{credit}Image courtesy of Annalise Smith{/credit}

Introducing Annalise Smith, one of the winners of the London Naturejobs Career Expo journalism competition

Annalise Smith is a PhD candidate in microbiology and immunology at the University of Miami. She is funded by a predoctoral fellowship from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and works on understanding the anti-cancer mechanisms of the natural plant derived compound Withaferin A in HER-2/neu breast cancer. Outside the lab, she enjoys the theatre, spending time with family and friends, reading and travelling. She is passionate about inspiring underprivileged students to dream bigger and aspire higher. 

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Like most incoming PhD students, I entered my studies in 2009 with a blind optimism for a successful career as an academic research scientist. I fanaticised about running my own lab and pursuing my own ideas with the noble goal of improving human health and ridding the world of disease. Convinced that there were only two career options post-graduation: academia or pharmaceutical industry research, the majority of my peers and I chose academia and pursued our lab rotations and graduate training opportunities with vigour. However, our hopes for success in our chosen career gradually diminished and our post graduation options seemed not as clear-cut as we first thought.

During my time as a PhD student, my peers and I looked on as assistant and senior professors were forced to cut staff due to decreased funding. We watched our PhD mentors submit grant application after grant application, only to be a few points shy of the funding cut-off every single time. We could feel their panic as they worried about sustaining their careers in science. The rumour mill was roaring with stories of which PhD mentors were considering a move to industry and very soon we graduate students were worried too. The simple solution was that we would all just go to industry, but we soon realised that getting a position in the pharmaceutical industry immediately after completing the PhD degree was not quite as easy. Continue reading →