Consultant Spotlight - November 2023

How long have you been with miLEAD? 

I joined miLEAD in Spring 2022, so about 1 year and 7 months.

What is the focus of your research?

I study neurological diseases at the cellular level using advanced multicellular models of the human brain. I use these models as an early-stage platform to evaluate the therapeutic potential of novel pharmaceutical compounds.

What are your current career goals?

My current career goals are to work in life science consulting or corporate strategy roles in the healthcare sector.

What roles have you played on projects? 

I have worked as a consultant on three projects and as a project manager on one. All the projects I have been involved in focused on secondary research, and I was part of teams that conducted market research and competitive landscape analysis to provide data-backed recommendations to clients with backgrounds ranging from an agriculture-tech startup to a molecular diagnostics lab.

What led you so seek out milead?

As a student at Oakland University, which didn't have a student-led consulting group, I sought out miLEAD to gain firsthand real-world consulting experience. At the time, miLEAD was only open to grad students and postdocs at the University of Michigan. Despite this, I approached miLEAD's leadership team and made my case to join miLEAD over a six-month period. By early 2022, my persistence led me to be selected as the first non-UM miLEAD Consultant since the group's inception. I am really grateful to have had the opportunity to join miLEAD as this has been a truly transformative experience for me.

Since joining miLEAD, what skills have you been able to develop?

As a consultant, the most important skill I developed was data-driven decision making - performing research and analysis to present compelling data-backed recommendations to the client.

As a project manager, I developed stakeholder management skills - understanding client priorities, communicating them to the team, and efficiently balancing the team’s workload - all essential components of delivering a successful project.

What has been one of your most rewarding experiences thus far working with miLEAD? 

My most rewarding experience has been learning from and collaborating with a highly intelligent set of individuals from diverse backgrounds to solve our clients' business challenges.