I leave my apartment to arrive at work by 8:00 AM. I’m a short walk from Porter Square, a major transit hub in Cambridge near various grocery stores and restaurants, including some of the top ramen places in town. From there, I ride on the T to South Station, which is a short walk from our office in the heart of Boston. On days when I arrive early, I walk nearby to get a breakfast sandwich from Kitchen Café, a Clarion favorite. I catch up with my officemates, make some tea in the office kitchen, and then get started by reading my email and preparing for my first call of the day.

My team meets in a conference room for a client call. We are working with the leads of the international immunology and rare disease business units of a top biotech company to develop their five- and ten-year strategies. Our team presents our findings from interviews we conducted with patients, payers, and the top physician scientists to identify diseases with the largest unmet need that are eligible for treatment with transformative platform technologies. We also use this opportunity to prioritize which target indications and technologies the client should discuss at our upcoming workshop.

Based on the feedback received from the client, we head to one of the office brainstorming spaces with whiteboard walls to map out the workshop’s final structure. Using my immunology knowledge from my PhD studies, I help define which criteria should be used to evaluate the eligibility of diseases for emerging cell and tolerizing technologies in autoimmunity, including the cell type I specialized in for my thesis work. Over the course of this project, I have had the opportunity to interview expert immunologists to discuss the fine details of disease etiology and technical considerations for developing novel therapeutics. In our meeting, I also review my draft slides with the manager and managing director on the project. Their guidance helps hone the key message I want to convey, and I return to my office to incorporate the new insights and ideas generated from our discussion.

I ask my fellow officemates if they want to head to the food trucks in Dewey Square. There is a rotating set of food options throughout the week, and my favorite truck, Jamaica Mi Hungry, is here today with delicious jerk chicken and fried plantains. Once we get our food, I return to the office lunchroom to socialize and take a break. I catch up with my fellow music lovers about a recent concert I went to in Allston, and then we all share our reactions to the latest episodes of our favorite TV shows.

Once lunch is done, I add the final touches to a white paper I am drafting with a couple fellow PhD senior associates. We have been working directly with a managing director who has expertise in oncology to identify key R&D developments pending for the year that will be published on the Clarion website. As I wrote my piece, I leveraged my knowledge of immune-oncology to identify key cellular therapies with milestones that will be presented at upcoming conferences such as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), one of the biggest oncology meetings of the year. I am excited to be attending AACR in a few months to hear updates on these cutting-edge technologies and synthesize the key data for an oncology client. This white paper also provides an opportunity to demonstrate my growing expertise and thought leadership, so I am excited that it is near completion for us to share with others.

After sending my updated draft for review, I walk by the office of my mentor to grab a coffee and have a coaching check-in. Out of the various coffee shops near our office, we decide to grab a craft drink from Kohi and take advantage of the outdoor seating while we chat. I share what skills I hope to develop in the coming months, and she recommends some upcoming projects that will help me continue my growth. She also suggests that I present at a firm meeting to share some findings from my recent project work and white paper to further my career development.

My final task for the day is to work on PROPEL, Clarion’s advanced-degree candidate leadership training workshop. I participated in PROPEL when I was applying for life sciences consulting positions, and it solidified for me the exciting growth opportunities and tight-knit culture that Clarion offers. Now, I am part of PROPEL organizing committee to help run the event and convey to others what originally enticed me to join the firm. This year, we’re designing new interactive activities that highlight casework done within our three core pillars: oncology, rare disease, and new enterprise commercialization. The core team is discussing our progress with these activities and plan when we will meet with the principals to share our new ideas.

Our PROPEL organizing committee has finished just in time for us to meet up with other colleagues headed to a Clarion social event. Today, Clarion’s Wellness Committee organized a trip to a rock-climbing gym in Cambridge to promote a fun way to stay active. After learning new hold tips from one of my office mates and successfully scaling some challenging routes, we all head next door to grab dinner and hang out. I end my day by returning home and quickly checking my email and mapping out the key tasks for the next day.