Ask the expert: Meet Thi Nguyen

Thi Nguyen is the career development programme director for graduate students and postdocs at the University of California, San Francisco.

Say hello!

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{credit}Image credit: UCSF Communications Team{/credit}

What is your scientific background?

I have a PhD in Neuroscience and my area of research was neuroscience and inflammation using animal models of neurodegenerative disease. Most recently I studied the intersection of inflammation, metabolic disease and neurodegeneration during my postdoctoral appointment at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Why did you decide to leave the bench?

This new career within academia was a natural transition for me. As a postdoc, I started organizing career panels and events to help the people I was doing science with. Now as a PhD career advisor and programme director for career development at UCSF, I design, conduct and evaluate programmes specifically for scientists. I collaborate with researchers and counselors, and support scientists at a research-intensive institution everyday, and find that incredibly rewarding. Continue reading

Ask the Expert: Meet Elizabeth Silva

Elizabeth Silva is the MIND programme manager at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

Say hello to our career expert for this month: Elizabeth Silva!

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{credit}Image credit: Jordan Ward{/credit}

What is your scientific background?

I trained as a geneticist and developmental biologist in Canada, the UK and the US, working on a variety of biological problems using Drosophila as a model system. Most recently I was a postdoc at UCSF, working in innate immunity.

Why did you decide to leave academia (if at all)?

I currently manage a new and experimental career exploration programme at UCSF called Motivating INformed Decisions (MIND), but I first left the bench in 2011 to work as an editor at PLOS ONE. Continue reading