“Don’t let anyone tell you that science is a dead end,” writes Cynthia Robbins-Roth in her book Alternative Careers in Science, Leaving the Ivory Tower.

Manuel Castellano-Muñoz (right) in conversation with Scott Pritchard, a consultant at McKinsey & Company photo by Daniel Andor

Indeed, at one point or another, we all look into the mirror and wonder how all those years of education and training will be useful for our future, whatever it is. Of course, universities and research institutes are crowded with bright academic scientists, but the others? What do they become? Is there a way out now that you think your chances to become a full-tenured professor have grown smaller? At Natural Selections we wondered which qualifications and skills would make a scientist successful after a Ph.D. and/or a postdoctoral fellowship. We interviewed four scientists who left academic science, managed to survive, and succeeded outside the Ivory Tower.

At first sight, Veronique Kiermer’s path was a classic one. After a successful Ph.D. in Europe, she worked as a postdoc in a renowned lab in California. Everything was supposed to work perfectly. Instead, doubt came. All the steps required to hold an academic position as a principal investigator did not attract her. In 2001, a Bay Area headhunter contacted her for a position at Cell Genesys, a biotech in South San Francisco, CA. Veronique accepted the offer. The applied aspect of corporate science drew her out of the academic life. After two years working as Assay Development Scientist, although her job was still fulfilling, she realized that she would become extremely specialized and focused if she stayed in that area. With that in mind, she saw a job advertisement for the position of Editor of a new Nature journal. She decided to take her chances and became Editor-in-Chief of the newly launched Nature Methods in 2004. “My drive to do different things has been beneficial for my career,” says Veronique, “Little by little, I made choices towards doing things I really liked to do.” There is no doubt in Veronique’s mind anymore. She commented that, although a postdoctoral experience was required to be hired by Nature Publishing Group, her detour through a private corporation taught her some important skills, such as management and dealing with budgets, and it also gave her the self-confidence that she needed in order to get her current position.

Being involved in real world problems did the trick for Scott Pritchard. After undergraduate studies in Montreal and a Ph.D. at Duke University, NC, he felt the urge to make an impact on people’s everyday lives. Although he knew of McKinsey through friends, his first exposure was during a career seminar on Duke campus where he met consultants from McKinsey & Company. He decided to give it a try, submitted his application, and went through several rounds of interviews. When he received an offer and after much discussion with people at McKinsey, he was convinced that consulting was the right choice for him. “Lots of people don’t associate a Ph.D. in biomedical science with management consulting, but I do believe there is something about independent advanced studies that teaches you about communication and problem solving, essential skills in consulting.”

As opposed to Veronique and Scott, the lack of permanent positions drew Sandra Huygen and Sabine Thebault to industry. Both are currently employed in private companies in Europe. “I was neither bored nor fed up by bench work and would have rather continued my work in the university lab where I was working after my US postdoc, but I strongly felt the need for a more stable position in terms of long-term employment,” says Sabine. Unfortunately, there was just no position for her available at the time. In 2004, she replied to a job advertisement posted on a Web site by the second largest pharmaceutical company in Europe. “More than my concrete experience at the bench, it was my Ph.D. degree and my postdoc experience that were my principal assets in my application form,” says Sabine, highlighting that having a Ph.D. followed by a postdoctoral fellowship is still greatly appreciated by recruitment teams. Certainly, Sandra agrees with this point. She explains that the feedback she often received, while she applied to biotechnology companies directly after graduation, was that they were more interested in individuals with postdoctoral experience than people with only a Ph.D.

What do they do? At Nature Methods, Veronique evaluates manuscript submissions and, together with the editing team, decides on sending manuscripts for peer review. She also organizes and commissions freelancers to write articles, and she edits their contents. As Editor-in-Chief, she also deals with some administrative work such as staff and budget management. However, one major focus of her work is to stay current with state-of-the-art science. She goes to lots of conferences where she meets and talks with researchers. “I have to see the ‘big picture’ and to constantly maintain my scientific knowledge at a top level. This intellectual stimulation is definitely the most exciting part of the job.”

Scott is mainly busy solving problems for the healthcare industry, which puts him in constant interaction with clients. “The variety in consulting is extremely important. Every couple of months, we have to solve new issues on new projects and the day-to-day tasks are also very diversified.”

As Manager in Process Development at Sanofi-Pasteur, France, Sabine currently develops methods leading to virus purification in order to develop a vaccine. As far as everyday work is concerned, she has to manage a team of technicians, plan and analyze experiments, as well as participate in meetings to discuss group projects.

When Sandra started to work at Oncomethylome Sciences, there was no one to cover the critical interface between the company and the outside world. Thus, first hired as R&D Project Leader, she shifted her position to become Scientific Coordinator. Her job is now extremely diverse; she coordinates scientific collaborations between the company and different research labs in Europe and the US, takes care of public relations and local press releases, and she also meets consulting partners and takes care of biosecurity authorizations. “It took me loads of training and motivation,” says Sandra, “but having such an opportunity for a career change is a great advantage of start-ups.”

What is the most challenging part of their work? “Decisions, decisions, decisions,” says Veronique. Indeed, having been on the other side of the fence, she cannot help but remember how important publications are for academic careers. She adds that the responsibility to decide the fate of manuscripts and to play the role of “the bearer of bad news” is sometimes hard to cope with.

“Communication is surprisingly a big issue,” says Sabine. Back in the lab, when she had results, she was expected to give talks and write publications in a “down-to-earth” sort of way. In a company, she sometimes feels that she has to pay extreme attention to what she says. “I have to be very specific, think about presenting a total point of view. Communication has to be much more sleek and polished.”

“Unpredictability and prioritizing,” says Scott. His job is about establishing relationships and helping clients to solve problems often pressured by time constraints. “I found that, contrary to basic science, by identifying and focusing on the most important factors driving a problem, we can get to the 80 % solution very quickly. I’ve learned to embrace uncertainty.”

Still doing Science? Scott’s answer is clear enough; “Absolutely. We develop hypotheses, then generate data and conduct analyses to test them. Quite frankly, I solve business problems by applying the scientific method, there are lots of parallels.”

Sandra and Sabine now apply learned techniques as practical tools to detect cancer or to purify viruses. “I use rather than I do science,” says Sandra, “I believe that the most important aim of biomedical research is to help and cure people, and I use science in the last steps of the process.” Still considering herself as a scientist, Veronique believes that she contributes to science rather than does or uses it. She explained to Natural Selections that when the reviewers are not unanimous about a manuscript, the editor has to make a decision. This is a choice, of course, based on the criteria of the journal and also on her scientific value and views. “My personal contribution to science has never been greater than now,” says Veronique, “and that’s a fantastic opportunity.”

Cynthia Robbins-Roth, Alternate Careers in Science, Leaving the Ivory Tower, San Diego, Academic Press, 1998.

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