Mario Callejo
Ph. D.Vice -president, Scientific Operations
A passionate scientist, over the course of his career he has participated, as team leader and biology coordinator, in major life science collaborations and contributed to the discovery of innovative new treatments. His expertise in drug development and translational science, in both academic and biopharmaceutical environments, makes him a key player in the evolution of research projects at IRICoR.
Mario Callejo joined IRICoR’s management team in September 2022. He is primarily responsible for overseeing activities related to scientific affairs, such as leading and ensuring the preliminary scientific evaluation of potential projects, planning, developing and implementing a balanced portfolio strategy and making investment recommendations. He actively contributes to collaborations with pharmaceutical company partners for portfolio projects under development.
Prior to this position, he acted as IRICoR’s scientific advisor for the evaluation of projects submitted to various funding competitions. He was also involved in supporting IRICoR’s management team in monitoring milestones, evaluating deliverables and redirecting projects where necessary.
Previously, Mario was one of the Associate Directors in Biology at the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) of the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal. His involvement, as biology group leader, on the first project (development of antagonists of Protease Activated Receptors 4) carried out in alliance between the Drug Discovery Unit and the biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, contributed to the discovery of two anti-thrombotic drugs currently in clinical evaluation.
Mario Callejo has over 20 years’ experience as a scientific project manager, with in-depth scientific knowledge of translational science and drug development in both academic and biotech contexts. He has been involved, as group leader, in several pharmaceutical projects in Canada and other countries. His scientific experience spans several therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular, antimicrobials and vaccines.
He obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry at the Université de Montréal, and then divided his post-doctoral training between academia (McGill University) and several biotechnology companies (Emerillon Therapeutics Inc. and Targanta Therapeutics Inc.). He also holds an MSc from the University of Havana (Cuba) and from the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Center in Madrid (Spain).
