Student Profile: Chemist/Business Leader

Paul Sandoval '07
Co-Leader, Yale Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Society
Summer internship: Boehringer-Ingelheim
Post-MBA position: Market Planning Analyst, Daiichi-Sankyo

A lot of people don’t understand just how many different compounds a pharmaceutical company has to make before they actually get a successful drug. I know because that’s what I did: make new compounds in the lab. Most scientists never see one of the compounds that they’ve made actually on the market. It’s really tough to get something through. So every drug that does make it to market is paying for all the drugs that failed in the past.

I worked for a very small biotech company that partnered with a big pharmaceutical company, and since I was at such a small company I got to sit in on a lot of the strategy meetings where they discussed who they were going to partner with, how they were going about gaining venture capital, and other high-level issues that most chemists wouldn’t be exposed to. That sparked my interest in the business side.

I came to Yale SOM because I really enjoyed the small-school environment here. I didn’t have a business background, and I thought I’d be lost at a bigger school. I really felt comfortable here. And Yale SOM is located in an emerging biotech center, between two other big biotech centers—New Jersey and the Boston area—so it was ideal for me: there were so many opportunities here for me. Yale’s strong focus on strategy really attracted me, too. It has helped me understand the issues facing the pharmaceutical industry.

I think pharmaceuticals is one of the most challenging industries. I don’t feel I’ll ever get tired of it, or even fully understand everything that goes on in the industry. And of course there’s the tie to the science I really enjoy, but I don’t have to wear a labcoat.

Interviewed on January 30, 2007.