Science Administration: Elizabeth Prescott

Elizabeth Prescott, Ph.D.

How did you choose your career? Was this an easy or hard process for you? If you struggled, how did you overcome these struggles?

I became interested in the biological sciences in high school; however, even before I began grad school in a cell biology program, I knew that I did not want to run an academic lab. I was simply interested in the subject. After college, I worked as a lab tech, which prepared me well for grad school. Throughout both grad school and my postdoc, I explored alternate careers in the sciences. I attended seminars and took elective courses on the biotech industry and assumed that I would eventually find my way to the for-profit science sector. I ended up in non-profit (science administration/development) somewhat by accident; I was ready to leave my postdoc and the director of our postdoctoral affairs office alerted me to a position in the provost's office as a liaison to the science core facilities on campus. I applied and got the job. After leaving the bench officially and setting in, I knew that it was the right move for me.

What kind of training, both formal and informal, did you receive to prepare you for your career? If applicable, how did you select where to attend graduate school? How did you choose your postdoc? How about any additional training? How did you choose what additional training to pursue and how did you choose where to do it?

I attended a liberal arts college and majored in molecular biology. After graduation, I worked in a larger university lab as a technician in order to gauge whether grad school was right for me. I applied to a variety of Ph.D. programs and was accepted into a handful. I chose UCSF because of its reputation, its resources, and its strength in a variety of disciplines. When it came to choosing a postdoc, family considerations did come in to play. I was less settled as to my career path at the point, whereas my husband had a very clearly defined trajectory. So while we narrowed our choices of universities together, ultimately I chose to do a postdoc at the university he preferred. I selected the specific lab because I was interested in the science, but also because I was interested in working in the lab of a new PI. In the back of my mind I had started to entertain the idea of running a lab of my own; I wanted to see what I could expect as a young investigator. To be honest, being a part of launching a lab was enough to turn me off of the idea. I began again to put feelers out to other scientific career sectors and networked with people from various stages of my training.

How competitive and/or rigorous was the training for your career?

The training for a scientific career is competitive and rigorous. Academic jobs are exceedingly challenging to obtain. With more and more trained scientists choosing to pursue alternate careers, I would say that these jobs are becoming similarly competitive to obtain. I know of only a few scientists who have chosen to move into the development (fundraising) arena, and when I was looking for positions in my current location, most organizations were more keenly interested in my development experience (which was minimal) than my scientific experience. I was very lucky that the person who hired me saw the value that my scientific training could bring to my current role, but I had to make the case that both my experiences at the bench as well as outside of the lab setting could be brought to bear in this position.

In general, how much did the training cost? Was the investment worth it?

Grad school and my postdoc did not cost in terms of tuition or typical education expenses. The stipends for both were low and necessitated living a modest lifestyle, but the investment is worth it in terms of the training received.

How long did it take you to train? Was it shorter or longer than anticipated? If you had any setbacks, how did you deal with them?

I finished my Ph.D. in just under 5 years. I hoped to finish in five years so it was slightly shorter than I expected. I felt very fortunate to settle into a great lab and had some early scientific successes that facilitated a fairly short dissertation. My postdoc experience was slower scientifically, and after four years I wrapped up. Had I planned to stay at the bench I would have needed either to stay another few years to publish more, or (more likely) to have started a second postdoc. However, because I had the opportunity to transition to another position when I did, I left the postdoc prior to the end of my fellowship.

What was the process like to apply for your first job after your training was over? Was it easy or difficult? How did you cope with any difficulties? Did that differ from subsequent jobs you've had?

As I mentioned above, I had begun networking to look for jobs about 3.5 years into my postdoc. I actively pursued a couple of leads before hitting on an opportunity at the university where I was a postdoc. The job search was difficult, but not more so than I expected. It was the first "job" that I had looked for apart from hourly work in college and the research tech post I had after college. I worked with our postdoctoral affairs office to convert my CV to a real resume and they helped me to understand some of the major differences in applying or a job compared to applying for postdoctoral training or fellowships.

What advice would you give to someone interested in following a similar career path?

My primary advice would be to participate in areas where you have interest. If you are interested in writing, write on the student newspaper. Write proposals, edit manuscripts — do as much as you can related to your field of interest because employers will want to see more than an interest in a field; they will want to see experience. There are more opportunities to explore alternate career opportunities than you might think — teaching and writing experiences are the most obvious, but consider participating on the student or postdoc senate, or sitting on your institution's IACUC board. Consider doing an internship with your organization's ombudsman if you are interested in administration, or with your university's tech transfer office if you are interested in patent work or a career in pharma. Make contacts with the postdoc affairs office; these folks are there to help you find jobs and can be a great source of information and support.

Last, apply for funding throughout your training. The earlier you are able to establish an ability to support yourself the better. Fellowships not only look great on your CV should you decide to stay in the scientific arena, but they demonstrate that you can articulate your ideas in a persuasive way and demonstrate that you are an independent thinker — not just a cog in a machine. Moreover, foundations and organizations that provide funding can be fantastic sources of networking and career development support.

What would you have done differently in preparing for your career?

I don't think I would have done anything differently. In hindsight I might have made some different decisions related to where I trained, but ultimately I am very happy where I landed, and those decisions influenced my job search.

How much do you like what you do? Why? Is it what you imagined it would be? If not, how have you adapted?

I love what I do. Much of it has to do with my employer since the organization seems to be willing to mold job descriptions around the talents of the individual, rather than the other way around. As such, I use my training extensively but also am able to add new skills to my toolbox.

How do you achieve career-life balance? Is this easy or hard to do? How many hours do you typically work per week?

The balance in my job is great. The wonderful thing about my job now is that the harder I work, the more I can accomplish. This is one area in which the work at the bench was frustrating; there were too many late nights or weekends devoted to experiments that may not have turned out to have worked or yielded interesting results. In my current job, prior to having a child, I worked about 45 hours a week, sometimes more. Now that I have a little one, I typically work a regular forty-hour week. I am still able to be productive but it does require more careful time management. However, my weekends are almost always mine — I think about work and may check in via email, but I do not have experiments hanging over my head, which is a very nice change from the bench!

What strategies have you figured out over time to help you succeed?

Primarily, I have learned to follow my interests rather than the prescribed, choreographed career path that comes along with academic science. It would have been easy to simply pursue an academic lab career — not necessarily to find a job, but to at least look for one. I think I would have found myself spinning my wheels, or at best, working like a maniac for the next ten years and becoming resentful of the field I once loved.

How do you see your field changing in the next 5–10 years?

I see development work at medical schools or research centers taking advantage of a pool of trained scientists looking to transition away from the bench. As such, I suspect there will be more opportunities for scientists in this field, provided they are able to demonstrate some experience in it. Like any other alternate career in the sciences, the scientific training alone is not enough — candidates have to be prepared to demonstrate aptitude in the field from day one, not just the ability to learn new skills quickly. That said, a savvy Ph.D. can find opportunities in any field, be it in the for-profit or non-profit sector.