Stories

Ali Divan: After 7 years in academia, I had lost my sense of purpose and confidence…

A photo of Ali Divan taken from Ali Divan, Ph.D./LinkedIn

Oct 20, 2023, 20:17

Ali Divan: After 7 years in academia, I had lost my sense of purpose and confidence…

Ali Divan, Founder and Principal of Trulitica, recently shared a post on LinkedIn, saying:

“After 7 years in academia, I had lost my sense of purpose and confidence.
My first postdoc ran out of funding, and I was laid off.
My second postdoc was back-to-back proposal rejections.
The message was not “your science isn’t good enough”.
The message was “your pedigree isn’t good enough”.
There was no path for me to become faculty.
The die had been cast.

I had become a scientist because 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
I wanted to treat and cure diseases.
I wanted to help others.
But the elitist academic system did not value that.
They did not value me, either.
I could feel my vision of advancing medicine was dying.
I needed to find a way out.

𝗜𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆, 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

This is not just my story.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗣𝗵𝗗𝘀, 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀.
If you feel rejected, forgotten, ignored…
Like your dreams are dead in the water…
Do not give up yet.
There is an entire world out there that values you.

There are resources here on LinkedIn to help you.
But the first step is to ask for help.
Find a better path. Choose to be valued.

If you are ready to find that better path, join me and the hundreds of Life Science PhDs breaking into biotech at Trulitica.
For subscription to newsletter click here.”

Wafik S. El-Deiry, Director at Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University, shared Ali Divan’s post on LinkedIn, adding:

“Thanks for sharing. The current system needs reform to deal with injustice in science and injustice in medicine.
Some things are getting worse with over-regulated processes now at every turn. There’s a whole industry there both within academia and government.
Science needs to be valued more in the US and it certainly needs investments by academia, government, philanthropy, and the private sector.
Scientists are a precious national resource, and we need to make it easier for the best and brightest to pursue careers in academia where they can make a difference. This is good for all of us.”

Source: Ali Divan/LinkedIn and Wafik S. El-Deiry/LinkedIn