Career Path of a Staff Research Associate III at UCLA Health
Ivan's career path began with a summer internship at LA Biomed in 2013, where they "learned what cell culture work was," laying the foundation for their bachelor's degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from UCLA (2017). Following a brief three-month job search, a position at UCLA's repos lab specializing in melanoma cancer immunotherapy commenced their current career.
Research, Career Development, Job Search, Higher Education, Science
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Ivan Perez Garcilazo
SRA III
UCLA Health
UCLA, UCLA Extension
UC Irvine, M.S. Pharmacology
Biology & Related Sciences
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, Medical & Wellness
Research and Development (R&D)
First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Ivan's summer internship at LA Biomed introduced him to research roles, including cell culture work and thesis projects.
2. He pursued a bachelor's degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA.
3. After graduating, he secured a position at UCLA's repos lab, specializing in melanoma cancer immunotherapy, within three months of his job search.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
When I graduated from high school, I was lucky enough to be accepted into a program in LA Biomed. It was a summer internship that introduced me to research roles and similar things.
From there, I learned about cell culture, what our project was, and what a thesis entailed. I then got into UCLA. That was the summer of 2013.
I started at UCLA in September 2013 and graduated in June 2017 with my bachelor's in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. Thankfully, from June 2017 until about September 2017, I was looking for a job and was able to find one.
I was only unemployed for three months, which was pretty nice. Then I joined the UCLA repos lab, where we specialize in melanoma cancer immunotherapy.