Life in a "Rent-a-Lab"

Four years ago Kamna Lahoti was working as a microbiologist at a small company, performing quality control by doing endless microbial counts in a laboratory that prepared injections for Indian generic pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories. The young scientist, who had just completed her master's degree in microbiology at University of Mumbai, quickly tired of the work and felt she needed something new. "It was very monotonous," she says. In 2004, Lahoti got a job with Quintiles Transnational, a global contract research organization (CRO), with facilities in India. She started as a clinical research assistant (CRA), crafting clinical trial management plans and setting study timelines, monitoring clinical study sites throughout India, and liaising with trial coordinators at hospitals and universities. She quickly advanced through the ranks at Quintiles, and she now works at Quintiles' Houston, Texas, facility as a senior CRA. Lahoti says that aside from the occasional flight delay and Texas' dearth of vegan cuisine, she's enjoying her fast-paced career in the world of CROs. "You have different (trial) protocols, different indications to work on, and different sponsors to work with," she says. "It's always a learning process."