Alternative Careers in Science - Leaving the Ivory Tower

280 Pages·2006·0.988 MB·English

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C
ONTRIBUTORS
Numbers in parenthesis indicate the pages on which the author’s con-
tributions begin.
DAVIDAPPELGATE(245), U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 20192
ALEXANDRAJ. BARAN(139), A.J. Baran Consulting Inc., Palo Alto, California
94025
RONCOHEN(97), Acorda Therapeutics, New York, New York 10532
MARK D. DIBNER (47), BioAbility, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
27709
PETERDRAKE(71), Mayflower Partners, Chicago, Illinois 60610
SUEGOETINCKAMBROSE(27), The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas 75214
MARYANNGRAY(79), Gray Strategic Advisors, New York, New York 10023
GENEVIEVEHADDAD(277), Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Bolling Air
Force Base, Washington, D.C. 20332
CAROL HALL (217), BioVenture Consultants, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
02467
PHILIP W. HAMMER (117), The Franklin Center, The Franklin Institute
Science Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
BENTE HANSEN (205), Bente Hansen & Associates, San Diego, California
92130
ix
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x Contributors
GINA LENTO (263), New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Auckland, New
Zealand
ROGER LONGMAN (39), Windover Information, Inc., South Norwalk,
Connecticut 06856
ERIN HALL MEADE (161), Life Alaska Donor Services, Anchorage, Alaska
99507
ELIZABETH D. MOYER (125), M/P Biomedical Consultants, LLC, Mill Valley,
California 94941
DEEPAPAKIANATHAN(61), Delphi Bioventures, Menlo Park, California 94025
RONALDPEPIN(107), Medarex, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey 08543
CLAYTON R. RANDALL (15), Formerly with PE Applied Systems, Foster City,
California 94404
CYNTHIA ROBBINS-ROTH (1, 291), BioVenture Consultants, San Mateo,
California 94403
ROBERT ROTH (149), THE WEINBERG GROUP INC., San Francisco,
California 94105
TONY RUSSO (191), Noonan Russo, Euro RSCG NRP, New York, New York
10016
GAILSCHECHTER(227), BioIntelligence, San Francisco, California 94115
PAULA SZOKA (177), University of Washington Technology Transfer,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105
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REFACE
When I began my path toward becoming an academic scientist back in col-
lege, I never dreamed that I would stray so far from that expected fate. My
travels took me through worlds I had never even considered—business
development, journalism, publishing, running small businesses, and being
an independent consultant. While I wandered far from my original objective,
science remained the core motivation behind all of these career changes.
Even today, several decades after I began my biology major at Bates College
(Lewiston, Maine), my love of discovery, learning about new areas of sci-
ence, and spending time with scientists is the core driver for all of my activ-
ities. The only real change is that my focus is now bringing that science into
the rest of the world.
When I began this voyage there were few road signs to follow—biolog-
ical scientists simply did not leave the academic lab back in the 1970s and
early 1980s. I had to forge my own path from the bench to the boardroom.
Today, I have the chance to be a mentor to others who are making the same
trip. My fellow “scientists gone bad” and I are deluged with phone calls and
e-mails from graduate students, post-doctorates, tenured professors, and
industry scientists who, for a wide range of reasons, are looking for clues to
life outside the lab. I hope this book inspires them to make the leap.
This book is dedicated to all of those who helped me in my evolution,
and most especially to Dr. Steve Bennett, the M.D./Ph.D. who first led me
into the world of venture capital; Brook Byers, who helped build an entire
new industry around science and who supported my early writing activities;
Dr. Stelios Papadopoulos, and academic scientist turned banker who helped
finance that new industry; Joan O’C. Hamilton, who taught me important
lessons about journalism; Dr. Steve Spencer, who watched way too many
xi
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xii Preface
episodes of The A Team with me as I tortured myself over leaving the lab;
Stefan Borg, who bravely turned a bench scientist into a business develop-
ment maven; Dr. Carol Hall, my longtime friend and partner in BioVenture
Consultants, who forced me to see the beauty in finance and the synergy
achieved by two diverse minds working together; and most of all, my hus-
band, Robert Roth, an M.D./Ph.D. whose love and support gave me courage
as I headed into uncharted territory—and who has since made that same
journey himself.
