and base of the organogram pyramid, and, in contrast to “taller” organizations which are layered with extra management, flatter organizations are preferred. An effective supervisor should consider their role as one supporting the team and lifting everyone in an upward direction rather than advancement to the top. Nongeometric dimensions in the organization include scientific capabilities, talent, growth, scalability, and sustainability, and all are part of the balance in shaping the organization you have the privilege to lead.
The most effective teams have alignment to a commonly “owned” vision, delegation of responsibility toward a common purpose, and empowerment of individuals based on trust. The culture within a team, group, or department will also impact chosen strategy and long-term success. Even the most brilliant vision and well-considered strategy and implementation plan can fail in the face of an undermining culture. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” (Peter Drucker) is sage advice to any manager (in any business). The leader helps establish or change culture, but culture is also contributed to by everyone.
The manager of a group should consider the unit as a business (e.g., pathology team) inside a business (R&D) and seek greater effectiveness, enterprise interaction, and entrepreneurship to deliver best value. Consequently, knowing your stakeholders, partners, customers, deliverables, productivity, quality, and capacity are all aspects that deserve attention, assessment, or measurement to build and sustain an effective business unit. There are many things that can be measured, so deciding what really matters is important. Taking the time to listen to the team and to broad feedback will help decide what is most important to evaluate and change.
While crucial career steps should be considered carefully, beware of free generic Internet advice that may be irrelevant or naive to your individual circumstances. Executive coaching should be considered as an adjunct to personal development because these individuals have full objectivity, will understand you, and apply their experience looking across many organizations. If multiple ambitious career steps are part of the motivation for starting as a people manager, being realistic and considering the consequences of ambition should be included in the thought process. Politicians tend to rise faster than scientists in Big Pharma, and the higher one reaches on the management ladder, the more politics will become the mainstay compared to the science and the people you might find more fulfilling. A manager who does not thrive on politics, best be careful with aspirations for career progression. Also realize, career progression in management is aided by business opportunity (who you know, where you are) and not solely by merit. Aspirations, ego, and ambition should be balanced with realistic endgame expectations to promote well-being of oneself and that of others supported as a manager.
Carefully consider what tools to add to your management toolbox and which to properly use in various situations. Appreciate your mentors and the positive examples they have previously provided or continue to offer you. In contrast to some individuals from the past who may have been poor supervisory or leadership models, these mentors gave generously of themselves to help their staff develop and grow. Remembering their examples and paying this forward as a people manager will help promote a sustainable organization and contribute to establishing one’s own lasting legacy.
Transitioning to Management: Skill Set and Competencies Helpful in a CRO Setting
Dr. Kevin McDorman (Charles River Laboratories) presented an overview on transitioning to management in a CRO setting. Management basics in the CRO setting are no different than for other supervisory roles. The composition of the clients, scope of the science, and makeup of respective alliance will differ somewhat, but fundamental basic techniques will not differ from management positions in other settings. That being said, there can be features of CRO management that can be uncharted territory. These can include customer service, responsibility for the regulatory environment, delegation of projects and authority, human resources, being accountable for others’ mistakes, legal matters, sales and marketing, and business finances and development. Key success factors for navigating this uncharted territory include customer satisfaction; scientific quality, execution, and integrity; development of employees; succession planning; prioritization and time management; sales and marketing training; basic business, financial, and legal comprehension; flexibility and adaptability; and learning the difference between management and leadership.
Success Factors in CRO Management
Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of any commercial business. An important distinction is the identification of internal customers (e.g., coworkers, management, and employees) and external customers (i.e., clients and shareholders). Without satisfied clients, and without their endorsement of our work, a CRO would fail. If mistakes do happen, being accountable and responsive to the issue and any underlying problem is very important.
Establishing and maintaining a strong culture of scientific quality, execution, and integrity is critical as a CRO manager. High scientific quality and execution are critical to establishing and maintaining a leading position in the CRO marketplace. Maintaining data integrity is extremely important, particularly in a good laboratory practices environment. Scientists, and specifically scientific management at a CRO, are ultimately responsible for ensuring that sound scientific practices, unbiased objective evaluation and interpretation, and sound scientific judgment are exercised at all times.
