Perspective on Pharma: Moving from academia to industry
In this Perspective on Pharma feature, Jung Doh, market development scientist at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, explains how they entered the pharmaceutical industry after an unexpected opportunity arose.
As an early career scientist with a good number of years of graduate and post-doctoral training (two post-docs, actually), I made an unexpected leap: from academia—where I thought I would spend my entire professional life—to industry. And though it wasn’t a move I’d initially planned, I’m the first to say that I’m incredibly happy to have ended up here, since it’s afforded me research and personal growth opportunities I didn’t even know I wanted.
After I received my doctorate in biology, I completed a post-doc in HIV research and a second, NASA-funded post-doc in the effects of microgravity on genomes. My dream—and a very concrete goal for many years—was to become a professor at a research university, running my own lab in an area I was passionate about.
But then life intervened: my wife was offered a teaching position in Indianapolis that she couldn’t pass up, so we relocated. After a few months of fruitless application to teaching and research positions at local universities, I started looking elsewhere. There are a lot of pharma and biotech companies in Indianapolis, so I started exploring some of them. In the interview process, (and much to my surprise), I discovered that they shared many of the same passions and goals I did: to benefit human health and life in fundamental and lasting ways.
The company where I ended up and still work, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, was particularly interesting to me, since one of their key focuses was on next generation sequencing (NGS). Toward the end of my Ph.D. and in my post-doc training, NGS was becoming more routine, and I was fortunate to be able to learn and apply the techniques in my own research.
So I joined Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, which offers a range of scientific research instruments used to study complex biological problems and to advance scientific breakthroughs, first as a marketing application scientist, and then expanding into a dual role as application scientist and proof of principle scientist. In the latter, I worked with customers to develop modified protocols and tools to help research be done more efficiently. I then became product manager for our genomics product line, and as of this year, I have yet another new role, as market development scientist. In this role, I engage with the scientific community to learn from them, as well as support them to perform research better, faster, and with superior results and outcomes. I also bring the learnings and techniques gained from these collaborations to create collateral to offer other labs, or help our internal team develop product offerings for a specific need.
After making the leap into industry, I never looked back. There are, of course, benefits to both sectors. In academia, there’s a certain degree of freedom and job security—once you’re tenured, that is. But it takes a lot to get tenured these days—the funding and grants and a constant stream of publications—particularly in biology and related disciplines.
Though industry may seem more constrained at first glance, in many ways, there’s as much or more opportunity, since there are a plethora of techniques to learn and apply in novel ways. And since technology evolves so rapidly, especially in genetic engineering and diagnostics, it seems like there are always new methods to master.
Related to this aspect, and alluded to earlier, is the strong sense that my and my colleagues’ work is genuinely translating into helping people across the globe. I got an inkling of that in the interview process, but it’s also been a palpable part of my work here. With the current pandemic, for instance, the company came together, and, within a matter of weeks, we were able to offer labs RNA extraction solutions for the virus, which are so critical right now. I felt honoured to be part of a company doing such great work, with flexibility and speed. It definitely speaks to the versatility of the industry.
Beyond the scientific, I’ve learned about areas seemingly outside of science, but that are actually integral parts of the business. When I was product manager, for instance, I learned how to manage people, run meetings, build financial models, approach marketing and sales, and many other facets of the business. I had no formal business training going in, but you learn by doing, from your manager and peers. I ended up really loving all these other parts of the business of science—they’re challenging, but incredibly rewarding, because they push you beyond your comfort zone into uncharted areas. For that, industry has opened up areas that I didn’t even know would be important, let alone fun and rewarding.
Finally, I’ve been surprised and heartened by the strong sense of “family” that exists within a company. Part of this is felt through the opportunities for development, which is evident in all the stages I went through and all the roles I’ve had. There’s a sense that staff are supported to grow as scientists and as people, which has made my accidental leap into industry all the more fulfilling.
For young scientists, there’s a lot to think about when making decisions about what to study and what track to follow. I would encourage people to not get too hung up on tracks, but to stay open to the possibilities—in other words, don’t get too stuck on academia as the only option just because it’s where you’ve done your training. What really matters is having a passion for what you do, and following your interests. Genetic engineering is an area that’s exploded in recent years, and will likely grow in the coming years. I’ve been lucky that my own work has translated so tangibly into helping people, and at a large scale—but the same is true for many other areas in medical science. So carry on—you may end up in a totally different place from where you started, and that’s not a bad thing at all.