PhDizzle Alice Cheng

Dr. Thanh Lu received her PhD in economics at Temple University, and is currently completing a postdoc in health economics at Cornell Medicine. Thanh pursued a PhD because she loved teaching (then stopped loving teaching, but now loves it again...), and is hoping to find a home where she can balance both teaching and research. Thanh also wins the award for most interesting PhD research ever...studying the "munchies" (well, sort of)! When she's not deep in research, Thanh brings the same intensity to cooking and gardening. Hear about Thanh's career journey and all the interesting chapters of her PhD thesis!

Dr. Shawn Hakim got his PhD in cancer and molecular medicine from the Virginia Commonwealth University, through a world class, innovative translational program. He landed himself a spot at GSK after school, working in oncology trials (his dream job!). Although he had complete multiple academic programs, Shawn's ultimate goal was to join industry and help advance medicine for patients that need it most. When he's not saving lives, Shawn enjoys sports, the outdoors, and traveling. Hear about his crazy career journey and sports championship, plus his dream vacation spot, in this month's episode of PhDizzle!

Dr. Ilya Captain got his PhD in Chemistry from UCLA. After doing a postdoc, he realized academia wasn't the right career path, and instead went into sales! He started off on the technical sales side before transitioning over into account management, meaning he now owns a quota! When he's not selling, Ilya enjoys water sports and board games. Hear us chat about life in sales, snow in Sacramento, and the best camera lighting for Zoom calls on this month's episode!  If you're a graduate student interested in learning more about technical sales, feel free to reach out to Ilya for a chat! ilya.captain1@gmail.com

Dr. David Schweitzer got his BS in Labor Studies and Employment Relations from Penn State University, MS in Organizational Management from Misericordia University, and his PhD in Human Development from Marywood University. David actually had no idea what he wanted to do after college, and eventually found his way into student affairs, and volunteered to do a PhD while **working full time**! After graduating, he's stayed in student affairs as Director of Student Conduct at Lycoming College. Now that he's finally done pulling 80 hour weeks, Dave gets to spend more time running, chopping wood (really), and hanging out with his dog Summer! Join us in this month's episode to hear David's story and find out what his favorite Penn State Creamery ice cream flavor is!

Dr. Tonke de Jong (pronounced "toonka duh yong") is from The Netherlands but has made her way to the beautiful coast of Spain! She got her PhD in biomechanical engineering from TU Delft, and continues her work in a clinical setting in her part-time post-doc. She is also a founder of her own platform for PhD students, called Dr. Tonke! Tonke's love for traveling and passion for helping other PhD students are combined at Dr. Tonke, where she offers PhD prep courses / materials as well as writing workshops where students can get to know each other and bunker down on their thesis! Outside of her busy work life, Tonke loves going out with friends, great food, and spending time with her lovely little Dutch dog. Hear more about Tonke's career journey and life in Spain in this month's episode of PhDizzle!

Dr. Xiaokun Wang got her BS in Chemistry from Peking University in China, and went on to complete her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from a joint program between Georgia Tech, Emory, and Peking Universities. This allowed her to conduct collaborative research across two different continents, and built her expertise in biomaterials. After spending additional time at Johns Hopkins on the research side, Xiaokun made the leap to industry, and is currently CTO of a stealth startup at the intersection of biomaterials and -- wait for it -- fashion! Hear about Xiaokun's amazing career journey, as well as her real talk about Covid and motherhood. Plus, cats! All in this month's episode of PhDizzle!