Career day

For the first time ever, the IMPRS-LM Student Symposium is hosting a Career Day on the 12th of May 2023, to provide participants with insights into the different career opportunities available outside of academia. Students will have the chance to participate in an insightful discussion (Career Chat) with 8 different professionals from the fields of Project Management, Consulting, Medical Writing, Research and Development, Quality Control, Sales and Patent law. We have also invited two employees of a young and rising company/startup to share their personal experiences, their motivation to join the company, and their transition into the industry.

What is the format of the Career Chat?

The discussion has the format of a "speed dating" to allow a casual exchange between students and professionals. The invited professionals will first introduce themselves and present their current position. Following the introduction, students can participate in four 20-minute sessions with selected professionals to ask questions and gain insights and feedback on a specific career field.

The professionals

Dr. Birte Weyers

Project Manager at QIAGEN GmbH

Job description:

• Coordinating content projects involving external and internal vendors (from planning phase until the final marketing documents in hands)
• Supporting content optimization and its analysis (including reporting of content performances)
• Representing content marketing in cross functional projects such as website translation, maintenance of product information system (PIM) and the maintenance of campaign management platform

Dr. Robert Pöhler

Project Manager Biocidal Product Authorisation at BauA

Job description:

• Coordinating and controlling the evaluation of applications for authorization of biocidal products
• Discussing the applications with colleagues from other EU member states and providing policy advice (includes communicating with various stakeholders, such as the applicants and the experts, to adress their different points of view)

Dr. Elisabeth Schröder

Senior Medical Writer at IPG Health Network

Job description:

• Responsible for researching and writing high-quality scientific copy for a wide range of print and digital promotional materials within healthcare
• Lead writer for a range of accounts spanning various therapy areas and the brand ambassador on key accounts for both clients and colleagues
• Ensure compliance with any regulatory requirements for everything that is send out and maintain scientific integrity in every project
• Supervising the work of junior writers to ensure continuity of style and messaging

Natalie Jakobs

Healthcare Consultant at Adivo Associates LLC

Job description:

• Life science strategy consulting for Fortune 500 biopharmaceutical clients to provide commercialization insights for rare disease products in global markets
• Skills: commertial intelligence & strategy (market modeling, product positioning strategies, market landscape based on primary research with KOLs and secondary research), competitive intelligence, KOL management, health economics and outcomes research and benchmarking

Dr. Anna Witte

Sales Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific

Job description:

• Managing the sales for Fisher Scientific (distribution channel of Thermo Fisher Scientific)
• Identifying leads, sale, support and develop relationships with academic/gov customers
• Responsible for North/West Germany

Dr. Lisa Körver

QA Compliance Support at CSL Plasma

Job description:

• Ensure compliance of the Quality Management System with the regulatory requirements
• Knowledge of the regulatory standards and internal QM structures, this includes networking inside (and outside) the global company (CSL)

Dr. Álvaro Muñoz López

Team Coordinator in the R&D Immunotherapy Department at Miltenyi Biotec

Job description:

• Leading and executing R&D projects in the field of CAR T cell Immunotherapy with strong focus on rapid clinical transition
• Coordinating, supervising and training the research team involved in the development of the projects
• Project management: designing, planning and execution of projects, including budget planning and resource planning, elaboration and presentation of project status reports 

Dr. Nathalie Kirchhofer

Patent lawyer and Partner at Cohausz & Florack

Job description:

• Strong background in the fields of (bio)chemistry, pharmaceuticals and life sciences
• Advises German and international chemical and pharmaceutical companies as well as biotech start-ups on all aspects of intellectual property law
• Serves as co-counsel, arbitrator or expert witness in domestic and international arbitrations, particularly in matters involving complex intellectual property (e.g. patents) and science or technology-related matters
• Core expertise also includes providing patent infringement, patent invalidity and freedom-to-operate opinions as well as drafting patent applications

The speakers

Dr. Piotr Liguziński

Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer at PioLigOn

Talk: Bootstrapping biotech startup

• Biophysicist and computational chemist, postdoctoral researcher at MPI Dortmund 2008-2012
• After seven years of working for Fujitsu as a life science project manager, supervising the development of computational chemistry software solutions decided to start his own company
• Founder of PioLigOn - a drug discovery start-up designing drug prototypes using exotic peptides
• Example of a "certainly can be done" attitude in science and business

Dr. Dhruv Raina

Senior scientist (Upscaling biology) at Mosa Meat

Talk: Stepping out of academia: wurst kase scenario or legen-dairy decision?

• I work in the cultured meat field, where we're trying to make meat less cruel and more sustainable. I'm trying to figure out how stem cells in bioreactors respond to environmental cues. I work with the cell biology, bioprocess development, and scientific computing teams to work out how to map cellular responses in a 2D environment to the complex 3D environment of a bioreactor

Dr. Cynthia Segura Vesterager

Scientist at MS-Omics

Talk: How to Pursue a Luctrative Career - within the Metabolomic Sector

• Customer project management of standard projects including project design and planning, sample preparation for standard methods such as LC-MS/MS and GC-MS, handling of unconformities, sample analysis and quality control (Including derivatization and quantification)
• Communication with customers regarding projects, e.g., about samples and sampling protocols
• Communication with other scientists about projects and assisting them when needed, and communication with data team regarding customer project