James Quinn, PhD, is a researcher in the Alzheimer’s Clinical and Translational Research Unit (ACTRU) studying the mechanisms underlying dementia development to identify new biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets, focusing on the signaling molecules, neuropeptides. Outside the lab, James is an avid science communicator, rock climber and live music enthusiast.
We all have been there—standing in a corridor, wondering which door to knock on. The wrong one could be a disaster, right?
Hear me out. You knock. Someone you’ve never met before answers and asks how they can be of help. You tell them that you’re lost and that you’re looking for Professor X. They guide you to Professor X’s office down the hall.
You don’t think anything of this chance encounter, but six months down the line, you’re at a conference of the latest findings in your research area. This helpful stranger turns out to be the guest speaker!
Department of Neurology
Alzheimer’s Clinical and Translation Research Unit
Mass General Research Institute[/ultimate_heading]
Rejection in academia is akin to knocking on doors.
Most grants and fellowships for early career researchers award between 1 in 3 and 1 in 20 of all applications. Success is getting the research funding or finding the right person standing at the door. However, not getting the funding can be equally fortuitous.
While studying for my PhD at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, I attended a conference in 2017. The conference was focused on the protein that I was studying at the time, tau, which is involved in different forms of dementia.
I saw my dream supervisor present her groundbreaking research—developing tau as an improved way of diagnosing dementia. I approached her and suggested that we start collaborating. We formed a successful collaboration.
In 2018, I wrote and submitted a prestigious research fellowship proposal to Alzheimer’s Research UK. This proposal not only allowed me to stay in Manchester for two more years after my PhD but also allowed me to work with my dream supervisor for one year in Sweden. I always wanted to move abroad after finishing my PhD.
Sometime later, I received an email that informed me that my application would be reviewed by leading Alzheimer’s disease researchers. I was elated. I had cleared the first hurdle.
Three months later, another email came into my inbox with comments from the researchers. I took a deep breath and read them in-depth. I also sent the comments to my PhD supervisor.
Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Overall, the researchers were largely supportive of funding the project—however, they had questions and wanted me to perform additional experiments. At the time, I was writing the reply to these comments at a hostel in Rio de Janeiro during my one-month backpacking tour of South America.
It was impossible to run experiments from another continent. I tried to respond as objectively as possible. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to convince them to fund my project. The rejection stung.
In January 2019, I returned from traveling and quit my interim job at a consulting firm. I was out of work and felt defeated. However, this rejection opened so many more doors for me than I had realized at the time.
I returned to my consulting job, had an incredible time, and then learned about an opening for a Neurology Research Fellow in the Alzheimer’s Clinical & Translational Research Unit (ACTRU) at Massachusetts General Hospital.
I had met my current supervisor, Becky Carlyle, PhD, at an Alzheimer’s conference in Chicago and helped establish a collaboration between my lab at Manchester and the ACTRU. She had recently been awarded a large research grant to study new ways of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.
I knew I would be a great fit for this project. After discussions with Dr. Carlyle and her supervisor, ACTRU director Steven Arnold, MD, multiple interviews, and a visa application, I boarded a plane in London. Not long after, I touched down in Boston.
My British Airways flight
Fast forward two years—I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out. I had never even considered living in the United States. Now, I live in Boston and work for one of the top hospitals in the world.
My advice to all of you is to start knocking on those doors. You never know what will be waiting for you on the other side.
My new lab at the Mass General ACTRU (photo taken before COVID restrictions, September 2019)
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