Career profile: Endocrinologist abroad – working in America

<< back to career profiles

Dr Rob Fowkes, Lecturer in Endocrine Signalling (T14), Endocrine Signalling Group (within Genes & Development/Cardiovascular), Royal Veterinary College, London.

Post-school Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) in Human Biology, Oxford Brookes University
  • PhD in Neuroendocrinology, University of Bristol

Career History

Completed a BSc, followed by a PhD and then secured post-doc jobs at the Royal Free Hospital/Royal Veterinary College and at Barts & the London. Worked in the USA at the University of California, San Francisco for 16 months and now currently work as a lecturer in endocrine signalling (T14) at the Royal Veterinary College, London.

Rob’s Story

My undergraduate degree was a BSc (Hons) in Human Biology at Oxford Brookes University (still a Poly. when I started!). By the end of my second year I had decided that I wanted to do a PhD in an area relating to Reproductive Biology and Pharmacology, so I wrote letters of introduction to various groups around the UK. I was fortunate to receive a positive response from Prof. Craig McArdle at the University of Bristol, who then spent 12 months arranging for a year’s initial funding for me to start my PhD in his group in September 1994.  

Subsequently, he secured another two years’ money, which enabled me to complete my PhD in 1997, before moving on to post-doc jobs at the Royal Free Hospital/Royal Veterinary College and at Barts & the London. Both of these positions involved investigating areas of endocrine physiology and biochemistry. Towards the end of my first post-doc at Barts I started looking for a permanent position, which was something of a rarity in London at the time (and still is). Having taken the advice of both Prof. Jacky Burrin and Prof. John Monson, I started to look at getting a position overseas.

I decided to spend some time as a post-doc in the USA, and was fortunate to join an excellent group at University of California, San Francisco. The major reason for going abroad was to improve my chances of securing an academic appointment in the UK on my return, something that actually happened far quicker than I had anticipated.

What Rob has found difficult

On the downside, going abroad was disruptive (on a personal level) and incredibly expensive. For me, it was still the right thing to do, but it’s not an easy decision for anyone to make. Academic science is poorly paid considering the years of training and the antisocial work hours that are required in order just to get by, let alone to excel. There are also pressures to publish and secure funding – every aspect of my work is scrutinised and judged by others, which can be rather depressing at times! Lastly, there is still no established career structure for basic scientists. How far you progress (and how quickly) is still somewhat down to chance. You can help yourself by being proactive, getting involved and planning ahead, but not everyone is comfortable doing this. The only security you have as a post-doc on a fixed-term contract is knowing the day on which you will become unemployed – you should plan accordingly to make sure that never happens.

What Rob has found beneficial

In short, I had a successful but mixed experience in the US. I published well for the amount of time I was actually there, made great collaborative links, learnt new techniques and experienced a different way of performing research. The major benefits of my current career are that I’m doing what I want to be doing (in the main!), I work with interesting people and I have the support of friends and colleagues around the country. I also still get the opportunity to travel and present data overseas.

For more information about studying and working in America, read Rob’s article from the Autumn 2005 issue of The Endocrinologist: ‘The Been-To-America Degree’. This also has some useful links to potential sources of funding.