Introduction
After completing my studies, I would like to take up a career in Biomedical Sciences because since childhood it has been my passion to contribute in the discovery and development of cures for different ailments.
Secondly, I consider myself a very keen learner and I know that in the medical field this is one of the key traits that will make one successful in the future.
The human body is very fragile and if a person is not very careful of or attentive to oneself, he/she may end up aggravating an illness or injury while trying to cure it.
As such I believe that I am the one who can make my mind on getting a solution to a problem and think of it until the solution is reached.
Finally and most importantly, in my academic quest I have always found myself drifting towards biomedical sciences.
Like with any career, success is usually left out for individuals with training in the respective field and I believe my training will put me at an advantage in my chosen career.
The career
A Biomedical Scientist studies and analyzes the human body trying to understand how it works. This helps him/her come up with practical solutions to implement when things are not going on well.
Most Biomedical scientists spend most of their days in laboratories, analyzing living things. Their experiments are usually based on small organisms, some as small as a single cell all the way to big mammals such as chimpanzees.
In some situations, Biomedical Scientists pick specimens from human tissues for analysis and experiments.
Academic requirements
For one to qualify as a biomedical scientist, one is usually required to have a degree in Biomedical Science with the prospects of upgrading through graduate school.
This puts one at the advantage of taking up senior tutoring positions in colleges as well as high-ranking researcher posts in companies (Specialist Biomedical Science recruiters 2012).
In some cases some biomedical scientists are required to have a medical degree on top of their other qualifications. Traditionally graduate-school students are taken through various departments before settling they choose the one.
Once the student picks a particular laboratory, he/she is then required to spend time doing original research guided by the principal investigator. Ultimately, the aim is for the student to publish a dissertation which will then be up for review by peers.
Career opportunities
In most instances, the employment opportunities for Biomedical Scientists are in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies (Careers in Biomedical Science 2012). Some individuals opt to go for academic positions including lecturing in colleges.
However, when put side by side, jobs in industry are better paying than academic ones. However, academic jobs allow one to have some intellectual wiggle-room obtained through arguing out their cases in seminars and conferences as well as continuous publishing of their ideas for others to criticize.
Most recently, some career fields such as science journalism have come up as an option for biomedical scientists who would rather follow untraditional career paths.
This field fundamentally involves the sharing of one’s skills through publication in mass media platforms such as newspapers. In this practice, the scientists identify material that is completely full of jargon and present them in a manner that non-scientists can understand.
Benefits and challenges
A career in Biomedical Sciences is usually very rewarding because the practitioner can see his/her work come in hand to help save lives (Benefits of studying in the school of Biomedical Sciences 2012). I am sure that no amount of money can beat the feeling of seeing someone get back on his or her feet thanks to a discovery that you made.
As far as the challenges are concerned, I am aware that a career in Biomedical Science can be very isolated because by the nature of the career, one is required to spend long hours in a laboratory with fellow scientists.
This ends up denying the scientist time to create elastic social networks. However, I am still confident that the benefits will ultimately outweigh the challenges.
Boosting my chances
In order to improve my chances of attaining my dreams, I need to boost my resume with work experience which I am sure I can obtain through volunteering in various institutions. Below are a few examples:
Volunteering as a research assistant to an already established Biomedical Scientist will put me in great position to learn from him/her (Information for MS & MLTO’s regarding visas and immigration to Australia 2008).
Luckily for me most of the country’s renowned Biomedical Scientists have been my tutors and I am certain they would not turn me down if I consulted them to take up assistant roles during my vacation.
Taking up a volunteer position in a hospital laboratory will also put me at a good position to observe how the knowledge gained in training is put to practical use.
This will also expose me to the challenges of the field and help me see how the real professionals cope with them whenever they arise.
Reference List
Benefits of studying in the school of Biomedical Sciences. Web.
Careers in Biomedical Science. Web.
Information for MS & MLTO’s regarding visas and immigration to Australia. Web.
Specialist Biomedical Science recruiters. Web.