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In April 2011, The National Library of Medicine (NLM), part of the National Institutes of Health, invited people to show off their apps. NLM challenged people to create innovative software applications that use the Library’s vast collection of biomedical data, including downloadable data sets, application programming interfaces (APIs), or software tools – all of which are free and available for public use. 

One of the winners of the app challenge was Quertle. For those of you who may not have heard of Quertle, it is an innovative website for searching and investigating the biomedical literature. Quertle uses advanced linguistic methods to find the most relevant documents instead of traditional keyword searching, which often returns an overwhelming list of uninformative articles. It is geared to active life science professionals – both researchers and health care providers – and saves them considerable time and effort in finding the literature they need. Quertle, available on the web using any browser, simultaneously searches multiple sources of life science literature, including MEDLINE

The Quertle search engine was created by Jeff Saffer, PhD and Vicki Burnett, PhD mainly because they were not satisfied with search results for life sciences publications and information delivered by conventional search engines. 

Vicki and Jeff will receive their award on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 20011 in Washington, DC. The award ceremony will feature U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra and Health and Human Services Chief Technology Officer Todd Park as speakers. 

For those of you who may not know, BioJobBlog and BioCrowd have partnered with Quertle in various business activities and it is the search engine of choice for both websites.

Congrats to Vicki and Jeff on a job well done!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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Last week, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner unveiled a “blueprint” that contained immediate and actionable steps that can be taken to spur innovation in the life sciences. The report’s proposals stem from a review of FDA’s current policies and practices, as well as months of meetings with major stakeholders nationwide, including key industry leaders, small biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device company owners, members of the academic community, and patient groups. Entitled “Driving Biomedical Innovation: Initiatives for Improving Products” the report focuses on seven major actions:

1. rebuilding FDA’s small business outreach services
2. building the infrastructure to drive and support personalized medicine
3. creating a rapid drug development pathway for important targeted therapies
4. harnessing the potential of data mining and information sharing while protecting patient privacy
5. improving consistency and clarity in the medical device review process
6. training the next generation of innovators
7. streamlining and reforming FDA regulations

The blueprint was issued in response to growing concerns that—despite record investments in biomedical R&D—the drug pipelines at many US life sciences companies has grown exceedingly thin. Not surprisingly, most life sciences companies blame the agency for the thinning pipelines but in reality both side have contributed to the problem. Hamburg’s bold plan seems reasonable. But, it can only be implemented if Congress provides sufficient funding to underwrite the new initiatives proposed in the plan. And, while these funds ought to be allocated, it is not clear whether or not it is likely given the poor economy and the current, unprecedented political divisiveness that exists in Washington these days.

Moreover, Mark Senak, author of the Eye on FDA blog, suggests that FDA can improve its effectiveness by learning how to communicate better with its stakeholders. Mark, a social media advocate provides this compelling insight into FDA’s communication problems and the agency’s inability to grasp that the Internet and social media can help to improve its communication skills:

"The extremely long track record of FDA in attempting to figure out the Internet (first public meeting held in October 1996) and social media (first public meeting held in November, 2009) has yielded no guidance, with little transparency into the process.  It is time for FDA to seek outside communications expertise to help the agency better formulate policy on a timely basis."

While I believe that Commissioner Hamburg’s blueprint for improvement is a good one, it isn’t clear whether she will get the necessary support to implement it.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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William Hooper author of the HealthTechTopia blog which focuses on biomedicine and healthcare informatics compiled a top 25 list of the best biomedicine blogs on the web. 

While BioJobBlog failed to make the list, BioCrowd was listed at number 14. This is what the HealthTechTopia blog had to say about BioCrowd, the online networking site created by Vincent Racaniello and me.

“So where can you get blog entries from tons of biomedicine enthusiasts? With a stop here. The site was built to help bioscience professionals build relationships, exchange ideas, find jobs, and identify exciting new career opportunities.”

Best Blogs on Biomedicine by an Individual

These experts in biomedicine take it on at all angles.

