Rutgers iJOBS 2025 Symposium

By Joycelyn Radeny

While the traditional career trajectory for PhD trainees is academia, many trainees are now exploring other career fields. Trainees have found that the skills they acquire during their PhD are highly desirable and transferable in non-academic fields. The iJOBS program has been instrumental in helping trainees explore and apply to non-academic positions. Remarkably, the biopharmaceutical job market continues to grow, with careers such as artificial intelligence in drug discovery, regulatory affairs, gene therapy, microbiology, and CRISPR-based science being in high demand. This high demand further highlights the increased deviation from traditional academia positions and gives momentum to PhD trainees who are looking to spread their wings beyond academia!

Drs. Janet Alder and Doreen Badheka, co-directors of the iJOBS program, led the 2025 iJOBS symposium and invited Rutgers alumni and professionals representing various sectors: medical affairs, science communication, data science, equity research, clinical research, regulatory affairs, technology transfer, patent law, business development, publishing, start-ups, and project management. In 2025, iJOBS successfully hosted 221 events with roughly 4500 attendees.

Developing a successful job search strategy

The first event of the symposium was a professional development workshop led by Dr. Badheka, who discussed developing a job search strategy. The following steps were explained in detail:

While focusing on the three strategies for a successful job search, Dr. Badheka emphasized the importance of informational interviews to gain insight into one’s career and the company of interest. They also allow individuals to network, maintain professional relationships, and find lifelong mentors. Before conducting informational interviews, trainees are advised to thoroughly research the interviewee’s academic background, interests, and past/present career roles. Trainees should NOT expect to find a job or gain referrals from informational interviews. Instead, trainees should diligently research and craft their questions to have a thorough understanding of various career roles. Doing so is critical to refining one’s job search strategy.

Congratulations to iJOBS trainees!

The second event of the symposium consisted of presentations by some of the trainees who completed phase 2 of the 3-part iJOBS training program. They discussed the courses they took, job shadowing activities, and mentorship experiences. Anna Fateeva took the ‘Marketing Assessment for Business and Science’ course, where she learned about market analysis, the use of artificial intelligence for business development, and various business terms/concepts. Anna shadowed multiple individuals at Lumanity, where she learned about consulting terminology, financial research, and key opinion leaders' interview calls. With her mentor, she polished her resume and developed a list of priorities and expectations that informed her career selection. Anna impressed those she worked with and was offered a position at Lumanity!

Mary Lally took the ‘Project Management for the Scientific and Technical Practitioner’ course, where she learned about the strategic, business, financial, political, and conceptual issues faced by project managers. At Regeneron, she shadowed individuals in the project management department, where she learned clinical trial protocols and project management tools. With her mentor, Mary mapped a career growth strategy, refined her resume, and learned the day-to-day responsibilities of a biomedical science consultant.

Jingyun Qui took the ‘data science boot camp’ course offered by the ERDOS institute. During the course, Jingyun gained hands-on experience by using practice datasets. At Genmab, Jingyun gained insights into clinical trials, drug development, and Genmab’s pipeline. Furthermore, she learned about different careers through informational interviews with individuals from medical affairs, clinical pharmacology, and human resources departments. With her mentor, she developed an individual development plan, learned how to tailor her CV to different job postings, discussed career development strategies, and gained insightful networking advice.

This session culminated in completion certificates for the phase 2 iJOBS trainees: Eduardo Artur Troian, Hanna Caiola, Anna Fateeva, Sebastian Fine, Elena Forzisi, Nora Jaber, Mary Lally, Christopher Morris, Jingyun Qui, Mayra Romero, Shams G Shams, Rebecca Shear, and Sangeevan Vellappan. Congratulations!

Keynote address

The third event of the symposium was the keynote presentation, ‘New Dimensions: How Computation is Accelerating Structure-Based Drug Design,’ by Dr. Karen Akinsanya. Dr Akinsanya is the president, head of therapeutics R&D, and chief strategy officer at Schrodinger. Her passion for structure-based drug design was fueled by her desire to understand why many small molecules developed for diseases are not suitable for human trials, a significant problem plaguing the drug development sector. Of the many small molecules designed, 63% pass the preclinical phase. Of the 63% in the preclinical trial phase, only 30% pass phase 1 clinical trials. Of the 30% that make it to phase 1 clinical trials, more than 90% fail in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. The latter results in financial losses, resource depletion, wasted time for drug companies, as well as a significant gap in the drugs needed to treat unaddressed diseases.  To address these hurdles, Dr. Akinsanya emphasized the use of AI-based predictive models. Predictive models enable high-throughput screening of small molecules based on desired properties, e.g., solubility, permeability, and biomarkers.

Words of wisdom

The fourth and final event of the symposium was a networking session, where trainees interacted with professionals from various biopharmaceutical fields. I had the privilege of interacting with Rutgers alumni Drs. Janace Gifford, a medical science liaison (MSL), and Natalie Losada, a scientific associate at a medical communication agency. Below is a summary of questions asked and the nuggets of wisdom I learned:

Navigating the job/career search process can be a daunting process for many. However, iJOBS provides many resources to make this process easier. If you are a trainee who is anxious and overwhelmed about careers and job-hunting, consider joining the iJOBS program or attending iJOBS seminars. It is never too late to start. As quoted by Dr. Losada, “Keep exploring, you cannot improve if you do not learn what you do not know!”

This article was edited by Senior Editors Janaina Cruz Pereira and Antonia Kaz.