Developing employees is a major responsibility of CRO management. Developing employees is a continuous activity that should begin when the individual is first introduced into the organization. Seek to understand what motivates an employee, what goals and dreams they may have, and help them determine their areas of growth and development, providing advice along the way. Happy and satisfied employees have a better chance of resulting in happy customers. Happy and satisfied employees also have a better chance of staying within your organization or company.
Recruitment and succession planning are also responsibilities of CRO management. Recruitment success depends on a well-maintained professional network that includes colleagues, contemporaries, educators, and mentors. Succession planning combines employee development, retention, and recruitment with strategic growth and development of the organization. Short-range and long-range succession planning provides the ability to handle unexpected departures, fluctuations in the marketplace, and shifts in organizational priorities. Short-range planning involves identifying one or several current employees that have demonstrated the ability or potential to assume a new position of responsibility. Long-range planning involves strategic hiring of new talent and developing new and current employees.
Time management and prioritization are core competencies critical to achieving success in CRO management. Rigorous planning, scheduling, and prioritization are mandatory in the fast-paced, dynamic CRO environment. It is a difficult realization in CRO management to comprehend that not everything will get done on time and the way you want. Delegation of projects and tasks is important in allowing the manager time to lead the group or organization and to recognize and develop growth opportunities for the business. Delegation affords the manager more time to focus on the right things, such as prioritization and balance of capital investments and innovations, while also enabling employee development using growth opportunities important for the business.
Sales and marketing are topics training could be helpful to a budding CRO manager. The CRO marketplace is a competitive environment driven by quality, capability, and price. A CRO manager needs to routinely consider the marketplace and should constantly evaluate services, their demand, capacity, and your organization’s ability to move in new directions. Without taking the time to check market status, efforts and capital expenditures could be misdirected. The best steps for growing a business in such a competitive market are to build relationships, build a first-rate team, deliver a high-quality product, and respond rapidly to customer concerns.
Basic business, financial, and legal comprehension are some of the nuts and bolts of managing in a CRO environment. While formalized business training (e.g., masters of business administration) can be obtained and is very helpful, immersion in the business functions of a CRO can provide effective training. Learning basic finance, accounting, and record keeping enables managers to make better business decisions that can improve the bottom line. Legal comprehension is another learning process that will benefit from additional training, which is often delivered by legal experts within the organization or company you are working for. From a very basic perspective, one important piece of advice is to carefully review any legal document, particularly those which expect a signature or that someone else has signed but you are expected to follow.
Flexibility and adaptability can sometimes be a challenge to scientists but are very important for success in the CRO environment. CROs are always faced with new challenges, new compound modalities, pressure to innovate, and scientific dilemmas. Study time lines can be altered by many factors (e.g., test article/item availability, funding availability, and study events that indicate changes are necessary to complete the study objectives), and the CRO employees need to be able to adapt rapidly. Communication with internal teams and customers in addition to the client is critical in an ever-changing environment like a CRO.
The last success factor in CRO management is learning the difference between management and leadership. Management involves allocating resources, assessing operations, and reallocating resources as indicated by performance or changing business needs. In contrast, leadership is transforming an organization through short-range and long-range objectives while navigating challenges and changing business needs. As a manager, some decisions will be unpopular and have organizational impacts. Determining how to manage those impacts and what steps are taken to improve the organization is what distinguishes a leader.
Rewards
There are many rewards to management success in the CRO environment. Most importantly, successful management leads to successful employees. Employee success can deliver rewards including a productive team atmosphere, customer success and satisfaction, and personal satisfaction that comes from having a positive influence on your employees, organization, company, and financial performance. Finding the right fit or balance for a struggling staff member can provide particular satisfaction. Furthermore, successful employees are generally happy employees, and happy employees are generally productive employees who tend to stay within your company.
Success of clients in the CRO environment may lead to the successful discovery and development of new therapeutic biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and chemical/agrochemical products. It can also lead to more business for your company. Clients often share the credit of their successes to their CRO partners that helped them achieve those milestones. In addition, if a CRO’s contributions to a client program were pivotal in ceasing the development of a product that demonstrated a significant safety hazard, the client can save a lot of time and money and focus on other promising products. Finally, simply meeting or exceeding client expectations can provide an inherent sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction.
