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Employee Education for
the Life Sciences
Bridging the Gap Between Graduate School and the Life Science Industry
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Here's the basic problem...
This is what students are taught in graduate school:
- Knowledge is an end in itself
- Don't reveal all that you know - either in grant applications or to colleagues
- Today's collaborator can be tomorrow's competitor
- The less you depend on other's, the faster your research will go
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Here's what they need to know to succeed in industry:
- Profits, not knowledge, drive the business
- The needs of the marketplace have to be satisfied
- There had better be a product at the end of the research
- Collaborate internally, but compete externally
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Mind the Gap...
But here's the orientation post-docs and other employees get when they start:
- Company History
- Benefits
- Sexual Harrassment
- IP Requirements
- Health and Safety
- Use of Animals
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And this is what they need:
- Overview of the Drug Development Process
- Business Basics (what is a profit and how do you make one?)
- Team Skills
- Conflict Resolution
- Later: Management Skills, Negotiation Skills, Project Management, Budgeting
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What are the Consequences?
"Scientists want to pursue science for knowledge sake... Not advancing our commercial objectives... Fall in love with research program... Unaware of experimental critical path.... Results don t affect our commercial path... Wasted time from non communication... No team orientation; not communicating things that rest of team should know... Not calling for help... People in leadership positions without skills or training..." (Quotes from VPs, Research and Development of big and small life sciences companies)
And it's not just post-docs and other life scientists who need this training. Doug spoke to the 500 members of the IT department of a leading biotech firm. At least half of them had never seen a basic slide on the stages of drug development... How can they possibly understand the basic business of the firm?
For more on the problem, read "The Business of Science: Filling the Gap".
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What's the Solution?
Doug created a three-part lecture series for the Stanford Center for Professional Development on the Fundamentals of Drug Development.
The Fundamentals of Drug Development is a three-part online lecture series consisting of videotaped presentation and slides. This four-hour 'courselet' is a comprehensive introduction to the processes, regulation, and financing of drug development. The series is targeted to life sciences, computer sciences, and management professionals interested in the complex world of big pharmaceutical companies and small biotech firms.
Introduction to Drug Discovery, Development and Commercialization
The Regulation of Drug Development
Financing Drug Development
Unfortunately, these courses are no longer available to the public. But they can be delivered as highly-interactive, customized, case-based courses at your site. Let Doug create a custom employee orientation or education plan for your life sciences business. Please email Doug Kalish for details.
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Other lectures/presentations available for live audiences:
The Science of Biotechnology - fundamentals of biology and biotechnology for the non-scientist
Biotechnology Market Analyses: Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, and Agricultural Biotechnology - value chain analyses of the three major biotechnology markets
Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights - the collision course between the traditional knowledge of the developing world and concepts of intellectual property of the developed world
Biotechnology - What's Hot/What's Not -Big Pharma and small biotech companies need each other. Why can't they just get along?
Email Doug Kalish for details.
Affiliates
Other exceptional and innovative services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are offered by
Dr. Carl M. Cohen, President of Science Management Associates. Carl addresses the need for interpersonal, group and organizational training of scientists and science executives in both the public and private sectors.
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