1. Biotech/ Biomedical
   Join Dr. Theresa Phillips as she uses her experience to provide her readers with tools, tips, strategies, and information about the industry. She has a broad background in a number of different areas of biotechnology and biomedical research, including having worked for two biotech companies in the environmental remediation industry. Must reads include a career in biotech and six approaches to phytoremediation.
2. Terry Etherton Blog on Biotechnology
   Dr. Etherton is a Distinguished Professor of Animal Nutrition and Head of the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State University. His research specialty is the area of endocrine regulation of animal growth and nutrient metabolism. Genetically modified crops and cloned livestock are the latest blog topics.
3. Eye on DNA
   Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei is a PhD-trained epidemiologist and biotech consultant, as well as a Stanford and JohnHopkinsUniversity graduate. One of her focuses is on how both genome and internet technology are going to change the world. Popular articles include DNA toys and “100 Facts About DNA.”
4. Gary Rabin
   He is the Chairman of Advanced Cell Technology. They are a biotechnology company that specializes in the development of cellular therapies for the treatment of rare and common diseases that impact millions of people worldwide. The blog often lists their accomplishments as well as related items in biotech.
5. Building Confidence
   Blogger Russ Altman is also a professor at StanfordUniversity. His writings are a way to share commentary on issues related to his professional expertise, which is biomedical informatics, genetics, medicine, and bioengineering. He also has a quick tutorial on the subject of bioinformatics.
6. Gene Expression
   Razib Khan’s degrees are in biochemistry and biology. He has blogged about genetics since 2002, previously worked in software development, and is an Unz Foundation Junior Fellow. A standout choice for often integrating pop culture and news items into bio-learning.
7. Biotech Blog
   Yali Friedman lives in Washington, DC and is the author of “Building Biotechnology” and other books. He is also the founder of DrugPatentWatch and chief editor of the “Journal of Commercial Biotechnology.” Check out his blog for thoughts and news on the commercial, legal, political, and scientific aspects of biotech.
8. Expression Patterns
   Proving again that biomedicine isn’t just for men is Eva Amsen. She recently moved from research to editing and from biochemistry to developmental biology. In addition to science, she also blogs about the arts.
9. Public Rambling
   What sounds like a blog for the latest commentary on the latest scandal is actually a scientific one. Pedro Beltrao stops here to write about what he thinks on bioinformatics, science, and technology. Omics was the topic of a recent post.
10. Science Roll
    Bertalan Meskó graduated from the University of Debrecen, Medical School and Health Science Center in 2009 and started PhD studies in the field of personalized genomics. His blog is now a journey through genetics and medicine. Biomedicine in the news and his reaction are often the topic of posts.

Best Blogs on Biomedicine by a Group

Check out these groups and sites for a collective view of biomedicine and related areas.

11. The Daily Scan
    Part of Genome Web, there are several blogs on biomedicine to choose from. They include entries on cancer and informatics. The main site has more for those interested in biomedicine such as news, careers, and a magazine.
12. ISAAA
    Click here for the official blog from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. They have a newsfeed that is constantly updated and divided by crop biotech, biofuels supplement, and more. There are also other learning resources offered.
13. Fierce Biotech
    Get just the news with a visit here. Several stories a day are on all the advancements and announcements in the field. You can also choose by biomarkers, events, whitepapers, and much more.
14. BioCrowd
    So where can you get blog entries from tons of biomedicine enthusiasts? With a stop here. The site was built to help bioscience professionals build relationships, exchange ideas, find jobs, and identify exciting new career opportunities.
15. Growers for Biotechnology
    Their mission is to promote and facilitate the research, development and acceptance of biotechnology in agriculture. The news stream has the latest in developments in biology for food. You can also get other biotech info such as why growers use biotech and reports.
16. BMC Biotechnology
    This is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed articles on the manipulation of biological macromolecules or organisms. Use in experimental procedures, cellular, and tissue engineering, as well as in the pharmaceutical, agricultural biotechnology, and allied industries are also shared. Current featured articles are on glucosinolate engineering and cytokine inhibition.
17. Biotechnology Journal
    Can’t make it to the library to read the latest issue or shell out a subscription fee? Then click here to get many issues offering free articles as a PDF. There are also other biomedicine items available.
18. Colorado Bioscience Association
    The CBSA is a not-for-profit corporation providing services and support for Colorado’s growing biosciences industry. Their blog contains news releases, links to articles, and other related information of interest. Maggie Chamberlin Holben of their marketing department has more.
19. Biomedicine on Display
    This is the blog of Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen. They focus on the display of visual and material culture in museums, laboratories, and clinics with a goal of promoting contemporary biomedicine. Materialism was the subject of the latest post.
20. BioSpace
    Finally, stop here to get items on life, science, and the community with the biologist in mind. Top breaking news and featured stories are often included. You can also search by biotech, medical, clinical research, and academic entries.

