The StageBio team is made up of dedicated individuals who are ready to take your scientific research to the next level.
StageBio is a leading international provider of GLP-compliant research, preclinical and clinical histology, pathology and specimen archiving services for the biopharmaceutical, medical device and contract research.
We formed through the merger of renowned contract research organizations—Histo-Scientific Research Laboratories (HSRL), HSRL Archives, Vet Path Services, Inc. (VPS), VPS Archives, Tox Path Specialists (TPS), Alizée Pathology, and TPL Path Labs of Germany. By integrating these scientific ventures, we are able to offer beginning-to-end histopathology services to meet all of our clients’ needs under one roof.
Our offerings include necropsy oversight, clinical pathology analysis, efficacy determination for new compounds and devices, toxicological evaluation of products subject to regulatory approval, medical device pathology, immunohistochemistry, and neuropathology.
StageBio operates several state-of-the-art sites in the United States, plus a laboratory facility in Freiburg, Germany. We have a team of more than 30 board-certified veterinary pathologists and a group of more than 75 technicians and support staff committed to quality, scientific integrity, and client satisfaction.
Sam has more than 14 years of experience working in biological specimen storage and in the preclinical research industry. As Chief of Staff for StageBio, he will oversee vision, culture, and leadership development. Sam is well-versed in industry best practices and regulations for specimen retention and environmental controls. He was also a founder and owner of HSRL Archives, LLC from 2005-2019. Sam received his BS from James Madison University.
Carrie joined HSRL, now StageBio, in 2006 to manage all areas of the Pathology Services division. Now as Senior Vice President of Client Relations, Carrie serves as an essential liaison between StageBio and its clients. Carrie plays a key role on the executive leadership team, utilizing her expertise from her previous role as the Director of Pathology Services in which she was responsible for coordinating all pathology deliverables and deadlines among the pathologists, the pathology support team, and clients. Carrie's comprehensive experience as a project manager, prior to and during her current career, makes her extremely well-suited to manage many of the daily operations at StageBio. Carrie earned her Associate of Arts degree from Frederick Community College and subsequently continued her education at Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Kathy Bailey is the Vice President of Corporate Integration for StageBio. Prior to joining StageBio, she served as the General Manager/CEO of Alizée Pathology for five years, guiding the organization through a series of transformations and growth. Having found joy in ‘making order out of chaos’ early in her career, Kathy has spent several decades leading teams in multiple industries through new challenges. In her current role, she is focused on working with company leaders in developing and implementing systems and processes that support a unified company mission, vision, and philosophy.
Charlie oversees a variety of strategic, operating, and financial initiatives including M&A, partnership, integration, and financial analysis. Prior to StageBio, Charlie was an investor at Ampersand Capital Partners, a healthcare focused private equity firm, where he was involved in growth equity financings, M&A transactions, and strategy discussions with a variety of healthcare CROs and CDMOs. Charlie began his career at MHT Partners, a middle market investment bank, where he focused on healthcare and technology transactions. He holds a B.A. in Economics-Mathematics with a concentration in financial markets from Colby College.
Chris received his BS degree in Biology from Virginia Tech in 1993 and his MS degree in Pathobiology from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in 1999. He served as a Division Manager for Pathology Associates International from 1999-2001, and then with Charles River Laboratories from 2001-2005. Chris was co-founder and co-owner of Vet Path Services and VPS Archives from 2005-2018. He currently serves as the Client Ambassador for StageBio.
Michael brings 20 years of experience in the life science space, spanning commercial strategy, marketing, sales, M&A, and technology development. As Chief Commercial Officer, Michael will lead StageBio's sales, marketing, and overarching commercial strategy, and work with the company's leadership to identify new growth opportunities. Michael was previously President of Pharma Services and Molecular Diagnostics for Biocare Medical, and he led the creation and growth of a business unit providing biomarker development and diagnostic testing services to a portfolio of pharmaceutical and biotech partners in the preclinical through late-stage trial settings. Prior to Biocare, Michael served as Chief Commercial Officer of Signal Genetics, a publicly traded molecular diagnostics company offering a proprietary gene expression test to inform treatment selection for multiple myeloma patients. His prior experience includes consulting for several leading life science venture capital firms and the formation of a molecular diagnostics spinout from Moffitt Cancer Center. Michael also led business development and new product licensing for Genzyme Genetics, a leading oncology and prenatal health reference lab, prior to its acquisition by LabCorp. Michael holds an MBA from Columbia University, an MS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Connecticut, and a BS in Biology from Syracuse University.
Charles has over 20 years of experience in the IT field, including 12 years leading infrastructure and service teams in the CRO industry. His broad experience in developing and managing information systems benefits our efforts to integration multiple IT platforms into a homogeneous system. Charles has an AA in Information Management Systems from Frederick Community College, has certifications as MCSE and CISSP and received his BS from University of Maryland Global Campus.
