Once a Scientist: Recent Episodes
Nick Edwards
Episode 92. Ashlee Vance is a renowned tech and science reporter, filmmaker, and founder of Core Memory, a podcast and blog that chronicles the lives and discoveries of scientists and engineers (https://www.corememory.com/). He wrote the definitive biography on Elon Musk and has been documenting the modern space race and recent developments in AI, among other things.
Episode 91. Michael Koeris is the Director of the Biotechnologies Office at DARPA. Michael completed his PhD at Boston University and did postdoctoral research in synthetic biology at MIT. He spent time early in his career at Flagship Pioneering, is a former founder and executive of multiple biotechs, and was formerly a professor at the Keck Graduate Institute.
Episode 90. Barry Bunin is the CEO and President at Collaborative Drug Discovery, which he founded 20 years ago. Prior to that, Barry was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Eli Lilly. He completed his PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry at UC Berkeley and his bachelor's degree in chemistry at Columbia University. To learn more about CDD:
https://www.collaborativedrug.com/ai-drug-discovery#Bioisosteric-Suggestions
https://www.collaborativedrug.com/curves#Calculations
https://www.collaborativedrug.com/automation
Seemay Chou is co-founder and CEO at Arcadia Science, Board Member at Astera Institute, and Board Chairperson at The Navigation Fund. Seemay was previously an assistant professor at UCSF and completed her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley.
Episode 88. Eugene Yeo is a Professor at UC San Diego and is building a scientific ecosystem in San Diego. He runs the Innovation Center at Sanford Stem Cell Institute, is Scientific Director at the Sanford Consortium, Chief Scientist at the Sanford labs for Innovative Medicines, and Director of UC San Diego’s Center for RNA Technologies and Therapeutics.
Episode 87. Sudarshan Pinglay is a researcher at the University of Washington and faculty at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub). He did his PhD at New York University and bachelor's degree at Johns Hopkins. Jesse Gray is a Senior Director at SeaHub. He previously worked in industry at Ascidian Therapeutics and as a professor at Harvard Medical School. Jesse completed his PhD at UCSF and his undergrad at University of Wisconsin.
Episode 86. Prachee Avasthi is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Arcadia Science and Head of Open Science at the Astera Institute. Prachee was previously a professor at Dartmouth and University of Kansas. She completed a PhD in Neuroscience at University of Utah and her bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Episode 85. Fay Lin is a Senior Editor at GEN Biotechnology. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Structural Biology at UCLA and undergrad in Biology at NYU with minors in Computer Science and Chemistry.
GEN Biotechnology website:
https://home.liebertpub.com/genbio
Call for Papers: Special Issue in AI in Biotechnology:
https://home.liebertpub.com/cfp/special-issue-artificial-intelligence-in-biotechnology/497/
Episode 84. Maryann Martone is an emeritus professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego. She received her BA from Wellesley College in Biological Psychology and Ancient Greek and her PhD in Neuroscience from the UC San Diego
Anand Muthusamy is a Fellow at Convergent Research, where he's laying the groundwork for a focused research organization (FRO) to monitor the real-time activity of biomarkers in humans. Anand is a chemist and neuroscientist. He recently completed his PhD at Caltech, worked at Janelia Research Campus, and did his undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania.
Check out his recent paper on bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.15.584894v1
Defense talk on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OK1kBOKsaaw
FRO proposal overview: https://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Muthusamy-Garrett-Molecular-Modeling.pdf
Episode 82. Alexander Titus is a professor at USC, doing research at the intersection of biology and AI. He completed his PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences at Dartmouth. He's also the founder of Bioeconomy.xyz and advises the U.S. Government on AI and national security. Titus spent time at McKinsey and Google and helped build Colossal Biosciences and Form Bio.
Episode 81. Ashley Ruba is the founder of After Academia and a Human Factors Engineer at Arthrex. Ashley did her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Washington and her undergrad degree at Duke University.
