There is always the anxiety of doing something new and the fact that you sail in unknown waters. But, on the other hand, this is what you always do when you are in basic research, so there is not much difference at the end of the day.
I want to see our research outputs eventually translated to help our patients.
I consider myself a permanent student and I am always curious
I would encourage people to think deeply about what they really want – if you truly wish to be an academic, that’s wonderful, but there is no shame in deciding on a different career, even if you have been successful in academia so far.
I had heard that industrial science can be quite restrictive, that you don’t have the freedom to follow interesting science as you do in academia. It may be that I have been lucky in my role, but I have had quite a lot of freedom to investigate what I believe may be interesting biology.
My motto is ‘always choose the hardest battle, never stop looking for the unbeaten path’.
As much as I enjoyed my PhD, towards the end of it I started hearing a little voice in my head that made me doubt if my long-term career was going to be in academia.
