From PhD to Life Science Consulting

Beyond the PhD recently hosted Aditi Vyas, a Scientific and Clinical Regulatory Consultant for Cerneos Group. She shared her experience and advice about how to navigate from a PhD into life science consulting.

Before venturing into the field of consulting, Aditi attained a PhD in Biological Sciences with a focus on the Neurocardiovascualr system. She additionally holds a Masters in Exercise Sciences and Kinesiology as well as a physical therapy degree. Aditi first learned about science consulting at a conference, and then decided that she wanted to work in this industry after further research.

Aditi detailed why she chose to work at Cerneos Group when beginning her career in consulting. She specifically wanted to work at a small- to medium-sized consulting firm to gain experience in the field and kickstart her career as a consultant. Cerneos Group consults on a wide range of projects ranging from ideas and early-stage development all the way to therapeutic use. Cerneos provides consulting services in scientific, regulatory, and product development as well as assists with grant writing and fundraising.

Next, Aditi explained what consulting is. Consulting is a job where you provide professional expertise in order to advance a particular field and attain specific outcomes. This might be something like helping companies start a new project, strategic planning to launch a new product or device, business development, providing guidance on regulatory submissions, helping with fundraising, or grant writing and submission.

Aditi then went on to talk about who can do consulting work. Scientific consultants often come from a variety of backgrounds. Healthcare professionals, PhD holders, industry scientists, and other expert professionals can all work as consultants. To be a consultant, it is important to have both a technical background in your area of expertise as well as an understanding of current business and market trends.

Many of the skills you develop during your time as a PhD student or post-doc can be beneficial to consulting. Translational or “soft” skills that you develop as a researcher and student will be important if you want to work as a consultant. This can include things such as communication skills, project planning, time management, leadership, critical thinking, and more. On top of scientific expertise in your chosen field, it is important to be open to new ideas, be adaptable, and be cable to communicate to a variety of audiences if you want work as a consultant. 

Aditi mentioned additional ways you can prepare yourself for a career in consulting during your PhD or post-doctoral training. Networking at various events, conducting market research, expanding your expertise, freelancing, conducting additional training, or doing an internship are all wonderful opportunities to broaden your skillset as a student looking to transition into consulting. She stressed the importance of, “getting comfortable being uncomfortable”. Consulting is a field where you will constantly be challenged and will often have to face complex problems. Knowing how to be uncomfortable when put into new situations can be extremely beneficial for this role.

Finally, Aditi relayed how someone can get into consulting after completing a PhD or post-doc. Consultants can work for small firms all the way up to large corporations. Companies that will hire consultants include consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, startups, healthcare, and many others. Consulting can be a tough field to break into, but having the right skill set can make you an ideal candidate. Take opportunities when you can to network and learn more about consulting if you think it may be a potential career path for you. No matter what job you are looking to start, you get to decide your own professional trajectory and skill set. Developing translational skills and preparing during your time in academia can be invaluable for future success.

To see Aditi’s full seminar, please follow this link: https://youtu.be/vMg7q628hM0. For more information about consulting at Cerneos Group, please check out their website https://cerneos.com/.

Career Seminar on April 3: From PhD to Science Reporter

Beyond the PhD is excited to welcome Dr. Angie Voyles Askham, a science reporter for Spectrum. Come learn about her career path on April 3rd at 11am ET.

Angie Voyles Askham is a reporter for Spectrum, where she covers neural circuits and gene therapy, among other topics. She also writes Spectrum Launch, a monthly newsletter for early-career researchers. Before joining Spectrum in 2020, she worked in radio journalism and academic publishing. She received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from NYU in 2015 and a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University in 2010.

Register: https://eventbrite.com/e/595226126367

Event on March 24th: Immunology PhD to Industry

Beyond the PhD is excited to welcome Dr. Jayendra Kumar Krishnaswamy, a cellular immunologist and Principal Scientist at Galderma. Come learn about his career path on Friday March 24th at 3pm ET (zoom). Free Event!