Show Notes:
Infant language and emotional development lab [02:00]
NIH NRSA Institutional Postdoc Training Grant (T32) [03:48]
Ashey’s academic story [01:45]
Leaving academia [07:12]
Human Factors Engineer [9:35]
Arthrax [10:37]
Working in augmented reality [10:43]
Attachment styles [13:10]
How do you get your first job out of academia [16:05]
Pivoting into UX research and Human Factors Engineering and the process of making the change [24:21]
Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive [28:44]
Pivoting from big tech for stability and more growth opportunities [29:40]
Career coaching [32:22]
Getting over self doubt, internal roadblock, and imposter syndrome [34:39]
How do I get recruiter to look at my resume [38:32]
Tactical tips on how to structure a resume [40:08]
Motivating factors beyond salary and benefits [44:22]
Being honest with yourself [47:11]
Core values - growth [48:21]
Most unexpected change and realization [49:37]
Listen to yourself [52:57]
What advice would you give to your younger self? [54:09]
The myth of being stuck in academia [57:06]
Episode 80. Amy Kruse is Chief Investment Officer at Satori Capital and a Venture Partner at Prime Movers Lab. Amy completed her PhD in Neuroscience at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After leaving the bench, Amy spent time as a Program Manager at DARPA and has worked in various operating roles in the neurotech industry.
Episode 79. Sammi Sison is co-president of Nucleate, an international student-led organization designed to help scientists kick off careers in entrepreneurship, business development, and venture capital. Sammi is a PhD student at UC San Diego where she studies translational processing in the brain.
Episode 78. Kim Edwards, my partner, is the guest interviewer. We talk about motivations for starting a company. Check out the journey in real-time on my newsletter:
transitionstates.substack.com
Episode 77. Jun Axup is Chief Operating Officer at E11 Bio, a focused research organization. She is an entrepreneur and former Chief Scientific Officer and Partner at IndiBio. She's also a musician, artist, and community builder. Jun completed her PhD in Chemical Biology at Scripps Research.
Check out some of her awesome projects at her personal website:
https://junaxup.com/
Episode 76. We turn the table in this episode. William Marks, a longtime friend, interviews me in 2020 on the motivations behind getting into neuroscience and starting a podcast
Episode 76. Aiden Aceves is a Vice President at Insight Partners, an investment firm. Prior to entering VC, Aiden completed his PhD in Bioengineering at Caltech and a bachelor's degree at UC Riverside.
Episode 75. Andrew Akbashev is a Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and completed a postdoc at Stanford University. If you're not already, follow him on LinkedIn, X or YouTube for insights into navigating academia and science careers
Timestamps:
00:15:14 How to pick a thesis advisor
00:28:06 Evaluating student-advisor compatibility
00:36:31 When doing a postdoc makes sense
00:52:15 How to offer more career opportunities to PhDs
01:12:01 How to incentivize higher risk research
01:20:27 Increasing communication skills among scientists
01:25:21 Role of social media in science
01:26:32 The pressures many group leaders face
01:34:00 Importance of mentorship and the need for strong mentors in public forums
01:41:31 Fostering a collaborative (rather than competitive) mindset
Episode 74. Clarice Aiello is the Principal Investigator of the Quantum Biology lab at UCLA. She completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT and did postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford and UC Berkeley.
Check out this article she wrote about quantum biology for the American Physical Society:
https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/79
To learn more about quantum mechanics, click here:
https://www.qubitbyqubit.org/
Episode 73. Julio de Unamuno IV is the Founder & CEO of LabFellows. He did his undergrad in Biochemistry at the University of San Diego and an MBA at the UC San Diego, Rady School of Management.
Episode 72. Gertrude Nonterah is a Medical Communications professional at Thermo Fisher and the creator of The Bold PhD, where she helps PhDs navigate non-academic careers. Gee did a postdoc at UC San Diego, PhD at Temple University, and undergrad degrees at Virginia Commonwealth University and PennWest Edinboro.
