The past couple of decades have been characterized by rapid technological innovation, most notably within computer science and software development. As such, the integration of these technologies into other fields have greatly elevated the potential for growth and development within their respective industries. Dr. Chi-Hui Tang similarly echoes this interdisciplinary theme. With a decades-long background in both the software development industry as well as wet lab research, he shares his journey and his advice for up-and-coming scientists.

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Combining curiosity and the process of elimination

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As a kid, Dr. Tang recounts how he was always curious as to how things worked: “It wasn’t necessarily just in terms of biology or anything like that; it was just in general…how radios worked, machines, cars, you name it.” Entering into high school, this initial general interest in STEM began taking shape, with him crediting the influence the adults in his life at the time: “I think it’s important to mention that teachers have a very big role in helping inspire kids…and for me, that was the case as well. I had a really good teacher for biology class and she would always challenge us to explore deeper into a subject.” And so Dr. Tang began his undergraduate years at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry. But like many undergraduates still ironing out the degree that will define at minimum the next four years, Dr. Tang still retained many interests in other fields, notably within aerospace engineering, a passion that was cultivated many years before: “As a boy liking rockets and airplanes…I thought that maybe that would be the direction. Going to college, I think what helped decide against going into engineering was I realized I didn’t like math that much.” Thus while aerospace was a point of interest, Dr. Tang relates how sometimes “finding a direction is as much about eliminating what you don’t like as it is about what you do like.” This was a choice he’d soon come to appreciate as his passion for the life sciences and biology only grew: “It was fascinating how life works, how everything alive on this planet is based on DNA and RNA, the common mechanisms for how all of that works within all animals, all plants.”

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Navigating a PhD and the importance of mentorship

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Upon completion of his bachelor’s degree at Berkeley, Dr. Tang then moved to Texas to complete his doctoral degree at UTHealth Houston, in conjunction with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he was motivated by his “strong interest in cancer…[because] it’s all about what can go wrong. Once you learn what normal biology sort of looks like, cancer biology is all about what can go wrong…so that as an area was quite interesting to me and that’s why I chose to go to Texas for that.” Pursuing this passion for oncology, Dr. Tang began his graduate studies and lab rotations to find his “home for the next four to six years.” While conducting his search, Dr. Tang noted that “the professor that you’re going to be working under is super important. That doesn’t mean that they’re the Nobel Prize winner of their field or whatever…What that means is that that person has an interest in developing junior talent, and is really thinking about how to help you grow as a professional.” Here, Dr. Tang touches on a point that all interviewees have similarly addressed: the importance of mentorship. The mentor-student relationship, as Dr. Tang points out, is extremely important in defining the level of success one achieves in their PhD, wherein the best mentors to seek out are those that are personally interested and invested in training their students, a quality that is, in reality, not very easy to find: “what I found over my career is that most people are more worried about their own career, so I would say over my career, I’ve had maybe two good mentors that were pretty solid. And then maybe the rest of them were okay.” Eventually however, Dr. Tang did find his fit, and proceeded to PhD candidacy following his dissertation proposal, an event he reflected in hindsight “was quite stressful but I did pass.” 

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Unpredictability prompting career shifts and reinvention

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Three and a half years later, Dr. Tang completed his PhD in cancer biology after a successful thesis defense, and then shortly thereafter moved back to California to complete his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, where he realized he wanted to go down the route of industry as opposed to academia. Thus, shifting more of his focus into the field of the translational sciences within clinical trial work, Dr. Tang joined a small biotech company in California. However, the year was 2008 and so that year, “the world went into a financial crisis, and what that meant for the field was that money was no longer guaranteed. Investments started to dry up and so companies went into survival mode. Our company, at the time, had a phase 3 clinical trial of a cancer drug ongoing, and so the priority was to make sure that that trial successfully finished…What that meant for myself and my whole research team was we were laid off.” And so, hit by an unexpected reality, Dr. Tang went through a brief period of figuring out what to do. This reflects the unpredictability of science, but also of life itself and how one’s career can greatly deviate in a manner out of their control. Such was the case for Dr. Tang, however, thanks to connections at UCSF previously established during his postdoc, he was able to secure a position as a research specialist. But soon after, Dr. Tang would once again pivot directions, describing this motivation as stemming from his desire for “a career with greater growth potential.” And so Dr. Tang moved to a small start-up, working on the development of FDA clinical trial software to assist in the collection and handling of data generated in these trials. Working in a field seemingly so close yet so far from before, this job marked a pivotal moment in Dr. Tang’s career as he switched from a decades-long experience in wet lab research to the field of software development, even as the products did pertain to clinical uses. Reflecting on this, Dr. Tang remarked: “life can throw curveballs and sometimes it’s necessary to just make adjustments and pivot and basically reinvent yourself.” Additionally, talking about his PhD and extensive experience in the lab, he reflects: “was my training helpful? Yes it was certainly helpful…it’s the skills that you develop: critical thinking, curiosity, the ability to analyze data.” Going between these fields not only expanded Dr. Tang’s skillset to encompass both the front-end life science research, but also the back-end software design to enable such research to continue, allowed him to abide by his original mission to do “something that mattered…to impact the field of cancer or biology or just human health.” 

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The importance of adaptability

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Thus, Dr. Tang provides interesting insight into what it's like to seemingly completely change career directions after having thoroughly spent years in one field. This shift came through a combination of decisions stemming from uncontrollable world circumstances, but also personal choice in choosing what to pursue next. Looking in hindsight to his past experience, Dr. Tang relays for students out there that “you really need to stay adaptable…I would say that the mindset shouldn’t be that your career defines you. It’s the other way round. You define what you want to be, and that can change. And that’s okay.” Nevertheless, this transition wasn’t as easy as it appears, specifically with regards to finding and retaining one’s personal identity through such a large career shift, where for Dr. Tang, he recalls: “I think I placed too much importance in my career as a defining feature of who I am as a person, so that not being able to call myself a scientist was difficult.” This once again feeds into Dr. Tang’s message of adaptability. Tying oneself to one’s work, while extremely beneficial, carries the burden of having yourself almost defined by that work and its outcomes. And so for students still on their way to defining what this career will look like, Dr. Tang urges the need to stay open and adaptable, as it’s impossible to predict when the next nationwide or worldwide problem will happen that thrusts your world into a new direction. Even much smaller changes together have the ability to accumulate to great change, and having the ability to be flexible amongst changes and ride the tide of possibility into a new direction allows you to hit the ground running and to reinvent both yourself and your work. 

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Keeping your network open

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And still, Dr. Tang acknowledges how connections aided in every step of the process. Initially, he reflects that he “did not appreciate that whole need for mentorship and the network.” Rather, he was more of the belief that he could “do it by myself.” Today, looking back, Dr. Tang heavily emphasizes how mentorship and building connections perpetuates far deeper into your career than what might initially meets the eye, recounting how “it helps open doors…they’re people that you’re going to need to rely on one day, not just your mentors but dear friends who may eventually end up being your colleagues.” 

 

Ultimately, Dr. Tang’s story is one of inspiration, with experience knee-deep in both the world of wet lab research and the life sciences, but also software development in Silicon Valley, Dr. Tang describes how the unexpected obstacles of life shaped his career trajectory. Offering advice to the next generation of students, Dr. Tang stresses the importance of adaptability and reinvention in the face of anything and everything unexpected, while always keeping your network open and near.

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