Best Blogs on Specific Biomedicine

Learn more about a specific area of biomedicine below.

21. The Spittoon
    Get the writings from the pro’s at 23 and Me here. They specialize in using saliva to analyze the nearly one million locations in a person’s genome. Readers of the blog are given a deeper understanding of DNA and related areas.
22. Genetic Future
    So how will all this biomedicine and such affect us in the future? That is the very question that genome researcher Daniel MacArthur strives to answer. Part of Wired Blogs, he focuses on the fast moving world of human genetics and why companies will sell you info on your own DNA.
23. OnBioVC
    But can all this biomedicine talk be used to turn a profit? With a visit to this blog, the answer can be “yes.” They specialize in reporting on bioscience venture capital data.
24. Blog,Bioethics.net
    As with any science, ethics is going to come into play. Get a blog especially for the ethics surrounding biology here. The editors of “The American Journal of Bioethics” use it to inform and discuss more on the subject with the public.
25. Bioethics Discussion Blog
    Because one view on anything ethical isn’t enough, click here. Dr. Maurice Bernstein is a physician and medical school teacher who moderates the discussion. With entries dating back to 2004, make time for tons of bioethics.

No matter if you are a student studying for a PhD or just a fan of science, there is loads to learn on the above 25 best blogs on biomedicine.

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I am not a big fan of top ten lists but I decided to take a look at the list compiled by Cecilia Capuzzi Simon in a recent article that appeared in the April 13, 2011 New Times Education supplement. Entitled “Top Ten List: Where the Jobs Are.” The article was extremely well written and based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of the fastest-growing occupations. 

The Bureau gleefully announced that it expects there to more than a million new jobs by 2018, and a “worker pool that may not be trained to fill them.” While this may seemingly appear to be great news—given the almost 10 percent unemployment rate that has been plaguing the US for the past three years—I was puzzled by appearance of biomedical engineering (#1), medical scientists (#6) and biochemists and biophysicists (#9) on the lists mainly because I know that persons who are trained in these fields are having extremely difficult times finding jobs in the current economy. That said, with most life science R&D being shipped over seas or outsourced, it hard to see that any of these jobs will be in great demand in the US over the next seven years. Maybe the bureau knows something that I don’t? Or maybe, it is the US government’s way of gently nudging people into careers that they anticipate will be highly valued in the future? Whatever the reason, it is going to be tough to convince college freshman to major in these fields if the current job market for these professions is currently so bleak.

What is even more puzzling then the ranking of these three career choices list is the actually numbers of new jobs that are anticipated to be created. The total number of new jobs expected in these fields by 2018 is roughly 65,000 (biomedical engineers-12,000; medical scientists-44,000; and biochemists and biophysicists-9,000). Compare this with the number of jobs anticipated by 2018 for network systems and data communication analysts (156,000), home health aide (461,000), personal and home care aide (376,000) or physician assistants (29,000) and you will get a better idea about the urgency for biomedical engineers and other life scientists.

There is no question that life scientists will command higher salaries and wages than home health aids or possibly a physician’s assistant but life sciences jobs typically require a minimum of a MS or PhD degree. Moreover, the economic theory of supply and demand suggests that it will be much easier for healthcare informaticists or home healthcare aides to find a job as compared with a biomedical engineer or PhD biochemist—even by 2018. In other words, don’t expect the US job market for life scientists to get better any time soon. 

