Srujana Lam, M.S.

When Srujana Lam first heard about the job that would ultimately change her career trajectory, she decided that she wasn’t the best fit. Lam had spent 3 years developing a vegan leather product with a startup. She wanted to work more with big data. But the startup didn’t offer room to grow in data science.

Then, a recruiter on LinkedIn reached out about an unexpected position: scientific business analyst. This was just the sort of data science work Lam had dreamed of. But the job description included skill sets she never learned in school, from interrogating potential value to modeling business processes.

She ignored the job posting for 2 weeks before a nudge from the recruiter gave her the confidence to take a chance.

Today, Lam is thriving as a scientific business analyst. In the more than 3 years that she has now worked as a contractor for Regeneron, a biotech company, she has developed user-friendly tools for visualizing data and dramatically reduced the time required for capturing and utilizing samples.

To accomplish these wins, she had to learn new skills on the job. “I surprised myself with how quickly I adjusted,” says Lam.

How did your master’s degree in chemistry help you land your first job out of school?

As a graduate student I learned how to use liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to analyze proteins expressed by E. coli. I also took classes on protein engineering and analytical statistics. It was an incredible coincidence that I pursued these classes out of my own interest, and then my first job was a nice blend of all of them.

At the startup, the goal was to make a vegan product that mimicked real leather and was less harmful to the environment than existing vegan leathers, which are typically made from polyurethane. To form the leather, we linked proteins together that were produced by yeast. I know I got the job because of my LC/MS expertise, my protein research, and my coursework.

What sorts of projects do you take on now as a scientific business analyst?

I’m technically a consultant, but I’ve worked remotely for the same pharmaceutical company since starting this position. I work within the IT department to support scientists. My first project was building a dashboard, which is an interactive set of graphs that allows users to slice and dice the data to understand trends.

I also developed software that allows our scientists to quickly inventory the biological samples they receive from clinical trials happening all across the world. When a box of samples arrives, it comes with a spreadsheet that contains all of the metadata, such as the clinical trial location, patient ID, study name, and collection date. Each study site formats their spreadsheet a little bit differently, so when it came to us, a staff member would have to reenter the data into our own system, and then a second staff member would independently reenter the same information to confirm that the data transfer was accurate. I created software that automates the process so scientists can simply import the spreadsheet and then spot-check for accuracy.

What skills do you need to be successful at your job?

I work in IT, but I have to be a people person first. When I came onboard, the inventory automation project had been floundering for several years because it was hard to get all of our scientists to agree on how the end product should function. I spent a lot of time listening to their concerns. My background as a chemist helped me sympathize with their position and, ultimately, gain their trust.

I’m an introvert, but this job has forced me to learn how to work more collaboratively with people. And I’ve discovered that being an introvert actually helps me be a better listener.

Are there any other skills that you had to learn on the job?

All the jargon! Through my coursework and research, I had gradually learned the scientific terms common to chemists. In our IT department, coworkers had their own unique terminology so I spent the first couple of months trying to decode their conversations, basically teaching myself the language through some desperate Googling.

That process was very important to my success in this role. The software engineers could, of course, try to talk directly to the scientists to understand what they want. But that often doesn’t work because you have two very smart groups of people using their own jargon and so talking past each other. For me, a big part of my job is being the interpreter who can bring these groups together.  

Do you have any advice for chemists who want to transition to a scientific business analyst position?

Start teaching yourself the basics of information technology. Learn how to build databases and dashboards. Learn computer programming languages like Python and SQL. Experiment with writing your own code. The good news is there are many free resources for learning computer science online.

I feel like earning my degrees in chemistry was the right decision because it gave me access to all of the chemicals and expensive scientific equipment that I needed to learn the discipline. But learning computer science on your own is possible, as long as you have the patience and time to pursue it. 

This profile has been edited for length and clarity. The opinions expressed in this interview are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of their employer or the American Chemical Society.