Register here: https://lnkd.in/et6m634T

Dr. Jayendra Kumar Krishnaswamy’s Bio: 

I am a cellular immunologist with over 15 years of experience in both academia and industry. My research interests are primarily in innate-adaptive immune cell cross-talk in the context of autoimmunity, inflammatory diseases and vaccine responses. I did my PhD at the Hannover Biomedical Research School in Germany where I worked on targeting lung dendritic cells to tailor T cell responses. I did my post-doctoral training at Yale with Prof. Stephanie Eisenbarth where we delineated the role of conventional dendritic cell subsets in driving humoral responses. Specifically, we identified that Type 2 conventional DCs drove T follicular helper cell responses by carrying antigen to a unique sub-anatomic region of the lymph node- the T-B border. My expertise in DC-T cell cross-talk as well as experience in respiratory immunology led to a position as Senior Research Scientist at AstraZeneca, Sweden. My work at AstraZeneca primarily focused on identifying novel therapeutic targets for respiratory, inflammation and autoimmune diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. I also led an independent research group with postdoctoral and graduate students, where we  delineated the role of human dendritic cell and tissue resident memory cells in the context of inflammatory diseases. In order to better understand the drug discovery process, I joined a smaller mid-size company, Galderma as a Principal Scientist. Galderma is focused on I worked in the pre-clinical research team where we were leading several projects into the clinic. However, within a few months after joining, the leadership at Galderma noticed my affinity for working with omics datasets as well as unearthing molecular and cellular responses. I was asked to setup and lead a Translational Medicine team, which I have been doing for the past 2.5 years. My team is responsible for mechanism of Action (MOA) and biomarker identification for all pipeline projects, i.e preclinical to Phase III, within multiple disease indications including Atopic dermatitis, Prurigo Nodularis (PN), Acne and Cutaneous T cell Lymphoma. During this time, we have successfully led biomarker analysis for multiple Phase II and Phase III studies, described the MOA of a marketed product in acne, as well as the MOA of a clinical stage asset in Prurigo Nodularis- all with state-of-the art multi-omics analyses. We also work with multiple research partners in academia and industry, publish extensively as well as present our work at various international conferences.  

No matter the path you take, you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be

Life is rarely straightforward, and I carved out an unusual path toward my future in biomedical engineering by gaining valuable insight and skills from each and every person along that way.

I grew up as the youngest of a family with three older siblings in a small suburb just north of Boston, MA. With my two sisters being the oldest of us four, my brother and I were “close”, but our relationship would be better summarized as a contest. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t seem to beat him at his favorite sports, so I decided to pick up a sport he didn’t play, basketball. Later, as the captain of the Trinity College Men’s Basketball Team, I was tasked with not only performing on the court, but also leading and motivating my teammates. This was a huge responsibility, and one that I took very seriously. I quickly learned that being a successful captain required me to be accountable and dependable, both in my own performance and in my ability to bring out the best in my teammates. This experience served as a foundation for a strong work ethic, which has proven to be crucial for scientific research.

I have always had a curious mind and a love for trying new things. With my father being an engineer and my mother being a nurse, I found my passion fell equally between them in the space of biomedical engineering. My path to this space was everything but straight forward; like many students studying the sciences, I started out aspiring to be a doctor, but the rigorous course schedule and intimidating cost of medical school drove me to pursue other directions.

During my undergraduate years, I explored various research labs before finally finding my niche in a co-op program at the University of Connecticut Glial Pathology Lab. That’s where I met Rob Pijewski (Co-director of Beyond the Ph.D.), who sparked my interest in doctorate-level research and helped me hone my skills. After earning my Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience in 2019, I was hired as a lab technician at Tufts University Silklab in the Biomedical Engineering Department. While, at the time, I didn’t have a background in engineering, what I did have was a willingness to learn. My time at Silklab has been an incredible learning experience. I initially specialized in high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), but later got hands on experience with many other research fields like biophotonics, bioelectronics, biochemistry, and sustainable design – all through the lens of silk research. And after a year as a technician, I was accepted into the PhD program at Silklab and have been happily working there for the past three years. My work has given me an entirely new appreciation for the bridge between science and nature, I am excited to pursue a career in biomaterial design in the near future.

Despite all I’ve learned so far, I feel like I know even less each day, but I’m not alone. That’s why I joined Beyond the PhD – to share the lessons I’ve learned from the many scientists I’ve met, one of which is the importance of cultivating creativity. It’s that creative spark that drives innovation and ultimately propels careers in industry. For example, in my field, bridging the gap between sustainability and tangible materials requires a unique perspective, a sense of the natural world’s beauty, and its subtle attention to detail. However, it’s not always easy maintaining that perspective, especially when my experiments seem to go wrong week after week. But as my high school basketball coach used to say, “it’s all part of the process,” and a PhD or a career in science is definitely a process!

