Rachel Delston

Strongly motivated by her personal experiences seeing how damaging and painful cancer is on a loved one, Rachel Delston passionately pursued graduate and postdoctoral research in cancer biology. Afterwards, she joined industry to develop cancer therapeutics and has held positions in R&D such as Principal Scientist and Director of Research and Development, and is currently Associate Director at Arch Oncology. 

Can you describe your academic and professional background? What path led you to pursue this field?  

When I was in high school my grandmother, who I was very close to, passed away after battling colon cancer for thirteen years and through eight surgeries. I wanted to help people with cancer so that other people wouldn't have to stand by helplessly and lose a loved one. I remember a doctor telling me that they were limited by the treatments available. They couldn't prescribe a treatment that didn't exist and the treatments that existed weren't good enough. They told me, if you want to help people with cancer go into research, learn how the body functions, and work on identifying new treatments. I took their advice! I majored in Biology and Biochemistry at Oberlin College, took a gap year to work as a research technician at UCSF working on TGF-b in the laboratory of Dr. Rik Derynck, earned my PhD in Dr. J. William Harbour's lab at Washington University working on the retinoblastoma protein, did a postdoc at WashU working on ER+ breast cancer in Dr. Jason Weber's lab, worked on kinase inhibitors for cancer patients as a Principal Scientist at Confluence Life Sciences, was the Director of Research and Development at Canopy Biosciences, and now am working on immunotherapeutics for cancer patients as an Associate Director at Arch Oncology. 

How did you find this particular position, and what was the hiring process like? Is there a typical structure for this in your field? 

I was attending a women in science conference and introduced myself to the CEO of Arch Oncology at the time. We ended up sitting next to each other at lunch and she invited me to apply for an open position at her company. 

Can you tell us about your current responsibilities? What is a typical day or week like in your role? 

I manage our research and development activities, lead our in vivo studies at contract research organizations (CROs), lead a university collaboration we have, interface with finance and legal departments, and write intellectual property filings. I enjoy getting to wear a lot of different hats!

What do you enjoy about your current job and work environment? 

Currently the drug I work on is in several clinical trials for patients with solid tumors or with multiple myeloma. It is thrilling to get to work on a drug that is being tested in patients and that has shown encouraging early clinical activity. At the end of the day, I just want to go to bed each night knowing I am working towards helping cancer patients. 

Is there anything you wish you had known about your job or industry before joining?  

I enjoy mentoring young students and have organized and hosted several career panels for high school students. I always make sure to tell students that the PhD is free and in fact you get paid a stipend to live on. A lot of people do not know this and hopefully sharing this information will increase the economic diversity in PhD programs.  

What’s changing in your industry? Are there any future trends we should be aware of? 

When I got my PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology, statistics and bioinformatics were not a part of the program or class options. Being able to properly report statistics on your data, being able to properly power and analyze your study, and being able to parse through large datasets is so critical for a wide range of jobs in the sciences right now.  

What activities, internships, or organizations would you recommend someone get involved with to help them break into this field? 

I mentored a talented high school student through the STARS program and her work even got featured in the local newspaper. 

The amazing Dena Ladd is the Executive Director at Missouri Cures and organizes inspiring conferences and panels including a women in science conference I look forward to every year.  A lot of the events are virtual and people across the country can attend.  

Do you have any final words of advice for those navigating these career questions? Is there anything you would have done differently given what you know now?  

Whenever I speak on a career panel the first thing I tell the audience is that I got a job by attending a career panel just like this one. When you see someone doing interesting work at a networking event, go up and talk to them. It may land you a job!