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C h a p t e r
1
A S G B :
CIENTIST ONE AD
How I Went from the Bench to the Board Room
Cynthia Robbins-Roth, Ph.D.
Principal, BioVenture Consultants
It all began so innocently—back in 1984, I was happily running gels and
killing tumors in mice. One year later, I was wearing grown-up clothes and
hanging out with vice presidents and chief executive officers.
After that first move out of the lab, I founded BioVenture View, a
monthly biotech industry newsletter, and BioPeople Magazine, the first
biotech industry magazine about the movers and shakers building the sec-
tor; I became founding editor of BioWorld Today, the first daily
online/faxed biotech newsletter; I started BioVenture Consultants, which
still provides business, technology, and financial consulting services to
start-up businesses and established biopharmaceutical (“biopharma”) com-
panies around the globe; I started writing a regular biotech industry column
for Forbes Magazine and Forbes ASAP, along with two books (this book
and From Alchemy to IPO: The Business of Biotechnology). You probably
noticed that bio is part of all of these endeavors. That early scientific bent
remained a big part of all that I do. I have traveled throughout North
America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim, giving invited talks and working with
governments and young companies. And yet, I haven’t done a hands-on
experiment since 1984.
Alternative Careers in Science
Copyright © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1
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And I couldn’t be happier.
This completely unplanned-for transition has led me into a universe of
opportunities to earn my living by spending time with world-class
researchers pushing back the frontier of science and by communicating the
excitement and promise of that technology to the rest of the world. And
what other biochemist can claim to have been quoted in that respected sci-
entific journal Town & Country?
When I crossed that line from scientist to “suit,” there were very few
examples for me to study. Researchers in the biological sciences were just
starting to believe that it might be okay to leave academia and go into the
newly emerging biotech industry—but only as a scientist! I had no idea what
a scientist could do outside of the lab. I had spent my entire career
immersed in a very rarefied environment, surrounded by other biomedical
researchers who saw the simple move from university to company lab as the
most radical career move ever!
These days, with government funding for academic research still very
much under pressure, with a dearth of academic jobs (with or without
tenure!), and with a growing sense that there must be more possibilities out
there, graduate students and other members of the academic community
are beginning their search for life after lab much earlier. I find that many
universities have active career seminar series that bring students and fac-
ulty into contact with former scientists who have entered a diverse range
of careers. Many corporate scientists are looking for ways to grow beyond
the lab.
This book gives you the insider’s story on 24 different ways to put that
scientific training to good use away from the lab bench and away from aca-
demia. Each of our authors took an unexpected detour into worlds that
were previously unimagined during their early training. And while each of
these jobs took the authors far from their original paths, the key to their
success and enjoyment of new careers was the critical role science contin-
ued to play.
Right now, it might be tough to see how a scientific background could
be valuable to a stock analyst, publisher, or government policy expert. But,
as you will learn from these personal stories, it’s the science that taught
them all to think analytically, to structure an approach to new areas, and to
forge ahead into new territory without fear (or at least not much fear).
The world is full of those with M.B.A.s who long to enter the growing
biotech sector but who just can’t master the intricacies of the technology
sufficiently to be useful to the companies or investors; of patent lawyers
who struggle with applications because they can’t fully grasp the prior art
in the scientific literature; and of information providers who don’t under-
stand the information they sell and thus can’t always tell the difference
between crucial and just interesting data.
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Cynthia Robbins-Roth 3
Don’t let anyone tell you that science is a dead end, now that becoming
a full-tenured professor seems out of
reach. And don’t believe anyone who
“And do not believe anyone who tells you tells you that it is a waste of time to
that it is a waste of time to pursue a
pursue a science education unless you
science education unless you plan to stay
plan to stay in the lab. There is a wide
in the lab.”
universe out there, just waiting for you
to explore!
