Consultant Spotlight - February 2022

How long have you been with miLEAD? 

I joined miLEAD in October 2021, about 5 months.

What is the focus of your research?

My research pertains to women's health. Specifically, my work using mathematical models to understand the ecology of the vaginal microbiome which is important for maintaining a healthy reproductive tract (STI protection, pregnancy, fertility).

What are your career goals? 

My career goals are uncertain, but I hope to work in industry, and it would be great to stay in the women's healthcare space. I have also grown fond of consulting working for miLEAD, so consulting is definitely a contender.

What roles have you played on projects? 

I was a consultant for my first project last October doing primary research for a company interested in revolutionizing manufacturing practices (Industrial Revolution 4.0). Here I worked on designing and analyzing surveys and follow-up interview results. For my current project I am the Project Manager where we are completing primary research on the prenatal testing space, so I have been helping my consultants strategize and complete interviews with key opinion leaders in this arena.

What led you so seek out milead?

As I was coming into my fourth year, I was really struggling to visualize what I wanted to do after my PhD. A few of my friends had recommended miLEAD because of the strong professional networking sessions and I had always wondered what consulting entailed so I figured joining miLEAD would be the perfect opportunity to explore that career avenue!

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

Since joining miLEAD I have gained a lot of new skills. I think one skill in particular that I did not always appreciate before joining miLEAD is being a good listener to discern what is the most important task or goal to accomplish given a client's interest or feedback. This skill also translates well to academia, as this has helped me learn to better revise my work to align with my PI or collaborators feedback. I have also learned so much about how to conduct primary research and have picked up a lot of different odds-and-ends skills including becoming more proficient in excel, automation of emails, as well as new ways to become more organized in my workflows.

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

I think the most rewarding part has been learning how to work in multi-person teams which in my PhD work I often do not get to do. Especially in the context of the project manager role, I have learned a lot about myself in terms of how I like to work and how to get that to really mesh well with all sorts of different work styles! Additionally, it has been fun to meet new people through working on these projects and interacting with local companies.