Changing Careers

Ex Lab
Junkie

High School and the Gender Gap (or How I Almost Gave Up on Science)

Sometimes we know what we want to do in a general way, but have trouble imagining the specifics. I knew I was interested in science and wanted to ‘do science’, but was unsure what that looked like.


Ex Lab
Junkie

Basements, Books, and Bacteriologists

I was fortunate that I was not prodded, pushed, or propelled into science, but was allowed to discover it on my own. I uncovered it in bits and pieces, strewn about our house, like buried treasure. First, I found the books. I grew up in a small bungalow, in a blue collar neighborhood, the you...


Jenne
Relucio

That Science CV into a Resume for the Real World!

This week I have officially started working on my law school application packages. The first roadblock comes from the most unlikely of sources --- my chock–full-o’-science CV. I’ve been a science student all of my adult life. I majored in molecular biology in college, and am now on my way t...


Ex Lab
Junkie

Can a Lab Junkie Escape and Find Happiness?

Yes. I know, because it happened --- to me.   I bet you would like a more detailed answer. Well... if you follow my posts, you will find out.   Some people say I am lucky to have my current government job as a regulatory health and safety evaluator. They are right. I feel very lucky to h...


Wenny
Lin

Sneaking out of the lab

During the summer of my first year in graduate school, I audited my first public-health class. The class was foreign territory to me. Rather than discussing the shortfalls of the latest name-your-favorite-protein study or squinting at and scrutinizing the faint lines on a gel in a publication figu...


Christine
Crumbley

Hello Bio Careers!

Hello, my name is Christine Crumbley. I’m a 5th year graduate student at Scripps in Jupiter, FL, trying to draw up a plan for my future. I started pursuing my PhD at LSU in Baton Rouge, but after my previous advisor did not earn tenure, I followed my new advisor, Dr. Burris, to Scripps Florida. De...


Maida
Taylor

Playing Well with Others: Can an MD find happiness in the Pharmaceutical Industry?

In 1961, the medical sociologist Anselm Strauss published his seminal study, “The Boys in White,” about how the treatment of medical students affects their characters and behaviors. In 1956 and 1957, at the University of Kansas Medical School, the authors “lived, ate, and, figuratively spea...


Todd
Pihl

Academics to Business – The Tough Transition

Over the next few months, my colleagues and I are going to be writing about the transition from being an academic scientist to working in the commercial sector.  In some cases, we'll talk about it from the standpoint of a postdoc looking for their first  position in the commercial sector a...


Randall
Ribaudo

The Importance of Understanding the Human Workflows

What is the Human Workflow?  It is my passion. It is the process by which actual users-- real humans want or need to function in order to get certain tasks done.  And it is one of the most ignored concepts in the business world-- whether in product development, sales, customer support-- wh...


Clement
Weinberger

How I got to work as a medical writer (You might be surprised)

I had been occupied for four years selling oncology reference laboratory testing services. It was a great job. It was with a start-up venture capital-backed company. We offered a wide range of immunohistochemical testing and gene rearrangement analyses that the “big labs” didn't do yet. Was a Ph...