What is your official job title and how long have you been at this position in this company?
I am the Senior Medical Director at an oncology drug development company called Loxo Oncology. I have been in this position for just over 2 years.
Tell me a bit about a day in the life of working in your position. Do you work with a team?
My position is quite unique, as I don't usually head straight to an office. A significant part of my role is global––I meet with researchers around the world to discuss collaborations for projects and studies. So an average day for me is to be in a particular city somewhere in the world at a major medical center. For example, I went to France's largest medical center a few weeks ago and I met with a number of oncologists (oncology is the study of cancer/tumors) who work with different cancers that think the drug that I am working on back in America––which is proving extremely successful––would be useful to their cause. At my company, we are running two things: a clinical trial for cancer patients and an EAP (extended access program), which is when a drug is in the market but a patient can not afford it, so it is financially covered for them. So our drug, which is not in the market yet, still has an EAP because of how many lives it's saving and because not all patients meet the requirements for the clinical trial. So my normal day involves primarily meeting with folks who are part of our current study, researchers I am trying to recruit for a planned study, and the third would be running the EAP.
Is the work environment at your particular company collegial or more rigid/competitive/professional? Where have you worked in the past and why did you leave your previous employers?
I would say that it is definitely more friendly and collegial, we're all in it together and for good reasons. We compliment each other very nicely. However there are some massive pharmaceutical companies, like Pfzier, which I worked at for a decade, that are highly competitive and very inefficient. For example, at my current company, when you need to make a decision, it is communicated efficiently and easily, and we meet once a week. But in a massive company, when you want to make a decision or something that requires any level of flexibility, it is simply not there. It must go through a subcommittee, which only meets once a month, and then from there a committee, etc. Furthermore, people can be backstabbers at huge companies like Pfizer. They will destroy what you're doing to advance their own career.
Did you change career paths? Why or why not?
My career has been very unpredictable. I grew up in South Africa, and I always wanted to be a family doctor, and if I stayed there I would have done that. It's different from a pediatrician, because you go to them when you need some high level of officialization. A family doctor becomes the doctor of their spouse and kids and grandkids and great grandkids––it's a beautiful job. But I ended up coming to the United States and trained as a psychiatrist. The reason I chose that field was because I really loved that one-on-one connection and interaction with patients and could still practice clinical medicine. But I ended up joining a company for 2 years that was one of the first to incorporate medicine and high tech communication and had a bit of a global role there. Then I moved to Israel and for 5 years I worked with a financial and life science company. After my marriage there, I wanted to understand the finance part of my job more thoroughly instead of the science part, so I decided that I wanted to go back to school and get an MBA. Before I pursued that, however, at an investment bank in Washington specializing in healthcare because I realized that I would probably learn more in that job, being hands-on and really getting experience. So we ended up moving to Washington from Jerusalem. Soon after I joined the bank, though, the market crashed. That's one of the 5 lay-offs I've been through and one of the annoying parts of the financial/biotech world. In the end, I went to graduate school and at the same time ran an in-patient unit at the University of Rochester which waived my business school tuition. I didn't see daylight for 2 years. Once I got my MBA, I joined Pfizer for 10 years, but was then laid off after working on a project in Africa with only 17 other people for 6 months. The reason was because Pfizer acquired another large pharma company and let go 12,000 people all at once. These large pharma companies are brutal. Yet even at Pfizer, my position was still very involved with relationship building––I worked with researchers and academic institutions almost everywhere I went. Then, I had another job for 2 years until the owner decided to stop running it, and soon after I joined this phenomenal company that was developing drugs for Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. However, our single investor, Fidelity, did not want to continue funding our research, so that came to an end. Thankfully I was hired into this other cancer centered research company, and I always had this dream of getting into cancer drug development as I had been with neurologically focused companies all my life. Also, a big reason I wanted to shift my career focus was because every study we had done in Alzheimers had failed––ours was actually the 27th to fail globally. However, when practicing medicine, it is fairly possible to switch specialties from for example rheumatology to cardiology. But if you want to shift to oncology, it's nearly impossible. Thankfully, with the many relationships I had developed, I was able to make that rare switch. Five or six years later, I switched to where I am today––Loxo.
What is the salary like? Fringe benefits (paid sick leave, insurance)? What are the hours like? Flexibility for vacations or maternity/paternity/family leave?
(Wikipedia: wide salary range of $300,000-1,000,000+). I am with a smaller company, which has its downside as I face the risk of being laid off more often, but there are upsides, like getting a salary, a bonus (which is 15-30% of your salary), having stock options, shares, or restricted stock. That means that every 5 years, you can sell a portion of the shares they give you. They do also provide free healthcare. Some big companies will reimburse you for studies––Pfizer would do that often. Moreover, if you donate money, a company like Pfizer would 'match it', which means they would donate that same amount of money. At my current job, I get a company car because of my constant traveling, and all these things really add up. In other words, it's a bigger picture: it's salary and equity. So when you're being interviewed and comparing jobs, don't only focus on the salary––look at the whole package, because the overall worth of one company may hold more value even though another company's salary is higher. Also, you should negotiate if you don't like the look of the salary. You can ask for more vacation weeks, more leave flexibility, etc. But you must do it up front because it won't change later. Moreover, don't forget to look at transportation costs. Loxo's location is very convenient for me. They are adequately flexible. Regarding hours, I don't really have traditional hours because I travel so much.
What are your responsibilities/role in your company?
To reiterate, I have to do these things when we start a new clinical trial: I reach out to institutions and research centers around the world to see if they would like to be part of the study. Then I organize site inspections on the institutions/centers to see if we can properly do the study on their facilities. If they pass, I then formally go through the study, procedures, and requirements with them, and then they have to recruit patients. If they do not in a specific matter of time, I come visit and help them. Another thing I need to monitor is patients who decide to drop out of the trial, and make sure the center does everything they can to retain the patients. Additionally, a big part of research is sharing and comparing with others, so I will go and present posters of our findings to different centers around the world.
In your line of work, how much do you rely on your college education vs. professional experience? Do you find yourself using most of your undergraduate/college learning?
I did not get a traditional college education because I studied in South Africa––I was an MD by 22. I obviously use my medicine, but my particular role now really does rely most on my experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Did you find any particular internships during your high school or college years or summers to help you get to where you are today? Any extracurriculars or independent study projects or research as an undergrad to qualify to be in your position now?
As I mentioned, I did not study traditionally so I went straight into finding jobs. I learned from experience and made many social connections that I attribute to my position today.
Do you think your college institution or your college major prepared you well or even opened doors for you in this career path that may not have been possible for you otherwise? What do you recommend a college student to concentrate on in order to build a successful career in this field?
I was prepared well. I don't think finding work was any easier or harder for me than anyone else. In my experience, nobody is asking to see what college you went to, ever. They only want to see that you are good at what you do and that you have good recommendations.
What advice do you have for a student like me who is interested in pursuing your same career choice?
People should not feel such incredible pressure to stay in one career their whole life. I wanted to become a family doctor and look where I am now! Kids are put under so much pressure. There are so many paths that you would have never known you would be interested in or don't even exist today––keep an open mind. Take opportunities that you may have never expected to explore. Use college as an opportunity to broaden your knowledge and don't lock yourself into any kind of path.