From Academia to Entrepreneurship

Are you interested in business exploring entrepreneurship after academics or commercializing research? Beyond the PhD hosted Vincent Troung who is the chief operating officer (COO) and co-founder of Anatomic Incorporated. Vincent shared his journey into entrepreneurship and relevant details about founding a scientific company.

            Vincent grew up in Minneapolis, MN and got his first experience in business working at his family’s restaurant. This taught him the value of working hard and that if you make a good product people will line up for it. He then went to the University of Minnesota (UMN) where he earned a BS in biochemistry. Although he was originally following a pre-med track, Vincent had interests outside of biology such as investing and research. After undergrad, he took a position in the lab of Dr. Ann Parr and James Dutton where his passion for stem cell biology flourished. The research in this lab focused on finding an autologous cell therapy for spinal cord injury using human induced pluripotent stem cells. Through this research experience, he also met Patrick Walsh, who would eventually become his co-founder.

            Using their foundational knowledge in stem cell biology, Vincent and Patrick worked collaboratively to shorten and automate the protocol for this regenerative medicine therapy. They wanted to commercialize this product so they could market the process and help patients. The first thing they did was develop a business plan. Additionally, one of the first decisions Vincent and Patrick had to make was if they were going to market their product as a cell therapy or research tool. To gain more business experience, Vincent signed up for the part-time MBA program at the Carlson School of Management. Here he partook in the UMN discovery launchpad program to solidify his business plan. He also enrolled in programs to help with customer discovery and was able to license the technology through the UMN Office for Technology Commercialization. 

The next thing Vincent had to do was prospecting. This included networking through conferences as well as using LinkedIn and cold emailing, or emailing people who you have not had prior contact with. From all these interactions, Vincent learned that it’s best to let the prospects do the talking and that sometimes tangents or serendipitous interactions can lead to “aha moments”. Vincent also stressed that it’s important to participate in every conversation possible because you never know where they might lead. Vincent and Patrick were able to take all the feedback from these conversations and improve their product, get grants and investments, and move the commercialization process forward. 

Vincent then proceeded to talk about “a day in the life” in his current entrepreneurial role. He emphasized that the focus is still on the customers and figuring out what assays or data would be most helpful for their research and company. Additionally, everything is very data driven and that you need to keep producing data to make the customers happy. Vincent also stressed the importance of finding inspiration and discovering industry trends. This can come from sources such as conference presentations, LinkedIn, Twitter, new publications, or even news headlines. He is also involved in assay development in the lab. This includes improving protocols and making sure experiments fall within budget.

Another responsibility Vincent has is to set up collaborations with synergistic companies or academic institutions. Collaboration is an important aspect of both academic and industry science. He is also involved in the marketing of the company. He does this through channels such as Twitter and LinkedIn where he disseminates data and information about the company through social media. Vincent’s company promotes and markets themselves is through conference attendance. Anatomic Incorporated was able to attend Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and set up a booth. Vincent had to coordinate logistics and marketing leading up to the conference. During the conference he partook in networking, disseminating information about the company, and metric tracking. Anatomic Incorporated had three posters that were well attended as well as a good amount of traffic to the company’s booth. Post-conference, Vincent must follow up with the new connections he met at SfN to maintain working relationships.

Vincent concluded his talk emphasizing the importance of building a good company culture. As his team continues to grow, he is focused on good communication and management of his employees. He wants to keep the company data driven, adhere to the company mission, stay humble, and continue to learn as Anatomic Incorporated grows.

 If you are interested in learning more and viewing Vincent’s talk follow this link to the full seminar: https://youtu.be/ajXUZAwXjG8

DON’T MISS OUT! From PhD to Non-Profit on March 9

Dr. Eugene Manley Jr is the Director of STEM Workforce Initiatives at LUNGevity. He has launched a Minority Mentorship and Training Program for Health Equity grant awardees, runs 3 health equity webinar series, does STEM outreach and engagement, and partners with groups to address disparities and inequities that impact underrepresented groups and underserved populations. He is an inspirational speaker and often talks about navigating STEM, mentoring, patient advocacy, workforce diversity, and issues impacting low income and marginalized communities. 

He is a Mechanical Engineer, Biomedical Engineer, and Molecular and Cell Biologist that specializes in musculoskeletal biology, biomechanics, and cancer biology. He has used systems biology approaches to unravel complex problems at the cellular, molecular, and whole organismal level and developed new techniques and therapeutic approaches. 

