Which profession is the most suitable for a PhD?

Transcription : Hello everyone, this is Vanessa Montanari from the clinical research blog. Today we are going to talk about a new subject. Which job in clinical research is the most suitable for a doctor of biology?

So, there are currently two purely clinical research professions that I would say are the most suitable for a doctor of biology, and another profession that is a little bit on the borderline of clinical research, which I’m going to tell you about, which could also be adapted to a doctor of biology.

So first of all, there is the job of Clinical research associate, and therefore the job of quality controller. So the doctor of biology is going to use his biological knowledge and all his rigor to be able to carry out controls in the context of clinical studies.

He can also become a project manager in some countries and also in some… for example in a hospital, he can no longer easily access this type of position, which is the position of project manager.

Afterwards, for the doctor in biology who likes the bench, he will be very disappointed by the job of CRA  since it is a job where there is no bench at all but only paperwork. So you really have to be aware of that.

Then there’s the job of medical writer. So as a medical writer, you have to write consents, investigator brochures, protocols, articles. So it’s a writing job. The doctor of biology will use a good part of his knowledge, of what he learned during his doctorate, and if he has done a post-doc it will help him a lot. So I think that the job of medical writer is one of the most suitable because the doctor of biology will really use some of what he did in his doctorate and post-doc.

Then there is another job that can be interesting for a doctor of biology. You have to know that it is a job where this type of profile is favorized. The profiles of doctor of biology or post-doc. This is the job of MSL. So it’s Medical Scientific Liaison. So, these are professionals who are in charge of being in contact with medical doctors. But for all the scientific aspects of the products, if the medical doctors have questions about the products, if the doctors want to carry out projects such as clinical studies as a sponsor, then they are in contact with these MSLs and the MSLs help them to set up their clinical studies. So, it is not a job of clinical research, but it is a job that is very close to clinical research.

So, there are these three professions that I think are more adapted and according to what the doctor of biology appreciates. If he appreciates doing control and working on something very administrative, he will choose the CRA profession or the project leader profession. If he has a preference for writing, for the scientific aspect in the sense of document writing, writing articles, research, etc., bibliographical, then he will be more of a medical writer. If he has a penchant for relating to medical doctors, reporting scientific information, setting up projects with them, then he will be earlier on the MSL professions.

So, thank you for following me and I’ll see you very soon.