Dr. Ward left the sedate Midwest for UC Berkeley, where she earned a BA in microbiology and immunology. In the 80’s, she went to work in biotechnology for the now defunct, but incredibly successful biotech incubator, Syva, where she got her first experiences working in product development. After finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona (microbiology and immunology), she started a new adventure at Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems (which later became BD Biosciences). While at BD, Dr. Ward continued to work in product development and became more involved in systems integration and development, taking leading roles in the systems integration of numerous IVD products. In 2003, she worked at Affymetrix where her primary role was to guide new product teams on systems development issues and design control. In September of 2004, she joined Predicant Bioscience as the Associate Director of Systems Integration and Evaluation and is in her words, "having a blast".
Ever wonder if the grass is greener at the company down the street? What are the pros and cons of biotech companies as they work their way through different levels of maturity? How might they fit in with what you consider is your perfect job environment? Explore what things are like in a start up of 40 vs. an established behemoth that has been around for more than 100yrs. What is the difference at a company that does clinical products vs. research? What are the important things to ask about a company that is maturing from start-up to established? "Does One Size Fit All?" will explore the experiences of a biotech "worker-bee" through a number of companies discussing the opportunities and potential pitfalls (depending on what floats your boat).
