Dr. Sally Adua is a December 2020 graduate of the Department of Pathology from Dr. Don Nguyen laboratory. Her research focused on uncovering the molecular connections between cancer metastasis and resistance to targeted therapies. Since leaving Yale, she has become a consultant at BCG in New York, New York. In this alumni spotlight, Sally answers a few questions on what she has done after graduating and provides advice for her younger colleagues:
What is your new job and what is like?
I am currently working as a consultant at BCG in their NYC office. I just started at the beginning of January, so I’m still learning what it’s like! From my (limited) understanding, I will be working to provide businesses with solutions to their toughest strategy problems. It’s likely that I will end up in the healthcare practice area, but I’m looking forward to trying out different industries and learning as much as possible! The opportunity to learn and develop (along with the interesting and interested people that I met during the recruitment process) was the main driver of my decision to take the job.
What are your favorite activities?
Outside of my professional life, I spend a lot of my time reading. I’m a huge fan of fiction (especially contemporary fiction) and even keep a detailed spreadsheet of all the books I have read complete with detailed reviews! I also enjoy staying fit and spending time outdoors which I mostly achieve through running.
Any advice to current students?
My biggest piece of advice would be to remember that failing isn’t failing as long as you learn something from it. At the start of my PhD, I was definitely a bit of a perfectionist, and now, looking back, I think it was a bit hindering. By the end, after much practice “failing”, I began to see each failure as an opportunity to learn something, and that’s truly when my science was at its best. So don’t be afraid to go for the ”off the walls” experiment, and don’t take the experiments that don’t work personally. Instead, learn, iterate, and keep growing!