PhD Parade: Career Management Tactics with Dr. Erik Wong

Date: 
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - 5:00pm to 7:30pm
Location: 
Chittenden Hall, Room 110, 466 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing MI 48824

The job market for PhDs has changed over the past several decades. In the current job market, PhDs find careers inside and outside of traditional faculty roles. Join PhD Career Services and the MSU BEST program to explore some of the careers available to PhDs. We continue the series on the evening of November 6 with Dr. Erik Wong. Doctor Wong will talk about his career consulting for government and private companies. 

Dinner will be provided.

Dr. Wong’s biography:

Erik Wong, PhD received his research training at Medical Research Council (UK), National Institute for Medical Research in Neuroscience. He carried out postdoctoral research in academia and biopharmaceutical industry, at University of California and Merck Neuroscience Research Centre, respectively. He is a consultant on human performance optimization with special emphasis on developing innovative training programs to support career and professional development for the millennial generation. He is also an expert on innovation and business development. Erik’s focus on human performance encompasses a wide-ranging portfolio of expertise in human physiology, brain science, biological psychiatry, the development of analytics and training tools that optimize professional performance. He built a successful career in research and development (R&D) of therapeutic agents in several therapeutic areas (neurology, psychiatry, ophthalmology, immune-oncology).

Over a 33-year career, Erik has served 8 major global pharmaceutical and biotech companies at 3 different continents, and had roles ranging from research biochemist, line-management, clinical development, director of external R&D teams, to VP in global business development. His duties include: hiring director of departments, supervising research and training programs to build multiple in-house, cross-discipline and cross-cultural taskforces, to sustain learning organizations and external R&D infrastructures. His industrial leadership, plus social and cultural competence honed through innovative global partnerships have resulted in publication of 11 patents, the approval of 3 medicines in over 30 countries, and has communicated novel findings in over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Erik is passionate about the future of graduate and postdoctoral education, plus developing the global workforce with entrepreneurial spirit. He is keen to bring up-to-date career management tactics and transferable skills to facilitate the professional growth for the future generations of young scholars, and to enable the translation of knowledge to social impacts. He has served as an adjunct associate professor at Michigan State University (MSU) and career development advisors for different universities and professional societies. His current academic engagements include serving on different study-sections at the National Institute for Mental Health. He is a consultant for the Office of Academic and Professional Development at Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan. Erik also consults for Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), University of Hong Kong of Science and Technology (HKUST), University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. He has been invited to serve as an external advisory board member on the NIH funded “Broadening Experiences for Science Training” (BEST) program at Michigan State University (MSU).

Registration is required. Registration period is 10/24 - 11/5/18.