Dr. Seth Chitayat

After graduating with my PhD in 2007, I relocated to Nashville, Tennessee where I assumed a position as a CIHR Research Fellow at Vanderbilt University. During my tenure, I was primarily responsible for one of the main research projects, co-wrote three-to-five medium to large-scale operational grants and realized the potential of our old data for the purposes of publication. At the same time, I was conducting experiments and working with our collaborators to access additional resources to renew our operating grant. As a result of my efforts, several publications were accepted and the research program was eventually funded. These experiences were very positive, and highlighted my strengths in scientific writing, proposal development, research project management, budgeting and working as part of a team.

In 2010, I transferred to Dr. Cheryl Arrowsmith’s Laboratory at UHN as a CIHR Post-Doctoral Fellow. There, I leveraged my experiences at Vanderbilt to seek the best possible outcomes: I contributed to her research programs in p53 research by overseeing collaborative work with Dr. Rob Bristow at OCI and also in NMR methodology development. In addition to the resources available to me at UHN, Dr. Arrowsmith was always supportive of my decisions and willingness to try new things, which encouraged independent thought and insight. This provided me with an excellent training environment that was key to my career development, experiences that have been instrumental in my role as a Research Program Manager at Queen’s University in 2011.

I believe the changing landscape in biomedical research necessitates business-trained professionals to lead scientific initiatives. In this spirit, I decided to pursue an MBA at the Rotman School of Management while working simultaneously in research. My goal is to find a career that combines my science and business training to help organizations strengthen their biomedical research programs.