5 to Life: A PhD and Beyond 5 to Life Pod

The NCCS reports that over 1.5 million nonprofit organizations are registered in the United States today. Most of us are able to name several of these from memory, but did you know that many nonprofit organizations hire scientists? Our “What to do with my graduate degree?” series continues with a feature on scientists working in these roles. We were joined by Dr. Heather Alger, Director of Product Development at the American Heart Association, and Dr. Helen Ann Cuffe, a Manager at Deloitte Consulting Company, for an engaging discussion about being a scientist in the nonprofit field. Tune in to hear about their day to day lives, the necessity of science communication, tailoring your CV to your job of choice, and networking effectively.

Have you ever wondered why instrument representatives are so skilled at discussing science? The truth is that most of them have attended graduate school, and many have PhDs! What's life like for this unique form of traveling doctor? We met with Dr. Charlie Pemble, the East Coast Account Manager of Rigaku, to figure it out. After completing his PhD in Biochemistry at Wake Forest, Dr. Pemble remained unsure about whether to pursue industry or academia as he entered his Postdoctoral position at Duke University. Listen in to hear him discuss his career path, balancing a travel-oriented job with family life, and incorporating bench science into a sales position.

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@5tolife

On episode
Angelica Riojas
Brittni Foster
Charlie Pemble

Are you interested in using your graduate degree to educate others about science? You may think that this path begins with a PhD and post-doctoral position and ends in an academic career. However, what if you could pursue that path from a medical writing position to a continuing education expert working from home? In this episode, we join Wake Forest alumnus, Sara Campbell Miller, to discuss her career path and current position as Director of the Quality Improvement Institute at Med-IQ, LLC. We cover the vital role of science communicators in relaying pharmaceutical information to clinicians, self-motivation techniques for working from home, and tips for how you can enter this exciting yet often overlooked field.

Thank you to www.thehomegrownentrepreneur.com for editing this episode.

How can you use a Bioscience-based PhD to heal not only individuals, but entire communities? Aaron and Angelica sat down with Dr. Kelly Parsons, who answered this question by pursuing a career in university tech transfer. Kelly graduated from Wake Forest with her PhD before pursuing a postdoctoral opportunity at UNC Chapel Hill, where she now works as the Associate Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. Listen in to learn about the field Parsons refers to as “the intersection between science, business, and law.”

Graduate school is a tumultuous journey, but it has a defined endpoint. Eventually, we’ll get our degrees and graduate school will be over. What comes after that? As a PhD student, Dr. Erik Brady had many of the same confusions and ended up pursuing a postdoctoral position to satisfy the status quo. We sat down with Dr. Brady to discuss his career path from PI-bound to his departure from the bench, all the way to his current position as director of the graduate school at Wake Forest University. Dr. Brady has had a rollercoaster of a career path, and he offers some valuable insight into what he is doing to protect the students at Wake Forest from following in his footsteps and to prepare them for their future careers. Tune in to hear our plans to amplify this message to our entire listener community!