Catherine Campbell

Before entering the WestLink Technology Commercialization Internship Program, Catherine Campbell thought her ideal job would have been in venture capital. After all, as a graduate student at the University of British Columbia, she started her own "little company" where she recruited friends to pool their money and invest in stocks.

"We made a bit of money on the side, but it was more for the learning experience and being in control of our own money instead of the bank telling us what to do," says Campbell, who moved to Vancouver from Montreal for graduate school. With the recent poor market performance, the investors are "on hold," while their money waits in cash deposits, but Campbell has forged ahead carving out a new career path of her own.

Campbell earned her PhD in neuroscience from the UBC, but knew she didn't want to remain in academia and started looking at other options that would connect her to industry. The WestLink program was the perfect fit.

Her first placement was at the Simon Fraser University Technology Transfer Office. Although it was small, it served a lot of faculty, which meant Campbell had her hand in a number of different projects. She wrote patents, applied for grants, worked on out-licensing of technologies and fundraised with venture capitalists and angel networks. Whatever needed to be done, she did.

She then went to Allon Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing the first drugs that impact the progressions of neurodegenerative disease. As an intern, Campbell was involved in the business development side—market research, competitive intelligence, intellectual property work and in-licensing. "Everything was a new learning experience, it was a super exciting placement," says Campbell, who enjoyed it so much she is now an employee there.

Campbell's final placement was with NDI Capital, a Vancouver-based biotechnology investment company that focuses on the neurosciences. During her eight month placement, she analysed new investment opportunities or tried to find potential companies worth investigating. "I would still like to do more work in venture capital but the position offered to me at Allon was great," says Campbell. "I really enjoy what I'm doing now. I'm working on tons of different projects, which is quite different than grad school when you might spend five years working on the same research hypothesis. Now every day is something new."

As a business development associate with Allon, Campbell's typical day might include attending a scientific meeting to discuss one of the company's compounds, performing due diligence on other drug candidates or in-licensing or conducting market research to learn more about Allon's competitors in the field of Alzheimer's disease, for example.

"Looking back on the WestLink program, I got more than I hoped for," says Campbell. "My placements were amazing, my mentors were great and the breadth of opportunity the program opened up for me was so deep. It worked out so well for me."