SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif, August 2, 2021 – Calico Life Sciences, a company focused on aging research and treatments aimed at age-related diseases, today announced the appointment of Jessica Wilan as Head of Human Resources, reporting to Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., CEO and, with Alphabet, Founder of Calico.
In this critical role, Wilan will work with senior leaders to enrich the organization’s collaborative scientific culture and ensure Calico’s end-to-end talent strategies support innovation and creativity while also fostering behaviors required for business success and personal development. She will also lead the recruitment, hiring, onboarding and training of our employees.
“Jessica has a deep understanding of what it takes to nurture and grow a science- and technology-based organization in a way that stays true to who we are, where we want to go and how we can get there,” said Levinson.
“I have had the privilege throughout much of my career to work alongside brilliant, ambitious scientists and clinicians, helping support their visions to create better understanding of science and drug development in order to address unmet medical needs and provide great value to patients, families and society overall,” said Wilan. “I am greatly inspired by Calico’s mission and hope to help our employees discover and apply their strengths in alignment with our culture and core values.”
Bringing 20 years of experience to Calico
Wilan has 20 years of experience in Life Sciences, Organization Development and Human Resources. She joins Calico from 4D Molecular Therapeutics, where she was Senior Vice President, responsible for the human resources and internal communications functions. Most notably, she led the transformation of the HR team to support business leaders in achieving their goals and talent strategies amidst the pandemic and the organization’s transition to a publicly-traded company. Wilan also implemented new programs and systems around recruiting, compensation, performance management, employee development and leadership team effectiveness.
Prior to 4DMT, she was at Santen Inc., a global ophthalmology company, where she was responsible for all HR functions and programs for the company’s North America operations. Previously, she spent 10 years at Novartis in Switzerland and the United States, primarily at their Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), building and implementing programs across HR and organization development.
Wilan received her B.A. in Biology from Dartmouth College and MBA from Columbia Business School.
About Calico
Calico (Calico Life Sciences LLC) is an Alphabet-founded research and development company whose mission is to harness advanced technologies and model systems to increase our understanding of the biology that controls human aging. Calico will use that knowledge to devise interventions that enable people to lead longer and healthier lives. To learn more about Calico, visit www.calicolabs.com.