Business Development Associate Sees the Work's Impact

Name: Tom Ng (he/him)

PhD: Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, 2024

What was your main area of research?

My research focused on spinal cord injury, specifically mechanisms of successful spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish, which allows them to swim again following injury. Stem cells make new nerve cells (neurons) in response to spinal cord injury, so I was interested in how these new neurons behave to understand how these new cells may contribute to restoring movement after injury.

What is your current job?

I am a Business Development Associate for Fios Genomics in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I develop relationships with new/existing clients, collaborate with in-house analyst teams to develop bespoke analysis solutions for clients, and present solutions to clients.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

I love engaging with a broad range of science across a wide range of disease areas and therapeutic development stages. I also love working with our team who have a diverse range of scientific expertise, and seeing the positive effect that our work has on clients R&D efforts.

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

LinkedIn

PhD Graduate ➡️ Business Development Associate

If someone is interested in a similar role, what would you recommend they start doing now to prepare?

Reach out to people on LinkedIn who are doing similar roles and conduct informational interviews to help specify what sounds interesting to you.

Some PhD programmes also offer dedicated time (usually ~3 months) to do some type of internship so use this time wisely and get some experience in a commercial position e.g. at a tech transfer office, VC firm, biotech incubator/accelerator etc.

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

The decision came fairly easily. Whilst I enjoyed doing research, I didn't feel like this was my strongest skill. I felt like I was best at communicating with people and building relationships. I wanted to find a role that was still heavily focused on science but allowed me to engage with a wide range of people.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

Start looking at your options early, don't leave it until you're writing your thesis to try and decide what you want to do. Identify your strengths and then pick one job area of interest and focus on applying for these roles rather than spreading yourself too thin and applying for everything.