Prior to LUNGevity, he was the Director of Scientific Programs at the Lung Cancer Research Foundation where he oversaw the entire grant administration system, created a Minority Career Development Award, liaised between internal and external stakeholders, and wrote scientific updates. Prior to that, at the American Association for Cancer Research as Assistant Director of Corporate Alliances, he leveraged his 20+ years of engineering and biology lab work to build relationships with Biotech and Pharma to support AACR programs and initiatives.  His philosophy is not what can he do for himself, but what can he do to help and advocate for those that don’t have voices at the table.

Register here to attend! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-phd-to-non-profit-tickets-566631890237

Register on Eventbrite

 Bioinformatics in precision medicine: the interplay between molecular and personal data

Medicine is undergoing radical transformations as it moves away from population-based approaches and toward personalized care. Many of these changes rely on detailed molecular data (DNA and protein sequences) as well as complex personal information. The paradigm of precision medicine refers to the use of personalized approaches combined with molecular data insights to make clinical decisions that are tailored to individual patients.

Precision medicine, also known as personalized medicine, is based on the premise that “one size does not fit all” – every individual is unique in terms of genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle. Precision medicine considers personal factors in disease diagnosis and treatment. These include factors beyond genetics, such as diet and exercise habits. It could even refer to environmental factors one is exposed to now or was as a child, such as the air and water quality of the area one lives in. The potential benefits of this approach include more accurate diagnosis and treatments, safer drug prescription, better disease prevention, and, as a result, lower healthcare costs.

The interplay between molecular and personal data is critical for precision medicine. Molecular data allows for a more in-depth understanding of the precise, and yet complex, biological mechanisms underlying many clinical symptoms. Personal data, based on an individual’s background, lifestyle, and environment, provides context for biological variation. As a result, bioinformatics is used to identify precise data signals in the context of personal factors and share these insights with physicians to deliver safer and more effective disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention strategies. Particularly, bioinformatics aids in analyzing data from genome sequencing or microarray gene expression analysis in search of mutations or gene variants that could affect a patient’s response to a specific drug or change the disease prognosis. This has increased the demand for bioinformaticians in the advancement of areas such as oncology, non-invasive genetic testing, rare genetic diseases, etc.

If you intend to pursue a career in bioinformatics, first of all, you must have strong critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, analytical reasoning, and advanced mathematical skills. You would also need to be proficient in the following technical skills: [1] statistical skills, [2] programming skills, [4] general biology knowledge, [5] knowledge of genomics and genetics, [6] database management, [7] data mining and machine learning.

To start a career as a bioinformatician in the health sector, you will likely need at least a Master’s degree to be competitive. There are several undergraduate programs in bioinformatics and related interdisciplinary fields available. However, graduate applicants do not need to have a BSc in bioinformatics or a related field; they may have bachelor’s degrees in life sciences or computer science. Graduate study in bioinformatics requires coursework in molecular biology, genetics, chemistry, computer programming, and statistics, regardless of the applicant’s first degree.

Career opportunities in bioinformatics have grown in demand since the introduction of information technology in molecular biology. Professionals in this field can work in a variety of settings, including the pharmaceutical industry, biomedical organizations, biotechnology, research institutions, hospitals, and even non-governmental organizations. They may also be able to find employment in the biomedical product manufacturing industries. After completing the necessary training in the field, there are several career options to consider, given that bioinformaticians have a unique skill set that makes them attractive to companies. At a time when a bioinformatician’s skillset is increasing in demand for a variety of fields, consider whether this career may be right for you.

An in depth look at IDPs: know yourself and prepare for the future ahead

If you are feeling lost in the next steps of your professional development or just need help organizing your goals, then an individual development plan (IDP) is for you! 

In short, an IDP is a self-reflection about certain aspects of your professional life, such as skills that you possess or want to cultivate, your interests within your field, and personal values. Then, after this assessment, an IDP can help you set goals in the short- and long-term in order to strengthen areas you want to improve or reach certain achievements. In the professional world, an IDP is like a customized contract between you and your employer about professional development, ensuring that you continue to progress in your career. However, an IDP can be super beneficial during graduate school to not only keep you on track for your goals, but also help you realize what career goals you might have. 

Critical Self-Assessment

The first step in any IDP is to perform a self-assessment of your skills (both technical and transferable), your interests within the context of a career, and where your values lie. 