While it is unfortunate that the US is beginning to seriously lag behind much smaller countries in science, math and engineering preparedness, the current demand for these types of jobs is waning and undergraduate college students—who lived through the recent financial meltdown—will likely (and rightly) choose to pursue careers where the likelihood of future employment is greatest. Unfortunately, the life sciences isn’t one of them.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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There is no question that Twitter is the new social media tool of the moment. And, it should come as no surprise that scientists and other bioprofessionals have been slow to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. While the jury is still out on Twitter’s effectiveness as a research tool, there is a growing body of evident that suggests that it can be a valuable tool when conducting a job search. 

To that end, Miriam Salpeter, the owner of Keppie Careers wrote an incisive piece on leveraging Twitter to find a job or jumpstart your career. I excerpted relevant parts of the post that originally appeared as “Older Job Seeker: Want to Tweet Yourself to A New Job?”  While originally aimed at older employees, much of what is presented in the article is germane to life scientists of all ages who are seeking new job opportunities! 

Want to Tweet Yourself to A New Job?”

by Miriam Salpeter

Would you believe that you can tweet yourself to a job opportunity 140 characters at a time? It’s been done! Statistics show that job search networking is much more effective when you make “loose” connections – touching base with people beyond your immediate circle whose networks and contacts are much different from your own. With over 200 million users, Twitter offers an unparalleled opportunity to create an extended network.

Not convinced that Twitter is actually a high-powered job search tool? Read on to learn how Twitter can uniquely position you for job-hunting success!

What Can Twitter Do For You?

1. Afford access to other professionals in your field. When you follow industry leaders, you’ll know who spends time with them, what conferences they attend (and what they think of the speakers!), what they’re reading and what is on their minds. This is great information to leverage for your search.

2. Provide exposure and credibility as well as personal and professional relationships when you connect to others in your industry.

3. Offer you a venue to demonstrate your expertise and share information in quick, pithy bursts of wisdom. This is perfect if you don’t have the time or energy to create a blog.

Unique Aspects of Twitter

1. It is casual and immediate and a great place to “meet” informally.

2. You’ll find an array of people on Twitter, including CEOs, top-level executives, hiring managers, recruiters and everyone in-between! It’s one-stop shopping for your networking needs. You’ll be surprised to find that stars in your field (mentors) may follow you if you reach out to them!

3. Unlike Facebook, where it is kind of creepy if you start trying to “friend” people who are connected to your contacts, it is acceptable (and expected) to follow people on Twitter because another friend or colleague does.

4. It forces you to be brief. Coming up with your “Twit-Pitch” – what you have to offer in 140 characters or less – will help you clarify your value proposition. Remember: less is more!

What To Do First?

1. Brand yourself professionally. If you are planning to use Twitter for a job search, set up a designated profile and account. Choose a professional Twitter handle using your name or some combination of your name and profession that sounds good and is easy to remember. For example, JaneSmith or MarketingExpertJane.

2. Take time to create a professional profile that will attract your target market. If you don’t have a website, link to your LinkedIn profile.

3. Before you follow anyone, start posting some tweets! Don’t succumb to the temptation to share your lunch menu…Tweet about an article, an idea or share a link of professional interest to your targeted followers. Do this for a few days. It may seem strange to be tweeting when no one is following, but you may be surprised to gain an audience before you even try. Once you have a great profile and a set of interesting tweets, start following people in your industry. Aim high! Follow stars – some will follow you back.

4. Continue to build your network by using Twitter Search and Twitter’s Find People tool. Manually review profiles and use Twubble to help you find new people to follow. Use directories such as Twellow and TwitDir. Grow your network slowly – you don’t want to follow 1000 people and have only 30 following you. That makes you look spammy, not professional.

5. Give, give, give! Think about what you can do for others. Don’t blatantly self-promote. Instead, help promote others. “Retweet” (pass along information someone else shared, giving them credit) – you will earn followers and friends this way. Those who know (and like) you will become part of your network and will be willing to help you.

Sustain Your Twitter Network

1. Twitter doesn’t have to be very time-consuming, but if it’s going to be part of your job search strategy, make a point to keep up with it by sending out something useful every day.

