TIBBS Career Blitz Career Profile Questionnaire

  1. Please provide your name and employer:

Jessica Polka, ASAPbio

  1. What is your current title and how long have you worked in your current job?

Director (1.3 years)

  1. Where did you get your PhD and what discipline was it in?

UCSF – Biochemistry & Cell Biology

  1. Did you do a postdoc?

Yes – at Harvard Medical School in Systems Biology. Wasn’t necessary but I spent a lot of time during it familiarizing myself with this kind of work

  1. What are your main daily responsibilities?

The major activities are writing (Emails, blog posts, updating web resources) Phone and video calls (typically a couple a day) and Preparing and giving talks (usually 1-2 a week). The projects range from organizing, planning, and promoting meetings/conferences, coordinating with

  1. What are the keys to success in your career field?

Communication skills. I think understanding and being conversant in scientific culture is necessary.

  1. What were the most important factors in choosing your career path?

I wanted to change the world with science. I realized that the most efficient way to do that would be to improve scientific practice. I appreciate the sense that this work has an immediate positive effect (as opposed to my experience with research, which was motivated primarily by natural beauty!)

  1. What activities (if any) did you participate in that helped you be successful in obtaining your job?

I volunteered with this and many other convening/policy/organizing efforts during my postdoc. This kind of stuff was (and still is) my hobby - as a side-effect I got to know lots of people and received invitations to participate in their efforts as a volunteer. Ultimately one of these efforts had a full-time position available. Though it wasn’t my original goal, I realized I would love to apply!

  1. What 1 or 2 pieces of advice do you have for people who want to land a job like yours?

If you’re interested in policy issues affecting the research enterprise, get on Twitter and participate in discussions there to learn the arguments, references, and developments on your colleague’s minds

Organize small events locally to get comfortable managing logistics.