Dr. Alexis Ceasrine, PhD in Biology | Scientist II at Baebies

In this episode, we discuss what led Alexis to pursue a PhD in Biology at Johns Hopkins, the different ways becoming a parent shifted her priorities and impacted her career goals, and how she utilized networking with fellow alumni to make the transition from academia to industry and to land her current role as a scientist at Baebies.

Hosted by Brooklyn Arroyo

To connect with Alexis and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

Brooklyn Arroyo

Hello, I'm co-host Brooklyn Arroyo and this is 100 Alumni Voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we're joined by Alexis Ceasrine, PhD in biology. Hello and welcome to the PHutures podcast.

Alexis Ceasrine

Hi, happy to be here.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, let's just jump right in and talk about sort of what drew you to biology, if anything, and how did you end up with in the Hopkins PhD program?

Alexis Ceasrine

So, what drew me to biology was actually not biology, I guess. I was really interested in forensic science when I was in high school and when I started college. So, I was planning to do forensics. I started out as an undergrad at University of Rhode Island and I was a forensic chemistry major. And I wasn't fully happy there and I wanted a kind of broader program. So, I ended up transferring my sophomore year to Hofstra University, which is on Long Island. And they had a more broad forensic science program. And so, when I joined that program, I had to do a whole bunch of non-chemistry classes including biology. And I was really, really bad. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing and, but I met some really good friends in my biology classes that helped me through. And after my first year, my advisor kind of sat me down and was like, OK, what are you going to do after college? And I was like, I have no idea. Science, I guess, like I'm probably gonna go work in a lab and do forensics. And she was like, OK, let's talk. And so, she really guided me, kind of, you know, in terms of what my options were. And she's the first one that suggested even doing a PhD program. She was kind of under the impression that, like, you know, a bachelor’s degree, you will do well, but you can do a lot better if you have a secondary degree, either a masters or a PhD. And at the time, I was thinking money wise that wasn't going to make sense. I had no idea how a PhD program worked and when she told me I could get a stipend and actually earn money for getting a PhD, I was like, well alright, I'm on board. So, I kind of fell into a PhD in biology, if I'm being honest. I applied to a bunch of programs, but Hopkins was, I think, my first or second interview, and I was just in love with the area. I had a little bit of I had a few family members in the area and like visiting Baltimore was a lot of fun and I was just very excited about the idea of the program, a very kind of broad biology, focus and, yeah, that was that.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Ohh so I I think forensics is also extremely interesting. I’m curious did you stay along those lines? Or did you branch out even further?

Alexis Ceasrine

No. So, in college, I did have a forensics minor, so I did do a lot of classes and that was really cool because they had a lot of professors who were detectives or police officers or, you know, forensic scientists themselves. So, I definitely got a lot of exposure to it in college, but then in grad school I kind of went totally different direction. I figured that was the time to branch out, and I kind of realized that more so than just, like forensics, it was the idea of solving a puzzle that was really more what drew me in. So, forensics was kind of the idea of, like, you know, figure out the bad guy, figure out who did it, figure out the results. Where you can do that a lot with a lot of different questions in biology, so I didn't really have to limit myself to that and I haven't gone back to forensics, but it is still kind of a side interest, I guess.

Brooklyn Arroyo

A shared side interest by many people. I think it's a common one. 

