Name: Albee Ling (she/her)
PhD: Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University, 2020
What was your main area of research?
I studied biostatistics, specifically missing data and propensity score methods.
What is your current job?
I am a Data Scientist at Verily Life Sciences in San Francisco, CA.
For my job, I focus on study design and statistical analyses for academic publications and internal projects.
The best part of my job is that I am able to work with a variety of people and teams.
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
I found this job through a referral.
PhD graduate ➡️ Academic research scientist ➡️ Data Scientist in the industry
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia? Was this a difficult decision or one you felt came easily?
It took me about a year to decide against it. I considered the length of additional training (i.e. an academic postdoc) and the potential mental and financial stress the next 5-10 years in academia would bring lol.
What are three pieces of advice you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
If I were to go back to grad school, I would try very hard to land a few internships before deciding on academia or industry. This will open up your connections and give you a fresh perspective.
In terms of networking, mostly alum from grad school and college are still the way to go.
Professions such as data scientists and management consulting also have general hiring from PhD schools, which are also great opportunities.