Jobs outside of academia for biomedical PhD's?

[Robbi702]

Hey everyone. My first post. 🙂 I am currently an undergrad, working on my degree in biomedical sciences at a European University. In my area it is more or less the standard route that people go for a PhD so I have been thinking about doing so in the US (I've studied abroad for a year and it would be a nice chance to go back there for a couple of years). However, it is pretty clear to me that I do not want to stay in academia for the rest of my life. While I do enjoy the work in a lab, and also teaching to a certain degree, I am not one of the "science-is-my-one-and-only-in-life" people. I don't mind working hard and not having a 40 hour week, but it shouldn't be a 70 hour week either. At least not without the appropriate pay. 😉 It seems that this is more or less the standard though working at universities. Whenever I check grad student forums it seems like all of them are super motivated and want to pursue an academic career.
So.. what kind of options do PhD's have outside of academia? Would you recommend against going for a PhD if I am not sure whether I want to stay in the academic world?

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[tortuga87]

Right here:

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/

 

[ChasinButterfly]

If you are unsure of making a career in the academic world, you need to ask yourself what you do see yourself doing otherwise. Of course, many who want to stay in research but not in academe might try to pursue big pharma or research positions in biotech startups. But if you don't want to stay in research but continue to invest in your background and learn new skills too, here's two options a lot of people I've known have considered and a bit about how to get there:

A popular route for PhD trainees to go where I've recently completed a fellowship is consulting, with many of them knowing they were going to target that sector upon entering their graduate programs. They tend to target the top-tier consulting firms with an international presence, and for example, could pursue healthcare management consulting (which sometimes also requires an MBA, and some business courses or business experiences outside the lab is highly, highly desirable and most likely necessary). These positions in the top-tier firms very often warrant a PhD. And yes, they are lucrative jobs. And hard to get. And the hours can be nuts.

Another popular route for our graduates has been medical writing. We have a lot of small medical communications companies in our area that hire fresh PhD's. With this path, it is advantageous to begin building a writing portfolio during your PhD years and it can be difficult to break into this field without it. You must also have good communication skills with the ability to disseminate scientific information to a wide variety of audiences. These jobs also tend to pay rather well and have rather sane hours if something like that is important to you.

One of the most important things you should do is inquire from the programs you may be targeting for PhD where their graduates end up, and if you have intentions to return to your home country, what advantages you stand to gain from having studied in that particular program. I can't stress this enough, especially for networking purposes when you're ready to go on the job market.