1. Career Options for
the Professional Life Scientist
Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center
June 4, 2010
Gary M. Myles, J.D., Ph.D.
Shareholder
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt
Seattle, Washington
2. Summary
l Do we produce too many science PhDs?
– Disconnect between science education and
career opportunities
– Central role of PhD in many science careers
l A brief history of biotechnology
– Merging of academic and commercial pursuits
l Biotechnology opportunities for the
professional scientist
3. Are There Too Many PhDs?
l The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate
students to help in laboratories and with teaching, universities couldn’t
conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate populations.
That’s one of the main reasons we still encourage people to enroll in
doctoral programs. It is simply cheaper to provide graduate students with
modest stipends and adjuncts with as little as $5,000 a course — with no
benefits — than it is to hire full-time professors.
l In other words, young people enroll in graduate programs, work hard for
subsistence pay and assume huge debt burdens, all because of the illusory
promise of faculty appointments. But their economical presence, coupled
with the intransigence of tenure, ensures that there will always be too many
candidates for too few openings.
Mark C. Taylor, “End the University as We Know It” New York Times, 26Apr09
4. Many of the Newly Minted PhDs are in
Biological Sciences and Engineering
7. Traditional Career Paths for
the PhD Scientist
Academic Career Industry Career
BS
BS
MS
MS
PhD
PhD
Post Doc
Post Doc
Scientist
Assistant Professor
Senior Scientist
Associate Professor
Assistant Director
Professor
Director
Department Head
Senior Director
Dean
Vice President
Chief Scientific Officer
8. Disconnect between University
Education and Science Career Options
l Historically, academic institutions have not
promoted non-academic career paths for
professional scientists
– Little cross-disciplinary teaching at the
undergraduate and graduate levels
l Between technologies
l Between professions (science/business/law)
– Little counseling about or practical exposure to
non-academic career options for scientists
– Tendency to stigmatize students who express an
interest in non-academic science careers
9. Disconnect between University
Education and Science Career Options
l Students are entering universities to pursue
academic science careers often overlook,
discount, or are unaware of the low
probability that they will stay in academic
science
l Students are leaving universities without a
vision for non-academic science careers
10. 1980 – A Seminal Year for
Biotechnology
l 370 US licensees (non-exclusive)
l Est. $200MM in licensing revenue
11. 1980 – A Seminal Year for
Biotechnology
1980
l Bayh-Dole Act
(University and Small Business
Patent Procedures Act)
l Birch Bayh and Bob Dole
l Basis for university technology
transfer
l Intellectual property arising
from federal government-
funded research controlled by
US universities, small
businesses, and non-profits
12. 1980 – A Seminal Year for
Biotechnology
1980
l Diamond v. Chakrabarty
(Supreme Court)
l Patentability of living,
genetically engineered
microorganisms under
35 U.S.C. § 101
l “Anything under the sun
that is made by man”
13. Shift in Focus of Research Efforts
toward Commercialization
l The Problem of Publish or Perish
– Tragedy of Freedom in the Commons
l When a resource is open to all it becomes available to no
one Garrett Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons” Science 162:1243-1258 (1968)
l “This concept is readily adapted to the quandary that the
great discoveries in biomedical research in the 1960s and
1970s did not benefit the public” Howard Schachman, “From ‘Publish or
Perish’ to ‘Patent and Prosper’ ”, J. Biol. Chem. 281(11):6889-6903 (2006)
Taxpayer $ NIH/NSF Publication
14. Shift in Focus of Research Efforts
toward Commercialization
l Howard Schachman,
“From ‘Publish to
Perish’ to ‘Patent and
‘Prosper’ ” JBC (2006)
15. Shift in Focus of Research Efforts
toward Commercialization
l Patent and Prosper
– The incentive of companies to commercialize
derives from the exclusive rights to manufacture
that are afforded by the patent system
Taxpayer $ NIH/NSF Publication Patent
Technology Transfer
Commercialization
19. Top 3 US Market Capitalization (10/07)
l Exxon Mobil Corp., $511B
l General Electric, $414B
TOTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE $410B
l Microsoft Corp., $328B
20.