2. Read what other people write and respond. Join conversations and start your own.

3. Don’t be afraid to send a message directly to a star in your field. Simply address your tweet to @their Twitter name, and they should receive it. (Be aware that Twitter isn’t 100% reliable, so feel free to try again if you don’t hear back or have reason to believe your message wasn’t delivered).

4. Use the direct message feature if you have a private or personal note. Remember that the recipient may respond publicly, though.

5. Feel free to tweet that you are looking for an opportunity. (See below for a success story!)

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Tweeting!!!!!!  (@biojobbblog)

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I first heard about informational interviews two years ago at the Annual Biomedical Research for Minority Students (ABRCMS) at which I was reviewing resumes and offering career advice. I asked the student who mentioned the interviews exactly what they are. And, much to my surprise, I learned that the process involved approaching a “professional” to set up a meeting to discuss possible career paths at a company that a jobseeker was interested in. 

At first blush, it sounded like a terrific idea to me. Unfortunately, the concept presupposes that jobseekers have done their homework and identified prospective companies that seem “like a fit” for them.

Second, it also presupposes that job candidates have a clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities of career options available at prospective companies. For example, several years ago many scientists who wanted to get out of the laboratory frequently mentioned business development as a possible alternate career options. In response to the question, I always ask “Do you know what business development professionals do on a daily basis and what skill sets are required to be successful at that job? Not surprisingly, the most frequent response to the questions was no! 

Further, while corralling a so-called profession at a meeting or conference to chat about possible career options at his/her company or institution is a possibility, asking the same person to take time out from their busy daily schedules to have the same discussion with you becomes increasingly difficult.

Finally, the notion that most professionals want to help others achieve career success is unrealistic and pretty much not the way things work.

As you may have guessed, I am not a big fan of informational interviews. And, I suspect that most professionals who are asked to participate are not either. Nevertheless, these types of interviews are growing in popularity and apparently are de rigueur. That said, the purpose of this post is help folks who participate in informational interviews to manage expectations. To that end; will an informational interview result in the possibility of getting hired at a particular company—probably not. Will it provide jobseekers with valuable new insights and information about possible career choices? Maybe; if you ask the right questions. Will the interview be worth the time that you took out of your day to participate? Possibly, but you don’t know until you try it. 

For those of you who may still be interested in informational interviews, I found an article that provides readers with a step-by-step approach to informational interviews (see below)

Open a Door With an Informational Interview

What is an informational interview? An informational interview is a meeting between you and a professional. The purpose is to help define your career options or research a company where you want to work. It is NOT a job interview. Do not expect anyone to make you an offer.
What is my role? You are the interviewer. Prepare plenty of questions to keep the conversation moving.  Include questions about the occupation or business, but ask about other things too: Do they enjoy their work? How do they spend their day? Open-ended questions are best to avoid yes or no answers. See a list of sample informational interview questions.

How do I set one up?

1. Find people ask everyone you know for potential contacts in a field, company or job that piques your interest.
2. Make contact Pick up the phone and make contact. Possible phone script:

"Mrs. Smith, Brad Johnson suggested I speak with you. My name is Steven Olson and I am interested in the ________ field. I could use advice from someone who is in this field. Do you have any time this week when I could meet with you? I know you're busy, so I only need about 15 minutes of your time. I would really like to learn more about your company and the ________ field from someone like you."

What else should I remember?

• If meeting in person, dress and act professionally.
• Make a good impression. This person may provide additional leads or referrals that could lead to a job.
• Keep it short. Limit your initial interview to 15 to 30 minutes based on how the conversation is going.
• Feel free to schedule the interview with someone without hiring power. They often know more about day-to-day activities and have more specific information for you.
• End the interview with an action plan. Ask the interviewee if you can contact him or her again.
• Remember to send a thank-you note after your interview!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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BioCrowd (www.biocrowd.com) and Quertle (www.quertle.info) announced today that BioCrowd has enhanced its site by embedding Quertle's semantic biomedical search engine. BioCrowd is an online networking site for bioprofessionals that offers it members discussions, blogs, podcasts, job searching tools, and research product reviews. With the addition of literature searching capability via Quertle's new generation biomedical search engine, BioCrowd has evolved into a one-stop site for persons involved in biomedical research.

