Sharing His Knowledge

A scientist, a business developer, and a member of a regulatory agency walk into Justin Wang’s lab and ask what he’s working on.   

What comes next isn’t the punchline to a joke. Rather, how Wang (MBP ‘16) responds to each would be different based on what they are looking for from the conversation. 

The importance of communicating scientific information differently depending on the audience is one of the key lessons Wang took from his time in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Biotechnology Program (MBP).  

“It’s really about knowing the audience when you communicate, knowing what they're interested in,” said Wang, who is a research leader at Roche, a global healthcare company. “Even if we're talking about the same project, how you talk to the scientific team is different from how you talk to the business team, and how you talk to the business team is different from how you talk to the regulatory team.”  

Wang has returned to MBP as a member of its Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), which is tasked with ensuring the curriculum remains aligned with what the biotech industry needs from the best and brightest graduates. He said he is enjoying the opportunity to contribute to the learning process.  

Wang's link to MBP was forged more than a decade ago.  

He had completed a bachelor's degree in biochemistry but wasn’t enamored with the work he was doing. At that time, his job was to help his company look for international locations to set up new manufacturing facilities. He thought about returning to school and began to look for alternatives that would land him closer to the science he loved. 

He found that in MBP.  

“I wanted to have a good blend of academic training and also real-world exposure,” he said. “I saw MBP and realized there was this opportunity to either stay in someone's lab or go out into industry.”  

Now more than eight years after graduation, Wang still leans on the lessons he learned from MBP in his industry work at Roche, where he's been since 2022.  

His current role takes him from the research lab to the business development world.  

In the lab, Wang works on advanced science to help develop the company’s diagnostic technology for everything from COVID-19 to the flu and other medical maladies. But then he has the opportunity to hang up his lab coat and go out into the field.  

There, Wang visits companies ranging from small startups to larger established companies, examining the revolutionary work they do to determine if a partnership aligns with Roche’s interests.   

“It's really interesting to not only stay in this fantastic research environment to carry science forward but also be able to see some of the cutting-edge things that people do outside of our organization,” Wang said. “MBP really helped me understand the need to know who your audience is and what they're trying to get out of the interaction you are having with them.”  

Those advanced communication skills continue to be helpful on the IAB.  

Wang is happy to contribute his dual perspective of working in the lab and seeing what companies need to turn scientific innovation into financially feasible initiatives.  

“I want to provide that information to help students navigate their career paths, to navigate their training processes, and really to give back,” he said. “I have benefited tremendously throughout this journey, so it only made sense for me to share what I know.”