Management success in the CRO environment can also lead to organizational rewards and company success. Effective management can lead to business growth, financial rewards, and improved stock price and dividends (if a publicly traded company). Working for a successful CRO also has the ultimate reward of contributing to the improvement in human, environmental, and animal health.
Building Your Career
There are 4 basic steps to building a career in toxicologic pathology regardless of your working environment. First, define your interests and objectives, be them to grow your working knowledge and reputation in a specific scientific specialty, manage a small, medium or large group of employees, or consult and advise those responsible for undertaking the discovery and development of new therapeutic biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and chemical/agrochemical products. Once interests are defined, career goals should be established, including those of short range (1–3 years), medium range (3–7 years), and long range (greater than 7 years). When short-range and medium-range planning is successful, long-range planning builds on those achievements to perpetuate accomplishments and ensure continued progress. With goals established, take the time and plan tactics (training, continuing education, effective job experience and success, etc.) that will add to your skill set or toolbox. Be open to new roles and positions and be prepared to take chances and opportunities as they present themselves. Finally, always make capital of the advice of mentors who want to see you succeed and are the best resource for career consultation and seek to achieve the status of mentor to coworkers and colleagues who may gain from your experiences.
Consulting Is a Viable Option
Dr. John Dillberger (Dillberger, LLC) provided an overview of consulting as an option for toxicologic pathologists. During his 30-year career, Dr. Dillberger has seen the opportunities to pursue a consulting career expand steadily for toxicologic pathologists because of dramatic changes in the drug development business. The change with the biggest impact has been the rise of small, semivirtual, start-up companies engaged in both drug discovery and drug development. These companies rely on CROs to conduct their nonclinical studies and clinical trials and on consultants to fill key positions, design, and oversee development programs and provide technical expertise. Indeed, a small company project team often consists of 1 or 2 employees and a half dozen consultants. And this business model would not be viable at all without the Internet.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, small companies are more likely than large companies to take risks and to innovate. This stems at least partly from the fact that small companies are funded by venture capital (VC) firms. In contrast to shareholders in publicly traded companies, VC firms are comfortable with—and indeed, often seek—high-risk/high-reward opportunities. Another benefit of VC funding is the relatively short time horizon. Unlike many investors in the stock market, who take the long view, VC firms are looking for a return on their investment within a few years. This puts pressure on small companies to meet aggressive milestones, pushing them to find innovative ways to streamline the drug development process.
VC funding also changes the goal for small, semivirtual, drug development companies. Instead of aiming to bring a product to market, such companies seek to “add value” by moving the product a step closer to market. This added value is realized only when the development rights are licensed to, or the company is acquired by, a larger partner—usually a publicly traded pharmaceutical company. As a result, the drug development business is like a relay race, rather than a marathon, and many drugs that have reached the market in the 21st century have had multiple sponsors.
One final consequence of the changes in the drug development business is that there are fewer training grounds for new drug development scientists. When Dr. Dillberger began his career, the dominant business model was for a single pharmaceutical company to discover a drug, develop it through to market approval, and then invest part of the profit back into discovering and developing more drugs. When a newly graduated scientist joined the company, she or he could gain firsthand experience in the entire drug discovery and development process. Indeed, most companies who hired such scientists expected to spend a few years training them in the drug development business—an investment that would more than payoff over the employee’s 25-year career with the company. Small start-up companies cannot provide such training; instead, they must hire or engage as consultants, individuals who already have experience in the drug discovery and development business. Likewise, CROs cannot provide such training because they focus on a single aspect of the business rather than the entire product development cycle. The net result is that the pool of available trained and experienced drug development scientists—individuals who have not only a particular technical expertise but also a general knowledge of the entire drug development process—has been shrinking since the turn of the millennium, while at the same time, the opportunities for such individuals to pursue a career in consulting have been growing. Because of this mismatch, there has never been a better time for a toxicologic pathologist with some experience in drug development to consider a career in consulting.
What does a toxicologic pathologist have to offer as a drug development consultant? First, she or he has medical training, and if she or he has spent time in practice, then medical experience as well. Medical training means knowledge of anatomy, histology, physiology, pharmacology, reproductive biology, pre- and postnatal development, and more. It also means knowledge about investigative techniques like physical examination, ophthalmic examination, neurologic examination, microscopy, imaging modalities, anesthesia, surgery, and so on. If the medical training is of the veterinary sort, then it encompasses all species except humans. And even if the training is in human medicine, it will have included cross-species extrapolation (the “one medicine” concept) and the use of animals as models for humans. Finally, medical training includes a commitment to continuous learning.
