Bench to non-Bench Positions: Making the Transition - by Cindy Yee

I am often asked about my journey from a bench scientist role to a path away from the lab, a journey many of us take. Among the advantages of being in an industry like biotechnology is the availability of multiple opportunities to apply your scientific training to build skill sets, assume new responsibilities, and to take one’s career in unexpected directions.

I have been fortunate to benefit from the industry’s inherent vibrancy and flexibility and forged a professional path that I could not have planned for when I was younger, when I had only a vague and traditional idea of what a career in healthcare could be like. My transition took time – 12 years from beginning my first position in industry to realizing that I wanted to leave the bench and several more years to finally achieving my goals -- and along the way I gained invaluable skills, both behavioral and technical, that have made possible my current path.

I became interested in a career in healthcare in high school but, like many teens, I did not know what direction that would or could take. To get out of the house, I had volunteered at a local hospital in Illinois, where I became fascinated by the ability of caregivers to make a visible difference in patient outcomes. During college, I majored in microbiology, what I saw as a start down the path to a healthcare field.

Healthcare became personal for me during my sophomore year in college, when my father was diagnosed with cancer. As he underwent an arduous patient journey, I saw firsthand and in very personal ways the importance of dedicated caregivers to his wellbeing and that of other patients, igniting my passion to focus on making an impact on patient lives. I initially thought I would pursue a career in medicine, but that idea quickly receded after I watched doctors in action. Medicine was not my calling. I leaned into science.

Life situation and finances determined my first job choices between industry and academia. Early in my career, I accepted an offer to be a research assistant in molecular biology and protein expression at a biotech company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Biotech to me was an opportunity to apply my science training to a job while also becoming somewhat financially independent, a necessity at the time. It gave me my industry start in the world of science.

My Turning Point

I am inherently a ‘people person,’ and even from the beginning of my career I welcomed involvement in initiatives that required me to meet people outside of my day-to-day job. As I gained experience in various lab roles and my responsibilities grew, I assumed more planning and cross-functional initiatives and represented my function at project team meetings. These activities exposed me to a world that was steeped in science, but away from the hands-on research at the bench.

The turning point occurred when I led the process of integrating high-throughput automation systems into our laboratory. I enjoyed the collaborative aspects of this momentous project, which took almost two years from concept to completion and brought together scientists and engineers with quite different perspectives. Once the systems were in place and running, however, I found myself alone in a room with machines for most of the day. The ‘people person’ side of me was not thrilled.

That experience exposed me to the formal project management function, however, and through further collaborations with my IT colleagues, I learned more about the profession. Thus began my multi-year journey.

The next major step was to enroll in a certificate program in project management at UC Berkeley Extension, which I attended at night and on weekends. There, I acquired the fundamentals and best practices of the profession and was exposed to different applications of the role across industries. I also applied for a mentorship opportunity, which enabled me to shadow a project manager at my company. Through this experience, I was able to understand the day-to-day responsibilities of the role within the industry and its impact on successfully connecting therapeutic development to patients.

Once the certification program ended, I found limited local project management opportunities at my employer, so I accepted a position at a life science-focused project management consulting firm. That closed the chapter on my days at the lab bench.

Where I am Now

Project management consulting enabled me to gain a lot of experience in a short time. More importantly, it showed me how transferrable the skill set was across companies and industries and exposed me to the breadth of additional functions and roles across the biotech industry. I increased the diversity of my experience as I moved to project and alliance management at several global companies, which opened doors to expanded roles in portfolio management, product development, partnership engagement, corporate strategy, and operations.

I am now Head of Project Management and Alliances at Good Therapeutics, a startup biotech, where I can leverage the diverse experiences that I have gained, while staying close to the innovative science and continuing to contribute broadly to making a difference in patients’ lives.

Lessons Learned

• Bench versus non-bench is not binary. Skill sets are more transferable than they seem across roles. Both bench and non-bench roles involved planning, leading projects and teams, and making data driven decisions.
• Seemingly huge decisions are part of normal career growth. When approaching the decision to leave a lab bench-based role, the decision seemed huge. In retrospect, going from a lab bench-based role to a non-lab role was no different than the steps of any other learning curve in my career. Some skills I already had and some I had to learn.
• Talk to people outside your immediate environment. I would not have known what was possible if I had not branched out to talk to others outside of my day-to-day circle.
• Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I spent over a decade building a foundation and career based in the lab, with a clear path and trajectory. Deciding to pivot to pursue something I did not know I would do well in, or knew what the career path would be, was really scary. I have learned from experience, however, that fear is temporary. Each new door I went through has led to a hallway of new doors I never would have known existed.
• It is okay to say NO. I have had to make difficult decisions, which resulted in saying no to amazing job opportunities with companies and people I admire and respect, based on what was right for me at the time. In doing so, I feel like I’ve disappointed people I care about along the way. I am still figuring out how to reconcile this but do know that saying no to some things has enabled me to say yes to others.
• Definitely say YES. Opportunities sometimes come at very inopportune times. I have not always been fully ready when they arose. I said ‘Yes’ anyway, and I have never regretted ever doing so.
• Know your core values. Specific goals change, but I view core values as an articulation of my gut feel. It helps me make decisions and know if a path or an opportunity is right for me. I do not necessarily feel the need to always share them outwardly, but I know them.
• Get experience. I personally learn best by seeing, doing, and allowing myself to fail. Shadowing, volunteering, and taking classes outside of my day-to-day role were incredibly valuable activities, which helped me to decide on whether I would like a role before I committed to it. Also helpful in transitioning: pick up both behavioral (emotional intelligence, collaborator attitude, growth mindset, etc.) and analytical (ability to collect and analyze data, problem solve, research, forecasting, data mining, etc.) skills, which are important to success.
• Know when to let go. Not every opportunity worked out the way I thought it would, and things change over time. I have learned that it is okay to actively choose to pivot and continue to give myself permission and the grace to do so.
• Define your goals. The concept that you cannot manage what you do not measure resonates greatly. Understanding what my professional and personal goals were at a given time helped guide my focus, evaluate progress, and sustain momentum. Sometimes the experiences I have had supported my goals and sometimes they informed revisions to them.
• Find the right people to share with. With the decision to leave my bench-based role, I was fortunate to have advocates, champions, mentors, family, and friends who opened opportunities, were supportive, and celebrated with me. I am forever grateful to have these people in my life.