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, you briefly mentioned how within your experience in school, you had friendships that helped you along with biology and your mentorship with your advisor. How did that look when it came to the Hopkins experiences and within your PhD? Did you have a continuous experience with mentorship and your peers?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, for sure. Actually, it's funny that you even asked that because one of my very good friends, still very good friends now, I met her at Hofstra. She was one of the people that kind of got me through my first biology class. And we actually have stayed really good friends and she actually started came to Hopkins after and did a masters in chemistry. So, we were able to reconnect down here for a while. So and so she was definitely there the whole way. But I also had a really, really great cohort in my PhD program. I think everyone really got along pretty well and we were all friends and supporters of each other, which was great. And my PhD advisor, Dr. Rejji Kuruvilla, I was very, very lucky to have her. She and I got along very well and she is still a mentor to me. You know, I've emailed her just a few weeks ago catching up. And I've even kept in touch some with my undergraduate advisors as well. I've been really lucky to have some incredible mentors along the way.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Definitely. So, in the work that you're doing now, do you feel that you stepped away from academia and more into industry? Have you continued research? What does that look like for you now?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, that's a great question. I when I was looking to step away, I kind of had no idea what industry looked like. It kind of seemed like a big black box. So, what I'm doing right now though isn't, doesn't feel all that different in terms of like intellectual contributions and problem solving from what I did in my PhD or even in my postdoc. So, it's a lot of, you know, thinking about the best way to design an experiment, thinking about how many variables you have to consider, which ones are the important ones to control for and which ones can maybe, you know, be more flexible down the road. And then when you get results that either support or disprove your hypothesis, what are you going to do to, you know, adapt and run the next experiment? So, I think it's very much, yeah, it's very much research focused. It's very much problem solving. I think my day is maybe 40-50% lab work and then 50% everything else you know, pre-experiment design and all those other kinds of things, analyzing results.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, you, you started out with almost a more specific and and small lens of what you wanted to do and what you were studying, and then you sort of widened that lens as you were going, which I think that is interesting because oftentimes people will start really broad and then sort of specialize and specialize and specialize. So, what could you speak on how that impacted where you are now and whether you think that that is beneficial for other people seeking academic experiences, whether it's good or bad, and to start big or start small and go from there?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, I think starting big is a good idea. But I also think just changing what you do is really important. I you know, my undergraduate research was very, very different from my graduate research and my postdoc research was very different. And I think that for me what I realized is that while there's a lot of like very cool questions that are out there that I want to solve, I realized that I can get excited about a lot of different questions, and that it's really more the problem-solving process for me that I was really excited about and that really helped direct my career trajectory because I think friends I have that went on to faculty positions, you know, they had this burning question of I need to answer exactly this. And like I have questions; I would love to answer them. But I also like I can answer your questions. Like I can answer whatever questions. So, I think that by doing both, you know by starting big, by narrowing it on something, by switching gears, narrowing it on something totally new, you'll learn a lot more about what you really value in terms of research and what your goals are.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Right. Definitely, definitely. So, you mentioned briefly about how first starting out, you weren't really sure what industry looked like. You weren't sure really where you were going to end up after all of it. So, what did that look like for you in job searching and in those last moments before you graduated, when it was settling in, OK, now I have to go make a career out of all of this?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah. So, when I was finishing my PhD, I really thought I was focused on a faculty track. I, you know, my thought was, I'm gonna get a postdoc in a good lab. I'm gonna power out a good paper. I'm gonna get on the job market, and I'm going to get a faculty position, and I'm going to do it in, you know, one of three states that I want to live in and it's going to happen in three years. And that's not reality at all. There also was a pandemic. I had my first child. Life got a little crazy. I think I still accomplished everything I set out to in my postdoc, and I actually applied for faculty positions last year at 2, so not really enough to even scratch the surface, had an interview but did not get an offer. And then I decided to apply this year again, but I also I think having a child really changed my perspective on things. You know, a lot of the advice I was getting was, oh, well, if you really want to be competitive, you need to get a K99 award, which is this big NIH funded grant for postdocs who want to transition into faculty roles. But timing wise I was getting that advice at a time where I would have needed to stick around in a postdoc for another one to two years and financially with a kid, it just didn't make sense. And then it just kind of, you know, a lot of things shifted gears. So, what I did is I just went on LinkedIn and I looked for alumni from either Hopkins or from Duke, which is where I was doing my postdoc. And I looked for people who were in industry jobs in the Durham area, which is where I live right now. And I just reached out to a bunch of people and I kind of messaged them and said, hey. This is me. This is where I'm at in my life. Like, can you just take the time to tell me about your career trajectory, what you did, what you've, you know, experienced? And everyone was amazing. Everyone I talked to was super helpful. Numerous people took the time to chat on either zoom or on the phone for, you know, 30 minutes to an hour and really like walk through these kind of decisions with me that I I'd never met these people before. But having that network and having those conversations I think was super important because some people I talked to after 20 minutes, I was like I definitely don't want your job. That sounds terrible. And some of those were surprising. I really thought I might enjoy consulting, the idea of, like, solving problems for other people and optimizing systems and like in a biomedical or research space sounded really appealing, but then when I actually talked to some consultants I was like, I'm not 100% sold on this anymore and it's a very different track right than like a research-based position in industry. So, I ended up just talking to a lot of people in industry and then that's actually how I ended up applying for the job that I am currently at, which is at a company called Baebies. We do lots of molecular and other diagnostic screening tests and yeah, so it was kind of just serendipitous, I guess.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Well, I feel like that's a really a thoughtful system that you really went about finding what works for you and what you were interested in, and I think that a lot of people are almost scared to communicate with other people, other academics and other people in the field because it's daunting and oh, they're this big person or this and that. But you said that a lot of people were extremely eager and interested in talking to you about what they did and and all of those experiences that you had. And did you have any memorable, aside from the ones that you necessarily were like, yeah, I don't want to go into that field anymore, but any memorable moments where you you connected with these people?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, I mean, honestly most of my conversations, and I think I connected pretty well with the people. The job that I'm at now, you know the man that took the time to chat with me, we still, you know, see each other in the office. And he always checks in. Hey, how you doing? So, I feel like we started out as friends like very quickly. So, I think yeah, I think a lot of the connections I made I think were really, really positive and really had a strong impact on my decisions. Definitely I think the first response I got was the biggest because it felt it did. It felt very daunting to reach out to strangers and be like, hi, please help me. But then when the first person I reached out to was like, yeah, absolutely. Are you free next week? I was like, oh OK, this is good. I can do this. This isn't really as scary.