Beyond the many benefits of medical training, a pathologist also brings specialty training and experience in pathology, that is, in the causes and manifestations of disease. The toxicologic pathologist brings particular training and experience in diseases caused by toxins. Why is this important? For the simple reason that a company developing any new drug must use it to cause “disease” in animals and then study the effects produced in order to figure out how to test the drug safely in human volunteers and patients. This requirement is captured in the 2010 International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) Guidance M3(R2) (ICH M3(R2) 2010), entitled Nonclinical Safety Studies for the Conduct of Human Clinical Trials and Marketing Authorization for Pharmaceuticals, which says: The goals of the nonclinical safety evaluation generally include a characterization of toxic effects with respect to target organs, dose dependence, relationship to exposure, and, when appropriate, potential reversibility. This information is used to estimate an initial safe starting dose and dose range for the human trials and to identify parameters for clinical monitoring for potential adverse effects. (p. 3) …the study of the essential nature of diseases and especially of the structural and functional changes produced by them. The study of the anatomic and physiological deviations from the normal that constitute disease or characterize a particular disease.
When it comes to consulting, a toxicologic pathologist can offer not only training and experience in medicine, specialty training in pathology, and subspecialty training that is toxicology by a different name, but also can bring experience in applying his or her knowledge to a business activity such as product development, risk assessment, forensics, regulatory science, and so on. In other words, every toxicologic pathologist can help with nonclinical study design and conduct, data analysis and interpretation, and cross-species extrapolation. Toxicologic pathologists who have experience in drug development also can help with nonclinical safety program design; study placement (including generation of requests for proposal and selection of CROs); preparation of regulatory documents; and interactions with regulatory authorities, partners, licensors, and investors.
Data interpretation and cross-species extrapolation are 2 of the most important strengths that a toxicologic pathologist can bring to a small company. To interpret data from an individual study or a series of studies, one must understand both the experimental methods used to gather the data and the mechanisms that underlie physiologic and pathologic processes at the cellular, tissue, and organism level. For toxicology studies conducted as part of drug development, the aim is to “tie it all together” and identify what doesn’t fit. This is what pathologists have always been taught to do: I should like to emphasize again that the study of pathology…is of little value…unless it enables [you] to grasp clearly the functional changes that are produced by the anatomical changes so frequently caused by disease and seen post-mortem.…I cannot stress too much, therefore, the desirability of acquiring the point of view which will lead you to ask yourself in every case, “What do the observations, of whatever nature, that I make tell me about the A medical pathologist can go through life and contribute greatly to knowledge of human diseases and he need know nothing, nor mention anything in his papers, concerning relevant facts about diseases of dogs, cows, elephants, or mice.…No veterinary pathologist, on the other hand, can give tongue to any statement on an animal disease, which on serious reflection must not immediately be reconciled with prevailing views on some analogous human disorder. (Comparative Neuropathology; Innes et al. 1962, p. IX) Understand what training/skills/expertise you can offer. Each individual will bring a unique mix. Make sure you have the self-discipline to work alone but also the ability to work well as part of a virtual team that may include people of all kinds located around the globe. Cultivate good communication skills—listening, speaking, and writing. Cultivate good interpersonal skills, particularly tact, intuition, and consideration. In different situations, with different clients, you will be called upon to persuade, argue, challenge, compromise, acquiesce, and lead. Make sure you enjoy variety and love continuous learning because that is part and parcel of the job. Consultants typically are engaged for a limited time for a specific role/project. If possible, come to enjoy educating and explaining, offering options and probabilities, and debating and defending recommendations. Your clients and fellow team members cannot appreciate what you do or weigh your advice unless you give them context—context they may not have from their own experience.
