Audrey's Network
BioScience Professional Network by Audrey S. Erbes, Ph.D.
Background of Audrey’s Network
Audrey’s Network
includes Bay Area bioscience professionals from all sectors who are
working in a broad array of industry functions. The group
originated, first, with members sourced from Audrey’s
UC Extension
intensive courses in Bioscience Business and Marketing (now numbering
over 500 former students), the Syntex Syva Alumni Association, the
Bio2Device Group (now has about 650 members) and other industry
professional groups and individuals with whom Audrey has worked. She
began communicating with large numbers of individuals regularly via
email—sending her comments on events, notices about jobs in business and
marketing, advising about resources, market research and reports
available on the Internet and providing information on industry
meetings. Eventually, others began to refer to being in Audrey’s network
and that stuck.
Values
Over the past five
years, the values of the network evolved from Audrey’s interactions with
the members in and outside the classroom. They include:
- “What goes
around comes around”—each member needs to contribute to the
community of members to build a vibrant network for themselves and
others
- Treat others as
you would have them treat you
- Always show
respect in your actions and communications
- Take
responsibility for your own career
- Learn from your
mistakes and try again
- Develop trust
through your honesty and ethics
The life sciences
industry is a very small industry where one’s reputation is critical to
success. One needs to deliver the
promised goods or demonstrate the sincere effort in trying to deliver
the products even if they fail at achieving the business objective. It’s
a very high risk proposition but offers great rewards beyond the
monetary. It is truly like no other industry.
Mission
The mission is to
assist industry professionals to continue to keep up-to-date in their
fields through “sharpening the saw” regularly and building and
maintaining a vibrant network. Audrey recognized in her career
experience and, especially, after being laid off from Syntex in 1993
after 20 years that the work place and the old paradigm of finding and
keeping employment had drastically changed. One needs to be prepared to
move on to the next position at any time and stay current, learn new
skills and knowledge to fit the needs of this dynamic marketplace. The
employee has to be proactive in investing in continuing learning and
nurturing a network of meaningful industry contacts.
Blog
Audrey provides comments on industry news, events,
career information as well as an extremely useful monthly list of
her selections of industry meetings—those likely to provide outstanding
programs and speakers to help industry professionals keep up-to-date in
their field as well as offer opportunity to develop and maintain a
vibrant professional network.
