Name: Salim Mamajiwalla
Job: Patent Agent
Source: Career Options for Biomedical Scientists [buy the book at CSHL Press or read a review]
Excerpt:
The turning point came at a conference in Keystone. My laboratory colleagues and I were sitting in front of the fireplace while two laboratory mates discussed the day’s presentations and how their work would tie in. Their excitement was palpable. I just could not get excited. I realized at that moment that I had lost my passion for bench work, but not science.
(…)
After much research and networking, I came to know of a former Cold Spring Harbor postdoc who had made the transition into patent law and I decided to give her a call and ask for her advice. Obviously, it worked out well – very well.
I rewrote my resume and sent it out to every single law firm in Toronto. I was eventually offered a position as a patent agent trainee in the IP department of one of the biggest general-purpose law firms in the country. Six months into it, I knew that the law firm environment was not for me. Although I enjoyed patent law, I had decided that at some point I needed to work for a biotech/pharmaceutical company, that is, I needed to move in-house.
Read the rest in the book Career Options for Biomedical Scientists or read a review of the book.
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