Ep 60: The Love Language of Organic Chemistry - The Work

We have a wonderful guest today to start off our interviews for this season of We Love Science–meet Arianne Hunter, a Senior Scientist at Abbvie. She is a part of the centralized organic synthesis group and a synthesis expert for medicinal chemistry teams. Her day to day work involves identifying promising molecules that could be used as treatments, in short, she is one of the first steps in developing drugs. Arianne enjoys her work because it combines her two loves–organic chemistry and solving chemical synthesis problems. Similar to academia, her work involved investigating questions and looking to foundational organic chemistry to provide answers for how to bring molecules together and create specific chemical bonds, for example. When she compares working as a scientist in academia with industry, one of the biggest takeaways for Arianne is being able to see her wider impact very quickly. She is in awe everyday of getting to work closely with scientists who have worked on developing some of the biggest drugs for Abbvie and improving the lives of patients. However, Arianne does miss the academic culture of engaging with students regularly and mentoring the next generation. Before she joined industry, Arianne also worked with the government as a forensic chemist and this experience helped solidify her passion for more discovery rather than applied research. To hear more about Arianne and her work as an organic chemist in industry, listen to the latest episode.

Tune into this episode to hear Arianne share:

• Why she views doing science as almost a spiritual experience.
• Her thought process for transitioning from academia to the government to industry.
• How networking and speaking to people at conferences helped her find a position in industry.

Reach out to Arianne:

LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariannehunter/

Instragram - @dr.arihunter

If you enjoyed this episode, also listen to:

• Ep 45: Connecting the Dots between Theory, Physics, and Mathematics - The Work
• Ep 26: From Post doc to Assistant Professor - The Work
• Ep 15: Storm Chasing and Forensics - The Work 

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Reach out to Fatu:
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www.linkedin.com/in/shekerah-primus
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