Check out her blog and newsletter at: www.theboldphd.com
Episode 71. SK Sharma is the Chief Analytics and AI Officer at Universal Music Group and an Entrepreneur in Residence at UC San Diego. SK completed his PhD at Caltech in Biophysical Chemistry and Biological/Chemical Physics. He has held senior executive roles across investment banking, strategy consulting and venture capital. Remarkably, SK continues to publish biomedical research in academic journals. Make sure to check out some of his other media appearances mentioned in the show:
- Billboard 40 Under 40 - How a Scientist is Helping the Music Biz Unlock the Power of Data
- UCSD Commencement Keynote (1hr, 16min in)
- Ideas in StemEd Podcast
- The MBW Podcast
Episode 70. Aditya Mahara is a Senior Product Manager at Medable and has worked in product management at AstraZeneca and Siemens Healthineers. Aditya completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor's degree in Physics at Rollins College. He's also the creator of the PhD to Industry blog, where he provides career advice to PhDs. Check it out at https://phdtoindustry.substack.com/
Episode 69. Tatiana Novobrantseva is the Chief Scientific Officer of Immuno-Oncology Research at Moderna Therapeutics. She has worked at multiple biotech companies including Verseau Therapeutics (co-founder), Third Rock Ventures/Jounce, Alnylam, Biogen, and others. Tatiana completed a PhD in Genetics at the University of Cologne and a postdoc at Harvard Medical School before jumping into the world of biotech.
Episode 68. Jake Haworth is an Associate Director of Research and Early Development Operations at Moderna. Jake did an undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico and spent time as a researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute before managing operations in a series of biotech startups.
Episode 67. Aadeel Akhtar is CEO of PSYONIC, a neuroprosthetics company. Aadeel did his undergraduate degree and first master's degree at Loyola University Chicago. He completed a second master's degree and a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Episode 66. John Lubin is a Director of Business Development at Science Exchange. After completing his PhD in Molecular Biology at the Salk Institute, John spent time working as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Episode 65. Tari Suprapto is a Director of Search and Evaluation at Novo Nordisk and Board Chair at the San Diego Innovation Council. Tari completed her PhD at The Rockefeller University in Cellular and Structural Biology and has worked in technology transfer and business development at The Rockefeller University and Salk Institute.
Episode 64. Cara Altimus is a Senior Director at the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Managing Director at BD2 Discoveries. She completed her completed a PhD and postdoc in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and is a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow.
Episode 63. Ariane Tom is the Founder and Managing Director at Kaleida Capital. She completed her undergraduate, Master's, and PhD degrees at Stanford University, focusing on Materials Science and Bioengineering.
Episode 62. Anupam Chakravarty is a Senior Scientist at Guardant Health. After doing a postdoc at Stanford, Anupam spent time as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Anupam completed his PhD from Cornell University and did his dissertation research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Episode 62. Adriana Bankston is a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Federal Government Relations. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology at Emory University and her bachelor's degree at Clemson University. This episode represents the individual's personal views and not the views of their employer. https://adrianabankston.com/
Episode 60. Jenny Ro wears many hats. She is currently a Senior Market Development Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Jenny is the founder of Curious Reactor and Flidea. She completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan and a postdoc at Harvard Medical School.
Episode 59. Chris Conner is a storyteller, podcaster, and documentary filmmaker. He runs Life Science Marketing Radio. Chris completed his Master's degree in Genetics at the University of Utah and a Bachelor's degree at University of Colorado Boulder.
Episode 58. Philip R. La Porta is an instructor and professor of physics at Rowan University and host of The Whiparound podcast. He completed his PhD in physics at Lehigh University and bachelor's at Muhlenberg College.
Episode 57. Kyle Frankovich is an Engineering Project Manager in Data Science at Apple. During the recording of this episode he was a Data Scientist at Insight Data Science. Kyle completed his bachelor's degree at University of Pittsburgh and his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at University of California, Davis.