  • Usually, the skills being assessed are within the categories of scientific knowledge, research, management and leadership, and professionalism, to name a few. Know your strengths and weaknesses so you can understand where to focus on improvement.
  • The interest assessment is focused on how you would prefer to spend your time in your career. Do you enjoy written or oral communication of science and want to do that regularly? Do you see yourself working with a large group of people and managing them? How often would you want to do work-related travel? All of these (and many, many more) are important questions to ask yourself when deciding what type of career you would like to have. 
  • Lastly, there is the assessment of your values. These range from the societal impact of your work to whether a flexible schedule is make or break for you. Take a moment to truly think about what is important to you.

Ultimately, skills can always be learned or improved upon. However, if your values and interests do not align with a particular career path, then further consideration may be needed of whether that is the right trajectory for you. 

Career Exploration

After you have made a critical assessment of your skills, many IDP resources provide you with career prospects that most align with your skills and interests. Within these career fits, they usually give testimonials from current professionals in those fields and how they reached that career. You can also find information on how your skills and interests compare to others in that profession to see where you should focus your improvement goals. This section allows you to explore the many career paths available to you. 

Set Goals for Success

Once you’ve identified your strengths and weaknesses, and how they align with your chosen career path, you can start to set goals for yourself to advance in these areas. These goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, and timely. These goals can be oriented toward career or professional advancement, research project completion, skill development, or evening networking. When outlining your goals, make sure to not only be SMART with them, but set a metric for keeping track of progress and holding yourself accountable for each of them. 

Get Out What You Put In

An IDP is personally driven, you are only going to take from it as much as you put in. If you are consistent with reflecting on your goals and actively working toward them, you are setting yourself up for success. It is generally recommended to review your IDP annually, but if you include multiple short-term goals, it is better to review monthly or quarterly to ensure progress in those areas. Finally, to keep yourself accountable, it is advised to review your IDP with your boss, PI, or mentor annually as a way to more generally ensure your success in the self-identified areas. This guidance is invaluable to not only check progress but also to be realistic in the timeline of goals and which ones to prioritize.

IDP Resources

There are a number of resources available to create and update your IDP. Free IDP sources for STEM students include myIDP (https://myidp.sciencecareers.org/, broad STEM focus) and ChemIDP (https://chemidp.acs.org/assess-yourself, chemical sciences focus), which provide exceptional self-assessments and goal tracking systems. An additional resource is The Versatile PhD (https://versatilephd.com/, STEM and humanities options) which can be accessed through your institution if they subscribe. All of these resources offer self-assessments, goal trackers, and career exploration. Use these as the launching point of your IDP, and over time make more personalized additions to fully facilitate reaching your career goals!

Dr. Seth Garren: How Failures Defined My Value and Enabled My Career

By Rachel Gilmore

Recently, Beyond the PhD hosted Dr. Seth Garren for a virtual seminar where he detailed the “less glamorous parts of academia and industry.” As a current 4th year PhD student, I found his reflections on challenges, struggles, and failures to be extremely relevant and relatable. After Seth earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Connecticut, he decided to follow the funding which was aggressively being put toward stem cell research in Connecticut. This led him to pursue graduate studies in the Biomedical Science program at UConn Health.

Leadership & Communication Outside of the Lab

With a lengthy PhD, Seth witnessed some of the not-so-great parts of graduate school. He described struggles with imposter syndrome, pressure to produce data, disjointed lab environments, and feeling like he was falling behind. This is something I know spans many graduate programs and universities. It is also a reality countless students experience throughout their degree pursuit. During the tough times, he decided to use social media (meetup.com) to start a Geek Culture Group to build relationships and expand his network beyond graduate school. The group became wildly popular and still exists to this day. He credits the Geek Culture Group group for helping him cultivate important leadership and communication skills.

Failure Can Bide Time

While some of the main experiments Seth attempted didn’t work out, he noted that this allowed enough time to pass for next generation sequencing (NGS) to become an option. At this point, he was rather quickly able to conduct an NGS experiment, get published, and graduate with his PhD. Failure is often part of a PhD, but persistence can pay off.

What is a postdoc? Why do people do one? What is it necessary for? How do you get one?

Towards the end of his PhD, Seth began questioning what his next step would be. His labmate knew some professionals in industry and gave him a warm introduction to them. This allowed Seth to conduct informational interviews with individuals who took different paths into industry – one who did a postdoc before industry, one who went into industry directly from a PhD, and one who did an industry postdoc. Not only did Seth learn more about each career path, but he ended each interview by asking for another warm introduction with someone from their network. I found this to be fantastic advice for individuals looking to learn more about careers and build their network.