Brooklyn Arroyo

So, I think that your experiences have a lot of like exploration, but also pivoting within your journey. And I think that that's an important thing for people to hear about and know that, you know, there are successful people out there who have had a lot of pivoting within their journey as well. So, what have been some surprises within your academic or professional career that have really shaped where you are now and and how did you go about going going around those surprises?

Alexis Ceasrine

Oh, that's a good question. I think you do have to just go with the flow at some point, and I think it's really important at multiple stages in your life to evaluate your personal priorities and just take a minute to acknowledge that like you know my personal priorities two years ago may be aligned with this particular career track, and you know what? They might not anymore, and that's OK. Like at the end of the day, your job, yes, you should enjoy it. Like that's a bonus though. Your job should give you a stable enough income that you can support yourself and or the ones that you love or that to rely on you. So, I think for sure for me having a child and realizing like I was only able to be in academia because my husband made enough money that he could support us and I didn't need to have, you know, a retirement account which you don't get as opposed to all these things that I'm all of a sudden in my 30s and realizing like this is no way to plan for a future for my daughter, and so it was kind of a hard that was a hard pivot for me to think, OK, like I could do this and stay in academia and become a faculty member. But my priorities have shifted in that my daughter needs to come first and providing for her needs to come first, and so something that is more stable and more financially sound is what I need to prioritize right now. So, I think definitely recognizing your priorities and telling yourself that your priorities are allowed to be your priorities, like I don't care if it's a child, if it's your cat, if it's where you want to live, if it's travel, if it's, you know, money. All of those are very valid priorities. And I think oftentimes it's easy to get hung up in the idea that like if you're passionate about something, it doesn't matter, and you should sacrifice all these other things. But you don't have to. You really don't.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Right. Yeah, and I do think that even within our society alone, it's very important that we almost live to work and it's pushed in a lot of different ways. And I think that is what your message is, is super healthy and super important. And I think that there is a shift in our culture taking place where we're starting to realize. Let's work to live a little bit more. Let's live a little bit more each day. So, within your job, what does your day-to-day look like for you? And and does it help you live out that working to live and supporting you and what you prioritize?

