Alternative Science Careers

-

Interview with Dr. Ramesh Nayak

Dr. Ramesh Nayak has served as a scientific review administrator for almost 30 years. He has received numerous awards including two NIH Directors Awards for such activities as administering 8 study sections, arranging symposia, and contributing to the development of young minority scientists. He has also received the NIH Award of Merit.

How did you decide to take the career path of a scientific review administrator?

I was out of the country teaching at Kuwait University after my postdoc and research associate positions. I enjoyed teaching and mentoring students in their research projects but the job was intense and needed a lot of preparation for the lectures. I needed a change in my career and a colleague recommended me to apply for the Scientific Review Administrator (SRA) position at the National Institutes of Health. I was called for an interview at NIH and offered a position in the Special Study section where we had the responsibility to review a broad area of grant proposals. Within six months, I was offered the SRA position of either Molecular Cytology or Physiological Chemistry study section. I accepted the SRA position of the Molecular Cytology Study section in 1978 and managed this and other panels during my almost 30 years career at NIH. I was also appointed as Chief of the Cell Biology Integrated Review group managing eight different panels and also served as the Referral Officer 15 years. I have had an outstanding administrative career and was awarded several awards including two NIH Directors award, NIH merit award and special award by the Chairs of our study section for providing outstanding leadership in managing the study section.

What is the typical career path in this field?

The career path is excellent. A junior faculty can start at GS-12 and move up the ladder to GS-15 and even to a Senior Executive position.

What does a typical day look like and what are your main responsibilities?

The typical day starts at about 9 am to 5 pm and the responsibilities included recruiting reviewers to the panel, assigning grant proposals to the reviewers, and conducting an efficient study section meeting three times a year. The responsibilities included preparation for premeeting, meeting and postmeeting activities. In addition, we had to preparation nomination slate for our panel and this involved selecting top notch reviewers including women and minority scientists. Attending two scientific meetings a year was very useful for this job.

What do you find to be the most enjoyable part of your job? The least enjoyable? The most challenging?

The most satisfying is interacting with so many applicants, NIH community and the scientific community. I also enjoyed attending the scientific annual society meetings where we had to interact with the applicant and also consultant community. The least enjoyable was some of the procedures in the nomination of the slates for the study section and sometimes the help of the technical support staff. The job can be very satisfying if one is assigned a super technical support staff and I have had always the support of an excellent support staff to manage the panel. The most challenging is always meeting the deadline in the preparation of the summary statements for the institute. The summary statement is the most important document which covers the review of the proposal.

What particular skills and talents are most essential to be effective as a scientific review administrator?

It is important to have the knowledge of the science covered by the committee and also have the best interpersonal skills to interact with so many members of the scientific community. To be effective in this job, one should have an excellent knowledge of the NIH peer review policy and procedures including the software IMPAC II and Internet Assisted Review.

How can students obtain necessary experience needed to get into the field?

It will be difficult for students to obtain necessary experience unless they apply for an intern position at NIH to get the necessary training. These positions are offered mostly to faculty level staff from an university with some administrative experience.

Where can students find out about job opportunities/openings?

The NIH web site is the best place to find job opportunities (www.jobs.nih.gov/life@nih.htm or www.csr.nih.gov or www.nsf.gov or www.cdc.gov).

What advice do you have for those interested in this field?

These are excellent positions only if someone is interested in health science administration.

Where can someone find out more information about scientific review administrators?

I recommend the above websites and also the Science magazine.

Technorati Tags: Alternative Career, career opportunity, review administrator

-

Below is an interview with John Ferguson, a Freelance Medical Writer and Strategic Consultant. He has 10 years of industry experience and has provided senior-level strategic consulting. He has delivered nearly 600 successful projects to a variety of clients.

Can you briefly describe your career to date?

I received my Masters and PhD from Columbia University in Microbiology. After graduate school, I got lucky by getting a position in medical information for Pfizer. After about one year, I decided to write for a medical communications agency. I was there for two years and several writers from the agency decided to start their own business. This gave me the opportunity to become a freelance writer.

Can you describe a typical day for you?

For freelance medical writers, a typical day is working from home, sitting in front of the computer, and writing for agencies. You may be writing papers, abstracts, science slides, or other projects. This is what I did towards the beginning of my career, but writing consumes much less of my time now. I mostly work as a consultant where I work in front of the clients by designing communication strategies for agencies and pharmaceutical companies.

Do you have any advice for graduate students wanting to become a freelance writer?

The greatest asset is to get experience before graduating so that when applying for positions, you have projects to hand the interviewer. One great way to get this experience (and make a little extra cash) is to work part-time for an agency while still in graduate school.  Another suggestion is to help write papers for fellow students in your laboratory or program that are not proficient in English. This can help build up your repertoire. The last option that has been successful for several of my successors is to find a successful, well-established writer and convince them to give you a project to work on. Many times, these writers are overbooked and are willing to give out small projects.

How do you network in this field to find agencies to write for?

Networking happens naturally once you get your foot in the door. If you decide to go into writing, my advice for you is to work for an agency right out of school before freelancing. This gives you the necessary experience and may give you your first freelance client. Oftentimes when you leave an agency (on good terms), they will still ask you to write for them, giving you a good start when you are on your own. Additionally, there is a lot of turnover in the field. Employees that you may have worked with through your first job may move to other agencies or become freelancers themselves. When this occurs, they may ask you to work on a few projects for them, helping to build up your client base. As you start writing for several agencies, your name will get out to more organizations and your client base will continue to grow. The first year in freelancing is always the hardest. After that, getting client growth occurs organically.

Is there anywhere to get more information?

Anyone with more questions can take a look at my website, http://thefreelancemedicalwriter.com/home.

Technorati Tags: alternative science career, freelance medical writer