Relaxed, Confident, Secure

During his search for a postdoc, Seth was put through the ringer. He was told he wasn’t passionate enough for certain labs. However, his search was not wasted. Eventually he ended up at Massachusetts General Hospital. He described the culture as nothing he had ever seen before in academia – relaxed, confident, and secure. He noted that he was able to secure this position because they needed someone with NGS experience, the very thing that he was only able to achieve because of his failures biding him time for this technique to be developed.

Applying Lessons Learned from Mistakes

Determined to do a single two-year postdoc, Seth described using this as an opportunity to apply some tough lessons learned from his mistakes during his approximately eight-year PhD. Seth sought help anywhere & everywhere. Additionally, he had a frank discussion with his PI when his project wasn’t going well, which he noted was a productive and positive experience. His PI had already observed the same things and was actually prepared to have the same talk with him. Seth’s willingness to have a tough conversation was met with acceptance and problem-solving.

Network, network, network

Boston provided many opportunities for attending networking events such as “Biotech Tuesday” and events through MassBio (https://www.massbio.org/) and Bioxchange (https://www.bioxchange.org/). Seth suggested building a large number of “weak connections” to have the greatest potential for cross pollination of your network.

Breaking into Industry

To help him with his transition out of academia, Seth found a mentorship program for professionals in industry to meet with people interested in moving into industry. He interviewed for three different industry jobs and stressed the importance of finding the right fit, for both the interviewer and interviewee. His “right fit” ended up being at Pfizer in the Molecular Systems Immunology group in the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit. His title was Senior Scientist. At Pfizer, he felt a level of comfort he didn’t know was possible and described it as “being in a space that feels like you belong” and, “You let go of the breath you didn’t realize you were holding.” He was responsible for testing and developing new technologies including automation, single cell surface marker barcodes, and spatial transcriptomics.

Other Opportunities for Growth

In addition to his position at Pfizer, Seth also joined an expert consultation network, which he noted was a great way to earn supplemental income. He provided guidance on up-and-coming technologies. He met with vendors, attended shows, and demoed instruments to stay up to speed on new technologies. He consulted with investors, inventors, and market analysts to provide his opinion on current needs of NGS users. He was paid to fill out surveys on spending habits for purchasing consumables.

Following the Leader

When Seth’s boss took a new role at Sanofi, Seth inherited the responsibility of co-managing the NGS Technology Center at Pfizer. After her departure, she had reached out to Seth subtly hinting at a potential job opportunity at Sanofi, to which he applied. His interview talk focused on the work he did back during his postdoc. Ultimately, Seth was offered the position as Team Lead at the Precision Oncology Cluster at Sanofi, where he currently works. He described his new position as “feeling more like a main quest rather than a side quest.”

Individual Results May Vary

Seth concluded his seminar summarizing some of the differences he’s experience between industry and academia, though he did warn that individual results may vary.

  1. Industry is more applied science. Every question has a clear utility for solving a problem in medicine.
  2. There is no “Publish or Perish” competition over something like the impact factor of a journal.
  3. There’s a matrixed organization with access to more funding and a much wider expertise.
  4. Culture is determined more by individual leaders. People “quit bosses” more than they “quit companies.”
  5. Pay is 2-3x higher with performance-based bonuses and financial incentives.
  6. Large companies provide stability, small companies provide opportunity.
  7. Networking is just as – if not more – important than personal achievement.
  8. There is a stronger focus on personal career development and goal setting.

If you enjoyed reading this summary, feel free to check out Seth’s seminar recording on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqlj6abpvU4. Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@BeyondthePhD) & Instagram (@beyond_the_phd) for posts about more words of wisdom we’ve learned from Seth and other helpful content!

Upcoming event: From PhD to Consultancy

Beyond the PhD is excited to welcome Dr. Aditi Vyas, a Life Sciences Consultant with Cerneos Group. Come learn about her career path on February 10th at 2pmET. Register below. Free event!

Aditi is a Life Sciences Consultant with Cerneos Group based in Boston, MA. At Cernoes she provides solutions to her clients for their projects in the biotech industry. Aditi is a recent PhD graduate in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University and transitioned into industry as a consultant. Join Aditi for a seminar where she will share her insights and experiences with fellow PhD’s, postdocs, and other graduate students on how she moved into a industry position as a PhD and navigating the search process.

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