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, it definitely does. I have 0 complaints about my job and thinking back to, you know, time as a postdoc or even as a grad student, there was always something that was nagging in the back of my mind. Often times it was finances. You know, sometimes it was just things as simple as like as a postdoc, I had to call someone on the phone to get a copy of my pay stub every month. Like, really, like, really? You can't have an online system set up? It is 2022. And I think that working for a company where they actually value retention and they value the people that work there is just it's a it is actually a big shift, which is a little bit sad. But my day-to-day is like 50% bench work, I would say give or take some days are a lot less. Some days are a lot more. I'm getting to learn a lot of new things, and there's a lot of prioritization of learning, which I really, really appreciate. So, a lot of the things that I'm working on require some coding background, and I've learned some R, but I've kind of piece mealed it and done it on my own, but a lot of people are using Python and so we've been able to get, you know, a subscription to code Academy which gives you tools to learn Python and all these other code languages online. So, it there's just there is a focus on actual like yes, get the work done but also improve your skillset. Like and I think that is a really positive thing to look for in a company if you're looking at industry. And then the rest of my day is spent with like data analysis, designing experiments kind of very brief like team updates, because we are, it's not a like kind of single person focus like I am not driving this project singularly. We have a team of about four people that I work with right now, so we're always, you know, checking in on each other, sharing ideas like, oh, hey, I think I'm going to do this experiment. And like, what do you think? Oh, that's a great idea. I'm gonna change it. Do it this way. So, it's actually really nice to have someone or multiple someones around to constantly bounce your ideas off of that's also an expert in what you're working on. I think I'm working with some of the smartest people I've ever met in my current job, and it's it's really a lot of fun.

Brooklyn Arroyo

It sounds like like a really well-rounded and just amazing opportunity and you brought up how it's not only just following you as a worker, but also as an individual and letting you grow in that way. I think that is super important for industry level jobs and and and that sort of thing. So, for you, if you have thought about this, what would the next phase look like for you in your career?

Alexis Ceasrine

So, I'm still pretty new in industry. I've only been with the company for a few months, but I've definitely there's a pretty clear trajectory in terms of where I could grow within the company, which I'm excited about. I really like mentoring and working kind of training people and like organizing projects. Like I like to kind of have a bigger picture view. So, I think for me, I'm definitely interested in kind of, you know, moving up a little bit so that that way I can be more, you know, be the project lead instead of just a scientist on the project team. I think for me that will be really rewarding because that was one thing I was worried I would miss if I left academia. I had gotten used to always having undergraduate researchers that I was training or junior graduate students or even other postdocs, and so I was worried that I would kind of miss out on that. But so far, we've because the projects switch relatively frequently, like sometimes I am the expert already and I can help new people, so I haven't, I haven't missed that aspect, but I look forward to gaining more of that experience for sure.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And that is important to mention because I think a lot of why people are almost hesitant to leave academia is because they enjoy that mentorship, that networking, and that sense of constant growth and learning and teaching, and it's important for you to mention that that can exist within industry and within any environment really, especially when, you know this singular conversation I've already felt your mentorship and and all of that. So, thank you. So, for our final question of all our interviewees is sort of the grand finale of each episode, and that is what inspires you right now?

Alexis Ceasrine

In work or in like my life?

Brooklyn Arroyo

Both!

Alexis Ceasrine

That is a very challenging question. I guess, I think in my life my daughter inspires me more than anything. She is just turned 2 in November. She is incredibly smart. She is, yeah. So, she was, she was a COVID baby. She was born smack in the middle, well towards yeah, smack in the middle of a pandemic, I guess. And I think that, you know, I am inspired by her to constantly, you know, do better, work harder. I think what I do right now at work in terms of working in a diagnostic industry, I think I am just more aware. You know our company was founded on newborn screening technologies and so the idea that like, oh, I don't actually know. Maybe my daughter was screened with this technology when she was born. Like it gives a little bit more kind of a focus on like why we do what we do. So, I think both personal and professional life I guess is my daughter has been a big driving factor. But overall, I think big picture like I'm inspired by finding answers. Like I just like to know the answer to things and that's why I ended up in science and that's why I keep loving science. Yeah, you'd have to ask my husband if it's a good thing in personal life. Like maybe I'm the person that tries to solve problems that don't exist. Like no, I just need to complain. You don't actually need to solve this one. But I think that's probably what drives me.

Brooklyn Arroyo

No, it's always great even in the terrific twos. Toddlers love to ask all those questions about everything, even the things they don't need answers.

Alexis Ceasrine

Yeah, that's very true.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Well, thank you again for coming onto the PHutures Podcast and speaking with me today. I really enjoyed our conversation. And I think that the viewers are really going to benefit from from your journey.

Alexis Ceasrine

I hope so, and if anyone ever has questions, my e-mail is always open. Happy to be the person that you know helps somebody in a career path the way that I was helped by a lot of people. So always, you know, looking out for other alum, I guess.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Thank you.