Advisor / Senior Advisor, Cardiovascular NAMs – Investigative Toxicology

About the role

We are seeking a scientist to join the New Approach Methodologies (NAMs)/Complex In Vitro Models (CIVMs) pillar within Lilly’s Investigative Toxicology group. This individual contributor, primarily laboratory-based role sits within an integrated group where in vitro and in vivo safety science operate under a single leadership, enabling seamless translational science across the drug discovery continuum.

Responsibilities

• Develop expertise across, and take primary responsibility for qualifying and applying, human-relevant in vitro models for cardiovascular liability assessment, including hiPSC-CMs, hiPSC-derived endothelial cells (hiPSC-ECs), 2D electrophysiological monolayer systems, 3D EHTs, cardiac organoids (COs), and vessel-on-a-chip models.
• Design and complete mechanistic investigations into compound-induced liabilities including proarrhythmia, QT/AP prolongation, structural cardiomyopathy, mitochondrial cardiotoxicity, DIVI, and endothelial dysfunction and barrier disruption.
• Implement and qualify electrophysiological and contractile readouts for cardiac safety including MEA field potential recordings, calcium flux imaging, sarcomere shortening/contractility assays, and impedance-based platforms; adopt emerging technologies that improve sensitivity, specificity, and translational relevance within the CiPA framework and beyond.
• Apply 3D cardiovascular platforms – including EHTs or COs – for mechanistic studies and chronic dosing paradigms that gather structural cardiotoxicity and vascular injury endpoints not resolved by electrophysiology alone.
• Serve as the primary scientific resource for project teams conducting follow-on in vitro investigations for cardiovascular safety.
• Collaborate with Lilly’s in silico ADMET Intelligence group to integrate computational cardiovascular liability predictions with in vitro mechanistic data, building tiered decision frameworks for project teams.
• Evaluate emerging cardiovascular NAMs technologies – including multi-organ liver-heart MPS for metabolism-mediated cardiotoxicity, AI/ML-assisted imaging, and transcriptomic mechanism-of-injury profiling – and recommend platforms for adoption.
• Serve as scientific point of contact for CROs and academic partners conducting cardiovascular NAMs work on Lilly’s behalf, coordinating study design, data quality, and deliverable standards.
• Maintain awareness of regulatory and consortium developments relevant to cardiovascular safety pharmacology; participate in pre-competitive consortia (IQ-MPS, HESI cardiovascular safety initiatives); publish and present externally.

Requirements

• PhD in Pharmacology, Physiology, Biomedical Engineering, Toxicology, or a closely related field with training in cardiac biology, vascular biology, or cardiovascular electrophysiology.
• Advisor (R5): PhD with 2+ years postdoctoral or industry experience with direct hands-on work in advanced cardiovascular in vitro models.
• Senior Advisor (R6): PhD with 5+ years postdoctoral or industry experience with a track record of independent scientific contribution, model qualification, and leadership.
• Hands-on experience with at least one of the following: (1) hiPSC-CM differentiation and functional characterization applied to cardiac safety or mechanistic questions; (2) MEA-based proarrhythmia liability assessment (APD and FPD detection) within or aligned to the CiPA paradigm; (3) 3D EHT functional assessment (contractility, calcium handling, electromechanical coupling); or (4) Endothelial cell or vessel-on-a-chip in vitro models to characterize DIVI, vascular inflammation, or barrier disruption endpoints.
• Experience independently designing and implementing experiments, managing concurrent projects, and prioritizing under drug discovery timelines.

Additional Skills / Preferences

• Familiarity with the CiPA paradigm, ICH S7B/E14 Q&A framework, or FDA ISTAND NAMs qualification pathways for cardiovascular safety pharmacology.
• Experience with human vascular wall microfluidic models incorporating EC-smooth muscle cell bilayers under physiological shear stress for DIVI screening is a plus.
• Strong written and oral communication skills evidenced by peer-reviewed publications and/or conference presentations.
• Ability to operate effectively in a matrixed, cross-functional drug discovery environment.
• Knowledge of high-content imaging, AI/ML-assisted phenotypic classification, or transcriptomic profiling (bulk or scRNA-seq) to define mechanism-of-injury signatures in cardiovascular models.
• Experience with cardio-oncology compound assessment using hiPSC-CM or EHT platforms to evaluate both electrophysiological and structural/mitochondrial cardiotoxicity endpoints.
• Experience mentoring junior scientists or leading project-embedded scientific activities.