Consulting after Retirement
Dr. Ricardo Ochoa (Pre-Clinical Safety, Inc.) presented an overview on transitioning to consulting after retirement. The labor force in the United States and the entire Western world underwent severe shrinkage during the recession years that began as early as 2007. The unemployment rate shot up in the United States to 10% to 11% comparable to the unemployment observed during the Great Recession in the late 1940s. However, since 2010, the unemployment rate has continued to fall as employment has become stronger. The anticipated shortfall of veterinary pathologists projected for the years of the recession did not materialize and the recession hit the area of drug development as hard as any other sector of the economy. The lack of VC decreased the funds available for R&D of new products. Investors looked for safer areas of the economy. As of the writing of this article in mid-2017, the economy has fully recovered, and there is again a need for professionals engaged in R&D of new pharmaceuticals. This provides the opportunity for better employment in the sector.
However, many pathologists belonging to the baby boom generation are retiring from their regular jobs and are faced with the question of what to do with their lives once the regular job is left behind. This portion of this article offers some suggestions and advice for the professionals who are retiring or planning retirement. Like most of the advice for management of people’s lives, this advice is meant as a guidance and may not apply to everyone.
The principal differences between a regular job in a pharmaceutical company or a CRO compared to consulting are the regular contact with colleagues and the easy access to support that exists in a large organization and the lonely and sometimes constrained role of the consultant. The former is obvious, but the latter is more often unexpected. A lone consultant usually does not have the support staff to manage accounting, scheduling, and archiving. In addition, there is no free access to literature. This is balanced by advantages such as the freedom to choose your bosses, the challenge of learning about new projects and approaches to solutions to medical and other scientific problems that are more limited in a large organization. In general, consulting after retirement also means that one may not need the economic compensation to live because a retirement fund generally exists where life expenses can be satisfied.
Retirement comes with certain risks. An important risk is the probability that, although you may have a retirement fund, this fund will not last for your life expectancy. Unforeseen events may occur. The fund may not be adequate in the first place, or issues like inflation, and particularly excessive costs of health care related to declining health as old age approaches may diminish funds. Other important risks are the risks of loneliness, leading to depression, and lastly the fear of obsolescence.
Retirement, however, provides freedom. The freedom of knowing that your time is yours, and you can dedicate it to whatever you choose. The opportunity to continue to learn within your field or a totally new field of expertise. Also, the ability to have the time to maintain relationships with your friends, colleagues, and family, if not in person, by using social media. There is also freedom from the politics of larger organizations and the rat race to the top.
Consulting is an opportunity that can keep you in contact with your discipline, use your brain, and take advantage of your experience to help people who need it. It keeps one learning and engaged. Consultants can also choose the people they want to work with and discuss the impact of work with clients.
How Do You Decide to Go into Consulting and How Do You Do It?
Of course, there are many answers to this question. The following are ways to reach the decisions and stick to them. Make sure of your motivation to consult, and why consulting over other things. Decide what priorities you will give to the different activities of your life. The first thing you need to do is to find out what are the important priorities for you at this stage of your life. Do you want to play golf, or just lay on the beach, or do you want an active life with exercise, good food, and good rest? Where is your family on all this, do they agree with this plan? If you add consulting to this list, there are bound to be conflicts with your other priorities. Sleep and exercise become ever more important in your older years, when you need to stay fit and alert, good sleep, good challenging exercise, good diet are all part of keeping you healthy for a longer period. These activities of prevention of frailty will keep you from dying too soon and therefore should not be sacrificed to a job of consulting if the trade-off is your health. For a new consultant, it is very important to have an extended network of colleagues and acquaintances who can advise, guide, consult with you, and perhaps introduce you to clients who would give you work. It is very important for you to know yourself. We all say this, but few know what it means. You need to take stock of who you are, what are your good points and your bad points, and above all what is your image among your peers, colleagues, friends, and foes. Honestly. You need to know what your reputation is. You may think you are the best person that ever lived, but if people don’t agree with you, they will not bring business to you. This goes also for people who have a poor image of themselves. You need to convey confidence in yourself to obtain the respect of possible clients, and you cannot convey what you don’t believe. Perform a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. This is very important to decide who you are and how you want to face your future. You should select your clients carefully and treat them with respect, so that you can keep that relationship. Respect for your clients entails fulfilling your commitments to them. Commitments should be iron clad, and there are no excuses for late delivery. When there is a good reason why a schedule cannot be kept, you need to renegotiate this schedule as soon as you know there is an issue. Your client is always counting on you, and if you disappoint them, you lose.
