Changing Disciplines Can Offer Personal And Professional Satisfaction

SIDEBAR: Online Career Information For Scientists Describing his career, Chris Fields invokes the cry of Civil War Admiral David Farragut: Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead! Over the past 20 years, he has worked in physics, meteorology, and, now, genetics. Each career change presented new opportunities for Fields, who has a talent for data analysis. "I find it fascinating when people say they're bored with what they're doing," says Fields, chief scientific officer of newly formed Molecular Informatics Inc., a Santa Fe, N.Mex., company specializing in data systems to organize gene sequence information. "I can't imagine continuing to work on something if that's the case." Fields, of course, is not the first restless researcher to forget the obstacles and switch careers. Earlier this century, a handful of physicists-including Max Delbruck and Francis Crick-launched the study of molecular biology. Trading physical systems for the living cell, these pioneers revolutionized science. While some scientists abandon lifelong projects for a totally different subject, others move from basic research into more applied areas or catch an employment wave-bioinformatics, for example-to launch new careers. MARKETPLACE VENTURES: Career advisor Stephen Rosen sees a trend in job choices. "Today, many scientists are dovetailing their supporting or subdisciplines to marketplace ventures, such as computer-based combinatorial chemistry" (K.S. Brown, The Scientist, May 13, 1996, page 1), reports Stephen Rosen, who was trained as a physicist and is now director of the New York-based Scientific Career Transitions Program. The program counsels scientists and engineers on career renewal. Rosen's description fits Fields, who jumped from meteorology software design into bioinformatics, which combined his computer expertise and love of biology. In 1992, Fields helped cofound The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), a nonprofit organization in Rockville, Md., that analyzes genomes and gene products. He stayed there for two years before moving on. Changing fields is a complex decision, and reasons range from practical-moving into a job that has the potential for an increased salary, for example-to personal, including feelings of alienation or burnout. "We hear from academic researchers all the time who have hit the wall with regards to the grant crunch and feel frustrated," says David Jensen, director of Search Masters International, a Sedona, Ariz., firm that recruits scientists for biotech and drug firms. Depending on a scientist's age and experience, launching a new career can be very difficult, Jensen cautions. But often, the challenge is well worth it. Walking toward the New York University Medical Center (NYUMC) building where she worked as an immunologist, Roberta Hayes used to pass a promotional sign that read: "From lab bench to bedside." The motto underscored the importance of NYUMC research to human health. But to Hayes, the saying seemed ironic. "I felt like the institute was dominated by basic scientists who looked down on clinical applications," recalls Hayes, who worked at the center for 10 years. "If you're doing clinical stuff, it's as though you're not really a pure scientist." Struggling to get funding for her studies on oncogenes, she left NYUMC last May to take a clinical position as director of the immunotherapy program at Staten Island University Hospital. She now works to develop cancer treatment using cell and monoclonal antibody therapies. Hayes says she has enjoyed the switch to clinical medicine. "Once you make the jump in your mind that you're not somehow being disloyal to your training, it's fairly easy to do," she advises. As a Ph.D. scientist moving into a world filled with M.D.'s, Hayes sought the advice of friends who were academic physicians. They made the jump from basic to applied research much easier, she remembers. SEEING STARS: Biologist Margie Profet went into physics and astronomy. While Hayes stuck with the same subject, some mid-career scientists take on an entirely new field. Consider Margie Profet, a theoretical biologist who applies evolutionary study to biomedical problems. In 1995, two years after Profet won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she decided to make a quantum leap into astronomy (T.W. Durso, The Scientist, Sept. 2, 1996, page 3). Date: October 14, 1996 Here are a few World Wide Web sites offering information or discussion on science careers. While merely a sample, this list does include Internet sites that link to other career-oriented resources: Network of Emerging Scientists (NES): http://pegasus.uthct.edu/nes/nes.html Jobs for Biomedical Scientists: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~garlandc/Jobs%20HTMLs/Home.html Scientific Career Transitions (SCT) Program: http://www.harbornet.com/biz/office/sct001.html Grants on the World Wide Web: http://www.research.sunysb.edu/research/kirby.html Following are the E-mail addresses of some of the individuals mentioned in this article: Chris Fields: caf@ncgr.org Roberta Hayes: rlhayes@pipeline.com David Jensen: davej@sedona.net Stephen Rosen: srosen@ix.netcom.com http://www.harbornet.com/biz/office/sct001.html David Sander: dmsander@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu "I loved doing what I was doing, but I really wanted to do something more abstract," Profet explains. Armed with a 12-year-old physics degree, she headed to the University of Washington in Seattle to study the structure of space time. "I originally planned to spend a year studying physics and then go back to biology. But I'm having so much fun. . . . I really appreciate the beauty and rigor of this field." Of course, most job-seekers can't count on winning a MacArthur Fellowship. While Profet acknowledges that the money made her time in physics possible, she comments, "I think people often see obstacles where there aren't that many. If you really love something-whether it's your art, music, or biology-there often is a route to be able to do it." Often, the route to a new job is under your nose-at your keyboard, for example. Working on his Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology at Boston University School of Medicine, Martin Leach wound up with both a degree and a