With the successful first year of the Rutgers Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (RU iJOBS) coming to a close, one of the events I wanted to commemorate was the very first iJOBS Annual Symposium held last April 20, 2015 at the Busch Student Center in Piscataway. The symposium had a three-fold goal: (1) to bring together the iJOBS team, trainees, and industrial partners, (2) facilitate networking with regional experts as the symposium kicks off the start of BioNJ’s Life Sciences Industry Week, and (3) hear from distinguished speakers about their successes in various biomedical and life sciences fields. In line with these goals, there were ample chances for people to mingle, network, and generally get to know everyone else throughout the event, during registration, lunch, as well as the breakout career panel and brainstorming sessions. However, since the career panels and breakout sessions were conducted simultaneously, I decided to attend one of each. First, I participated in the Brainstorming session on “Aligning academic training and coursework for careers in industry”. This was a great experience where the participants were grouped and asked to brainstorm for ideas pertaining to the topic ; a lot of great ideas were generated that could improve iJOBS in the future, such as credited courses that could be integrated into the curriculum, interdisciplinary boot camps and seminars , and internships or shadowing opportunities. I think what made the session so successful was that the groups were made up of people from different backgrounds and thus were able to offer different ideas and perspectives to come up with suggestions. For the career panels, we had the opportunity to hear from speakers with different career backgrounds. I attended the career panel on Science and Health Policy (Lorra Hambach, Research Scientist, Department of Health), IP Management (Karen Akinsanya, Associate Vice President, Merck), and Health Data Analysis (Yodit Seifu, Senior Manager, Allergen). The talks were very insightful and offered tips on how to prepare for careers in the aforementioned fields. For example, Yodit Seifu mentioned that unlike in previous years where a certification in statistics was not a prerequisite and merely an advantage to obtaining a job as a health data analyst, nowadays, certification and proficiency in statistics is a minimal requirement. The speakers were particularly helpful in answering questions from the audience and offering an insider’s view on these career opportunities. The symposium was an overall success in my opinion; however, the highlight of the event for me was listening to invited keynote speaker Abraham Abuchowski, PhD, share his success story. During his graduate studies at Rutgers, Dr. Abuchowski developed the technology of PEGylation, which is still considered the gold standard in therapeutic drug delivery. He saw the potential of his work and in 1983 founded his first company, Enzon, Inc, which has successfully produced drugs for various genetic diseases. Almost 20 years later, after numerous successes, Dr. Abuchowski founded another company, Prolong Pharmaceuticals, still making use of his PEGylation technology in biopharmaceutical development. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs in the audience was to always try to see the potential in whatever research or study or project they were working on, that one of the most important skills we need to learn is effective communication, and lastly, to recognize that each experience we encounter is an opportunity for learning (he shares that he learned how to run a business when he was working in a McDonald’s!). Dr. Abuchowski’s story is truly an inspiration, but I think what motivates me the most is the observation that even with all that he has already achieved, he is still passionate and driven to achieve even more successes.
iJOBS Blog