Setting Up Consulting
There are some steps you may need to take to set yourself up for consulting, including: You need to define whether you are truly committed to become a consultant. Do you need the income from consulting to survive? Or is this an activity that you enjoy doing, and why? The demands of a job, whatever it may be, will conflict with other things you want to do, and you need to have a clear understanding of where priorities lay. Know what you are selling. Getting into consulting is not different from getting any other job. You need to position yourself in a way that is realistic for you in what you offer your clients that you can do. You need to answer in your own head why would a client give you the job and not to someone else. What makes you unique? Decide how much time you are willing to invest in this new activity, also how much money you want to invest, in case you want to become incorporated, also whether you want to create a web page for your prospective clients. Think of opportunity costs when doing this. Selling your skills is paramount in consulting, and if you cannot do this, it is difficult to get ahead. In our discipline, our skills are best sold by presentations at meetings and discussions with colleagues and future clients. Advertising in general does not work for consulting. Develop your own “advisory board,” that is, identify a few (3–4) colleagues whom you would ask for their opinion when faced with difficult decisions. These people should be people who understand the business you are in, or want to get into, and can see beyond your perspective to guide you. Set up a list of your priorities, giving daily time to the different aspects of your life, to figure out how much time you would have for your consulting. You will find conflicts, but it helps to have a clear head. People will in the future place demands on your time, and if you don’t have a clear idea to where it should go, then it will be wasted. The disciplines of Veterinary Pathology and Toxicologic Pathology have many opportunities for work. If you have been working in a large pharmaceutical company, you may want to work for a contract lab, a smaller biotech, or a veterinary diagnostic lab. You can work full time in any of these or just take their overflow for partial time. Decide based on a wide understanding of the opportunities available. Academia often takes retirees as adjunct faculty. These can all be rewarding activities, with different economic benefits and challenges. You can also volunteer for a project with no pay. Biotech companies have been an increasing supplier of jobs in our field, but sometimes they need education on the key roles Toxicologic Pathology can play in their business. One way to ease the risks of the solo practice is to join an organization. Many pathologists today work by the hour with companies that are located far from their home base. Telecommuting is common; therefore, you can join a large contract lab or a smaller pathology consulting group. This frees you from the need to find the projects. To find your first client, the best way is to find a company, perhaps the company where you worked before retirement, and work for them as a consultant. This gives you a foot in the door and helps you jump from regular employment to consulting. However, you should set up a network long before you retire, to have individuals available to you for referrals. Remember that in our discipline, business often comes to you by word of mouth. The best recommendations come from satisfied clients. To achieve this, show yourself at meetings and through social media, get involved in professional organization, participate in discussions, and make presentations to prospective clients to educate them on what you can do for them. In his book Flawless Consulting, Block (2000) divides the roles consultants play into 3 such roles:
Expert role: This is where the consultant is well versed in a technique such as the evaluation of histopathology slides for the pathologist opinion. This is the role that is generally expected of a bench pathologist, and there are no expectations of understanding of the project, but knowledge that helps the development process is welcome.
Pair of hands consultant: This is the role where the client keeps control over the information that is shared with the consultant to the extreme point that a few clients would insist that the consultant know nothing about the product. This is minimal communication and the least satisfying way to work.
Collaborative role: In this role, the consultant becomes an active member of the internal group in charge of the development of the product. Many times, this type of collaboration is the most rewarding for both the consultant and the client, as there is commonality of goals, accumulation of historical information about products and advice to the team in development of follow-up products, as they come into the pipeline. Information flows freely between the client and the consultant.
In summary, preparation for consulting after retirement is no different than preparation for a change in career for any other reason. The more important parts of this process are commitment to the goal and making an informed decision. Retirement is an opportunity to go into many different paths, and there are trade-offs. If the person doesn’t have a clear idea of where they want to go, they will not be able to succeed. Goals should be articulated based on solid information and objective assessments of self and the environment, present and future.
Footnotes
Author Contribution
All authors (SC, TO, RA, KM, JD, RO) contributed to conception or design; data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; drafting the manuscript; and critically revising the manuscript. All authors gave final approval and agreed to be accountable for all aspect of work in ensuring the questions relating to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.