Quertle's search engine uses advanced linguistic methods to find conceptual relationships, not just query terms scattered throughout a document. Searches yield highly relevant documents instead of the long lists of sometimes incomprehensible results offered by other literature search sites. Quertle's pioneering approaches, including Power Terms™ - which represent entire classes of related concepts such as "diseases" - provide its users with a means to quickly get answers and make discoveries through literature searches.

By accessing Quertle through BioCrowd, community members will now have full access to a gamut of web resources routinely used by life scientists. "Embedding Quertle in BioCrowd adds the best literature searching capability to an existing tool chest of key web resources," said Professor Vincent Racaniello, a virologist at Columbia University School of Medicine and a BioCrowd co-founder. "There is no longer a need to visit multiple sites to gain access to the tools and functionality demanded by life sciences researchers." Clifford Mintz, PhD, BioCrowd's Chief Business Officer added, "We talked to a variety of biomedical search engine companies and Quertle's product surpassed its competitors."

About BioCrowd

BioCrowd is an online networking site exclusively designed for bioscience professionals. It was started by Clifford S. Mintz and Vincent Racaniello, two longtime bioscientists, who recognized a need for junior and senior scientists to network with one another and other bioscience professionals to realize and achieve professional or career goals.

About Quertle

Quertle is a biomedical search engine focused on delivering informative results to biomedical researchers using advanced linguistic technologies and an in-depth understanding of the biomedical field.

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In 2009, I posted an article that described the salient and beneficial features of many of the biomedical search engines that had been developed for life scientists conducting laboratory research. While attending the Experimental Biology Meeting earlier this year I discovered a newly developed biomedical search engine called Quertle. After, watching Quertle in action, I was convinced that it was one of the best innovations to hit the life sciences field since the introduction of plasmid purification kits (yeah I know I am dating myself).                                    

Unlike most of its competitors, Quertle uses semantic-driven text analytics to find conceptual relationships between documents—not just query terms scattered though out a document. For example, suppose you want to find information on diseases of aging. Your query "diseases of aging" on other sites might find an article where "disease" is in the first sentence and "aging" is in the last sentence, perhaps even in the references. Consequently, a large number of the results will be irrelevant. In contrast, Quertle’s smart relationship-based search finds and presents those documents where the author has asserted a relationship between "disease" and "aging", such as "disease associated with aging". This gives you the results that are truly relevant, with the important facts nicely highlighted (Try it). Then, Quertle takes it even further; its proprietary Power Terms^™ and algorithms that automatically identify key concepts in the documents allow users to quickly conduct highly targeted, relevant literature searches and intuitive ways to explore them (Try this Power Term search and check out the list of diseases found). 

Quertle’s powerful easy-to-use searching covers all of PubMed, an expanding collection of full-text articles (including BioMed Central and Open Access articles in PubMed Central), biomedical news, and even whitepapers and reports from different companies. The most recent Quertle software upgrade added TOXLINE and NIH RePORTER databases to it search repertoire.

Recognizing that access to full-text journal articles is of paramount importance to all literature searches, the latest version of Quertle now supports link resolver systems. By using Quertle’s new, displayed “My Library” link users can easily and seamlessly access their institutions’ library holdings. Recognition of individual users’ academic institution is accomplished by identifying user IP addresses (provided by the library) or through special Quertle links offered to the different libraries. Interested librarians can contact Quertle to get their institution added to the Quertle list.

Quertle’s developers are veterans of the life sciences field and understand the rigorous challenges facing laboratory researchers. Their goal was to make literature searching easier, more powerful and less time consuming. Check it out and let me know what YOU think!!!

Until next time.....

Good Luck and Good Searching!!!!!!!!!!

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Onlinecolleges.net sent me a list of the  ten fastest growing jobs expected in the US from 2008 to 2018. While career options like skin care specialists (vocational training), physician assistants (MS), athletic trainers (BS), financial examiners (BS), dental hygienists (associate degree) and physical therapist aides (associate degree) appear on the list, the fastest growth and greatest need is for biomedical engineers (#1), network system and data communication analysts (#3), medical scientists (#5) and biochemists and biophysicists (#7).

