The ability to utilise research skills – critical thinking, project management, communication – mean that consulting careers are rewarding and engaging for many researchers moving beyond academia.
In addition, consultants are sought from a broad range of disciplines and backgrounds. Whether it’s social enterprises or finance, technology or research, having impact in an area that interests you is possible through a career in consulting.
This panel session will feature PhD holders who are now working in consultancy across a range of sectors.
Confirmed Panellists:
Dr Gloria Lam – Managing Consultant, PA Consulting
Gloria is part of PA Consulting’s team of Healthcare and Life Sciences Consultants. She has a strong academic background in bioprocessing and 8+ years of international industry experience in life sciences covering Europe, US and China developing manufacturing network strategies and capabilities. She has experience working with and commercialising complex medical devices such as tissue-engineered products in China.
Gloria has published 25 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in areas including cell and gene therapies, regenerative medicine and digital health. Specifically, she has published articles on impact of fast-track designations, decision lifecycle, supply chains and capacity planning decisions on commercialisation of novel therapies.
Gloria holds a DPhil in biomedical engineering from the University of Oxford.
Dr Pascal Förster – Management Consultant, d-fine Ltd.
Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Pascal did his Bachelor and Master of Physics in Munich, where he worked on computational astrophysics with a focus cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (Klaus Dolag). He moved to the UK for his PhD in Astrophysics at UCL, trying to bridge the gap between simulations and observations in reionisation and galaxy evolution (Richard Ellis & Amélie Saintonge). After completing his PhD early last year, Pascal joined d-fine Ltd. His current project is at a mid-sized Dutch bank, where he is embedded in a DevOps team and helps the client scope, refine and develop requirements and coordinates implementation and testing together with stakeholders across the bank
Dr Karan Bali – BioPharma Strategy Consultant, Scitaris
Karan is a consultant at Scitaris, a consulting form focused on R&D strategy support for pharma and biotech companies. His work focuses on delivering deep scientific and clinical understanding to drive business strategies for clients developing drugs across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
Prior to joining Scitaris, Karan completed a PhD in Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge where his thesis focused on creating a bioelectronic screening platform for the development of next generation antibiotics. Whilst at Cambridge, he also became involved in the thriving biopharma eco-system in the city, working closely with an early-stage start-up aiming to create wearable metabolite biosensors.
Karan holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford (New College), where his Master’s thesis centred around uncovering the mechanism of action of nerve agent antidotes using molecular dynamics simulations.