Episode 56. Nicole Parker is a Principal at Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC where she serves as a government relations associate. Nicole completed a PhD at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health and a bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
Episode 55. Ulyana Desiderio is Director of Life Sciences at Maryland Department of Commerce. She did her PhD at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and was the Chief Scientific Officer for the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
Episode 54. Julie Kauer is a professor in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She completed her PhD at Yale and did postdoctoral work at UCSF and Stanford.
Episode 53. Shaena Montanari is an Investigative Reporter at Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. She completed her PhD in Comparative Biology at the American Museum of Natural History and undergrad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also completed a Master's degree in Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University.
Episode 52. Neal Bloom is CEO at Rising Tide Partners, Managing Partner at Interlock Capital, and Founder and CEO at Fresh Brewed Tech. He's also a UCSD graduate, San Diego evangelist, and host of the Tacos & Tech podcast.
Episode 51. Kunal Ghosh is Founder and CEO at Inscopix. Kunal completed his Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering at University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.
Episode 50. Alisa Atkins is a technical sales consultant at Miltenyi Biotec. She completed her undergraduate in Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
Episode 49. Richard Ransohoff is a Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures and interim Chief Medical Officer at Abata Therapeutics. Richard is a physician-scientist. He completed his undergraduate degree at Bard College and his MD at Case Western Reserve University.
Episode 48. Cody Siciliano is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Cody is a neuroscientist and did a postdoc at MIT, PhD at Wake Forest and his undergrad degrees at Binghamton University and Sullivan County Community College.
Episode 47. Vania (Vay) Cao is a clinical specialty liaison at the Mayo Clinic. She did her undergrad in microbiology at Penn State University and her PhD in neuroscience at Brown University (woot woot!!!)
Episode 46. Carlos Loya is the Global Commercial Lead and Director of Business Development at Praxis. He did his bachelor's degree in biochemistry at New Mexico State University and a PhD in neurobiology at Harvard.
Episode 45. Mark Bayer is the President of Bayer Strategic Consulting. Mark is a former Chief of Staff in the US House of Representatives and in the US Senate. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell and holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Episode 44. Jeremy Petravicz is an editor at Wiley Publishing. Jeremy did his PhD in neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill and a postdoc at MIT.
Episode 43. Linda Arogundade is an Edward S. Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. She was a technical consultant at the West Africa Health Organization. did a masters degree at Brandeis, and her medical degree at University of Ibadan
Episode 42. Charlie Caldwell is a Healthcare Investment Banker at Salem Partners and previously worked in life sciences consulting at ZS Associates. After completing an undergraduate degree at Vassar College, Charlie did MS and PhD at University of Southern California.
Kim Edwards is my lovely, funny, and all-around awesome partner. We talk about the crazy events of 2020, in society and in our lives.
Episode 41. David Jentsch is a Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University. David completed his PhD at Yale, a postdoc at University of Pittsburgh, and completed his undergrad at Johns Hopkins University.
Episode 40. Roshni Rao is the Director of the PHutures program at Johns Hopkins University. Roshni did a PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of South Carolina and a postdoc at the FDA. She completed her undergrad at St. Joseph's College at Bangalore University and a PGDipSci at the University of Otago, respectively.
Episode 39. Alex Naka is a bioinformaticist and computational biologist at Coda Biotherapeutics. Alex completed his undergrad at Northwestern, a PhD in neuroscience at UC Berkeley, and a postdoc at Genentech.
Episode 38. Ashley Juavinett is an Assistant Teaching Professor at UC San Diego. She did her undergraduate degree at Lafayette College, PhD at UC San Diego, and postdoc at Cold Spring Harbor.
Episode 37. Rose Hendricks is a Kavli Civic Science Fellow at the American Society for Cell Biology. Rose did her PhD in cognitive science at UC San Diego and bachelor's degree at Vassar College.
Episode 36. Fernando Paolo is a postdoc in geophysical data science at NASA JPL. He did his PhD in oceanography at UC San Diego and Scripps, and his bachelor and master's degrees at University of Sao Paulo
Episode 35. Emily Kuehn is a Senior Program Analyst at Strategic, working with the US Department of Defense on STEM education and outreach. Emily did her PhD in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, a postdoc at Walter Reed, and her undergraduate at Kalamazoo College.
