Careers in nanomedicine and drug delivery

Abstract

Nanomedicine continues to be a rapidly growing and increasingly interdisciplinary field. The career opportunities available in nanomedicine are also numerous, yet not always obvious to the early-career scientist determining their individual track for maximal impact. This perspective provides a brief overview of the field of nanomedicine, then delves into the many career trajectories one could take in this field. The article concludes with thoughts on how to provide diverse training to increase supply for the variety of career paths, and the role that mentors can play in young scientists' development and exploration of these career paths.

Keywords: Consulting; Mentoring; Nanotechnology; Policy; Science writing; Startup; Translational medicine.

Figure 1.. Representative academic positions in US-based institutions.

There are a multitude of academic opportunities following completion of doctoral or postdoctoral work. The specific academic titles vary depending on the institute, or the unit within the institute, and whether the institution is private, either for-profit or not-for-profit, or public. Institution types include community college, 4-year flagship state universities (“U of…”), 4-year land grant universities (“…State University”), primarily undergraduate institution, or small liberal arts college.

Figure 2.. The phases of translational medicine research.

The focus or purpose of each stage of the process is briefly summarized.

Figure 3.. The concept of a T-skilled worker.

A T-skilled worker shows both deep or specialized knowledge, and the ability to apply that knowledge across situations or disciplines.