Pharmaceuticals

This meeting covered:

It also emphasized the importance of being flexible and being driven in order to find the right career for you.

Speaker's Background

PhD is in biochemistry: very applicable in anything in the biological sciences area
Worked for Amgen for about 10 years (Seattle, Colorado)
Worked for a couple of small companies
His dad had a PhD in organic chemistry and was a teacher at a college
He would look at his dad's scientific journals (ex: CDM news)
it gave him interest in terms of what science can do
His excitement grew as he realized that he had abilities in the sciences.
Concordia University: undergrad, Scripps Research Institute in San Diego: graduate, Washington University in St. Louis: PhD

Figure out where your passion is and where your skills lie, and find something that marries those two

sample things around your passions/interests/skills

Did not go to a well-known university because Concordia had two programs he was interested
3rd tier school
1st program: Co-op (work study), alternating between working and studying each semester
Four month delay on graduation, but acceleration in experience
2nd program: science college, like a multi-disciplinary science minor
More lab experience (8 total)
Organic chemistry, chemical synthesis, kinetic chemical kinetics, molecular biology
Small class size: teachers are more focused on teaching than research because they are not given large grants for research (compared to top tier schools)
Trade-off: bigger schools give you name recognition and strong networks

All of his undergraduate experience gave him tremendous benefit when applying to graduate school
Very focused in his applications
Interviewing with professors: had many examples of overcoming failures even though his resume looked very successful
Those failures build character and demonstrate your ability to push through
Professors knew he was capable of doing what he wanted to do

One error in graduate school: he did not contact a professor he was really interested in the day before the interview

Professor was on a different campus and didn't interview students unless contacted in advance
Dr. Hambly attended another college he was intrigued by for two years before switching to the college with the professor above
Flew to meet the professor before transferring
Within 10 seconds, Dr. Hambly knew he wanted to switch
The college made a special exception for his transfer because they recognized him

This error cost a year of education

Before: "You can do anything with PhDs"
Now: "You might go anywhere, you might do anything"
You don't know what jobs are going to be available, or where those jobs are gonna be
Ex: Biomedical scientists concentrated in Boston and San Francisco
If you're interested in biomedical sciences, you will probably go to one of those two places

We find cultural efficiencies by congregating
Ex: small tech companies start in Silicon Valley where all the money, employees are, and other successful companies are
When you go into a career, you have to put your personal desires to the side to focus on what the business goals are
People coming out of academia are used to having a project that is their focus/passion
they switch to a company sometimes to continue that type of a project
However, in a company, you have to be flexible

Hired for Job A, but asked to do Job B (both within his capabilities)
Job B was a great fit for him
He is entrepreneurial/innovative, and Amgen allowed that
Asked to fulfill a leadership position in formulation
Applied a principle to his job and helped to improve it
This gave him experience in the business side of drug (biotherapeutics), but he wanted to learn more about the how to bring drugs forward to patients
So, he proactively drove his career into a different direction and moved (Seattle to Colorado)
Changed from early stage organization to late stage organization (where they brought the drugs to the patient, as opposed to very early clinical trials)
Put into a new type of medicine, using a virus to treat cancer
Spent three years in that program learning about this unique biology
His earlier experience in different fields prepared and enabled him to shift and move into all these different parts of his career
That breadth gave him the ability to transition in his career

Dealt with cell biology
Applied everything that he learned at Amgen (bringing drugs to patients) to develop the Karthi drugs
They take blood from a cancer patient who is within weeks of death in the lab, change the genetics of the cell so that it can "see" the cancer
Saves 75% of people who would be dead in weeks.

Same concept on a larger scale
Company gave him a new function/responsibilities
Gave him one employee, but he pushed for at least three (more resources to achieve the goal)
His skills were picked up during his career (science, politics, communication)
These come to play later in your career when you have to start managing across large groups with different ideas and concepts

The Montreal Canadians are a top tier team in the NHL
A young kid came up to the President of the team and said: "Give me a job, you'll tell me how to do something once, you'll never have to tell me how to do it again."
He was hired
It was true that he learned and adapted quickly
He went all the way up he became the head trainer
He found what his passion was, he found the skills, and he was driven

Contact people and make connections
Pushing yourself out shows initiative, drive, and interest
awareness that you are going somewhere in life
Some people will say at a very early age oh I want to be CEO/VP and focus on a very particular linear element of what they want to achieve
but be more flexible
don't discount an opportunity because it's not on the path you originally planned