21. The Biotechnology Industry
Operates at a Loss
l In 2008, the global biotech industry lost $1.4
billion (down from 2007's loss of $3 billion)
l The U.S. segment of the biotech industry
made a profit in of $0.4 billion in 2008
Ernst & Young, “Beyond Borders: Global Biotechnology Report 2009”
22. The Major Players in Biotechnology
Sources of Financing
Sources of Technology and
(Public (SBIR/STTR),
Intellectual Property
Private (Angels and VC), and
(Universities and Non-profits)
Big Pharma/Biotech)
The Biotech Companies
Incubators
Law Firms
(Service Providers)
23. Biotech Companies Require
Cross-disciplinary Expertise
Technology
- Protein/Antibody
- DNA/RNA
- Small molecule
- Diagnostics MBA/PhD
JD/PhD
Business
- Deals
• In/out licenses
Law • Corporate Partners
JD/MBA
- Corporate • Mergers & Acquisitions
• Licenses and other agreements - Venture Financing
- Intellectual Property
• Patents, copyrights, trademarks, and
trade secrets
24. The PhD is Central to Many
Science Career Paths
Academic Science
Industrial Science
Science Policy/Think Tank
Technology Transfer
Regulatory
BS MS PhD MD
• Clinical Trials/FDA Approval
Business Development
MBA
• Dealmaking
Venture Financing/Investment Banking
MBA
• Due Diligence
JD Law
• Patent Prosecution
(See, UCSF Office of Career and Professional Development) • Litigation
• Licensing
25. A Few Thoughts on Strategy
l Opportunity Cost of Education
– For every additional step in your education, keep
in mind the lost opportunity to earn
– Education is expensive
l Law of Diminishing Returns
– It takes time to extract 100% value
(learning/growth) out of every position/opportunity
– Shoot for 80% value
– Consider 3 year blocks
– If not moving up, move on
26. Make Yourself Uniquely Qualified
l Take a Cross-disciplinary Approach
– Professionally
l Work at the interface between professions
– Science + Law
– Science + Business
– Technology
l Contemplate the future of technology
l Develop expertise in a number of technologies
– Science + Engineering
28. Identify Thought Leaders
l Founded in 2000 by Lee
Hood, Alan Aderem, and
Ruedi Aebersold
l Mission of transforming
biological and medical
research by creating and
using systems approaches
to unravel the workings of
complex biological systems
l P4 Medicine
– Personalized
– Preventative
– Predictive
– Participatory
29. Networking
l Networking is the on-going process of
relationship building
– Life-long, persistent, goal and result
oriented
– Based on the premise that
l Careers don’t develop in isolation
l No one person can know everything
l People want to do business with people
they like and trust
30. Networking
l Starts at the university level
– Attend seminars and networking events outside
your department
l Business
l Law
l Medicine
l Technology
– Other Cultures
l India and China next dominant economic
powers?
31. Networking
l Continue throughout your career
– Trade and professional meetings
– Entrepreneur networks
– Teaching and mentoring
32. Some Parting Words of Wisdom
l When one door closes, another opens. But we often
look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door
that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Helen Keller
l If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.
Milton Berle
33. Thank you!
Gary M. Myles, J.D., Ph.D.
Schwabe, Willamson & Wyatt
gmyles@schwabe.com
(206) 407-1513
41. Early Efforts to Commercialize
Biotechnology Products
1976
l Founding of Genentech
(Genetic Engineering
Technology, Inc.)
l Robert Swanson and
Herbert Boyer
l Synthetic human insulin
42. Early Efforts to Commercialize
Biotechnology Products
1978
l Biogen
l Phil Sharp and Walter
Gilbert
l Interferon
43. Early Efforts to Commercialize
Biotechnology Products
1980
l AMGen (Applied
Molecular Genetics)
l George Rathman,
Franklin “Pitch”
Johnson, Joseph
Rubinfeld, Winston
Salser, Lee Hood, and
Bill Bowes
