VP of Scientific Storytelling with Surprising Skill Advice

Name: Kisha Greer (she/her)

PhD: Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health; Virginia Tech, 2019

What was your main area of research?

In grad school, I used a mouse model of multiple concussions to look at how stem cells in the learning and memory part of the brain behave and possibly contribute to memory issues.

In my postdoc (which I did at NIH/NINR), we were looking at blood-based biomarkers of traumatic brain injury. I worked with blood samples from military veterans, but I was only there 5ish months before COVID hit, then I spent like a year job searching and writing the occasional paper.

What is your current job?

I am the Vice President of Scientific Storytelling & Content Strategist for Syneos Health Communications, based in Richmond, Virginia.

My company office is in NYC though - I am fully remote in Richmond.

I've worked on almost anything you see that a pharmaceutical company, or their executives, make or say... except for actual advertisements.

Day-to-day my job looks very different depending on what my clients are working on. Right now, I'm helping a large pharma company prep for ASCO, which is social media content series explaining some cancer topics, press releases, media Q&As, media pitches, articles for the website, articles for the executives to put their name on and publish in outlets like Science, USA Today, TIME, etc.

It's a hodge podge but at my level as a subject matter expert in scientific storytelling it's a mix of actually doing the content myself and then providing the strategy, delegating the initial draft, and serving as an editor.

What is your favorite thing about your job?

I love that everyday I get to work on something different.

What is the most important skill you developed or experience you had during your PhD that now helps you in your current position?

This is going to sound weird, but bullshitting.

I think everyone in academia is doing this thing where they try not to act like they don't know what someone is talking about (scientifically) and the ability to like quickly apply one topic to another, ask thoughtful questions, think on your feet and pretend to have it all together are all things that I feel like I do all the time. Not like bullshitting the public but the skills you need to bullshit your way through those conversations are the ones I feel like have been the most helpful..

But if you want an actual professional answer, I typically say the ability to write in a way that's compelling - like you'd do for a grant.

How did you build the skills necessary for your current role?

I had an amazing grad advisor who taught me the skills I needed to be successful in any role I'd take.

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

LinkedIn, a recruiter for Syneos told me they were hiring... but I got into this field when someone from my grad program posted on her LinkedIn that her company was hiring remotely, and I was like "ooooo" because I had been sitting around doing nothing for months during COVID.

PhD ➡️ postdoctoral ➡️ sci comms person for government program ➡️ PR (public relations)

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

Writing a lot and working on your people skills.

I'm literally a goober and definitely the least professional person at my level at my company. I tend to get away with a lot because my peers and my clients genuinely like me as a person. I can hold a small talk conversation and make it memorable and interesting... and I'm also one of like 3 people with a PhD out of at least 500 people at my company, so I can also be really smart when I need to be but most of my clients don't really get what that means until I'm working on something with a lot of science in it :)

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

I thought I would love research, but I really didn't love the disappointments. So maybe like in month one?

It was an easy decision for me because I thought I'd get a job doing something like program management where my PhD and experience was still needed and useful.

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

I feel like everyone says the soft skills are important, which is true... But I tend to tell people to do informational interviews with people who have different roles. And if you're actively looking for a job, find someone who has the job you want then look through their LinkedIn profile to see if they know of any recruiters in the industry.

I'm personally connected to like 10 of them, so I always tell people to hit up recruiters that way if you're feeling overwhelmed and want to get a feel for the jobs you should be applying for within an industry.

Are there any components of your identity you would like to share, including how they have impacted your journey?

I am mixed race and was funded through diversity grants in grad school.... that grant currently doesn't exist, so I'm extremely thankful that I was able to get the opportunity to pursue grad school, while also being extremely angry that others have had the opportunity stripped away from them.