Once a Scientist

Episode 84. Maryann Martone is an emeritus professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego. She received her BA from Wellesley College in Biological Psychology and Ancient Greek and her PhD in Neuroscience from the UC San Diego

Anand Muthusamy is a Fellow at Convergent Research, where he's laying the groundwork for a focused research organization (FRO) to monitor the real-time activity of biomarkers in humans. Anand is a chemist and neuroscientist. He recently completed his PhD at Caltech, worked at Janelia Research Campus, and did his undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania. Check out his recent paper on bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.15.584894v1 Defense talk on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OK1kBOKsaaw FRO proposal overview: https://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Muthusamy-Garrett-Molecular-Modeling.pdf

Episode 83. Anand Muthusamy is a fellow at Convergent Research, where he's building a focused research organization (FRO) to monitor the real-time activity of biomarkers. Anand is a chemist and neuroscientist. He recently completed his PhD at Caltech, worked at Janelia Research Campus, and did his undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania. Check out his recent paper on Bioarxiv:

Episode 82. Alexander Titus is a professor at USC, doing research at the intersection of biology and AI. He completed his PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences at Dartmouth. He's also the founder of Bioeconomy.xyz and advises the U.S. Government on AI and national security. Titus spent time at McKinsey and Google and helped build Colossal Biosciences and Form Bio.

Episode 81. Ashley Ruba is the founder of After Academia and a Human Factors Engineer at Arthrex. Ashley did her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Washington and her undergrad degree at Duke University. Show Notes: Infant language and emotional development lab [02:00] NIH NRSA Institutional Postdoc Training Grant (T32) [03:48] Ashey’s academic story [01:45] Leaving academia [07:12] Human Factors Engineer [9:35] Arthrax [10:37] Working in augmented reality [10:43] Attachment styles [13:10] How do you get your first job out of academia [16:05] Pivoting into UX research and Human Factors Engineering and the process of making the change [24:21] Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive [28:44] Pivoting from big tech for stability and more growth opportunities [29:40] Career coaching [32:22] Getting over self doubt, internal roadblock, and imposter syndrome [34:39] How do I get recruiter to look at my resume [38:32] Tactical tips on how to structure a resume [40:08] Motivating factors beyond salary and benefits [44:22] Being honest with yourself [47:11] Core values - growth [48:21] Most unexpected change and realization [49:37] Listen to yourself [52:57] What advice would you give to your younger self? [54:09] The myth of being stuck in academia [57:06]

Episode 80. Amy Kruse is Chief Investment Officer at Satori Capital and a Venture Partner at Prime Movers Lab. Amy completed her PhD in Neuroscience at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After leaving the bench, Amy spent time as a Program Manager at DARPA and has worked in various operating roles in the neurotech industry.

Episode 79. Sammi Sison is co-president of Nucleate, an international student-led organization designed to help scientists kick off careers in entrepreneurship, business development, and venture capital. Sammi is a PhD student at UC San Diego where she studies translational processing in the brain.

Episode 78. Kim Edwards, my partner, is the guest interviewer. We talk about motivations for starting a company. Check out the journey in real-time on my newsletter: transitionstates.substack.com

Episode 77. Jun Axup is Chief Operating Officer at E11 Bio, a Focused Research Organization. She is an entrepreneur and former Chief Scientific Officer and Partner at IndiBio. She's also a musician, artist, and community builder. Jun completed her PhD in Chemical Biology at Scripps Research. Check out some of her awesome projects at her personal website: https://junaxup.com/

Episode 76. We turn the table in this episode. William Marks, a longtime friend, interviews me in 2020 on the motivations behind getting into neuroscience and starting a podcast

Episode 76. Aiden Aceves is a Vice President at Insight Partners, an investment firm. Prior to entering VC, Aiden completed his PhD in Bioengineering at Caltech and a bachelor's degree at UC Riverside.

Episode 75. Andrew Akbashev is a Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and completed a postdoc at Stanford University. If you're not already, follow him on LinkedIn, X or YouTube for insights into navigating academia and science careers Timestamps: 00:15:14 How to pick a thesis advisor 00:28:06 Evaluating student-advisor compatibility 00:36:31 When doing a postdoc makes sense 00:52:15 How to offer more career opportunities to PhDs 01:12:01 How to incentivize higher risk research 01:20:27 Increasing communication skills among scientists 01:25:21 Role of social media in science 01:26:32 The pressures many group leaders face 01:34:00 Importance of mentorship and the need for strong mentors in public forums 01:41:31 Fostering a collaborative (rather than competitive) mindset

Episode 74. Clarice Aiello is the Principal Investigator of the Quantum Biology lab at UCLA. She completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT and did postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford and UC Berkeley. Check out this article she wrote about quantum biology for the American Physical Society: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/79 To learn more about quantum mechanics, click here: https://www.qubitbyqubit.org/

Episode 73. Julio de Unamuno IV is the Founder & CEO of LabFellows and Executive Director of HomeLab, the biotech accelerator at UC San Diego's Center for Novel Therapeutics. He did his undergrad in Biochemistry at the University of San Diego and an MBA at the UC San Diego, Rady School of Management.

Episode 72. Gertrude Nonterah is a Medical Communications professional at Thermo Fisher and the creator of The Bold PhD, where she helps PhDs navigate non-academic careers. Gee did a postdoc at UC San Diego, PhD at Temple University, and undergrad degrees at Virginia Commonwealth University and PennWest Edinboro. Check out her blog and newsletter at: www.theboldphd.com

Episode 71. SK Sharma is the Chief Analytics and AI Officer at Universal Music Group and an Entrepreneur in Residence at UC San Diego. SK completed his PhD at Caltech in Biophysical Chemistry and Biological/Chemical Physics. He has held senior executive roles across investment banking, strategy consulting and venture capital. Remarkably, SK continues to publish biomedical research in academic journals. Make sure to check out some of his other media appearances mentioned in the show: Billboard 40 Under 40 - How a Scientist is Helping the Music Biz Unlock the Power of Data UCSD Commencement Keynote Ideas in StemEd PodcastThe MBW Podcast

Episode 70. Aditya Mahara is a Senior Product Manager at Medable and has worked in product management at AstraZeneca and Siemens Healthineers. Aditya completed a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor's degree in Physics at Rollins College. He's also the creator of the PhD to Industry blog, where he provides career advice to PhDs. Check it out at https://phdtoindustry.substack.com/

Episode 69. Tatiana Novobrantseva is the Chief Scientific Officer of Immuno-Oncology Research at Moderna Therapeutics. She has worked at multiple biotech companies including Verseau Therapeutics (co-founder), Third Rock Ventures/Jounce, Alnylam, Biogen, and others. Tatiana completed a PhD in Genetics at the University of Cologne and a postdoc at Harvard Medical School before jumping into the world of biotech.

Episode 68. Jake Haworth is an Associate Director of Research and Early Development Operations at Moderna. Jake did an undergraduate degree at the University of New Mexico and spent time as a researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute before managing operations in a series of biotech startups.

Episode 67. Aadeel Akhtar is CEO of PSYONIC, a neuroprosthetics company. Aadeel did his undergraduate degree and first master's degree at Loyola University Chicago. He completed a second master's degree and a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign