Medical Director in Industry with Keely Gilroy, PhD
Dr. Keely Solomon Gilroy, PhD, shares her path from Medical Science Liaison to Science Communication to now a Medical Director in Industry.
May 29, 2025•29 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Vanderbilt Beyond the Lab podcast
Curious about what biomedical science PhDs do for their career? In the "Beyond the Lab" podcast series, the Vanderbilt BRET Office of Career Development interviews biomedical science PhD and postdoctoral alumni about their career path.
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episodes
Medical Writing with Emily Turner, PhD
Dr. Emily Turner shares her career projection on the road to medical writing.
May 23, 2025•18 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Scientific Publishing with Tony Chen, PhD
We kick off Season 8 with Vanderbilt alumnus Dr. Tony Chen, PhD, who will share about his role in publishing at Springer Nature.
May 15, 2025•58 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Product Management and Entrepreneurship with Amicia Elliott, PhD
Dr. Amicia Elliott always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. But on the path, she collected tools for her entrepreneur toolkit to get her to where she is today: PhD training, tech transfer, government research, postdoc fellowship. Now she is the Product Director with Form Bio. Hear about all the steps in her path on the last episode of Season 7.
Apr 23, 2024•37 min•Season 7Ep. 13
Scientific Communication with Justine Sinnaeve, PhD
Dr. Justine Sinnaeve, PhD, is an Associate Scientific Director at Ashfield MedComms and tells us about her experience graduating during COVID and how she utilized that time to work freelance before launching into her SciComm/Medical Writing role.
Mar 11, 2024•36 min•Season 7Ep. 11
Senior Grants Officer, Consultant with Lindsay Redman Rivera, PhD
After a successful internship with Health Research in Action, Lindsay Redman Rivera used her experience to pivot to a full-time position. She discusses what she learned during her PhD training as well as shares her approach to the two-body-opportunity.
Mar 05, 2024•24 min•Season 7Ep. 11
Regional Medical Scientific Director with Todd Townsend, PhD
After a fellowship with the FDA in regulatory, Dr. Todd Townsend, PhD, shares his path to his current role as the Regional Medical Scientific Director, Cardiovascular & Metabolism at Merck.
Feb 23, 2024•25 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Product Development with Jacob Brown, PhD
A love of food, creative scientist Jake Brown, PhD, found a way to combine his educational background with his long-term interests, now serving as a Product Development Scientist with Mars Petcare.
Feb 13, 2024•27 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Management Consulting with Courtney Copeland, PhD
Is management consulting right for you? Dr. Courtney Copeland, PhD, tells her story about the pivot from biomedical science PhD to a management consultant!
Jan 17, 2024•26 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Business Development in Industry with Jeff Bylund, PhD
Dr. Jeff Bylund, PhD, knew he enjoyed talking about science but he didn't want to continue at the bench. Join us for a laugh and a good career exploration discussion about Dr. Bylund's career ventures after his time training at Vanderbilt.
Jan 10, 2024•40 min•Season 7Ep. 8
BioTherapeutics Scientist with Léolène Jean Carrington, PhD
Going the "industry" route doesn't always mean Big Pharma! Learn from alumna Léolène Carrington, PhD, what it is like to work for a smaller company and how your love of science and learning can dictate your career.
Jan 02, 2024•25 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Industry Scientist with Bojana Jovanovic, PhD
Dr. Bojana Jovanovic is quite familiar with the Beyond the Lab series. She stepped in for the intro and logo at the launch of this series! Now, she is the Senior Scientific Lead, Clinical Biomarker Development at Eli Lilly|Loxo Oncology. We catch up about her path and current role, as well as how important the Molecular Medicine program was to her time at Vanderbilt.
Dec 19, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Co-Founding a Startup with Wyatt McDonnell, PhD
There is no typical day for co-founder and CEO of Infinimmune Wyatt McDonnell, PhD. Dive in to the whatnots and to-dos of starting and maintaining a company in this episode.
Dec 12, 2023•27 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Entrepreneurship with Chief Science Officer Martin Moore, PhD
The jump from academia to a start-up has been a fun one and we learn more as we sit down with Dr. Martin Moore, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Meissa Vaccines.
Dec 05, 2023•28 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Postdoc Affairs and Advocacy with Chris Smith, PhD
After some nudging from the ASPIRE Program, Dr. Chris Smith, PhD, started looking at academic roles in Postdoc Affairs and found his vocation! But his work as a postdoc himself was pointing to this all along! Join us as Dr. Smith tells us more about his role in academic administration and serving the postdoc population on the other side of the desk.