Episode 34. Fay Lin is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry at UCLA. She did her undergraduate in biology at NYU.
Episode 33. Lebaron (Lee) Agostini is a Life Science Analyst at Axiom Healthcare Strategies. Lee completed his PhD in Molecular Genetics at Thomas Jefferson University and his bachelor's degree at Florida Atlantic University.
Episode 31. Jason Shepherd is an Associate Professor at the University of Utah. He completed a postdoc at MIT, PhD in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, and attended undergraduate at the University of Otago.
Episode 30. Sam Jones is the host of the Reactions YouTube series for the American Chemical Society. She's also a science writer and podcast host. Sam did her undergraduate at Vassar College and a PhD in Biomedical Science at UC San Diego.
Episode 29. Hugo Tejeda is a Stadtman Invesigator at the National Institute on Mental Health. He did his undergrad at the University of Texas El Paso, his PhD at University of Maryland, and a postdoc at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Episode 28. Margot Wohl is currently an intern at NASA. Margot recently finished her neuroscience PhD at UC San Diego and did her dissertation research at the Salk Institute. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
Episode 27. Wendy Marie Ingram is the Founder and Executive Director at Dragonfly Mental Health. She did her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley and a postdoc at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Episode 26. Amanda Song recently completed her PhD in Cognitive Science at UC San Diego. She studied at Fudan University and has done internships at Qualcomm, Tesla, TuSimple, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Since we recorded the podcast, Amanda defended her dissertation and started an internship at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Congratulations Amanda!
Episode 25. James Tamerius is a Senior Research Advisor at the Center for Sustainable Energy. James did his PhD at the University of Arizona, a postdoc at Columbia University, and was formerly an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa.
Episode 24. Erin Calipari is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University. Erin completed her PhD at Wake Forest, a postdoc at Mount Sinai, and her undergrad at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Episode 23. Siddarth Krishnan is a postdoc at MIT and co-founder at Rhaeos. He did his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed his undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis.
Episode 22. Caroline Sferrazza works in science communication and is a co-producer of the Once a Scientist podcast. Caroline earned a masters degree in neuroscience from UC San Diego and did her undergrad at Vassar College.
Episode 21. Max Robinson is a postdoc in at MIT. He did his PhD in chemical engineering at Vanderbilt and his undergrad at Trinity University. Max also co-hosts the MIT GLiMPSE podcast.
Episode 20. Mike Fenn is the Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences at the Harvard Innovation Labs. Mike did his undergrad, PhD, and postdoc at University of Florida, where he also worked as a professor. He's started several companies and is an all-around startup guru.
Episode 19. Christopher Moore is a neuroscience professor at Brown University. He went to undergrad at Oberlin College, did a PhD at MIT and postdocs at Stanford and UCSF.
This is part 5 of a 5 part webinar series done with the Consulting Club at MIT and the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club. In this episode, guest host Max Robinson and Nick Edwards talk about how to do well in fit / behavioral interviews.
Episode 18. Sharon Milgram is the Director of the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Sharon is a former professor at UNC Chapel Hill and completed her PhD at Emory University.
This is part 4 of a 5 part webinar series done with the Consulting Club at MIT and the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club. In this episode, guest host Max Robinson and Nick Edwards talk about how to do well in case interviews.
Episode 16. Kay Tye is the Wylie Vale Chair of Systems Neurobiology at the Salk Institute. She did her PhD at UCSF, postdoc at Stanford, and undergrad at MIT.
This is part 3 of a 5 part webinar series done with the Consulting Club at MIT and the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club. In this episode, guest host Max Robinson and Nick Edwards talk about how to do well in case interviews. Nick also slightly embarrasses himself doing his first case interview in 3 years.
Episode 16. Chanel Matney is a Transportation Policy Consultant at the California State Assembly. She did her PhD in neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University and her undergrad at The University of Texas at Dallas.
