This week Michelle and I returned virtually to our alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania. We were excited to share our experiences working in the pharmaceutical industry with biomedical graduate students. We were joined by Dara Reeves, Sr. Scientist at Janssen, to chat with members of the Ernest E. Just Biomedical Society. This group "aims to serve the general academic, social and professional needs of the biomedical community, with an emphasis on the retention of underrepresented PhD students."
Panel discussion recording
Access the recording here.
Motivation to share our experiences
Last month, Nature Biotechnology published an article on how biomedical scientists can translate their academic training into careers in industry. They wrote, "Scientists in academia may be highly successful, dedicated and innovative, but translating skills developed in an academic setting to an applied profession continues to be a challenge."
The authors polled over 300 master's and PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in 4 different countries. They found that half of the students "were actively exploring career options, mostly in academia or industry, and many were uncertain which career path they should choose." Most students felt they were unaware of non-academic career options because they received only advice about academic careers. In addition, the students lacked work experience or networking skills. Moreover, not many career development offices at their academic institutions offered workshops, training, mentoring, or internship faciliation.
We ourselves had limited exposure to career options in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry during our biomedical graduate training. Thus, our personal experience motivated us to share advice with graduate students. In addition, as part of following through and executing on her allyship goals, Michelle recognized that working with the Ernest E. Just Biomedical Society might allow us to reach some of the underrepresented biomedical scientists that the pharmaceutical industry needs to recruit. Therefore, she reached out to see if they were interested, and the student group was gracious to host us for a webinar panel.
Panel discussion: Working in the pharmaceutical industry
First, Michelle gave a simple overview of the drug development process. She also described some of the positions that are responsible for parts of the process. Next, she shared how we work on cross-functional teams to support drug development. These collaborative teams are a major part of working in the pharmaceutical industry.
Dara and I served as panelists in the discussion. After her introduction, Michelle asked us the following questions:
- Why did you decide to pursue a job in industry?
- How can you figure out if industry is a good fit?
- How did you get your first position in industry?
- What is the transition like between academia and industry?
- Were there barriers you had to overcome in your career journey?
- What is something you wish you knew earlier?
- What are things you like about industry?
During the webinar, attendees also asked a bunch of great questions. Some key discussion topics included:
- Whether doing a postdoc was necessary to get a position in industry
- How to gain marketable skills while still in graduate training
- Reasons for doing a postdoc in industry
- Advantages of working in industry
- Transitioning between departments while working in the pharmaceutical industry
- Managing work-life integration, outsourcing household tasks, and work travel
Resources for biomedical graduate students
Lastly, here are resources that we compiled that might be helpful for biomedical graduate students who are considering working in the pharmaceutical industry.
Postdoc positions in industry
- Exploring postdoctoral positions in industry
- Postdoc programs at major pharma companies
Mentoring
- Finding a mentor and career advocate
- SMDP - This is a 1-year mentoring program that pairs ethnically diverse students and early career researchers with industry mentors
Marketable skills
Informational interviews
- How networking and informational intervewing led to a job offer
- Ins and outs of informational interviews
- 4 Steps I took to prep for an informational interview
- 4 Email templates for requesting the informational interview
Networking
Final thoughts
Michelle, Dara, and I had a really great experience chatting about working in the pharmaceutical industry. We encourage interested students to sign up for this blog's quarterly newsletter. Of course, we also want to give a big THANK YOU to the Ernest E. Just Biomedical Society for hosting our discussion panel!
Your turn: What advice do you have for students who want to explore working in the pharmaceutical industry?