Are you thinking about a career in industry after your postdoc training? Are you aware of the do's and don'ts of transitioning from academia to industry? What do you need to make it in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries? Is it possible to return to academia after your stint in industry? Are you still in doubt because of your immigration status? In this event, former postdocs share their experiences transitioning to a professional career in the biomedical industry and will answer these and other questions in breakout rooms. Join our panelists Mustafa Barbhuiya, Ph.D. (assistant professor of pathology, UMass Chan Medical School), Jennifer Symonds, Ph.D. (senior project manager, Spherix Consulting Group), and Fang Zhang, Ph.D. (senior scientist, Pfizer). Together they bring their experiences as domestic and international former postdocs, starting a professional career leveraging on their scientific training skills, and even returning to academia after that.

This panel is organized by the NPA International Taskforce.

Barbhuiya is currently an assistant professor of pathology and medical director of clinical chemistry and point of care testing at the Department of Pathology, Baystate Medical Center, UMass Chan Medical School. Before joining this role, he gained industry experience in the field of general and advanced diagnostics as the scientific director of Quest Diagnostics (2020-2021). Barbhuiya established the nonprofit Foundation for Advancement of Essential Diagnostics (FAED) in Guwahati, India, in 2018 and subsequently in Pennsylvania in 2020. FAED aims to provide a framework for a strong and functional evidence-based laboratory medicine regulatory system in south-east Asia to maintain and sustain the quality assurance and continuous improvement in the practice of laboratory medicine in low-resource settings.

In a breakout room, Barbhuiya will address questions on transitioning to a professional career, being an international scholar, and going back to academia.

Although Symonds initially wanted to pursue an academic career, she realized her wide-ranging interests were better suited to a career with an equally broad base of scientific topics. Symonds is a science consultant that combines her experience in academia and government with a global outlook to help her foreign and domestic clients meet their regulatory goals. She is currently responsible for critical evaluation of scientific literature; design and interpretation of pre-clinical and clinical studies for food ingredients, dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals; and the preparation of health risk assessments and regulatory compliance dossiers for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Health Canada, and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

In a breakout room, Symonds will address questions on communication skills, networking strategies, and transferring basic research skills to industry.

Zhang is a detail-focused and results-driven scientist, mentor, and community leader. As a postdoc who transitioned to industry in the midst of COVID-19, he intimately understands the many challenges facing postdocs in their career transition and is constantly aware of the disjoint between academia and industry. Ever since then, Zhang has been offering career advice and workshops to doctoral grads and postdocs alike, prepping them for industry by reviewing their application materials, mentoring them on the interview process, and capitalizing their background to stand out amongst candidates.

In a breakout room, Zhang will address questions on professional development, being an international scholar, and dispelling industry career myths.