By Philip Kuehl, Pavan Muttil, Alan Watts, Chris Gruenloh
This is the second part in a three-part series from the Inhalation and Nasal Community detailing different scientific career paths within pharmaceutical sciences. In this article, Pavan Muttil, an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico, reviews how he chose academia over the Pharma industry. Pavan has been a long-time AAPS member and is involved at several levels, from scientific posters, presentations, community engagement, and PharmSci360. As you read his journey, you can reach out and engage with him at the INC meeting at PharmSci 360 in 2023.
Pavan Muttil: I am an Associate Professor and Vice-chair at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of New Mexico. I joined the College in 2010 as a junior faculty member after completing my postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I was at a crossroads, well into the second year of postdoctoral research, unsure whether to pursue a career in the Pharmaceutical Industry or Academia. Before starting graduate school, I was fortunate to work in the pharmaceutical industry; I understood what the pharma industry would offer me if I chose it as a career path. Further, during my graduate studies and postdoctoral experience, I carefully observed and spoke to various faculty members in my department about the benefits and challenges of being in academia; people are generally very generous in sharing their wisdom and experience. In addition, I had regular meetings with my postdoctoral mentor (at least twice a year) regarding my future career path. Such meetings used to happen at a cafeteria outside the research laboratory setting, providing a more informal platform to discuss my future aspirations.
It has been 13 years since I joined my current academic position. I love the three pillars of academic life: teaching and mentoring students at different career stages to become successful researchers, including undergraduate, master, graduate, and postdocs. The second pillar is the ability (and freedom) to pursue research ideas that excite me the most; this requires writing manuscripts for publication and proposals to funding agencies. Getting funded to carry out your research endeavors can sometimes be challenging, but you must believe in yourself and your ideas. Finally, the third pillar is your service toward your College and the University. Although we sometimes undervalue this aspect, it is an essential responsibility for every academician.
What factors most influenced your decision(s) along your career path?
The ability to pursue my own research goals and to mentor the next generation of scientists were the most critical factors that made me choose a career in academia. My graduate and postdoctoral mentors were also instrumental in my making this decision. Of course, this decision was also based on my values and needs regarding my future career.
What are the aspects of your career that you most enjoy and what are the more routine aspects of your career?
Being in an academic institution, I can pursue exciting cutting-edge research ideas. Further, the ability to make new collaborations to achieve research goals gives me much satisfaction. There are a few routine things, but I consider them critical. For example, I have been teaching in our Pharmacy program since joining this University. Rather than considering it a regular and mundane chore, it is essential to keep learning to provide the best education since the most effective teaching tools are still evolving. During the COVID lockdown, we quickly learned how to teach in a virtual setting.
What is something that you wished others knew about your career that most scientists don’t know?
Early-career scientists (graduate students and postdocs) must understand the nuances of each career path. For this to happen, they should observe and regularly discuss their interested career paths with their mentors and network at conferences. Even better, experiencing these settings as interns (academia, industry, federal labs, etc.) before making this major career decision will help you understand the pros and cons of each career path. An academic career offers flexibility over your schedule; this became apparent during the last few years during the pandemic.
What are the measures for success for each of you within the career path that you have selected?
The measures for success will always be a moving target based on where you are in your career trajectory. As a junior faculty member, you may have different standards of success. As you become a senior faculty member, this goal post might shift. Something consistent for me has been my passion for training and mentoring students.
Looking back on the path that each of you took to get where you are at what is one thing you wished you would have known/considered when you started down this path?
As mentioned above, the more you understand each career path early in your education, the fewer surprises you will encounter later. It is important to network during conferences, and don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for advice from those who have traversed a similar path that you are interested. In addition, each career path will evolve every few years, and we need to adapt to this change quickly; this evolution happened very quickly during the last 2-3 years during the pandemic in most knowledge-based careers.
What question haven’t I asked you that you would like to address to provide insight into your career to date?
The flexibility and freedom of running your laboratory also bring responsibility. These include acquiring and managing your laboratory funding, hiring staff (students, postdocs, technicians), designing experiments, etc. The sooner you learn these trades, the more you will enjoy being in academia. Also, as an academician, you can invest in your start-up companies based on your discoveries; this can satisfy your appetite for being an entrepreneur!