Penn Science Policy and Diplomacy Group

by Chris Yarosh PSPG tries to hold as many events as limited time and funding permit, but we cannot bring in enough speakers to cover the range of science policy careers out there. Luckily, other groups at Penn hold fantastic events, too, and this week’s Biomedical Postdoc Program Career Workshop was no exception. While all of the speakers provided great insights into their fields, this recap focuses on Dr. Sarah Rhodes, a Health Science Policy Analyst in the Office of Science Policy (OSP) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). First, some background: Sarah earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Cardiff University in the U.K., and served as a postdoc there before moving across the pond and joining a lab at the NIH. To test the policy waters, Sarah took advantage of NIH’s intramural detail program , which allows scientists to do temporary stints in administrative offices. For her detail, Sarah worked as a Policy Analyst in the Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC...

by  Ian McLaughlin On February 11 th , Dr. Sarah Martin, a Science Policy Fellow at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), visited Penn to chat about her experience working in science policy. As it turns out, her story is perhaps more circuitous than one might expect. An avid equestrian, Sarah earned a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and a master’s degree in animal nutrition at the University of Kentucky before embarking on a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at UK’s College of Medicine. While pursuing her degrees, Sarah realized that the tenure track was not for her, and she began exploring career options using the Individual Development Plan (IDP) provided by AAAS Careers . At the top of the list: science policy. With an exciting career option in mind, Sarah sought ways to build “translatable skills” during her Ph.D. to help her move toward science policy. She served as treasurer, and later Vice President, of UK’s Graduat...

Credit: The Franklin Institute Everybody loves science museums. Their fun and interactive way of presenting science reconnects you with your childhood self, when you were curious, when you wondered, and when you were so amazed that you could only manage to say, “Wow!” But what is it like to work at a science museum? On Wednesday, we hosted Jayatri Das, PhD , to describe her career engaging the public with science as the Chief Bioscientist at The Franklin Institute. As you would expect, her transition from the lab into the museum was cultivated by a strong interest in outreach and teaching. After receiving her PhD from Princeton, she gained experience as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow  developing programs for the Marian Koshland Science Museum in Washington, DC. Following a short post-doctoral appointment, she landed a position with The Franklin Institute, an opportunity that she partly ascribes to fortuitous timing, as PhD level positions at muse...