HST 590 - Spring 2008

What Industry wishes Academics Knew and Did

Jeff Behrens and Michael Cima

During your academic training you learn a great deal about the keys skills needed to build a successful academic research career:

• choosing interesting and important scientific questions to explore
• designing meaningful experiments that can lead to publishable results
• dealing successfully with peer review and publication
• learning how to write - papers, grant proposals, etc...
• developing presentation skills from lab meetings to national conferences
• getting grant funding for your lab and your research

A key part of the HST mission is translation of academic insight into commercial and clinical practice: "We educate outstanding minds, cultivate leaders, create knowledge, and generate cost-effective preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic innovations." However this last bit can be tricky...

It is clear that some scientists have developed the skills and relationships needed to interact successfully with industry. We will try during this semester of 590 to address a range of issues that arise in the process of translation and academic/industry collaboration. The goal is not to help students find jobs in industry but rather to sensitize you to the kinds of things that you will confront during your career in academia if you try to engage in industry/entrepreneurship/translation.

We have invited some of the most respected leaders in biomedical business who interact with science and academic scientists daily. Each is invited to speak for 30-45 minutes and then engage in a discussion/Q&A with us.