SO HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
I was first bitten by the science bug in seventh grade. The teacher was
showing us how dripping acid on a rock could determine if it was lime-
stone. This simple-minded experiment had a huge impact on me. I loved
the idea that you could do experiments to figure out something that you
didn’t already know, that you could query the universe! This appealed
to me immensely, in part because I already had a serious problem with
authority figures and loved the idea that you could find answers inde-
pendently.
While the specific field of interest evolved for me over time, the basic
drive toward lab work never changed. At Bates College, my biochemistry
focus shifted a bit when I took my first immunology course, taught by a
young scientist fresh out of his post-doctoral position (“post-doc”) at
Yale. Immunology was just on the verge of converting from phenomenol-
ogy (okay, stick this stuff into a bunny and see what happens!) into a
realm where a protein biochemist could have some fun and learn cool
new stuff about how the immune system actually worked. That teacher
was the first to let me into the wonderful world of hands-on science—I
was in love.
I moved to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for
my Ph.D. work with Dr. Benjamin Papermaster, whose lab was focused
on applying the tools of biochemistry to purify and characterize the pro-
teins that carry messages (Kill that tumor! Wipe out the virally infected
cell!) for the immune system. I was intrigued with the idea that we could
use our work to find a way to provide cancer patients with the immune
factors their own systems were not making, moving away from the incredi-
bly toxic chemotherapy drugs that were the only treatment available at
thetime.
By 1980, it became increasingly clear that, while I loved the lab work,
academia was not for me. If I had to listen to one more medical student
whine about the lab work I had to teach them, I would be forced to throw
them through a window—which would probably be detrimental to my
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academic career. I started interviewing for jobs at pharmaceutical compa-
nies, but I was discouraged by their overpopulation of middle-aged white
guys in clean lab coats and ties who all went home at 4:30 in the afternoon.
These companies seemed too conservative for me, and my little problem
with authority figures had not gone away.
In 1980, while I was in the midst of a post-doc in the interferon lab of
Dr. Howard Johnson, I got a phone call from a scientist at a newly formed
company—Genentech, Inc., in southern San Francisco, California. While
I had no idea what this “biotech” industry was, my ears perked up when
he said the company was only 2 years old and had chosen cytokines—my
area of interest—as an initial research focus. We agreed to meet in Paris
atthe week-long International Immunology Congress (really, ALL job inter-
views should take place in Paris, don’t you think?). To this day, I am con-
vinced it was my ability to order him his first full meal in French that got me
the job.
In spite of howls of “traitor” from my academic colleagues, Genentech
turned out to be exactly what I was looking for, in many ways. The labs
were packed with young ex-post-docs and those with recently received
Ph.D. titles who had no commercial experience, along with just about
every piece of equipment you could want. The company environment was
very entrepreneurial—Genentech was one of the first biotech companies
formed, and it changed the ground rules for doing science in a corporate
setting. Dress codes were nonexistent, scientists kept whatever schedules
they wanted (being ex-post-docs, we all worked 18-hour days, at least 6
days a week), and we didn’t have to write grants or teach medical stu-
dents! I was working with some of the best scientists in a broad range of
disciplines—protein chemistry, immunology, tumor biology, molecular
biology, X-ray crystallography, assay development, and so on. I was in
heaven.
At Genentech, my “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” personality, first
nurtured in Johnson’s lab, really came into play. While I was supposed to
be focused exclusively on assay design and purification schemes, I spent a
lot of time wandering the halls and learning how to do amino acid compo-
sition and sequencing, RNA purification (and why you really don’t want
phenol on your hands), and some really hard-core protein biochemistry.
I learned about the problems in designing productive animal studies and
the challenges a young entrepreneurial company faced when starting with
75folks, who knew each other pretty well, and ending up with 150 people
andmore.
During my Genentech stint, I spent time as a project team leader. The
phrase “herding cats” springs to mind when remembering what it was like
to get a group of aggressive, competitive scientists from different depart-
ments to quit bickering and start cooperating so that the project could move
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Cynthia Robbins-Roth 5
forward. This experience convinced me that people management skills—
not just excellent science—were crucial to a successful business and that
Ineeded to improve my people skills!