With the exception of medical scientists (which require a PhD degree), bachelor degrees are required for entry level biomedical engineers, systems analysts and biochemists and biophysicists. While I am not convinced that there is a growing demand for more PhD life scientists, I think the other options listed are viable career choices especially in the area of health information technology.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

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I just returned from the 2009 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) that was held in Phoenix last week. I attended ABRCMS for the first time last year and decided that it was a meeting not to be missed in 2009. Once again the students (mainly undergraduate life sciences majors) were outstanding, knowledgeable and exceedingly professional—something that is frequently missing or absent in their non-minority counterparts. Like last year, every major academic institution, professional society and research organization attended the meeting to recruit minority students to their programs. However, despite the similarities to last year’s meeting, there were several noticeable differences that are worth pointing out.

First, the number of women undergraduate life sciences major who attended the meeting was substantially greater than the number of men in attendance. This shift is indicative of enrollment changes that are taking place in medicine, law and life sciences graduate programs where women now outnumber men. Second, many more students were seeking career development counseling and resume critiquing this year as compared with last year. This likely has much to do with the ongoing financial crisis and rising unemployment which now exceed 10% nationally. Third, many more students I talked with this year were interested in attending graduate school rather than medical school. This shift may have something to do with anticipated changes to the US medical profession that may result from healthcare reform. Alternatively, more minority students are interested in research as compared with medicine and related healthcare professions. 

Finally, the conference keynote address offered by Mae C. Jemison, MD a former astronaut and life science entrepreneur was one of the most inspirational and informative talks that I have ever heard about career opportunities in the life sciences. Dr. Jemison clearly articulated her belief that society ought to stop differentiating between artists and scientists. Further, she added that the two professions are not mutually exclusive from one another! This is likely because, she, in addition to her medical interests, is a professional dancer/choreographer and also a fashion designer. Coincidentally, earlier that morning I was talking with several female scientists who also happened to be life long dancers and choreographers.  I urged them to continue to draw on their dancing experience to channel that creativity to their research. It was humbling to learn that someone as successful and talented as Dr. Jamison shares many of my beliefs and ideas.

On the plane trip back to New Jersey, I happened to sit next to a young assistant professor from Princeton University who will likely earn tenure next year (he was invited to apply for an early decision). Like most other scientists, he initially challenged my notion that PhD students and postdoctoral fellows ought to be offered courses— or at the very least some information about non-academic careers—before they complete their training. After all, only about 10% to 15% of US life sciences PhDs are able to land tenure track positions upon completion of their training. Initially, many of his remarks were expected: “If you want a job you should go to medical school or law school or do something else...nobody said that getting a PhD would help you find a job” and “we train students for academic jobs because it is a way for us to ensure and preserve our legacy as scientists.” It was a good thing that I had my seat belt on at the time because I almost bolted out of my seat after hearing that!  I tactfully (which isn’t easy for me as those who know me will tell you) suggested to him that that kind of thinking is blatantly self-serving and extremely egotistical. Further, I suggested that it is ethically and morally disingenuous for tenured faculty members to continue to train students for jobs that they know don’t exist anymore.  Luckily, he is young and open minded and ultimately conceded that the system is kind of broken and perhaps things need to change. He also offered that he, (unlike most of the people who I trained with the exception of my PhD advisor) discusses career options with his students (some of whom aren’t interested in academic careers) and helps them in any way he can to realize their goals and dreams. Finally, I suggested to him that offering students and postdoctoral fellows some formal courses or training in alternate career options will likely have better performance and outcomes for students and faculty members as compared with continuing to keep them in the dark about career choices and job prospects.