This is part 2 of a 5 part webinar series done with the Consulting Club at MIT and the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club. In this episode, guest host Max Robinson asks Nick about how to build a compelling resume and cover letter.
We're postponing our regular Tuesday episode, in solidarity with our friends in the black community.
This is part 1 of a 5 part webinar series done with the Consulting Club at MIT and the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club. In this episode, guest host Max Robinson asks Nick about his background as a scientist breaking into consulting. Nick talks about his time at BCG, his philosophy about careers, and what the life of a consultant looks like.
Episode 15. Vincent Racaniello is the Higgins Professor of Virology and Microbiology at Columbia University. He hosts and produces multiple podcasts, including This Week in Virology, This Week in Microbiology, This Week in Neuroscience, among others. Vincent did his PhD at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine at CUNY and a postdoc at MIT with David Baltimore.
Episode 14. Radhika Patel is a Product Manager at Capco, a global technology consultancy. Rads did her undergrad, masters, and PhD in Physics at University College London (UCL) and a postdoc at Durham University.
Episode 13. Rob Malenka is the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Rob completed his undergraduate work at Harvard, MD/PhD at Stanford, and postdoc at UCSF. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy for the Advancement of Science, among many other honors and awards.
Episode 12. Kate Bradford is an Associate Director of Doctoral and Postdoctoral Career Services at Johns Hopkins University. She did her undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill, a PhD in Biology at Johns Hopkins, and a postdoc at the FDA.
Episode 11. Sam Golden is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Biological Structure and the Center of Excellence in Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain, and Emotion (NAPE). He did at PhD in neuroscience at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and a postdoc at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Episode 10.Sage Aronson is the President and CEO of Neurophotometrics. He did a PhD in neuroscience at UC San Diego and his undergrad at Oberlin College.
Episode 9. Wendy Xin is a postdoc at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She did her PhD in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and did her dissertation research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in the same lab as Nick (the show host). Wendy completed her bachelor's degree in neuroscience at University of Toronto.
Episode 8. Jorge Vazquez-Anderson is a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Jorge did a PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to that, Jorge studied chemical engineering at ITESO Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara for his bachelor's degree and completed a master's degree at Universidad de Guadalajara.
Episode 7. Tom Armitage holds a PhD in earth sciences from University College London (UCL) and completed his undergraduate and masters degrees at UCL as well. Tom previously worked with the European Space Agency and recently completed postdoctoral training at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the University of Maryland. He is an incoming consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Episode 6. Amit Srivastava is a Senior Director at Pfizer. He did a PhD in genetics and cell biology at Carnegie Mellon University and postdoc at Boston Children's Hospital. After launching a startup company, Amit worked in strategy consulting at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and worked in vaccine development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Episode 5. Paul Bromann is the host of the Illumina Genomics Podcast and Senior Manager of Scientific Affairs at Illumina. He did his PhD in neuroscience at Northwestern University and postdocs at Sanford-Burnham Prebys and Van Andel Institute. He's had extensive industry experience, including a stint as a Medical Science Liaison at Bristol-Meyers-Squibb.
Episode 4. Erick Westbroek is a neurosurgery resident at Johns Hopkins University. He completed his MD at Stanford University and his undergrate degree at University of Utah.
Episode 3. Audrey Sporrij is a PhD student in stem cell biology in a joint program between Harvard University and Utrecht University. She is co-president of the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club and has volunteered as a business development and alliance management fellow at the Harvard University Office of Technology and Development.
Episode 2. Daniel Pham is an Associate Director at the Milken Institute Center for Strategic Philanthropy. He did a PhD in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, where he founded Project Bridge, a student organization focused on scientific outreach. After his PhD, Daniel worked in science communication at Research!America and as a Public Affairs Manager at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
Episode 1. Introduction to the show. Nick Edwards is the host of the Once a Scientist podcast. He trained as a neuroscientist and did his PhD at Brown University and the NIH. After completing a postdoc at UCSD, he went to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he worked in strategy consulting. More recently, he moved back to San Diego to work with Illumina, doing commercial strategy.