HEADING OUT OF THE LAB
That other change in my thought process was the realization that science
for its own sake wasn’t all that satisfying for me. I wanted my work to con-
tribute to developing a new therapeutic treatment that could help patients.
I wanted to understand how the company decided which science projects
would generate the best products and what issues outside of technical
points had to be considered.
As luck would have it, my incredible ineptness at corporate politics and
frustration with the “pushing limp spaghetti” aspect of team building in a
nonteam environment propelled me out of the lab and into the best place to
learn the answers to my questions—business development.
I wanted desperately to leave Genentech and the constant battles, but
I couldn’t find a bench job that wasn’t in conflict with my project at
Genentech. I had no idea how to find a nonbench job. The only scientist
I knew who had made the transition was another biochemist with a Ph.D.
who became a patent lawyer—but the idea of going to law school did not
appeal to me at all.
I started scanning the newspaper want ads and reading the classified
ads in the back of Scienceand Nature. Months went by before I stumbled
on an ad for “Advisor to the CEO” at a company I had never heard of,
California Biotechnology, Inc., in Mountain View. I had no idea what they
did there, but what the heck, they were looking for a scientist with a
Ph.D., someone with biotech experience, and I certainly could give advice!
(Of course, I worried that my shy and retiring personality might be a
drawback.)
I sent a résumé and was invited for an interview. It turned out the Cal
Bio was a biotherapeutic company with 75 employees and 35 ongoing proj-
ects. The CEO wanted me to help analyze the huge number of projects and
help the management team determine which were great product opportu-
nities and which were not—my first exposure to the concept of due dili-
gence.
The perfect job! I had to learn how to analyze science not just from the
perspective of experimental design and data but also through examining
intellectual property issues and competition from other biotech firms and
“big pharma” companies (large, sometimes multinational, pharmaceutical
companies). I had to build a network of clinicians to learn what they saw as
critical medical problems requiring a novel approach; I had to understand
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what it would take to develop such a product from lab to FDA approval and
into the marketplace.
Luckily, I had a great mentor, Stefan Borg. He had a molecular biology
background plus an M.B.A. degree. Stefan taught me the basics of business
development and encouraged me on a daily basis.
I loved it! My science training in tracking down information and fitting
pieces of data together to form a picture came in very handy, along with the
ability to critically evaluate and analyt-
ically work through a problem to obtain
“I got paid to be educated in many new
a potentially unexpected answer.
areas by the experts—what a great
deal!” Because the 35 projects were in such a
wide range of clinical settings, I had to
conquer a broad range of disciplines. It
was my job to track down experts in various fields and entice them into
telling me everything I needed to know. In other words, I got paid to be edu-
cated in many new areas by the experts—what a great deal!
I found that my scientific background and degree were almost more
important than any growing business sense. Just mentioning these things
gave me instant credibility with wary scientists who were getting really
tired of talking to nonscientists—the bankers, analysts, lawyers, and corpo-
rate executives who wanted to put their inventions to work.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS BECOME IMPORTANT
As I started putting together my reports to the management team on these
projects, I found that I had to communicate the key concepts and issues in
a language that they understood. If the CEO did not grasp the gist of my
recommendations, all that work was useless to the company, no matter how
profound my analysis. This basic fact of life forced me to improve my writ-
ing skills, which consisted solely of knowing how to write dry journal arti-
cles for other scientists in my very narrow field. In the process, I found that
I loved to write, and I loved finding ways to communicate to others my
excitement about an area of science.
This led me in 1984 to start an in-house newsletter—The RR Report—to
keep management informed about the activities of competing biotech and
pharmaceutical firms and to highlight interesting scientific papers and confer-
ence presentations that might be interesting for the company. I had to learn
how to use word processing programs to generate my reports and the newslet-
ter—the departmental secretary informed me that she “didn’t work for girls.”
I learned how to build database programs because it was the only way to keep
track of the information in my newsletters. Although I whined about having to