INTERVIEW WITH JERRY DROCTON –
BIOSCIENCE GRADUATE
How did you decide to pursue bioscience as an
educational goal?
I attended Lakeland Pride Day which is an annual
event. I met with the different Department heads: Nuclear Engineering,
Chemical Engineering, and Bioscience Technology. I attended a lecture
with Dr. Joe Deak who is chairman of the Bioscience Department
(at
Lakeland). I went through a long discussion with him. I asked him
questions about the program and that’s when it hit me that
this is the program that I want to do. I was fascinated with
it!
I have always had a fascination with science,
but I never knew too much about Bioscience technology until I attended
that day. (Pride Day at Lakeland) because Biotechnology is a science
that is not that well publicized.
Part of your program at Lakeland was an Internship
experience. Where did you complete your experience?
I did an 8 week Internship at a biopharmaceutical
company called Athersys in Cleveland. It is a relatively new company
that works to develop drugs to help cure common diseases like cancer,
diabetes, obesity, and many other types of diseases.
I worked in the molecular biology lab and part
of my role in the internship was to work on a project to help cure
diabetes. That was really interesting.
Basically you are actually doing the job. You
are a scientist, working just how they would, doing everything they
would do. It was a wonderful way to conclude the program by getting
some real life experience in a lab environment.
The program at Lakeland really prepped me for
the Internship experience.
Is there anything else you learned from the Internship
experience at Athersys?
The first day I went to Athersys, I was assigned
to a scientist. It started off kind of slow because I was
still learning but after the first week I was pretty much on my own
working on my own projects. Periodically I would consult with the
Director of the Lab and the fellow scientists in the lab and discuss
how the projects were progressing and they would offer some feedback
on what I could do to help with my experiments. It was definitely
a worthwhile experience and I learned a lot doing it.
Now that you have graduated from Lakeland, what
are your future plans?
I am going to be attending Youngstown State
University starting in mid June. I have been accepted into an accelerated
pre-med program which is very competitive. I will be doing two years
undergraduate there but while I am there I might also be considering
pursuing a Masters in Chemistry to further my education in Bioscience
Technology.
Many of my classes from the Lakeland Bioscience
degree transferred over to Youngstown, so that lightens the load for
me to complete the 4 year degree. I will be completing a Bachelor’s
of Science degree in Biology.
The medical school is in Rootstown- NEOUCOM
(Northeastern Ohio University College of Medicine). There are 35 students
that get accepted into Youngstown, Akron and Kent over 800-900 that
apply.
Do you have a Mentor? (someone who really tries
to help you figure out what to do?)
I think for Lakeland it would be Dr. Deak because
ever since Pride Day he has really helped me and guided me through
the program. The program at Lakeland is not an easy program. He helped
me a lot – he is willing to spend extra time outside the classroom
if you have any questions or if you do not understand some material
– Dr. Deak wants you to succeed. He also helped me a lot with
setting up my Internship. He has really been there for me for the
past couple of years and I am thankful for that.
Do you have any advice for students who are thinking
about the field of Biotechnology?
I believe if you have a strong interest in Biotechnology
or you’re curious to know what it is, I think you should talk
to someone in the program, someone who has completed the program or
the head of the program to answer any questions that you might have.
It is one of those programs that not a lot of people know about. There
is a lot more to it than a lot of people understand because it is
such a large field.
Have you always known that you wanted to follow
a career path in the science area?
Ever since I was six or seven I have always
had an interest in science. It wasn’t until a couple of years
ago that I had an interest in bioscience technology because I never
really knew it was out there. I remember taking Biology classes at
my high school and my interest really set in then. Science is such
a huge field and there are so many different little fields within
it.
Biotechnology is a field where you are using
Biology, Chemistry and all these different areas of Biology to produce
products that can cure diseases, or cancer. If you ever wanted to
go into pharmaceuticals that is part of Bioscience as well. Biotechnology
is a fairly new field with the discovery of the microscope that has
allowed people to notice living cells. Bioscience technology is using
that technology and organisms and biology and incorporating it together
to produce products that can help society. Producing bread, beer,
wine – that is all bioscience.
What do you like about the Bioscience field?
. Not many people know about Bioscience. Therefore
it is important to contact people who work in the field to offer feedback
and give you some information on what they do to see if Bioscience
Technology would appeal to you.
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