U of A alum wants students to consider careers outside academia

A University of Alberta alum wants students to consider career pathways that branch away from traditional academic narratives. 

Fred Van Goor began his academic journey pursuing a biology undergraduate degree at the U of A in 1991. He continued his education at the University of Alberta, getting a PhD in zoology before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Health in 1996. After completing his education, Van Goor left academia for a job at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, working on developing treatments for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) — a decision that changed his life. 

Van Goor’s story follows a timeline relatable to many university students: as his degree progressed, he changed his mind about the career pathway he wanted to pursue. First wanting to follow his father, Van Goor set his eye on becoming a physician. However, it was a summer internship with his future PhD supervisor at the U of A that convinced him otherwise. 

“That really brought out the scientific curiosity in me about discovering the unknown through science,” he said.“I changed my career path from wanting to become a physician to wanting to become a scientist.”

It was after his post-doctoral fellowship that Van Goor once again changed career paths, leaving academia to begin working in the CF program of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2001. What started out as benchwork led to Van Goor becoming vice-president and head of the CF department, leaving him in charge of finding new gene therapy and editing treatments, developing drugs, and making sure patients have access to the company’s drugs.  

It was through this journey from bench scientist to vice-president that Van Goor started viewing the possibility of a science degree from a different perspective. 

“I’ve learned that there are a lot of different places you can go in industry,” he said. “ You can really use that scientific background, that biology degree — or zoology degree in my case — and apply it to many different aspects of what it takes to develop medicine for other people.”

Now, Van Goor is hoping to remind current science students impactful jobs outside of academic research exists and it’s okay to break away from the traditional pathway that often dictates a single way to success. 

“I was really only exposed to one path: you get your undergraduate degree, you go and get your masters degree or PhD, from your PhD you go into an academic environment,” he said. “When I finished my post-doc and had offers in both the academic world and the industry, I didn’t know much about the industry, I just wanted to translate the science into developing medicine, so I took a chance.”

“[Industry] is such a rich scientific environment, it’s very collaborate and you interact with scientists from different backgrounds… I think there needs to be more awareness of the really amazing science that can be done in an industrial environment.” 

Though still appreciative of scientific research, he wants students to know that academia doesn’t have to be a final destination, but rather a starting point. 

“I think academic research is really important and plays an important role, but it’s not the only path forward. There are other ways you can impact human health and disease beyond an academic pursuit,” Van Goor said. 

“I went from goldfish to finding medicine to treat people with Cystic Fibrosis.”