Nov 28, 2023•43 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Faculty and an Academic Spinoff with Kristi Thiel, PhD
What came first for Kristi Thiel: Co-Founder or Professor? Learn more about Dr. Thiel's interesting steps in her career path and all the great ideas that have helped her along the way.
Nov 21, 2023•25 min•Season 7Ep. 2
S7 Kickoff and Industry Scientist with Dave Westover, PhD
We are excited to kick off Season 7 of the Vanderbilt University Beyond the Lab podcast with Merck Scientist Dave Westover, PhD. Dr. Westover tells us about his role, how he jumped into industry and what he would recommend current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to pursue to make the move to industry.
Nov 13, 2023•41 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Competitive Intelligence with Kristin Driscoll, PhD
In this last episode of Season 6, Dr. Kristin Driscoll tells about her path since graduation and her current role in Competitive Intelligence for Cigna.
Feb 21, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 13
Market Analysis with Cara Lang, PhD
Dr. Cara Lang, PhD, is a Disease Area Analyst of Ovarian Cancer with Oncology Resource Group. In this episode, Dr. Lang shares her insight into her role and how she made the decisions around her post-grad next step, as well as the opportunities that best prepared her for this position.
Feb 14, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Big Pharma Science with Keenan Taylor, PhD
For our 100th episode, Dr. Keenan Taylor, PhD, tells us about his role in Big Pharma as a Senior Scientist. Dr. Taylor tells us about the differences he has seen between academia and industry and what his daily work life entails.
Feb 07, 2023•27 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Industry R&D Scientist with Katherine Hutchinson, PhD
Long title = lots of responsibility! Dr. Katherine Hutchinson, PhD, tells us about her role as a Senior Principal Scientist in Oncology Biomarker Development at Genentech, in San Francisco, California. Dr. Hutchinson tells us about her work in industry and life in San Francisco, while unpacking her long title!
Jan 31, 2023•33 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Medical Lab and Faculty with Allison Eberly, PhD
Dr. Allison Eberly, PhD, describes her Clinical Microbiology Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic as well as her current role as an Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine and the Assistant Medical Director at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
Jan 24, 2023•33 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Faculty at a State University with Melissa Maginnis, PhD
Dr. Melissa Maginnis, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Maine and spends this episode talking about her path after Vanderbilt, the dual career search with her spouse, and the role as teacher and mentor in a University setting.
Jan 17, 2023•27 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Academic Administration with Lauren Griggs, PhD
Dr. Lauren Griggs, PhD, and a Vanderbilt postdoctoral fellow alum, is now the Director of the Multicultural Engineering Program, Director of the Clark Scholars Program, and an Assistant Teaching Professor, all at Penn State University. She shares about her start right before COVID and the first few years in academic administration, as well as her work teaching. Dr. Griggs also provides insight into her career discovery and interview process.
Jan 10, 2023•27 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Industry Medical Communication with Kate Venmar Bankaitis, PhD
Alumna Dr. Kate Bankaitis, PhD, tells us about her role as director of content at IQVIA and the interesting path of roles that led to her current position.
Jan 03, 2023•27 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Medical Science Liaison with Jeff Pawlikowski, PhD
Alumnus and Medical Science Liaison Jeff Pawlikowski, PhD, tells us about his long tenure as an MSL, how he juggles the role's demands, and what the travel is actually like!
Dec 13, 2022•17 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Management Consulting with Cheryl Marr, PhD
Dr. Marr is a senior consultant with Deloitte and spends some time talking about her path since Vanderbilt including her current role in consulting.
Dec 07, 2022•23 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Industry Research Leadership with JP Johnson, Jr., PhD
Beyond the Lab goes to Canada with alumnus Dr. JP Johnson, Jr, PhD, Vice President of Biology at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. A native to Tennessee, Dr. Johnson shares his journey in industry to the Pacific Northwest and onward to Vancouver.
Nov 29, 2022•37 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Faculty at a Private University with Nicole Schramm-Sapyta
Dr. Nicole Schramm-Sapyta, PhD, tells us about her role as a faculty member with Duke University and the Duke Institute for Brain Science. Dr. Schramm-Sapyta's love for science keeps popping up in her career story, and this episode focuses on this path.
Nov 22, 2022•28 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Forensic Science with Eric Warren
Double 'Dore Dr. Eric Warren, PhD, owns his own forensic science business and tells us about his time with the TBI as well as the ways he began his business.
Nov 15, 2022•33 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Hosted on Libsyn
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android