Dr. Knostman is a toxicologic and diagnostic pathology expert, having served as lead pathologist in hundreds of preclinical studies for industry and government clients. Her expertise spans multiple species, dose, routes and study designs, from small dose-range-finding pilot studies to large two-year carcinogenicity assays; vaccine and biologic efficacy and safety pharmacology studies to medical device pathology and chemical agent exposure models. She is also experienced in immunohistochemistry.
Dr. Knostman earned her DVM from The Ohio State University in 2000, completing her residency in Anatomic Pathology and receiving her PhD from The Ohio State University in 2007. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 2007.
Dr. Hutto has supported academic institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with non-clinical veterinary pathology expertise, leveraging experience in study design, animal model selection and evaluation, and data interpretation for GLP and non-GLP studies. As Director of Investigative Pathology for StageBio, Dr. Hutto uses specialty investigative techniques, including immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and morphometry. Dr. Hutto earned her DVM from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1994 and became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. In 2004, she earned her PhD from the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Elcock has more than 30 years of experience as a toxicologic veterinary pathologist, serving as the primary study pathologist for 500-plus GLP preclinical studies in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. She has a particular interest in reproductive pathology and has evaluated more than 15 peer-reviewed carcinogenicity studies in a variety of mouse and rat strains.
Dr. Elcock earned her DVM in 1982, as well as her MS and PhD in Veterinary Pathology in 1983 and 1985, respectively, all from Kansas State University. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 1987.
Dr. Friedemann completed her residency in anatomic & cardiovascular pathology at Texas A&M University, where she received specialized training in medical device pathology and earned her master's degree (Biomedical Sciences). Dr. Friedemann is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) and is an active member of ACVP as well as the Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP). Her primary interests include cardiovascular and orthopedic devices, as well as working with subcutaneous biosensors and resorbable materials.
We are pleased to welcome Jessica Hoane, DVM, MTOX, DACVP, DABT to the StageBio team! Jessica comes to us from Charles River Laboratories in Durham, North Carolina, where she spent nearly a decade cultivating expertise in safety assessment and organizing pathology working groups for the National Toxicology Program. Prior to joining CRL, she spent three years at MPI Research in Mattawan, Michigan. Jessica received her D.V.M. from Michigan State University, where she also completed a residency in veterinary anatomic pathology. She more recently earned a Master of Toxicology (MTOX) degree from North Carolina State University and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Prior to pursuing veterinary pathology, she spent five years as a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Kentucky studying equine antibody response to surface antigens of Sarcocystis neurona and the Neospora hughesi. Jessica has instructed undergraduate and veterinary students at several institutions in anatomy, physiology, and histology and has served as an Associate Editor of the journal Toxicologic Pathology.
Dr. Morgan’s professional interests include the use of animal models of disease in drug development. Prior to joining StageBio, she worked at Abbott/AbbVie and provided pathology support across multiple therapeutic indications. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Morgan received her DVM from Kansas State University (1980) and her PhD in pathology from Texas A&M University (1988). She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, the American Board of Toxicology, and the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology.
Dr. Sullivan has more than 25 years of experience in small and large molecule study interpretation, peer and management review, and toxicity risk assessment. Prior to StageBio, he held roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and Co., conducting discovery and GLP risk assessment of preclinical in vivo and in vitro across several therapeutic areas. Earlier, he was a GLP study director at Marion Merrell Dow/Dow Chemical Co. and a study pathologist and study director at Abbott Laboratories.
Dr. Sullivan received a BS and DVM from Mississippi State University in 1977 and 1981, respectively, an MS in toxicology from the University of Illinois in 1988, and a PhD in Pathology from Purdue University in 1992. He has been a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology since 1990 and a diplomate of American College of Veterinary Pathologists since 1994.
Dr. Rachel Reams joined VPS in 2020 as a Senior Pathologist. She has 17 years of experience in toxicologic pathology including 10 years of experience at a large pharmaceutical company as a member of drug development teams and 7 years of experience with a large contract research organization, and over 30 years of experience in veterinary medicine and pathology. Dr. Reams has a broad range of experience in drug development including early discovery/non-GLP, GLP toxicology, clinical pathology, biomarker development, immunohistochemistry, and pathology peer review.
Dr. Jaime Paulin’s interests range from medical device pathology and toxicologic pathology to diagnostic pathology. He joined StageBio after previously evaluating a wide range of medical devices for 12 years at a major medical device company. He has supported more than 400 independent studies, ranging from proof-of-concept studies to in-person meetings with FDA. Dr. Paulin has also provided pathology support for post-market surveillance of medical devices. His experience spans multiple device types including, but not limited to, devices used to treat neurologic and cardiac/cardiovascular conditions. He has also supported research for improvement of biopsy tools, diabetes, and thermal tissue ablation devices. Dr. Paulin enjoys having collaborative interactions with sponsors to help understand and better serve their needs. Dr. Paulin completed his residency and MS degree in comparative medicine and pathology at the University of Minnesota. He is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP), a member of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP) and has co-authored multiple publications involving medical device pathology.
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