job -- in bioinformatics, which uses computers to interpret biological data. Leach's journey into the computer world began when he was trying to learn the function of various DNA sequences that control production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an essential brain chemical. This was before the World Wide Web craze, and he found himself spending hours with a computer manual balanced on his lap, typing his way through obscure databases of gene information. "Pretty soon, I was teaching other people in the lab and faculty in the department about using these databases," Leach says. At that point, Leach had already fulfilled the classic job-seeker's challenge: "the gossip test." In other words, consider what you talk about most to learn where your interests lie. The approach has worked for many people, including Francis Crick, who wrote about launching his biology career during the 1940s (F. Crick, What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery, New York, Basic Books, 1988). "I had several friends among the naval officers. They were interested in science but knew even less about it than I did," Crick wrote. "One day I noticed I was telling them, with some enthusiasm, about recent advances [in the news] in antibiotics-penicillin and such. . . . It came to me that I was not really telling them about science. I was gossiping about it. I had discovered the gossip test." Settled on molecular biology, Crick went on to solve the helical structure of DNA with James Watson less than 15 years later. Much like Crick, Leach soon realized that his own lectures and enthusiasm revealed a strong preference. His choice was the computer over the centrifuge. As the World Wide Web took off, Leach created his own home page (http://www.tradesmart.com/martin/leach.html). Employees at CuraGen Corp., a Branford, Conn., genomics company, spotted the page and eventually offered Leach a job as a bioinformatics specialist. SELF-PROMOTION: Recruiter David Jensen emphasizes networking. By putting himself online, in the public eye, he was engaging in the 'N' word-networking. While many scientists would rather stay in the lab than go out and network, it is a crucial way to meet prospective employers, notes Jensen. "The world of industry, in particular, revolves around networking," Jensen says. "You must go out and sell yourself. Make a few contacts with search firms. Network with people who have already made it into industry. Everyone they know should have two or three other contacts. It's a numbers game. The more people you talk to, the better your chances." If Leach's job offer illustrates the power of networking, Fields's career teaches a second lesson: seize opportunity. In the 1980s, when the Department of Energy (DOE) stopped funding the physics lab in which Fields worked, he switched gears, pursuing degrees in philosophy and molecular biology. While teaching logic courses, he took a job in a small software company founded by a friend. "He needed someone to work with his programmers," Fields says. "I needed the money." Hooked on software design, Fields eventually won a job developing computer programs to explain gene structure at the National Institutes of Health. That led to the founding of TIGR. Today, as chief scientific officer at Molecular Informatics, Fields continues to ride the bioinformatics wave. Fields suggests that career advancement via job-hopping is far easier in industry than in academia. "Especially in small companies, everyone is motivated to get the job done," he notes. "Anyone who looks like they have skills that can contribute is pretty well accepted." But career changes are not all insight and excitement. Skeptical peers, funding problems, and other challenges can test a job changer's will. What's more, scientists occasionally end up as unhappy in their new job as in their old one. NO PANACEA: Author Karl Lanks urges careful deliberation before switching. "I wouldn't simply look at [a job change] as a panacea," warns Karl W. Lanks, director of pathology at Staten Island University Hospital and author of Academic Environment: A Handbook for Evaluating Employment Opportunities in Science (Washington, D.C., Taylor and Francis, 1995; K.W. Lanks, The Scientist, Oct. 2, 1995, page 16). "If you're dissatisfied with something, ask where the problem is." For example, some researchers realize late in life that endless lab work is too tedious for them. Simply switching to another kind of lab work won't fix the problem. FACING SKEPTICS: David Sander's switch prompted questions from colleagues. And even if you are comfortable with your career choice, your colleagues may not be. In particular, job changers who veer from mainstream career paths often endure skepticism. David Sander, a virology graduate student at Tulane University, had two postdoctoral research offers when he announced he was taking a year off to be a congressional fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sander recalls one common reaction: "Why are you throwing your career away?" Discouragement may continue once job-changers settle into a new position. For a newcomer to a field, getting grant money can be even harder than normal. "The problem is that grant-evaluation criteria [are] always based partly on the experience of the principal investigator," says Jean Morrow, a DOE grants analyst and member of the National Grants Management Association, an Alexandria, Va., organization that provides training on winning government grants. "If you've made an absolute shift [in fields], you're going to start out at the bottom of the [pecking order]." Morrow advises field newcomers to network with veterans, asking for contacts at granting agencies. Field-switchers also may have better luck winning grants if they apply for funding with a well-established researcher as the principal investigator. In the end, scientists and career counselors agree, a few qualities make changing jobs easier: Enthusiasm, energy, and confidence are at the top of the list. Armed with these characteristics-and a little luck-ambitious researchers may find that job opportunities stretch from the tiniest molecule all the way to the stars. Kathryn S. Brown is a freelance science writer based in Columbia, Mo.

Changing Disciplines Can Offer Personal And Professional Satisfaction

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