While there is still much work to be done, it appears that younger faculty members are finally recognizing that traditional academic training paradigms may be anachronistic and changes may be necessary for the US to continue to train the best and the brightest!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

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Yesterday, I gave a lecture entitled “Alternate Careers: Taking the Road Less Traveled” to over 100 members of the University of Pennsylvania’s Biomedical Graduate Student Association. As always, there were many good questions and comments during and after the presentation. Some of the career anecdotes offered by several of the students reminded me of a conversation that I had several weeks ago with one of my Fundamentals of Bioscience students—I teach a Product Development and Regulatory Affairs course in the program—who refreshed my memory about a typical graduate student approach to career development and job searching. “We don’t think about jobs or our careers until we begin writing our PhD theses” she said. “Until then, our advisers don’t talk about careers or jobs and only bring it up because our funding will run out” she added. Admittedly, I had forgotten this because so many years have passed since my graduate student days. That said, it forced me to consider how much the life sciences job market has changed since I was graduate student and how vitally important it is for today’s graduate students to think about and possibly explore different career options throughout the course of their graduate training.

Historically, there were very few career options for life scientists—it was either a tenure track faculty appointment or, as a poor second choice, a job at a pharmaceutical or biotechnology. Unfortunately, academics jobs are hard to come by and since 2007 over 60,000 pharmaceutical R&D scientists have lost their jobs and more cuts are expected. Also, many of these jobs are likely come back after the economy improves because many of the R&D activities performed by these scientists are being outsourced to India, China and elsewhere. This suggests that a majority of life sciences graduate students who receive their PhDs within the next few years won’t be able to secure traditional life sciences jobs. While a majority of US life sciences graduate training programs recognize and understand the implications of the changing job market, many are reluctant to discuss alternate career options with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Even fewer, encourage or support students or postdoctoral fellows who want to engage in “extracurricular activities” to explore alternate career options. In fact, several U Penn students told me that they have to obtain written permission from their adviser before they can take courses or participate in extra-departmental activities. As one student quipped “What I do on my own time should be my business not my boss's.”

I always conclude my alternate career talk by saying “Nobody ever guaranteed you a job after completion of your PhD or postdoctoral training.” And, “if you wanted a job after completing your education, you ought to have gone to medical school, dental school, law school or any other profession that requires licensure to practice your craft.” While this may sound harsh, I believe that the decision to get a PhD is a personal one and based on discussion with many of my colleagues, most didn’t enter graduate school expecting a job to be waiting them when they completed their training. Nevertheless, I contend that graduate departments that continue to train and prepare students for traditional academic careers —knowing that over 90% won’t find jobs (other than postdocs) after their training is finished —are being disingenuous and even deceitful. Why haven’t academician realized that there is a plethora of job opportunities for life scientists outside of academia?

Like it or not, the life sciences job market has undergone radical changes in the past decade. Unfortunately, academics continue to adhere to dogmatic and anachronistic ideas and practices that don’t prepare their students and postdoctoral fellows for jobs in “the real world.” I contend that informing and enlightening graduate students about alternate career paths and, allowing them to explore some of these opportunities will not impede or hinder laboratory research. Instead, I believe it would help to improve and expedite its progress. As one U Penn graduate student shared with me over a couple of beers “If they would just tell us the truth and give us some idea about our options, it would certainly improve morale, reduce our anxiety and allow us to focus on our research because we would know what is out there!” As the old adage goes”ignorance is bliss.” But, in my experience, knowledge is power!

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!

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I just returned from the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) that was held in Orlando from November 5-8, 2008. The annual meeting, which is configured like most life sciences conferences with plenary oral sessions and poster presentations, is primarily intended to expose minority students to possible career opportunities in the life and biomedical sciences. I was at the meeting working for FASEB Careers as a career development and resume critiquing consultant.  

I have to say that this year's  ABRCMS was one of the most exciting and motivational meetings that I have attended in my career as a scientist and educator. Part of  the excitement and upbeat feeling at the meeting may have been a direct  result of last Tuesday's historic election of Barack Obama (who wasn't excited?).  Nevertheless, I met countless numbers of bright,  highly motivated and talented minority students who want to pursue careers in science, medicine and sometimes both! I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many of the undergraduate students who attend this meeting are actively engaged in basic research in laboratories at their institutions. Further, unlike many of their non-minority counterparts, most of the students who I chatted with were well informed about their intended careers and had divined well thought out strategies to help them realize their career goals and aspirations.

Kudos to the conference organizers and their sponsors! I look forward to attending next year’s conference in Phoenix, AZ.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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